During a recent gymnastics gala, four athletes competed in three events, the vault, the beam, and the floor.
Chris came third on the floor. The athlete who came second in the vault won the beam event. The athlete who came second on the beam won the floor. Emery beat Alex in every event. The athlete who won the vault came second on the floor. Billie came last in the vault.
Can you determine who finished where in each event?
Hint
Could Alex have come first or second in any event?
Answer Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Billie
#2 Chris Billie Emery
#3 Alex Emery Chris
#4 Billie Alex Alex
Reasoning
By (1), Chris came third on the floor. By (6), Billie came last in the vault.
Vault Beam Floor
#1
#2
#3 Chris
#4 Billie
By (2), the athlete who came second in the vault won the beam event, let's mark these as X.
By (3), the athlete who came second on the beam won the floor, let's mark these as Y.
By (5), the athlete who won the vault came second on the floor, let's mark these as Z. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Z X Y
#2 X Y Z
#3 Chris
#4 Billie
By (4), Emery beat Alex in every event, therefore Alex can't have won any event, nor come second (because of X, Y, and Z). So, Alex came third on the vault, and last on the floor. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Z X Y
#2 X Y Z
#3 Alex Chris
#4 Billie Alex
Looking at the vault, Z can't be Chris because Z came second on the floor (but we know Chris came last). So, Z must be Emery, and X is Chris. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Y
#2 Chris Y Emery
#3 Alex Chris
#4 Billie Alex
Looking at the floor, Y is Billie. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Billie
#2 Chris Billie Emery
#3 Alex Chris
#4 Billie Alex
By (4), Emery beat Alex on the beam. Vault Beam Floor
#1 Emery Chris Billie
#2 Chris Billie Emery
#3 Alex Emery Chris
#4 Billie Alex Alex
??
Puzzle 19
What well known saying is this:
lla ta devol evah ot reven naht tsol dna devol evah ot retteb sit
Hint
Look at the letter positions in the alphabet.
Answer
R.
If you take the alphabetic positions of each letter in a row, the total is always 56.
Double-Checking
Y + G + W + A = 25 + 7 + 23 + 1 = 56
K + L + R + O = 11 + 12 + 18 + 15 = 56
Z + J + P + D = 26 + 10 + 16 + 4 = 56
V + F + T + H = 22 + 6 + 20 + 8 = 56
