5 bosses in a meeting room - Zebra puzzle variation

Question

You can play it online here: https://www.brainzilla.com/logic/zebra/meeting-room/

	Boss #1	Boss #2	Boss #3	Boss #4	Boss #5
Tie
Name
Department
Salary
Vacations
Age

Five bosses (boss #1 at the first position on the far left to #5 at the fifth position on the far right), each one from an specific department, are in the meeting room. How much each boss earn per month? Where do they go on vacations?

• ties: black, blue, green, red, yellow
• names: Adam, Julian, Nathan, Michael, Thomas
• departments: HR, IT, marketing, R&D, sales
• salaries: 2k, 3k, 4k, 5k, 6k
• vacations: January, March, June, August, December
• ages: 34, 40, 46, 51, 55

Clues:

1. Julian is at the fifth position.
2. The boss with the Red tie is going on vacation on June.
3. The man wearing the Black tie is somewhere between who earns \$3,000 and Adam, in that order.
4. The 51 years old boss makes \$2,000 monthly.
5. Michael is at the first position.
6. The boss who is going on vacation on March is in one of the ends.
7. Adam sitting is next to who earns \$4,000 each month.
8. In the fourth position is the boss who is going on vacation on August.
9. The man wearing the Black tie earns \$4,000 monthly.
10. In one of the ends is the boss who makes \$5,000 monthly.
11. The 46 years old boss is somewhere to the left of the boss who works at HR department.
12. The man from HR department is somewhere between who is 40 years old and Thomas, in that order.
13. Nathan is going on vacation on December.
14. The Sales department's boss is exactly to the right of the 46 years old boss.
15. The boss wearing the Red tie is somewhere to the left of the boss wearing the Yellow tie.
16. In the first position is the boss of R&D department.
17. The oldest boss is wearing Blue tie.
18. The man wearing the Yellow tie is in one of the ends.
19. The youngest boss is at the fifth position.
20. The boss of the Marketing department is 51 years old.

Answer 1

Deductions

1. Clues 1 and 19 tell us that

   Julian is 34 and in the 5th position.

   Also, by clues 15 and 18, he must be wearing

   a yellow tie.

2. Clues 5 and 16 tell us that

   Michael is the boss of R&D and in the 1st position.

3. Clues 11 and 12 tell us that

   the 40-year-old and 46-year-old bosses are both to the left of the HR boss, who in turn is to the left of Thomas. So Thomas must be in the 4th or 5th positions.

   But we know Michael is in the 5th, so (also using clues 8 and 14):

   • Thomas is in the 4th position and going on holiday in August;

   • the HR boss is in the 3rd position;

   • the Sales boss is 40 and in the 2nd position;

   • the 46-year-old boss is in the 1st position.

4. Clue 20 tells us the Marketing boss isn't at the 5th position, so by elimination of departments and ages, and using also clues 4 and 17:

   • the Marketing boss is 51, makes \$2000 monthly, and is at the 4th position;

   • the IT boss is at the 5th position;

   • the 55-year-old boss is wearing a blue tie and is in the 3rd position.

5. Clue 3 tells us the man with the black tie isn't at the end and is to the left of Adam, so by elimination of names and using also clues 9 and 13:

   • Adam is in the 3rd position;

   • Nathan has a black tie, earns \$4000 monthly, goes on holiday in December, and is in the 2nd position;

   • the boss who earns \$3000 monthly is in the 1st position.

6. Now the boss with the red tie must be in the 1st or 4th positions, and clue 2 tells us which:

   • the boss with the red tie goes on holiday in June and is in the 1st position;

   • the boss with the green tie is in the 4th position.

7. Finally, by clues 6 and 10 and then elimination:

   • the boss in the 5th position makes \$5000 monthly and goes on holiday in March;

   • the boss in the 3rd position makes \$6000 monthly and goes on holiday in January.

Final solution