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Pirate’s Treasure Logic Puzzle

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The logician turned pirate buried his treasure on the island below years ago and left a few cryptic clues that were recently discovered. Can you use them to find its location before other treasure hunters do?

Clues

  1. An even number of squares marked X lie farther east than the treasure.
  2. The treasure is not located at the X that is closest to the abandoned mine.
  3. If there are an even number of X’s farther north than the treasure, the treasure is located on one of the four small islands.
  4. If the treasure is on one of the four small islands, then the distance from the treasure to the nearest other X is greater than the distance from the pirate hut to the sunken ship.
  5. If the treasure is on the biggest island, then one of the buildings is farther west than the treasure and the other building is farther north than the treasure.
Solution
  • The X that marks the treasure is the one labeled H.
  • From clue 1, you can rule out points A and G.
  • From clue 2, you can eliminate C.
  • From clue 3, you can eliminate E and I, which have even numbers of X’s to their north but are on the big island.
    From clue 4, you can eliminate D and J.
  • The distance from I to J is the same as the distance from the pirate hut to the sunken
  • ship, and the distance from D to F is even less.
  • You now know that the treasure must be buried at either B, F, or H.
  • Of these, only H has buildings both to its north and to its west.

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