Play and imagination
Three parcel logic puzzles with answers and explanations
Two box labels are wrong, three address slips have fallen off, and four parcels need their owners. Use the clues to untangle three independent cases; each has one complete solution.
Before you open the parcels
Three delivery mix-ups, three complete solutions. Start with the labels, then match three orders, then tackle a shelf of four parcels. Each puzzle is independent: names and items used in one puzzle tell you nothing about the next.
You can solve alone or together. One person can read the clues while another records possibilities. A pencil is useful; no arithmetic, special knowledge or picture clues are needed. Everything you need is in the words.
Use every listed person, item and type of wrapping exactly once within its puzzle. Every clue is true. Only the printed labels in Puzzle 1 may be wrong. Each puzzle has exactly one complete arrangement that satisfies its clues.
Try to find the whole arrangement before selecting an answer. The answer panels begin closed, so you can leave the explanation hidden until you are ready.
1. One label can be trusted
Three boxes stand in one row, from left to right: A, B, C. They contain a packet of tea, a folded map and a small bell: one different item per box. Nobody has opened them.
The labels read A: “Tea”, B: “Map”, C: “Bell”. Which box actually contains the tea?
- Exactly one of the three labels names the item actually inside its box. The other two labels are wrong.
- The box with the bell is somewhere to the left of the box with the tea; they need not be next to each other.
Check Puzzle 1
Choose an answer, or open “Answers and explanations” below when you are ready. You can solve the puzzle on paper without using the buttons.
Answers and explanations
- Box A: If the tea were in A, there would be no box to its left for the bell. That breaks the second clue.
- Box B: If B held tea, its “Map” label would be wrong. The “Tea” label on A would also be wrong, so C would have to hold the bell. But C is to the right of B, not to its left.
- Box C: Correct: A holds the bell, B holds the map, C holds the tea. A’s label cannot be right, because the bell needs a place left of the tea. C’s label cannot be right either: a bell at the right end leaves no room for tea to its right. So B has the one correct label and contains the map. The remaining bell and tea must go in A and C, in that order.
2. Three orders, three wrappers
Ada, Ben and Cora each ordered one item: a notebook, a compass or a packet of seeds. Each item was ordered by exactly one person. Each parcel contains that person’s order and uses a different kind of paper: plain, striped or dotted. There is exactly one parcel of each kind.
The address slips have fallen off. Match each person to an item and a kind of paper. What did Ada order?
- Ada’s parcel is wrapped in striped paper.
- The compass is wrapped in dotted paper.
- Ben did not order the seeds.
- Cora’s parcel is not wrapped in plain paper.
Check Puzzle 2
Choose an answer, or open “Answers and explanations” below when you are ready. You can solve the puzzle on paper without using the buttons.
Answers and explanations
- Compass: The compass is in dotted paper, while Ada’s parcel uses striped paper. Each parcel has only one kind of paper.
- Seeds: Correct. Ada has striped paper. Cora cannot have plain paper and cannot share Ada’s striped paper, so Cora has dotted paper and the compass. That leaves plain paper for Ben. Of the two remaining items, Ben cannot have the seeds, so Ben has the notebook and Ada has the seeds. Full match: Ada — seeds — striped; Ben — notebook — plain; Cora — compass — dotted.
- Notebook: Cora must have dotted paper and therefore the compass. If Ada had the notebook, only the seeds would remain for Ben, contradicting the third clue.
3. The shelf with four spaces
Four parcels occupy positions 1, 2, 3 and 4 on one shelf, numbered from your left to your right. There are no empty positions. The recipients are Ada, Ben, Cora and Dara, one parcel each. The contents are a mug, a lamp, a scarf and a packet of seeds, one different item in each parcel. Each parcel contains its recipient’s order.
Here “immediately to the right” means the next numbered position. “Next to” means immediately on either side. “Somewhere to the left” allows a gap. Use the seven clues to identify every parcel. Who ordered the lamp?
- 1. The lamp is immediately to the right of the mug.
- 2. Cora’s parcel is immediately to the right of Ada’s parcel.
- 3. Ben ordered the seeds.
- 4. The seeds are at one end of the shelf: position 1 or position 4.
- 5. Dara’s parcel is somewhere to the left of Ada’s parcel.
- 6. The scarf is not next to the seeds.
- 7. Dara did not order the scarf.
Check Puzzle 3
Choose an answer, or open “Answers and explanations” below when you are ready. You can solve the puzzle on paper without using the buttons.
Answers and explanations
- Dara: If Dara had the lamp, the mug would be immediately before her parcel, with Ada somewhere after her and Cora immediately after Ada. Those four parcels would have to occupy positions 1–2–3–4 in that order. Ben would then be at 1 with the mug, but Ben ordered the seeds. That is a contradiction.
- Cora: If Cora had the lamp, Ada would have the mug. Ben has the seeds, so the remaining scarf would belong to Dara. That contradicts clue 7.
- Ada: Correct: 1 Ben — seeds; 2 Dara — mug; 3 Ada — lamp; 4 Cora — scarf. To prove it, try seeds at 4, so Ben is at 4. Dara before Ada, with Cora immediately after Ada, forces Dara–Ada–Cora into 1–2–3. The scarf cannot be at 3 beside the seeds, or at 1 with Dara, so it must be at 2. That leaves positions 1 and 3 for the mug and lamp: they are not adjacent, a contradiction. Therefore the seeds and Ben are at 1. Dara–Ada–Cora must occupy 2–3–4. The mug–lamp pair could be at 2–3 or 3–4. The latter would leave the scarf at 2 beside the seeds, so the mug is at 2, the lamp at 3 and the scarf at 4.
- Ben: Ben ordered the seeds, and each person ordered exactly one item. Ben cannot also have the lamp.
A small method you can reuse
Draw one row for each box or person. Write a confirmed match only when a clue forces it, and cross out impossible matches. When one row has a single possibility left, place it and remove that possibility from the other rows.
For a position puzzle, keep “somewhere left” separate from “immediately left”. If a clue gives only two possible places, try one in pencil and follow its consequences. If it breaks a clue, return to the last confirmed fact and try the other place.
When you finish, read every clue against the complete arrangement. Finding an answer to the final question is useful; explaining why the other arrangements fail is the stronger check.
For shared play, take turns naming a deduction and the clue that supports it. Someone who prefers writing can record the row instead of speaking. There is no timer or score.
About these puzzles
These three fictional cases and their explanations were written for Coru. We checked every possible complete assignment: 6 for Puzzle 1, 36 for Puzzle 2 and 576 for Puzzle 3. Each set of clues left one solution.
The links below are optional references for deduction and checking a finished arrangement. They are not sources of these parcel stories or their clues.