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Murder at The StackO Ave Tavern

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Each Saturday Night the local bar, "The StackO Ave Tavern", hosted a Poker Party. And each week, me and three of my buddies attended the event. Until this week, it's been a great time.

This night, however, one of my buddies got up from his chair and screamed, "I'VE BEEN POISONED!" - then he fell off his chair. He was dead.

The Arrest

All three of us were immediately brought in and questioned.

The Interrogation

The following statements were given by each of, and each of us gave one FALSE statement.

Myself ( Johnny )

  1. I didn't do it.
  2. I was sitting next to Mikey.
  3. We had our usual bartender.

Mikey

  1. I was sitting across the table from Smitty.
  2. We had a new bartender today.
  3. The bartender did not do it.

Jimmy

  1. Mikey didn't do it.
  2. It was the bartender who poisoned Smith.
  3. Johnny lied when he said we had our usual bartender today.

Assuming that ONLY Smitty' buddies and the bartender are implicated...

WHO IS THE MURDERER?

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2 Answers 2

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My solution:

Notice first that Johnny is lying with his third statement, "we had our usual bartender". If it were true, then Mikey's statement "we had a new bartender today" and Jimmy's statement "Johnny lied when he said we had our usual bartender today" would be false, meaning the rest of their statements would be true. But then Mikey's third statement and Jimmy's second statement would contradict one another. Thus Johnny's third statement is false and his first two are true.
Now either Jimmy's first or second statements must be false, as the third is true. Assume the bartender poisoned Smith, as Jimmy claims in his second statement. Then Mikey did it, as Jimmy's first statement is false. But that's a contradiction. Thus, the bartender did not poison Smith, Mikey did not do it, and our murderer is Jimmy by process of elimination.

For clarification:

Johnny
I didn't do it. - TRUE
I was sitting next to Mikey. - TRUE
We had our usual bartender. - FALSE
Mikey
I was sitting across the table from Smitty. - FALSE
We had a new bartender today. - TRUE
The bartender did not do it. - TRUE
Jimmy
Mikey didn't do it. - TRUE
It was the bartender who poisoned Smith (Smitty). - FALSE
Johnny lied when he said we had our usual bartender today. - TRUE

Mikey was sitting next to Johnny and Smitty, and across from Jimmy, so this is not a contradiction.

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Despite the question has already been answered I wanted to answer my way. I made different suppositions and this was my final answer

If Jimmy is lying about the bartender, then Mikey, Johnny and the bartender are clean. We could already say case closed! But let's go analyse the case

If Jimmy is lying about the bartender then:
1. Mikey didn't do it
2. The bartender didn't do it
3. They had a new bartender because Johnny lied

If Johnny lied about the bartender then:
1. Johnny didn't do it 2. He was sitting next to Mikey 3. They had a new bartender

Given what said above, Mikey is telling the truth about the bartender, his lie is that he was sitting across the table from Smitty.

Conclusion

Jimmy did it.

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