Zebra Puzzles

About Zebra Puzzles

A zebra puzzle, also called Einstein's riddle, gives you a row of positions, such as houses side by side, and several categories of items, such as names, drinks and pets. A list of clues describes how they relate, and exactly one arrangement fits them all. Zebra Puzzles publishes six of them every morning, one at each level: very easy, easy, medium, hard, very hard and ultra hard.

You read the clues and place items in the table. As you go, each clue gets a marker: green when your arrangement is consistent with it, red when it breaks it. The site notes that green does not guarantee the final answer and red is not always wrong in the end, so the markers help without solving it for you. An undo button lets you back out of a wrong line. The puzzle is done when every clue holds and the table is full.

The levels differ less in table size than in how hard the clues work: easy clues name positions outright, while the hard ones talk about what is not true, or what is somewhere to the left of something else. It suits anyone who likes pure deduction, and the site suggests regular solvers start at medium.

How to play Zebra Puzzles

1. Pick one of the six difficulty tabs.
2. Read all the clues before placing anything.
3. Place items in the table, combining clues to pin each one down.
4. Watch the markers: green means consistent with a clue, red means it breaks one.
5. Fill the whole table so every clue holds; use undo to back out of a wrong line.

Tips

• Start with clues that name a position outright, then use them to unlock the relative ones.
• Clues like directly next to or somewhere to the left of only bite when combined with another clue; note them and come back.
• Regular solvers can open at medium; save ultra hard for when you have time.

Questions