Can somebody solve this brainteaser?!


Question: Boggs has been found dead in the club lounge, his wine poisoned. 4 men, seated on a sofa and two chairs infornt of the fireplace, are discussing the foul deed. Their names are Howell, Scott, Jennings, and Wilton. They are, not necessarily respectively a general, schoolmaster, admiral and doctor.
A) The waiter pours a glass of whiskey for jennings and a beer for Scott.

B) In the mirror over the fireplace, the general sees the door close behind the waiter. He turns to speak to Wilton, next to him

C)Neither Howell nor Scott has any sisters

D) The schoolmaster is a teetotaler

E) Howell, who is sitting in one of he chairs, is the admiral's brother-in-law

F) The schoolmaster is next to Howell on his left

Suddenly a hand moves stealthily to put something in Jenning's whiskey. It is the murder. No one has left his seat and no one else is in the room

What is the profession of each man, where is he sitting, and who is the murderer?

2 men in sofa, 1 man per chair. Sofa is in the middle


Answers: Boggs has been found dead in the club lounge, his wine poisoned. 4 men, seated on a sofa and two chairs infornt of the fireplace, are discussing the foul deed. Their names are Howell, Scott, Jennings, and Wilton. They are, not necessarily respectively a general, schoolmaster, admiral and doctor.
A) The waiter pours a glass of whiskey for jennings and a beer for Scott.

B) In the mirror over the fireplace, the general sees the door close behind the waiter. He turns to speak to Wilton, next to him

C)Neither Howell nor Scott has any sisters

D) The schoolmaster is a teetotaler

E) Howell, who is sitting in one of he chairs, is the admiral's brother-in-law

F) The schoolmaster is next to Howell on his left

Suddenly a hand moves stealthily to put something in Jenning's whiskey. It is the murder. No one has left his seat and no one else is in the room

What is the profession of each man, where is he sitting, and who is the murderer?

2 men in sofa, 1 man per chair. Sofa is in the middle

I think the other people above are correct, but I think you may have either left out some information, or one of your clues is worded incorrectly. From the clues you gave us, Scott is the murderer, and the sitting arrangment is JENNINGS, SCOTT, WILTON, HOWELL. Jennings is the admiral and Wilton is the schoolmaster. BUT there is no way to know for sure about Howell and Scott's profession (which one is the doctor and which one is the General?)

First of all, each and every word and clue in this puzzle is important. And even more important is the fact that you get loads of information when clues are used together. Let's start at the beginning.

Clues A and D tell us a lot. Jennings had the whiskey and Scott had the beer. This means that neither one of them is a schoolmaster. (The schoolmaster is a teetotaler, and a teetotaler is someone who does not drink alcoholic beverages.)

Clue B says that the general turned to speak with Wilton sitting next to him. This means that Wilton is not the general.

Clues C and E work together. Howell is the admiral's brother-in-law. This tells us that Howell is not the admiral. But it ALSO tells us that Scott is not the admiral either because clue C says that Scott has no sisters (only someone with sisters can have a brother-in-law.)

Clues E and F work together to give us the most powerful information. Howell is sitting in one of the chairs, and the schoolmaster is on Howell's left. This means that Howell must be in the right-hand chair (since the arrangement is CHAIR-SOFA-CHAIR.) And ALSO, this finally tells us the first profession. If the schoolmaster is on Howell's left, then that means Howell is not the schoolmaster. Up above, I also already mentioned that neither Scott nor Jennings is the schoolmaster. That only leaves one person...Wilton is the schoolmaster and he's sitting on the right-hand side of the sofa!

Now...we also know who the admiral is!!! Look back carefully over what I wrote. Howell is not the admiral (because of clue E). Scott is not the admiral (because he has no sisters in clue C). Wilton is not the admiral (because we just figured out that he's the schoolmaster.) This only leaves one person. Jennings is the admiral!!!

At first, I didn't know where to put Jennings...he's either on the sofa with Wilton, or he's sitting in the remaining chair on the left. I originally thought you left out a clue or something...until I realized that there's actually a clue G (the one sentence that starts with the word "Suddenly"). This sentence tells us that Jennings is not the murderer. It also tells us that Howell is not the murderer because "no one has left his seat" (Howell would have had to leave the far right-hand chair to spike Jennings' drink.)

I couldn't figure out whether Scott was the killer or Wilton was the killer. There had to be an answer. And then it hit me...the only way the problem can actually have an answer in the first place is if Jennings was in the far left chair! That would eliminate the guessing. That means Scott is the killer, and he's sitting on the sofa with Wilton!

Now we have everyone placed. Let's review what we have so far. The sitting arrangement (from left to right) is JENNINGS, SCOTT, WILTON, HOWELL. Their corresponding professions (from left to right) are ADMIRAL, unknown, SCHOOLMASTER, unknown.

This is where something is missing. There are no more words in your puzzle that have gone unused. The only thing we know about the general is that the general is sitting next to Wilton (from clue B). And there's absolutely no information in the puzzle at all about a doctor.

According to everything you wrote, the solution could be that Scott is the general OR Howell is the general. The solution works fine either way.

So my question to you, Edgar, is what information is missing???


By the way...Eric H (who answered earlier) can't have Jennings sitting first in order AND have Jennings on the sofa at the same time.

i got confused

they are sitting in this order
jennings- admiral,scott- general, wilton- schoolmaster, and howell- doctor

scott is in a chair, jennings and wilton are on sofa, and howell is in the other chair

my guess is that scott is the murderer because he is the only one in a decent position to poison the drink.....unless its the waiter lol

i liked this one...actually took out pen and paper

if i'm wrong, i tried lol

Scott is the murderer!!!

Jennings- admiral (Chair)
Scott -general (Couch)
Wilton - Schoolmaster (couch)
Howell - Doctor (chair)

I think I've got it:

Dr. Howell is in the chair to the right of Wilton, the tee-totaling schoolmaster. Wilton shares the couch with Scott, the beer drinking General. On the other chair next to Scott is Jennings, the whiskey drinking Admiral.

Scott is the murderer, since he was sitting close enough to put something in Jennings whiskey to poison him.


If I'm wrong, somebody else please figure this out! :)



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