~Einstein Quiz~ Detailed Resolution

I normally solve problems like this by making a simple diagram relating to the facts. In this case, I drew the five houses, then worked to put the house colors and simple known facts together as best I could, eliminating the impossibilities, which eventually led to the solution.

I started out with the fact that the Norwegian lived next to the person in the blue house, and that the Norwegian lives in the first house, that only leaves three other colors for the remaining houses.

Clue 14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
Clue 9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.

I also noted that the green house owner drinks coffee. Since the green house owner lives on the left of the white house owner, by elimination, I determined that these two houses must be the last two on the block, because the middle house owner drinks milk.

Clue 4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
Clue 5. The green house owner drinks coffee.
Clue 8. The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk.

Knowing those facts, the rest of the puzzle fell into place--well almost. The first phase of solving it, however, did prove to lie in the house colors and locations of the houses.

Clue 1. The Brit lives in a red house.

The Brit has a red house, so he must be the man who lives in the middle house and drinks milk. He can't live in the first house, because it's occupied by the Norwegian. The second house is blue, the fourth house is green and the fifth house is white. That leaves only the middle house, and by elimination, I knew from this clue that the first house is the only color left. Yellow.

Now that I knew all of the house colors, I'd come a long way in solving the puzzle. Returning to the clues, I learned that the occupant of the yellow house smokes Dunhill, and that his next door neighbor keeps horses.

Clue 7: The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
Clue 11. The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill.

With these clues, I took a big step toward solving this puzzle, but the final phase required plugging some possibilities into what remained, and this is where things can begin to get tangled if each clue isn't carefully thought out.

Clue 15: The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.
Clue 10: The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.

In these two clues, I learned a lot about the person who smokes Blend. In Clue # 15, I learned that the one who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water. The Norwegian smokes Dunhill, so I eliminated him. The man in the blue house could smoke Blend, because I didn't know what his neighbor in the yellow house drinks. The man in the red house could also smoke Blend, because I didn't know what the man in the Blue house drinks. The man in the green house could also smoke Blend, because I didn't know what the man in the white house drinks. So I was left with three possibilites about the person who smokes Blend: he owns the blue house, the red house, or the green house.

So I needed to elimate some other facts, before I solved the puzzle, keeping clue #15 and #10 in mind.

Clue 3. The Dane drinks tea.

I knew from clue #3 that the Dane drinks tea. Since I knew what the occupants of the red and green house drink, that left three possibilities--the blue house, yellow house, or white house. However, the Norwegian owns the yellow house, so the Dane must live in the blue house or the white house.

However, the Dane couldn't live in the white house, because going back to Clue #10 and #15: The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water. Assuming that the man in the green house smokes Blend, then the Dane couldn't live in the white or red house, because they don't drink tea.

So the Dane could only live in the Blue house, and since he lives in the blue house, his neighbor who lives in the white house could only drink water, because the neighbor in the red house drinks milk. Finally, I knew that the Dane is the one who smokes Blend. And that either the man in the yellow or red house has a cat. However, I'll come back to that.

Clue 12: The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.

I also knew what the occupants of the first four houses drink, so by elimation, I knew that the occupant of the white house must be the beer drinker, and clue #12 reveals that this person also smokes Blue Master.

From Clue #2 I knew that the Swede keeps dogs as pets. and from Clue #6 that the person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds, and these were the clues I needed to solve this puzzle. After that, everything fell smoothly into place.

Clue 2: The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
Clue 6 The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds

The person who smokes Pall Mall can only live in the red or green house, since I knew what the others smoke. And the German smokes Prince, and he too must occupy either the red or green house. However, the German can't occupy the red house, because the Brit lives there; therefore, the German lives in the green house, and the person in the red house smokes Pall Mall. And by process of elimination, I also discovered that the Swede lives in the white house.

Clue 13: The German smokes Prince.
Clue 10: The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.

Going back to the clues, I knew that the Swede has dogs and that the cat is owned by the Norwegian; therefore, the fish and bird is owned by either the Brit or the German. Clue # 13, however, tells us that the German smokes prince, so only the Brit can smoke Pall Mall. And since the person who smokes Pall Mall owns birds, then the German is the only one left who can possibly own the fish.

Whew! I'm glad that's resolved!