TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Dan Van der Vieren: Can you solve "Einstein's Riddle"?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by divesnig a clomepx riddle involving this list of cuels. Can you resist tlinckag a brain teaser written by one of the smartest people in history? Let's give it a shot. The world's rrseat fish has been selotn from the city aquarium. The police have followed the scent to a steret with five identical looking houses. But they can't serach all the houses at once, and if they pick the worng one, the thief will know they're on his trail. It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case. When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know. One: each house's owenr is of a different ntnltoaiaiy, drkins a different bravgeee, and skmoes a different type of cigar. Two: each house's interior walls are painted a different color. Three: each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish. After a few hours of expert shnituleg, you geathr some clues. It may look like a lot of information, but there's a clear logical path to the solution. Solving the pzulze will be a lot like sdkouu, so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid, like this. Pause the video on the following sceern to examine your clues and solve the ridlde. Answer in: 3 2 1 To start, you fill in the inmaroifton from clues eight and nine. iaeteimlmdy, you also realize that since the Norwegian is at the end of the street, there's only one house next to him, which must be the one with the blue walls in clue fourteen. Clue five says the green-walled house's owner drinks coffee. It can't be the center house since you already know its owner drinks milk, but it also can't be the second house, which you know has blue walls. And since clue four says the green-walled house must be directly to the left of the white-walled one, it can't be the first or fifth house either. The only place left for the green-walled house with the coffee dikrenr is the fourth spot, meaning the white-walled house is the fifth. Clue one gives you a nationality and a color. Since the only column missing both these vaeuls is the center one, this must be the Brit's red-walled home. Now that the only ueginsnasd wall color is yleolw, this must be applied to the first house, where clue seven says the dnulhil smoker lives. And clue eleven tells you that the owner of the hosre is next door, which can only be the second house. The next step is to figure out what the nigweraon in the first house drinks. It can't be tea, clue three tells you that's the Dane. As per clue twelve, it can't be root beer since that person smokes Bluemaster, and since you already assigned milk and cfofee, it must be water. From clue fifteen, you know that the Norwegian's nebihgor, who can only be in the second house, smokes Blends. Now that the only spot in the grid without a cigar and a drink is in the fifth column, that must be the home of the person in clue twelve. And since this leaves only the second house without a drink, the tea-drinking Dane must live there. The fourth house is now the only one missing a nationality and a cigar brand, so the Prince-smoking German from clue ttiehern must live there. Through eitmioainln, you can conclude that the Brit smokes Pall Mall and the Swede lievs in the fifth house, while clue six and clue two tell you that these two have a bird and a dog, respectively. Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane, putting him in the first house. Now with only one spot left on the grid, you know that the German in the green-walled hosue must be the culprit. You and the police burst into the house, catching the thief fish-handed. While that explanation was straightforward, solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and dead ends. Part of the trick is to use the process of elimination and lots of taril and error to hone in on the right pieces, and the more lgoic puzzles you slove, the better your intuition will be for when and where there's enough information to make your deductions. And did young Einstein really write this puzzle? Probably not. There's no evidence he did, and some of the brands mentioned are too recent. But the logic here is not so different from what you'd use to solve equations with multiple variables, even those describing the nature of the universe.

Open Cloze

Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by ________ a _______ riddle involving this list of _____. Can you resist ________ a brain teaser written by one of the smartest people in history? Let's give it a shot. The world's ______ fish has been ______ from the city aquarium. The police have followed the scent to a ______ with five identical looking houses. But they can't ______ all the houses at once, and if they pick the _____ one, the thief will know they're on his trail. It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case. When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know. One: each house's _____ is of a different ___________, ______ a different ________, and ______ a different type of cigar. Two: each house's interior walls are painted a different color. Three: each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish. After a few hours of expert _________, you ______ some clues. It may look like a lot of information, but there's a clear logical path to the solution. Solving the ______ will be a lot like ______, so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid, like this. Pause the video on the following ______ to examine your clues and solve the ______. Answer in: 3 2 1 To start, you fill in the ___________ from clues eight and nine. ___________, you also realize that since the Norwegian is at the end of the street, there's only one house next to him, which must be the one with the blue walls in clue fourteen. Clue five says the green-walled house's owner drinks coffee. It can't be the center house since you already know its owner drinks milk, but it also can't be the second house, which you know has blue walls. And since clue four says the green-walled house must be directly to the left of the white-walled one, it can't be the first or fifth house either. The only place left for the green-walled house with the coffee _______ is the fourth spot, meaning the white-walled house is the fifth. Clue one gives you a nationality and a color. Since the only column missing both these ______ is the center one, this must be the Brit's red-walled home. Now that the only __________ wall color is ______, this must be applied to the first house, where clue seven says the _______ smoker lives. And clue eleven tells you that the owner of the _____ is next door, which can only be the second house. The next step is to figure out what the _________ in the first house drinks. It can't be tea, clue three tells you that's the Dane. As per clue twelve, it can't be root beer since that person smokes Bluemaster, and since you already assigned milk and ______, it must be water. From clue fifteen, you know that the Norwegian's ________, who can only be in the second house, smokes Blends. Now that the only spot in the grid without a cigar and a drink is in the fifth column, that must be the home of the person in clue twelve. And since this leaves only the second house without a drink, the tea-drinking Dane must live there. The fourth house is now the only one missing a nationality and a cigar brand, so the Prince-smoking German from clue ________ must live there. Through ___________, you can conclude that the Brit smokes Pall Mall and the Swede _____ in the fifth house, while clue six and clue two tell you that these two have a bird and a dog, respectively. Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane, putting him in the first house. Now with only one spot left on the grid, you know that the German in the green-walled _____ must be the culprit. You and the police burst into the house, catching the thief fish-handed. While that explanation was straightforward, solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and dead ends. Part of the trick is to use the process of elimination and lots of _____ and error to hone in on the right pieces, and the more _____ puzzles you _____, the better your intuition will be for when and where there's enough information to make your deductions. And did young Einstein really write this puzzle? Probably not. There's no evidence he did, and some of the brands mentioned are too recent. But the logic here is not so different from what you'd use to solve equations with multiple variables, even those describing the nature of the universe.

Solution

neighbor
complex
screen
house
dunhill
solve
smokes
yellow
values
puzzle
coffee
street
lives
clues
wrong
sleuthing
norwegian
stolen
elimination
immediately
search
thirteen
beverage
devising
riddle
owner
rarest
sudoku
unassigned
drinker
horse
tackling
information
drinks
logic
nationality
gather
trial

Original Text

Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by devising a complex riddle involving this list of clues. Can you resist tackling a brain teaser written by one of the smartest people in history? Let's give it a shot. The world's rarest fish has been stolen from the city aquarium. The police have followed the scent to a street with five identical looking houses. But they can't search all the houses at once, and if they pick the wrong one, the thief will know they're on his trail. It's up to you, the city's best detective, to solve the case. When you arrive on the scene, the police tell you what they know. One: each house's owner is of a different nationality, drinks a different beverage, and smokes a different type of cigar. Two: each house's interior walls are painted a different color. Three: each house contains a different animal, one of which is the fish. After a few hours of expert sleuthing, you gather some clues. It may look like a lot of information, but there's a clear logical path to the solution. Solving the puzzle will be a lot like Sudoku, so you may find it helpful to organize your information in a grid, like this. Pause the video on the following screen to examine your clues and solve the riddle. Answer in: 3 2 1 To start, you fill in the information from clues eight and nine. Immediately, you also realize that since the Norwegian is at the end of the street, there's only one house next to him, which must be the one with the blue walls in clue fourteen. Clue five says the green-walled house's owner drinks coffee. It can't be the center house since you already know its owner drinks milk, but it also can't be the second house, which you know has blue walls. And since clue four says the green-walled house must be directly to the left of the white-walled one, it can't be the first or fifth house either. The only place left for the green-walled house with the coffee drinker is the fourth spot, meaning the white-walled house is the fifth. Clue one gives you a nationality and a color. Since the only column missing both these values is the center one, this must be the Brit's red-walled home. Now that the only unassigned wall color is yellow, this must be applied to the first house, where clue seven says the Dunhill smoker lives. And clue eleven tells you that the owner of the horse is next door, which can only be the second house. The next step is to figure out what the Norwegian in the first house drinks. It can't be tea, clue three tells you that's the Dane. As per clue twelve, it can't be root beer since that person smokes Bluemaster, and since you already assigned milk and coffee, it must be water. From clue fifteen, you know that the Norwegian's neighbor, who can only be in the second house, smokes Blends. Now that the only spot in the grid without a cigar and a drink is in the fifth column, that must be the home of the person in clue twelve. And since this leaves only the second house without a drink, the tea-drinking Dane must live there. The fourth house is now the only one missing a nationality and a cigar brand, so the Prince-smoking German from clue thirteen must live there. Through elimination, you can conclude that the Brit smokes Pall Mall and the Swede lives in the fifth house, while clue six and clue two tell you that these two have a bird and a dog, respectively. Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane, putting him in the first house. Now with only one spot left on the grid, you know that the German in the green-walled house must be the culprit. You and the police burst into the house, catching the thief fish-handed. While that explanation was straightforward, solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and dead ends. Part of the trick is to use the process of elimination and lots of trial and error to hone in on the right pieces, and the more logic puzzles you solve, the better your intuition will be for when and where there's enough information to make your deductions. And did young Einstein really write this puzzle? Probably not. There's no evidence he did, and some of the brands mentioned are too recent. But the logic here is not so different from what you'd use to solve equations with multiple variables, even those describing the nature of the universe.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
blue walls	2
owner drinks	2

Important Words

albert
animal
answer
applied
aquarium
arrive
assigned
beer
beverage
bird
blends
blue
bluemaster
brain
brand
brands
brit
burst
case
cat
catching
center
cigar
city
clear
clue
clues
coffee
color
column
complex
conclude
culprit
dane
dead
deductions
describing
detective
devising
dog
door
drink
drinker
drinks
dunhill
einstein
eleven
elimination
ends
equations
error
evidence
examine
expert
explanation
false
fifteen
figure
fill
find
fish
fourteen
fourth
gather
genius
german
give
grid
helpful
history
home
hone
horse
hours
house
houses
identical
immediately
information
interior
intuition
involves
involving
leaves
left
list
live
lives
logic
logical
lot
lots
mall
meaning
mentioned
milk
missing
multiple
nationality
nature
neighbor
norwegian
organize
owner
painted
pall
part
path
pause
people
person
physics
pick
pieces
place
police
process
putting
puzzle
puzzles
rarest
realize
resist
riddle
root
scene
scent
screen
search
shot
showed
sleuthing
smartest
smoker
smokes
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solve
solving
spot
start
starts
step
stolen
straightforward
street
sudoku
supposedly
swede
tackling
tea
teaser
tells
ten
thief
thirteen
trail
trial
trick
turned
twelve
type
unassigned
universe
upside
values
variables
video
wall
walls
water
write
written
wrong
yellow
young