The Chief of the Narcotics Squad studied the photo of the three men who were leaning against the ship’s railing. “What do we know about these characters?” he asked. “Not much,” his assistant answered. “One of them is from Denmark, one from Germany and the other from, Sweden. They’ve been operating a dope ring in Brussels, but now they’re probably in the States. The only information that came with this photo is that one of these guys is the supplier, one is a pusher, and the other acts as a courier between the two.” “Which is which in the photo?” “All we’ve been told, ” said the assistant, “is that the Dane is to the left of the Swede; the courier is to the right of the supplier; the pusher is to the left of the German, and the German is to the left of the Swede. When they say to the left of – or to the right of – they don’t necessarily mean next to. And left or right means as we’re looking at the photo, not the person’s left or right.” “They haven’t told us much,” said the Chief, “but it should be enough to work out which is which.” Is it enough for you?
REVEAL THE ANSWER
Dane – the pusher, German – the supplier, Swede – the courier. Since the Dane and the German are to the left of the Swede, the Swede must be on the extreme right. Since the pusher is to the left of the German, the pusher must be the Dane. The German, therefore, must be the one in the middle. Since the pusher is on the extreme left, and the courier is on the right of the supplier, the courier must be on the extreme right, and the supplier in the middle.
