Mystery Master	Analysis of Super Surfers	Member

This five-star logic puzzle has 4 noun types, 5 nouns per type, only 1 link, 30 facts, and no rules and triggers. It needs 150 marks and 6 grids. Before solving the puzzle, disable assumptions and Law 4. The program will stop after 42 marks have been entered.

Law 4

Take a look at grid 1, and see if you notice anything that allows us to enter negative marks ('X'). You may notice that the only last names available for Jeff and Lance are the same ones: O'Hara and McCoy. So if Jeff is O'Hara, then Lance must be McCoy - or if Jeff is McCoy, then Lance must be O'Hara. Since we're not sure which is which, does that mean we are done? No, because if O'Hara and McCoy can only be with Jeff and Lance, then those two last names cannot be with any other first names! We now know six marks that we can enter.

• Tommy is not O'Hara
• Tommy is not McCoy
• Rod is not O'Hara
• Rod is not McCoy
• Brad is not O'Hara
• Brad is not McCoy

Let's take another look at grid 1 to see if there's anything else to do. You should notice that the only first names available to Tomlin and Wilkins are the same ones - Tommy and Brad. Using the same logic as before, we know two more marks to enter. Note: It's not six new marks, because four of them are duplicates.

• Rivera is not Tommy
• Rivera is not Brad
• O'Hara is not Tommy (duplicate)
• O'Hara is not Brad (duplicate)
• McCoy is not Tommy (duplicate)
• McCoy is not Brad (duplicate)

To summarize this logic, if n nouns of type 1 can only be with the same n nouns of type 2, then the remaining nouns of type 1 cannot be with those n nouns of type 2. For now, this logic is applied only for n = 2.

After these eight marks have been entered, the program can apply laws to these marks to solve the puzzle.

Without law 4, the program would need to make assumptions to find the solution. With law 4, no assumptions are necessary.