This is a logic puzzle in two stages: first identify all the spies’ characteristics, and then match them up and extract an answer. Pity you can’t make all their preferences work, but that’s why it’s a “compromised” best match. Thanks for working for Secret Admirer!
This is a standard grid logic puzzle using your matchmaking predecessor’s notes. An example path:
Table can be scrolled horizontally.
Name | Alexandria | Broderick | Christopher | Demetrius | Evangeline | Fitzgerald | Gwendolyn | Harriette | Isabelle | Jefferson | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Deduced from the Grid Logic Puzzle | Time Waster | Solitaire on your iPhone | Whittle small animal figurines | Conjugating verbs | Crossword puzzles | Factor large numbers in your head | Write poetry | Swipe left on dating profiles | Silent dance party | Call HQ every five minutes to ask if we’re there yet | Birdwatching |
Pet Peeve | When Microsoft Office freezes | Heels that make noise when you walk | Rats in the air vents | Faulty hidden cameras | eating and driving | Partner is late to the drop | People Who Recline Their Seats All the Way Into Your Lap On an Airplane | Getting blocked by grates in ductwork | Dead batteries | Pockets with holes in them | |
Skill | Martial Arts | Reading lips | Dancing the tango | Survival Skills | Acrobatics | Helicoper flying | Night vision | Covert Operations | Lock picking | Technology Specialist | |
Used in unfolding the logic | Lunch location | quad | cafeteria | cafeteria | quad | quad | cafeteria | cafeteria | cafeteria | quad | quad |
College/Military | college | Army | Army | Army | college | Navy | Navy | Navy | Army | college | |
Same street | Yes! | Yes! | Yes! | ||||||||
Facts from their Profile | Height | 5'3" | 5'4" | 5'3" | 5'0" | 5'6" | 5'8" | 5'6" | 5'3" | 5'5" | 6'0" |
Hair Color | long, black | spiky Atomic Turquoise (at the moment) | short and naturally a mousy brown but has a flash of hot pink | used to be black, but now it’s salt-and-pepper, always in a bun | strawberry blonde pixie cut | an unremarkable chin-length light brown | short, brown | dyed a very natural-looking henna, and cascades pleasantly | short, curly, black | bright purple and waist-length | |
Languages Spoken | French, Klingon, Russian | Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Russian | Portuguese, Spanish | Arabic, Hindi, Spanish | Lojban, Russian | French, Hindi, Urdu | French, Hindi, Sindarin, Tamil | Atlantian, French, Portuguese | German, Interglossa, Russian, Spanish | Chinese |
You may notice that each person’s three profile preferences refer to, in order, the explicitly requested solution characteristics in logic puzzle above, the extra characteristics you use in the logic puzzle along the way, and the “About Me” information from the profiles.
Table can be scrolled horizontally.
Name | Alexandria | Broderick | Christopher | Demetrius | Evangeline | Fitzgerald | Gwendolyn | Harriette | Isabelle | Jefferson |
Preference #1 Pet peeves & Skills |
a partner whose favorite pastime involves animals (real ones or fake ones) | a partner who’s into dancing, either for fun or for work | a partner whose hobby doesn’t revolve around their cell phone | a partner whose pet peeve involves something somebody else does... hopefully I’ll seem great by comparison! | a partner who doesn’t complain about ventilation-related mishaps | a partner whose favorite activity involves games or puzzles | a partner who doesn’t have a pet peeve related to something you wear | a partner who won’t have to practice backflips or karate kicks when I just want to have dinner! | a partner who doesn’t obsess over technical glitches | a partner who has a way with words (and whose hobby revolves around them) |
Implications from Preference #1 | YES: BJ YES: B (whittling) YES: J (birdwatching) |
YES: CH YES: C (tango) YES: H (silent dance party) |
YES: BDEFHJ NO: A (solitaire) NO: G (swipe left) NO: I (call HQ) |
YES: EFG YES: E (eating/driving) YES: F (late to drop) YES: G (recline seats) |
YES: ABDFGIJ NO: C (rats) NO: H (grates) |
YES: AD YES: A (solitaire) YES: D (crosswords) |
YES: ACDEFHI NO: B (heels) NO: J (pockets) |
YES: BCDFGIJ NO: A (martial arts) NO: E (acro) |
YES: BCEFGHJ NO: A (MS Office) NO: D (faulty hidden cameras) |
YES: CDF YES: C (verbs) YES: D (crosswords) YES: F (poetry) |
Preference #2 Clues in the Logic Puzzle |
someone I’m already eating lunch with | a partner who has served in the military | someone who wasn’t in the Army | someone who served in the same military branch I did | knows how to participate in a joint mission | someone who doesn’t live near other spies | not somebody who’s part of my regular lunch crowd | doesn’t root for the other team in the Army-Navy game | will eat lunch outside with me | has served in the armed forces |
Implications from Preference #2 | YES: DEIJ | YES: CDFGHI | YES: AEFGHJ | YES: BCI | YES: BCFGH (This is the same as the cafeteria lunch group.) |
YES: BCGHIJ | YES: ADEIJ | YES: AEFGJ | YES: ADEJ | YES: BCDFGHI |
Preference #3 Profile Facts |
speaks a romance language | speaks at least one foreign language that I speak | black hair | speaks Chinese or French | long hair | speaks a constructed or invented language | hair color that is not found in nature | not taller than me | an inch or two shorter than me | can be my translator on my next trip to Moscow |
Implications from Preference #3 | CDFGHI | ADEFGIJ | ADI | ABFGHJ | ADHJ | AEGHI | BCJ | ACD | ABCH | ABEI |
Which outcomes satisfy 2/3 preferences? | DIJ | CDFGHI | ADEFHJ | BFG | ABDFGHJ | AGHI | ACDEIJ | ACDFGJ | ACEHJ | BCDFI |
When you try to use all those characteristics, you quickly reach an impasse: no candidate makes another candidate completely happy. You’ll have to compromise. The best you can do, then, is that each candidate gets two out of three of their preferences met.
Here’s one potential solve path. Let’s define “you satisfy ⅔ of my preferences” as “I like you.” Then:
The compromised set of matches is what you fill into the extraction images at the bottom. After you fill in the three specific clues and their matches, you’re left with Broderick, Demetrius, Evangeline, and Gwendolyn. The only Navy veteran is Gwendolyn, so they go in the third match. Demetrius eats in the quad, so they go on the right-hand side of the last match to complete the ordering.
Now take the two-digit scores as indexes into each person’s name, and read off the answer (zeroes are spaces). The spies have given the Secret Admirer matchmaker PROFILES IN COURAGE.
Name | Skill | Pastime | Pet Peeve | Lunch Location | Post High School | Match’s Name | Letters |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Christopher | Dancing the tango | Practice verb conjugations | Rats in the air vents | Cafeteria | Army | Jefferson | PR |
Jefferson | Technology specialist | Bird watching | Pockets with holes in them | Quad | College | Christopher | OF |
Alexandria | Martial arts | Solitaire on your iPhone | Frozen Microsoft Office | Quad | College | Isabelle | IL |
Isabelle | Lock picking | Call HQ every five minutes to ask if we’re there yet | Dead batteries | Quad | Army | Alexandria | ES |
Evangeline | Acrobatics | Factoring large numbers in your head | Texting and driving | Quad | College | Gwendolyn | [space]I |
Gwendolyn | Night vision | Swiping left on dating profiles | People who recline their seats all the way into your lap on an airplane | Cafeteria | Navy | Evangeline | N[space] |
Broderick | Reading lips | Whittling small animal figurines | Heels that make noise when you walk | Cafeteria | Army | Demetrius | CO |
Demetrius | Survival skills | Crossword puzzles | Faulty hidden cameras | Quad | Army | Broderick | UR |
Fitzgerald | Helicopter flying | Writing poetry | Partner is late to the drop | Cafeteria | Navy | Harriette | AG |
Harriette | Covert operations | Silent dance party | Getting blocked by grates in ductwork | Cafeteria | Navy | Fitzgerald | E[space] |