The Puzzling Troupe
John reads about a troupe in a newspaper who want to entertain people and see if they can guess the four couples in the group of 8 people. So John sets out to find them, and the following are the hints:
Alicia, Beatrice, Charles, David, Elaine, Florence, Graham, and Herman are four couples.
- Elaine attended David's wedding as a guest.
- Alicia's husband is a cousin of Herman.
- When Herman went overseas with his spouse, Beatrice, Charles, and Elaine each represented their own spouses to see the couple off at the airport.
The troupe then provide him with this question, betting he can't solve it, but John surprises them by solving it: "Who is Florence's husband?"
(
Modified a few things but taken from "Singapore Math Challenge: Grade 5+" book. I find it quite intriguing and interesting.
)
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1 solution
( Answer: Herman is Florence's husband )
Elaine : 1. Let's start by solving for Elaine: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H (These are the names short formed) 2. For Elaine, cross out the girls which would be crossing out A,B, E, and F 3. Elaine also attended David's wedding as a guest and went to wave Herman good-bye. We are left with options C and G, but Charles represented his own spouse when he went to wave off Herman. This means Charles is not Elaine's husband but Graham is.
Beatrice : 1. Let's start by solving for Beatrice: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H (These are the names short formed) 2. For Beatrice, cross out the girls and the couple E and G which would be crossing out A, B, E, F, and G. 3. We are left with options C, D, H. Beatrice went to wave off Herman and Charles did too. This means we can cut Charles and Herman off the list and we are left with Beatrice's spouse being David.
Charles : 1. Let's start by solving for Charles: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H (These are the names short formed) 2. For Charles, cross out the boys and the couple E,G and D,B which would be crossing out B, C, D, E, G and H. 3. We are left with options A and F. We are stuck. Let's look at Alicia's list.
Alicia 1. Let's start by solving for Alicia: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H (These are the names short formed) 2. For Alicia, cross out the girls and couples EG, and DB which would be crossing out A, B, E, F, G, and D. 3. We are left with options Charles, and Herman. BUT Alicia's husband is a cousin of Herman so Alicia's spouse must be Charles.
( Answer: Herman is Florence's husband )