Miscellaneous: Logic Puzzles

I love puzzles. My mini-obsession began when I was young and I watched my mother complete logic grid puzzles. She would buy Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games, in which there were only 4 logic puzzles. I would make my own grid after she solved (sometimes before!) and complete the puzzles. Later, I purchased my own magazines with only logic puzzles and have some which date back to the late '80s. For my 21st birthday I made tons of puzzles and games for my guests to solve instead of drinking (which I don't do.)

It is hard to pick up logic puzzles if you don't like games, and logic riddles can be very frustrating. I like logic grid puzzles in which there is a reasonable, not tricky, answer through deduction. In Dell Logic Puzzles Magazine, the puzzles are ranked from 1 to 5 stars. The five star problems take me several days to solve.

Example - Ann, Bill, and Carl like to ride bikes. Their bikes are blue, red, and green. Match the person with the color of his or her bike using these clues: None of their first name initials match with the first letter of the color of their bike. Ann's bike color is not a primary color.

That was pretty easy, right? I did make the clues a little more challenging for such a simple match. Braingle has some online logic grid puzzles with interactive grids for solving. The general rule is to put an X in the intersecting box in which the answer is "no" and a dot in the box for "yes." Some puzzles don't work as well with the traditional grid and have different ones. Dell has a great 'how to solve' section in the front of each magazine showing two types of grids.

There are several other logic puzzles I like. To be continued.