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Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper Hints
How can I use these clues to get the labels placed correctly?
1 of 18: The first thing to do is go through all six clue documents and boil all of the clues down to simplest terms.
2 of 18: For instance, the "Administrative Note" document's clues can be summarized as:
* The "News in Brief and Oddities" compartment doesn't contain blue envelopes * The "Politics" compartment contains blue envelopes * The "Personalities" compartment contains blue envelopes * The "Economy" compartment contains blue envelopes (something we already knew)
3 of 18: Do the same boil-down process with all the other documents, and you should end up with a set of clues similar to the one below. (Please note that I will refer to the clues by number later on in my hints, using the list below, so you may find it easier to read this list before continuing.)
4 of 18: That's a lot of clues, even though some of them are redundant, so solving this logic puzzle shouldn't be hard. Read on for one way to do it.
5 of 18: The first thing to do is look through the list for clues that give a straight answer about exactly where a compartment is -- one that isn't relative to something else, or otherwise difficult to pinpoint.
6 of 18: For instance, clue #15 in my set of clues says that the "Frontpage" compartment is the top left one. That's clear and definite, and doesn't depend on where any other compartments are, so put the "Frontpage" label up in the top left label slot, then cross that clue off the list -- literally, if you have a printed or written list of clues.
7 of 18: Next, look at clue #5. It says that the "News in Brief and Oddities" compartment is made of new wood. If you compare all of the compartments, you'll find that it must be referring to the top right one, since it looks different from (and newer than) the rest. So put the "News in Brief and Oddities" label in the top right slot. (And cross clue #5 off, if you're doing that.)
8 of 18: Clue #11 says the "Weather" compartment is empty, or nearly so, and that could only describe the bottom right compartment. So put the "Weather" label in the bottom right slot.
9 of 18: That's about it for the straightforward clues. Now let's scan through what's left of the list for relative clues that tell where a compartment we haven't labeled yet is in relation to one we already know, or is in a position we can pinpoint by the process of elimination.
10 of 18: Clue #13 tells us that the "Sports" compartment is under the "Economy" compartment, so put the "Sports" label in the second-from-right slot on the bottom row.
11 of 18: Clue #14 says that the "Personalities" compartment is at either the left or right end of a row. That means it has to be at the left end of the bottom row, since all of the other left and right end slots are taken. So put the "Personalities" label in the bottom left slot.
12 of 18: Clue #18 says the "Society" and "Economy" compartments are next to each other. That means the "Society" compartment is to the left of the "Economy" compartment, since the one to the right is already taken. So put the "Society" label in the third-from-left slot on the top row.
13 of 18: That brings us to the bottom of the list, but we're not done yet, so go back to the top of the list and repeat the search for useful relative clues. We have more compartments labeled now than we did when we started the relative clue search before, so that should help us find new usefulness in the remaining clues.
14 of 18: Clue #2 is now useful, since the only compartment with blue envelopes in it that's still unlabeled is the third-from-left one on the top row. Give it the "Politics" label. (Note that clues 1, 3, and 4 aren't useful since we already know what they tell us, and can be crossed out or ignored.)
15 of 18: Clue #6 is also now useful, since there are only two compartments that are full or nearly full. The "Society" one is already labeled, so the other one must be the "World" compartment. Put that label under the second-from-left compartment on the top row.
16 of 18: Clue #7 can be used now to place the "Police and Law" compartment. It goes under the "World" compartment, so put the "Police and Law" label in the second-from-left slot on the bottom row.
17 of 18: Clue #8 works similarly, telling us that the "Culture" label needs to go in the third-from-left slot on the bottom row, since that's under the "Society" compartment.
18 of 18: We now have only one label and one empty slot left, so the conclusion is elementary, as Holmes would say.
