GeekDad Puzzle Of The Week: My Amazing Comic Collection Solution

Image by Flickr user random letters'

Thanks to everyone who sent in an entry for this week’s puzzle. Zombies, a genetic apocalypse, a vigilante, vikings and a wandering man of the cloth might have frightened some people away, but it didn’t scare Bryce Vander Poel, who got the answer right and won this week’s $50 gift certificate from our favorite friends, those fantastic folks over at Think Geek.

Puzzle:

I have a huge bookcase. It’s stacked with trinkets and framed photos, Photoshop reference books and tons of O’Reilly guides. There are books I’ve read and ones I’m planning on getting to … one day. But the bulk of my bookcase is devoted to my true love: comics.

In the center, are five first editions from some of my most favorite comics, which I’ve had bound in different colors of soft, Corinthian leather. (What can I say? I’m obsessive.) Assigning each book a letter to identify them, the books are of two different heights, with three standing a little shorter – books B, C & E. Then, books A &D are taller than the others. These books are placed in the following order on my shelf: A, B, C, D, E. Need some more info?

1. Y: The Last Man is taller than the one in the red leather, which is next to and left of The Walking Dead.

2. The book in the black leather is farther left than Northlanders, but farther right than Preacher.

3. Punisher has green leather and is a different size than the book in blue leather, which is farther right than Punisher, but farther left than the book with brown leather.

With these hints, can you identify – from A to E – the color and title of each comic book?

Solution:

This is a basic logic puzzle, with variables relating to book title, book color and location on the shelf (with information that relates to book size). By filling in information from the clues provided, we can quickly deduce that book A is Punisher in green leather; B is Preacher in red; C is The Walking Dead in blue; D is Y: The Last Man in black and E is Northlanders in brown. The table I used to work out a solution can be seen below.