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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
A "staggered pseudo-true clue" uses the same basic logic as a regular pseudo-true clue, only this time the pseudo-true relationship is related to a greater/lesser than clue.
Take this grid state and specific lesser-than clue as an example.
Slide #2
Look at the subcolumns for Dillard and Peters (highlighted in yellow) in relation to months. Dillard can only be February or March, and Peters can only be March or April.
This isn't a "regular" pseudo-true clue, because the remaining options for both are not exactly the same.
But when you take this grid state and add the data from clue #4, it becomes a "staggered" pseudo-true clue. Here's why...
Slide #3
Just as with a normal pseudo-true clue, we're left here with only two possible options when it comes to Dillard/Peters and February/March/April.
If Dillard is February, then Peters must be March (one month after Dillard). If Dillard is March, then Peters must be April. There are no other valid combinations when you consider the grid state as well as the requirements laid down by clue #4.
In either of those two scenarios, one of those two people (Dillard or Peters) will always be equal to March.
Slide #4
If we know March can only ever be Dillard or Peters, then we can eliminate all other options for people in relation to March.
Therefore we can mark false relationships in three squares (shaded in green):
1. March is not Lee.
2. March is not Rhodes.
3. March is not Wood.
That is the essence of a staggered pseudo-true pair.
Slide #5
Now take the same grid and compare that data with a new specific greater/lesser than clue: "The Yankee model was released two months before the Nyeos model."
This sets up another staggered pseudo-true relationship. Do you see it?
Slide #6
The remaining options for Nyeos and Yankee in relation to months, combined with the requirements laid down in clue #7, leave only two possible valid scenarios:
1. Yankee == January and Nyeos == March
2. Yankee == March and Nyeos == May
In either scenario, one of the two call-signs (Nyeos or Yankee) is equal to March. We don't know which, but it doesn't matter - that pseudo-true relationship means March cannot be Sierra, March cannot be X-ray, and March cannot be Zulu.
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