MisterGC's PUZZLES

[MisterGC]

Hi.

I am an avid puzzles enthusiast and compile various types of puzzles as a hobby - Alpha-Numero, Cipher, Logic Grid, Phone-a-Puzzle, Target and Word Search - all of which are compiled using Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word.

I used to work with gearce who had some puzzles posted in xkcd but regrettably no longer due to unforeseen circumstances.

Crime, Thriller and Mystery which appears below is from my Logic Grid Puzzles Collection. I normally submit my puzzles as a PDF attachment which includes a grid but unfortunately cannot find a way here to do this. Hope you enjoy

Crime, Thriller and Mystery.

Story

Over the next five weeks Jessica, Laurie, Mark, Mary, and Sally, members of the local Weekly Book Club are hosting discussions of five bestselling authors' novels. Each club meeting will be at a different member's house, and each will feature a different one of the five books.

The books chosen for discussion are Crisis, End of Watch, Love You Dead, Rogue Lawyer, and The Cartel.
The authors are Don Winslow, Frank Gardner, John Grisham, Peter James, and Stephen King.
The published dates are May 22, 2015, Oct 20, 2015, Jun 02, 2016, Jun 07, 2016, and Jun 09, 2016.

The members, books, authors, and published dates do not necessarily relate to each other in the order listed.

From this information and the following clues, can you determine, for each member, the hosting order, the book which they chose, the author, and the date when it was published?

Clues

1. The Frank Gardner publication is scheduled for the first discussion.
2. Of the two books published in 2015, the earlier is scheduled for the final discussion at Sally’s house one week after the discussion of John Grisham’s Rogue Lawyer.
3. The men will host consecutive discussions of the books published on Jun 7, 2016 and Jun 9, 2016 following the discussion of Crisis at Mary’s house.
4. One of the women will not host a discussion of a book published in 2015.
5. Neither of the men will host a discussion of The Cartel.
6. John Grisham’s Rogue Lawyer was not published in 2016.
7. Love You Dead, the latest of the 2016 publications, is scheduled mid-term for discussion at Mark’s house.
8. The Peter James publication is scheduled for discussion before that at Jessica’s house but later than Stephen King’s publication.

[Krealr]

Over the next five weeks Jessica, Laurie, Mark, Mary, and Sally, ...

Your clues seem to indicate that there are 2 men. I only recognize one of those names, mark, as a traditionally male name. (It may be possible to solve without knowing I haven't really tried yet.)

[ConMan]

Over the next five weeks Jessica, Laurie, Mark, Mary, and Sally, ...

Your clues seem to indicate that there are 2 men. I only recognize one of those names, mark, as a traditionally male name. (It may be possible to solve without knowing I haven't really tried yet.)

Even if I didn't know a man called Laurie, I probably would guess that Jessica, Mary and Sally are the most generically "female" names in that list.

[Krealr]

Even if I didn't know a man called Laurie, I probably would guess that Jessica, Mary and Sally are the most generically "female" names in that list.

i personally have never met a man named laurie and have met more women named laurie then i have sally and jessica combined.

And with some research. (Not entirely sure how accurate these are just what i found first.)

Laurie has been used as a boys name 69 times since 1880 in the US. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=Laurie
Jessica has been used 2,577 times. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=jessica
Mary has been used 13,805 times. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=mary
Sally has been used 0 times. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=sally

So, somewhat surprisingly to me, it looks like Mary would be the best choice for the 2nd man.

[SirGabriel]

Laurie has been used as a boys name 69 times since 1880 in the US. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=Laurie
Jessica has been used 2,577 times. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=jessica
Mary has been used 13,805 times. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=mary
Sally has been used 0 times. http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=sally

The number of times it's been used isn't what matters; if it did, then you'd say that someone named Mary was more likely to be male than someone named Constantine, since Constantine was only used 4,040 times as a boy's name (even though Constantine was never used as a boy's name). http://www.babynameshub.com/gendercompare.cfm?Name=Constantine

What matters is the percentage of times the name was used that it was a boy's name, and it is entirely coincidental that the ordering is the same for that particular set of four names. Using the statistics from your links:
0.042% of people named Laurie are boys.
0.248% of people named Jessica are boys.
0.335% of people named Mary are boys.
0% of people named Sally are boys.

And even that information is not very useful, since it summarizes all births since 1880 and therefore probably isn't an accurate representation of the population relevant to this question.

[Soupspoon]

(Surprised no mention of "Sue".)

Have we been doing searches into the 'Lauren"/"Laurelai" (F) and "Laurence/Lawrence" (M) namespaces, amongst others?

With apologies for distracting further from the logic problem, into the field of autonymic analysis...

[Poker]

As enlightening as this discussion is, it can actually be deduced from the clues themselves who the second male is (and, in fact, if you assume a binary gender system, the gender of every person can be deduced):

Spoiler:

By clue 5, there must be exactly two men due to grammar. By clue 3, the men host discussions of books published in 2016, and they host them after Mary does, so Mary is not a man but a woman. By clue 2, week 5 is held at Sally's house, but it is of a book published in 2015, so Sally is not a man but a woman. Also by clue 2, week 4 is of John Grisham's Rogue Lawyer, which by clue 6 was not published in 2016. Since by clue 1 week 1 is of Frank Gardner's book, by clue 8 Jessica, who hosts discussions after the Peter James book and the Stephen King book, must host the week 4 discussion, and therefore must not be a man but a woman. Therefore, the two men can only be Mark and Laurie.

Sorry for spoiling the fun.

On a more serious note to the author, I do carry the solution out to the end below, but I took the phrase "scheduled mid-term" to mean that the discussion took place in week 3, the middle week. I assume this is what you intended, but it was not immediately obvious to me. I'm not entirely sure what to suggest as an alternative, but I would think there's a better one out there somewhere.

Spoiler:

Since by clue 2 the week 5 book discussion is the earlier-published 2015 book, it was published on May 22, 2015, and Rogue Lawyer was published on Oct 20, 2015. By clue 3 the discussion of the book published on Jun 02, 2016 was hosted by a woman, which could only be Mary, who hosted the discussion of Crisis. By clue 8, the Stephen King book was discussed before the Peter James book, which was discussed before Jessica hosted, so the Stephen King book was discussed week 2 and the Peter James book was discussed week 3, which leaves only week 5 for the Don Winslow book discussion. By clue 5 the discussion of The Cartel was not hosted by a man, so it was hosted by Sally. By clue 7, Love You Dead was published on Jun 09, 2016, and its discussion was hosted by Mark in week 3, meaning week 2 could only be the discussion hosted by Laurie of End of Watch, published on Jun 07, 2016.

In summary:
Week 1: Mary hosts Frank Gardner's Crisis, published Jun 02, 2016
Week 2: Laurie hosts Stephen King's End of Watch, published Jun 07, 2016
Week 3: Mark hosts Peter James's Love You Dead, published Jun 09, 2016
Week 4: Jessica hosts John Grisham's Rogue Laywer, published Oct 20, 2015
Week 5: Sally hosts Don Winslow's The Cartel, published May 22, 2015

Poor clue 4, completely unused and unwanted... it's not your fault the problem setup (and the fact that there are exactly two men) made you completely deducible...

[MisterGC]

Today's puzzle is what I call an Alpha-Numero Puzzle. You may find it easy or you may find it not so easy . Anyway enjoy.

It is in PDF format so you will need a PDF reader installed on your computer.

Alpha-Numero Puzzle 1.pdf

(231.81 KiB) Downloaded 137 times

Solution to previous puzzle

Spoiler:

Crime, Thriller and Mystery SOLUTION.pdf

(115.48 KiB) Downloaded 136 times

[cjr22]

I don't think it has enough constraints; I got two solutions where the numbers in E, H and K could be swapped for those in G, I and F without anything being inconsistent.

Unless I missed something.

[MisterGC]

I don't think it has enough constraints; I got two solutions where the numbers in E, H and K could be swapped for those in G, I and F without anything being inconsistent.

Unless I missed something.

Thanks for your reply and my apologies to all who tried to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately the Extra (which does add some constraints) was not posted which made the puzzle incomplete.

I've reposted here.

Alpha-Numero Puzzle 1.pdf

(237.45 KiB) Downloaded 128 times

cjr22
As a matter of interest may I see both of your solutions?

[cjr22]

cjr22
As a matter of interest may I see both of your solutions?

Sure, my first one is

Spoiler:

14,11,23,22,18,19,26,9,13,5,15,12,6
17,24,10,8,4,16,20,21,25,2,3,1,7

And the second

Spoiler:

14,11,23,22,26,15,18,13,9,5,19,12,6
17,24,10,8,4,16,20,21,25,2,3,1,7

Based on the "extra" I assume the first is the one you intended?

[MisterGC]

cjr22
As a matter of interest may I see both of your solutions?

Sure, my first one is

Spoiler:

14,11,23,22,18,19,26,9,13,5,15,12,6
17,24,10,8,4,16,20,21,25,2,3,1,7

And the second

Spoiler:

14,11,23,22,26,15,18,13,9,5,19,12,6
17,24,10,8,4,16,20,21,25,2,3,1,7

Based on the "extra" I assume the first is the one you intended?

Thanks for your reply.

[MisterGC]

Today's puzzle is what I call a Phone-a-Puzzle. You may find it easy or you may find it not so easy . Anyway enjoy.

It is in PDF format so you will need a PDF reader installed on your computer.

Phone-a-Puzzle 1.pdf

(48.64 KiB) Downloaded 120 times

Solution to previous puzzle.

Spoiler:

Alpha Numero Puzzle 1 Solution.pdf

(211.15 KiB) Downloaded 110 times

[Xias]

Spoiler:

"I guess that's why they call it the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it"

And now I've got "I guess that's why they call it the blues" by Elton John stuck in my head

[MisterGC]

Today's puzzle is a Cipher Puzzle. You may find it easy or you may find it not so easy . Anyway enjoy.

Cipher Puzzles Number 1.pdf

(73.18 KiB) Downloaded 119 times

Solution to previous puzzle.

Spoiler:

Phone-a-Puzzle 1 Solution.pdf

(91.69 KiB) Downloaded 111 times

[Xias]

Spoiler:

the power of
accurate
observation
is commonly
called
cynicism by
those who
have not got
it.

[MisterGC]

Today's puzzle is a Logic Grid Puzzle. You may find it easy or you may find it not so easy . Anyway enjoy.

Cricket.pdf

(76.38 KiB) Downloaded 120 times

Solution to previous puzzle

Spoiler:

Solution to Cipher Puzzle Number 1: THE POWER OF ACCURATE OBSERVATION IS COMMONLY CALLED CYNICISM BY THOSE WHO HAVE NOT GOT IT.

[MisterGC]

Solution to previous puzzle

Spoiler:

Cricket Solution.pdf

(38.1 KiB) Downloaded 90 times