Logic Puzzles

Logic puzzles can take a variety of forms. They may involve words,

numbers, or images, and – like all puzzles – can range from being

fairly easy to solve to extremely difficult.

Preparing to solve logic puzzles isn’t like preparing to do a word

search (see Chapter 15) or a Sudoku puzzle (see Chapter 16). You

don’t need to understand how the puzzle is constructed or what

the rules are. You don’t even have many specific strategies that

you need to consider. However, you do need to be prepared to

think a little more creatively, so keep the following points in mind:

 ✓ As with other puzzle types, each logic puzzle has a unique

answer. The puzzle constructor doesn’t intend for you to be

able to solve one puzzle in multiple ways.

 ✓ In many cases, the person writing the puzzle is intention-

ally veiling the answer. The way the puzzle is written may be

deceptive to some degree – the degree of deception being one

determinant of its level of difficulty.

Logic puzzles are a varied lot. You’ll quite likely find that some

answers spring to mind as soon as you’ve read the puzzle – your

own logic will make them seem obvious to you. But others will be

much more diabolical.

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