A Very Challenging Christmas Puzzle

 by Sarnaz Hossain

I found this wonderful poetic riddle which makes use of logical thinking and mathematical reasoning to work out what elf made what toy this Christmas.

There are 5 elves called 

Cher, Johnny, Jane, Sue and Marcie

Each elf is dressed in a different colour

Good luck and enjoy the challenge!

 

1.Santa's pack held thirty toys

2.Made by his elfin crew;

3.And though none made the same amount,

4.Each elf made more than two.

5.The elf named Cher made one more toy

6.Than the elf who dressed in reds,

7.But Cher made one less Christmas toy

8.Than the elf who made the sleds.

9.Spry Johnny elf made racing cars;

10.Five toys were made by Jane.

11.The elf who dressed in yellow suits

12.Made each and every train.

13.The elf who always dressed in green

14.Made one-third as many as Sue.

15.Cute Marcia elf was dressed in orange,

16.And one elf dressed in blue.

17.The elf who made the spinning tops

18.Made the most toys of them all.

19.Another perky, smiling elf

20.Made each and every ball.

21.Ole Santa's pack held 30 gifts

22.All tagged for girls and boys.

23.From the clues that you've been given,

24.Now guess who made what toys.

 

See below for the solution:

Elves > 2 toys and One elf made three times as many as another (13-14), and three elves made consecutive amounts (5-8). If then you know none made the same amount (3), the two possible number combinations that total 30 are : 12/6/5/4/3 or 9/7/6/5/3.

 

Sue made the most (13-14). And we know that she made tops (17-18). She was not dressed in green (13-14), orange (15), red (5-6), or yellow (11-12), so she must be the elf in blue.

The two elves who made the least must be dressed in green (13-14) and red (5-6). Therefore the elf who made the least can not be Marcia (15). It also can not be Cher (5-8), or Jane (10), so Johnny must have made the least. And he made cars (9).

 

The elf who made the second most was not Jane (10) or Cher (5-8), so it must have been Marcia. And Marcia dressed in orange (15).

 

Since the two elves who made the least were in green and red, the elf in yellow must have made the third-smallest amount of toys. And that elf made trains (11-12).

 

Since the elf making sleds could not have made the second-smallest amount of toys (7-8), Marcia must have made the sleds. Cher is therefore the elf in yellow, and the person who made the second-smallest amount of toys is in red (5-8). 

By elimination, Johnny is in green, and Jane is in red and made the balls. Since the elf in green made three toys, Sue must have made nine toys (13-14), and our amounts of toys must be: 9/7/6/5/3.

Sue (blue) made 9 tops.

Marcia (orange) made 7 sleds.

Cher (yellow) made 6 trains.

Jane (red) made 5 balls.

Johnny (green) made 3 cars.

 

This problem was found from https://www.pleacher.com/