LOGIC PROBLEM #72 WAS TITLED "NEW YORK REUNION"--NEED THE COMPLETE
WRITTEN ANSWER TO THAT PUZZLE.  I'VE WORKED ON IT FOR FOUR YEARS NOW
AND DON'T HAVE IT SOLVED.  LOST THE ORIGINAL BOOK.

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Request for Question Clarification by austin_trill-ga on 26 Jul 2002 18:23 PDT

Do you still have the text of the puzzle? If so, could you post it? 
And if not, can you remember any relevant details?

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Clarification of Question by happyjogger-ga on 29 Jul 2002 20:02 PDT

#72: NEW YORK REUNION Logic Problem--October 1998--Official's Logic
Problems

As a career officer in the Army, Colonel James Wheeler moved
frequently while his children were growing up, instilling in them a
wanderlust that has never left them.  All grow up now and in their
20's, each of his three sons and three daughters was born in a
different state.  Interestingly, each now lives in a differenct one of
these same six stattes, but non lives in the state where he or she was
born.  Now retired, the colonel lives in New York State, and recently
arranged to have all six of his children, each a different age, gather
at his home for his 60th birthday.  Each of the children brought
thecolonel a different present, and entertained him with stories from
a recent visit to a different foreign country (three primarily
English-speaking--Australia, Ireland, and Zimbabwe---and three
primarily non-English-speaking--Brazil, Estonia, and Taiwan). 
Determine each grown child's age, the state where each was born, the
state where each now lives, the present each gave, and the country
that each recently visited.  Then there are 15 clues listed below.
  
1.   No pair of siblings each lives in the state where the other was
born.
2.   Ryan and the 22-year-old, in some order, were born in California
and visited Brazil.
3.   Edie is three years younger than the person who brought his or
her father an encyclopedia on CD-ROM.
4.   The person who lives in Virginia didn't give the colonel the
homburg.
5.   The person who was born in Texas is an even number of years old.
6.   Of the person who gave the fishing gear and the person who
visited Taiwan, one of these siblings was born in the state where the
other now lives.  The other four siblings are:  Sean, the person who
lives in Ohio, the person who lives in Texas, and the person who is 28
years old.
7.   The three people who went to English-speaking countries are: 
Wendy, the person who was born in New Jersey, and the person who lives
in the state where Edie was born.
8.   The 28-year-old sibling didn't buy the watch or the CD-ROM
encyclopedia.
9.   The woman who was born in the state where Wendy currently resides
lives in the state where her 25-year-old sibling was born.
10.  The person who was born in New Jersey and the person who lives in
California are, in some order, the person who visited Zimbabwe and a
person who didn't give the Colonel a ukelele.
11.  The person who lives in the state where the person who went to
Australia was born was born in a state where a sibling who is under 24
years old now lives.
12.  Edie lives in the state where the person who went to Ireland was
born.
13.  The person who was born in Arizona doesn't live in Texas.
14.  The person who lives in New Jersey is three years younger than a
person who bought the Colonel a watch.
15.  Patrick, who bought the tool set, is either four years older or
four years younger than the person who lives in the state where Wendy
was born.

Hi Happyjogger!

FINALLY got it right! It took a while and alot of trial and error but
I finally got the answer without any contradicting clues.

I'll post the answer in the following order:

Name - Age - State of birth - State of residence - Country visited -
Present given to father

Amy - 28 - New Jersey - Arizona - Australia - homburg
Wendy - 21 - Virginia - New Jersey - Ireland - fishing gear
Ryan - 25 - Arizona - Ohio - Brazil - encyclopedia on CD ROM
Edie - 22 - California - Virginia - Taiwan - ukelele
Sean - 24 - Texas - California - Zimbabwe - watch
Patrick - 26 - Ohio - Texas - Estonia - tool set

Answer Strategy:

Brain and LOTS of paper!

If you need any clarification or explanation of my answer, please
don't hesitate to ask before rating this.

Happy puzzling!
rainbow-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by happyjogger-ga on 13 Aug 2002 18:27 PDT

Thanks to Rainbow-ga for an answer to this puzzle.  I know that you
did a lot of trial and error.  What ended up being the keys to solving
this one?  One thing I note is that my approach to clue #15 had
Patrick as the center of attention (being either 22, 25, or 28 years
old), versus having the other person as the center.  What were the
clues that you started with and progressed further?  Thanks for this
answer.

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Clarification of Answer by rainbow-ga on 14 Aug 2002 00:12 PDT

I'll try and explain the way I approached the puzzle. Hopefully, this
will make sense!

According to clue #7 Wendy went to Ireland, Australia or Zimbabwe. She
wasn't born in New Jersey and she didn't live where Edie was born.
After deducting Wendy went to Ireland, it started falling into
place...very slowly, but still fitting in. Wendy was the person
mentioned in clue #12. Edie lived where she was born. Which then
brought me to clue #15. Edie was also three years younger than the
person who gave the cd rom, clue #3. We knew Edie didn't live in New
Jersey by clue #14. So then what I did was put all possible ages for
Edie, cd rom giver and Patrick (who gave the tool set), Keeping in
mind that we only needed three other ages besides 22, 25 and 28.  I
then went on to other clues leading me to the fact that Edie had to be
22, being born in California. Thus the cd rom giver was 25 and Patrick
(4 years older than Edie) 26 years old.

As a logic puzzle solver, I'm sure you realize you can't take one
clue, finish it and go on to another. The clues intertwined into each
other and I needed to deduct several clues at the same time. When one
clue would contradict another, I would go another way. In this puzzle,
I would hit a wall when I came to the last few ages. But after some
trial and error and paper that looks like chicken scratch, I came to
the answer I did, knowing there was no other possible answer AND no
contradictions! (I even had to re-check my answer a few times before I
realized I got it!)

Thanks for letting me have a chance to answer such an enjoyable and
mind stretching question. Anything else you want to know before rating
this, just let me know.

Best regards,
rainbow-ga

RAINBOW-GA DID AN EXCELLENT JOB FOR ME.  THE ABILITY TO FOLLOW
INDIVIDUALS THROUGH THE POSSIBILITIES WAS EXCELLENT.  I HAD LOOKED
INTO MANY POSSIBILITIES, BUT HIS APPROACH TO CLUE #15 AND COUPLING IT
WITH THE INFORMATION FOR CLUE #12 BASICALLY SOLVED IT.  ALSO, THE
OUT-OF-THE-BOX THINKING IN DETERMINING THE LAST TWO AGES WAS
EXCELLENT, BECAUSE I ONLY CONSIDERED THE UNKNOWN AGES AS BEING ONLY
DERIVATIVES OF THE GIVEN AGES, VERSUS BEING DERIVED AS THE LAST
ALTERNATIVES.  AN EXCELLENT JOB WAS DONE FOR ME AND THAT MAY HAVE BEEN
MY LAST LOGIC PUZZLE.  THAT ONE WAS TRULY STIMULATING AND WON'T BE
WORTH TOPPING FOR ME.  THANKS AGAIN, RAINBOW-GA.

Interesting problem. I realize that the solution doesn't necessarily
require naming the kids, but on review it looks like only five names
are given. Which means (a) I overlooked a name, (b) the name wasn't
given, or (c) there's an omission. I see Ryan, Edie, Sean, Wendy &
Patrick. Just an FYI.

I'm glad you saw the same thing I did.  At Labor Day in 1998, I had a
friend to identify the missing person as AMY by looking at the answer
for me.  That was all I wanted to know then.  Subsequently I lost the
book.  In 2000, I wrote Official Publications that the name should
have been mentioned somewhere, and asked if there was anything that
was incorrect in the clues.  They replied nothing else was incorrect. 
I contend that one of the references to Edie or Wendy could have
originally been Amy, to get her name in the puzzle.  I had not seen
puzzles that did not identify the names of the people, even though
ages or dates or years might have to be figured out.

This is why I am trying to see if Official Publications is still in
business, was bought out, or went bankrupt.  I sent them another
letter on June 4 to Marion, OH and have not gotten a reply yet for the
answer to this puzzle.  I have come up with a solution three different
times, but ended up with contradicting answers to one or two clues.

Hi Happyjogger!
After working on this puzzle for several days, I thought I finally got
it until clue #13 contradicted my answer. Anyway, I'll still keep
trying and let you know if I can get anywhere with it.
All the best!
rainbow-ga