Friday Puzzler -- siblings and in-laws

Hint

Alex Y

Start with the sibling relationships.

Possible answer; don't look if working on it

Larry Barrett

Siblings are:

A&G Short

B&E Long

C&D Tall

F&H X

Couples are:

A&E Short

B&H Long

C&F Tall

D&G Tall

Alex Y

I don't think Alan can be his own brother-in-law. You have him married to Eleanor, but the puzzle states that one of his brothers-in-law is Eleanor's husband.

BTW, the fourth statement of the puzzle is unnecessary, except to give us Hannah's and David's first names.

Question

Dan Donaldson

Can there be two pairs that are siblings? Such as a:b and c:d that are also related a:c and b:d? If not, then I am lost because it appears that Alan has two sisters or I am missing something.

Re: Question

Alex Y

No, Alan's two brothers-in-law are his sister's husband and his wife's brother.

There are four sibling pairs from four separate (before the marriages) families.

Re: Friday Puzzler -- siblings and in-laws

Larry Barrett

I have a neighbor; he and his brother divorced their wives, then each married their brother's former wife. So from their children's point of view, their father is now also their uncle, and vice versa. Seems like it fits right in with this puzzle.

Alan and Eleanor must be siblings. Eleanor marries someone named Short, who then becomes a BIL to Alan. Alan marries Brian Long's sister, so Brian is also a BIL to Alan.

Alan and Brian both have sisters for siblings, so Colin and David are either brothers or both have sisters.

Fiona has no SILs, so Fiona must have a sister; if she had a brother she would then have a SIL.

If F has a sister, then C and D must be brothers.

But Mrs Tall has a brother named Colin.

I'm stuck.

Re: Friday Puzzler -- siblings and in-laws

Alex Y

Re-examine your statements highlighted in red below. They are throwing off your solution. The conclusion highlighted in green is correct.

Alan and Eleanor must be siblings. Eleanor marries someone named Short, who then becomes a BIL to Alan. Alan marries Brian Long's sister, so Brian is also a BIL to Alan.

Alan and Brian both have sisters for siblings, so Colin and David are either brothers or both have sisters.

Fiona has no SILs, so Fiona must have a sister; if she had a brother she would then have a SIL.

If F has a sister, then C and D must be brothers.

But Mrs Tall has a brother named Colin.

I'm stuck.

Re: Friday Puzzler -- still stuck

Larry Barrett

So Alan's sister must be married to Brian Long, making Brian BIL to Alan.

We also know that Fiona has a sister, and that Colin has a sister from the third clue (Mrs Tall's brother Colin ...).

So Brian and David must be brothers, Brian and David Long.

Also from the third clue: "Colin states that his sister-in-law's sister's sister-in-law is Geraldine. Colin's sister is married to Mr Tall, so Mr Tall is Colin's BIL. Therefore, in order for Colin to have a SIL who has a sister, Colin must be married to Fiona or her sister. Either way, Colin's SIL's sister must be Colin's wife. Colin's wife's SIL must therefore be Colin's sister, who is married to Mr. Tall, and who is Geraldine. Geraldine can't be married to Brian or David (if so she would be Mrs Long) so G must be married to Alan, and Alan is Mr Tall.

This would seem to mean that Colin is Mr Short.

But ... the first clue says that one of Alan's BILs is Eleanor Short's husband.

I don't see how Eleanor Short's husband can be Alan's wife's brother unless Eleanor is Alan's wife. But from above, Alan's wife is Geraldine.

Happy Easter. I and still stuck but going to look for Easter eggs with my grandson.

Re: Friday Puzzler -- still stuck

Larry Barrett

Maybe the Easter egg hunt helped. This one makes my head hurt.

I believe the siblings are:

Alan and Hannah Tall

Colin and David Long

Fiona and Eleanor X

Colin and Geraldine Short

and the couples are:

Alan and Geraldine Tall

Brian and Hannah Long

David and Fiona Long

Colin and Eleanor Short

  Easter eggs are brain food!

Alex Y

Good job, Larry. Clerical error in your listing of siblings -- you listed Colin twice -- you meant Brian and David Long. But you obviously have it, and the question was really only the married couples.

This was a tough one. For those looking for how to get to this solution from the clues, if you are a visual thinker like me, try this:

Draw four boxes down the left side of the page representing the four men, and four down the right side representing the four women. Then to solve the puzzle, we will want to put a first and last name in each box as well as one solid line between each pair of siblings, and one dotted line between each box representing married couples. And don't rush to put in names before you are sure.

For instance, clue one initially gives us "Alan" in one of the male boxes, as well as a dotted line from his box to one of the female boxes (his wife) and from that box, a solid line to another man (one of his BILs). We also have a solid line from Alan to another one of the women (his sister) and a dotted line from her to another of the men (Alan's second BIL). So that first clue has (so far) given us two marriages, two sibling relationships, and one name. At this point, we can't say which BIL is Brian.

The second clue, about Fiona, completes the sibling/marriage "network", and then it is just a matter of filling n the names, remembering that each "sibling-in-law" is the result of following one solid and one dotted line.