Question: There are 5 houses painted 5 different colors. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. These 5 people each drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. None of them have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage.
The Brit lives in the red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house is on the left of the white house.
The green homeowner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the center house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
The German smokes prince.
The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.
Who owns the fish?
Answer: The German. It's easiest to solve this riddle by creating a grid organized by order of the houses, you can then fill in the house number of the Norwegian, the person who drinks milk, and the blue house:
| House # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Color | | Blue | | | |
| Nationality | Norwegian | | | | |
| Drink | | | Milk | | |
| Smoke | | | | | |
| Pet | | | | | |
These facts can all also be determined from the clues:
Brit - Red House
Swede - Dogs
Dane - Tea
Green House - Coffee
Pall Mall - Birds
Yellow House - Dunhill
Blue-masters - Beer
German - Prince
Green House is to left of the White House
Blends is next to Cats
Horse is next to Dunhill
Blends is next to Water
With this information these facts can be determined:
- House 3 cannot be green because whoever lives there drinks milk and not coffee.
- House 4 must be green since the green house needs a white house to its right.
- House one cannot be red because the Brit doesn't live there.
This info leads to a single color order:
| House # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Color | Yellow | Blue | Red | Green | White |
| Nationality | Norwegian | | Brit | | |
| Drink | | | Milk | Coffee | |
| Smoke | Dunhill | | | | |
| Pet | | | | | |
The following information can now be determined:
- The horse has to be at house 2 because it is next to the Dunhills.
- House 1 and 3 can't have birds, dogs, or Pall Malls.
- House 2 is where the Dane lives because of the horse.
- House 5 has the beer, Blue-masters, Swede, and dogs.
| House # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Color | Yellow | Blue | Red | Green | White |
| Nationality | Norwegian | Dane | Brit | German | Swede |
| Drink | | Tea | Milk | Coffee | Beer |
| Smoke | Dunhill | | | Prince | Blue-masters |
| Pet | | Horse | | | Dogs |
With this version of the table we can now find the information pertaining to solving the riddle completely:
- House 3 has to have the Pall Mall and birds.
- Since blends must be next to cats blends must be at house 2 and cats at house 1.
- The Norwegian has the water.
- The German is the only one without a pet so his a the fish!
| House # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Color | Yellow | Blue | Red | Green | White |
| Nationality | Norwegian | Dane | Brit | German | Swede |
| Drink | Water | Tea | Milk | Coffee | Beer |
| Smoke | Dunhill | Blends | Pall Mall | Prince | Blue-masters |
| Pet | Cate | Horse | Bird | Fish | Dogs |