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If you're new to grid-based logic puzzles, this tutorial will teach you the basics. Start with the "Introduction" first, then move on to the tutorials discussing specific clues or solving methods. Each tutorial contains a number of different slides - you can advance to the next slide by clicking "Next slide" at the bottom of each page, or by using the circled numerical links below each slide. Choose your specific tutorial from the list below to get started.
Slide #1
Some clues will give you quantitative relationships between two items, instead of just a simple true or false relationship. These are what we call "greater/lesser than clues."
They come in two flavors: "vague" and "specific". A vague clue tells you A is greater/lesser than B, but doesn't tell you by how much.
Here's an example of a "vague" greater/lesser than clue: "Daryl's tattoo cost more than the blue one."
Slide #2
Since Daryl's tattoo cost more than the blue tattoo, you instantly know three things:
1. Daryl's tattoo can't be the cheapest ($35)
2. The blue tattoo can't be the most expensive ($55)
3. Daryl's tattoo can't be blue.
How do we know Daryl's tattoo can't be blue? Think of it this way - if Daryl's tattoo was blue, then the blue tattoo would cost the same amount of money as Daryl's tattoo. This clue makes that impossible, therefore they cannot equal each other.
Slide #3
Now here's an example of a "specific" greater/lesser than clue: "The violet tattoo cost $10 less than the Pisces tattoo."
We call this a "specific" greater/lesser than clue because it tells you not only that A is less than B, but it also tells you exactly how much less A is than B ($10).
Slide #4
That little bit of extra information ($10) allows us to make some additional eliminations:
1. The violet tattoo can't be $50 or $55, because none of the tattoos cost $10 more than either of those two options (i.e. $60 and $65 aren't options on the grid).
2. Similarly the Pisces tattoo can't be $35 or $40, because none of the available options are $10 less than either of those two.
3. The violet tattoo wasn't the Pisces tattoo.
Slide #5
Greater/lesser than clues often need to be referenced multiple times throughout the puzzle, as they will continue to reveal true and false relationships once more data becomes available on the grid.
In this case, consider how the next clue (#5, a true clue, says pink = $35) interacts with the previous two greater/lesser than clues.
We've already marked a true relationship for pink and $35, as specified in clue #5 - do you see what else can be marked now when we reconsider the information already given in clues #3 and #4?
Slide #6
Consider clue #3 again. If Daryl's tattoo cost more than the blue one, and we now know that the lowest possible value for blue is $40 (because $35 was eliminated for blue in clue #5), then Daryl's tattoo must be greater than $40, and we can mark an X for Daryl and $40 (shaded in green).
The same goes for clue #4. We now know that the violet tattoo cannot be $35 (from clue #5). If the violet tattoo is $10 less than the Pisces, then we now know the Pisces cannot be $10 more than $35, and we can mark an X for Pisces and $45 (shaded in blue).
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