How to solve a logic puzzle
If you need to learn how to solve a logic puzzle, you've come to the right place! This page will tell you everything you need to know about how to solve these perplexing puzzlers.
One thing that is extremely useful for solving the puzzles on our site is to print out the puzzles! When you can work with them in real life rather than in your head, they may seem much easier, particularly when they include a chart for you to use. In a puzzle like this one, you may want to create a chart like the one below to keep track of your information.
| The Chart | Guy 1 | Guy 2 | Guy 3 | Guy 4 | Guy 5 |
| Thing 1 | |||||
| Thing 2 | |||||
| Thing 3 | |||||
| Thing 4 | |||||
| Thing 5 |
Then, you should slowly fill in the puzzle with the facts you learn.
| The Chart | Guy 1 | Guy 2 | Guy 3 | Guy 4 | Guy 5 |
| Thing 1 | Fact 2 | ||||
| Thing 2 | Fact 5 | ||||
| Thing 3 | Fact 1 | ||||
| Thing 4 | Fact 3 | ||||
| Thing 5 | Fact 4 |
Eventually, you'll have enough info to solve the puzzle.
| The Chart | Guy 1 | Guy 2 | Guy 3 | Guy 4 | Guy 5 |
| Thing 1 | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact |
| Thing 2 | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact |
| Thing 3 | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact |
| Thing 4 | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact |
| Thing 5 | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact | Fact |
My answer is ... Guy 3!!!
Then you can find our answer, and check it with the one you got.
"Hey! I was right!"
Some logic puzzles are in the form of anagrams. For these, the website WordSmith is an invaluable resource. In WordSmith, you can type in a word or phrase, and WordSmith will give you every possible anagram for it. If you don't want to cheat, it is very useful to write out the word/phrase and arrange the letters differently. Leaving yourself a lot of paper to work with is also very useful.
In "Competition" puzzles, it is useful to draw out a grid like
this. 
"Competition" puzzles are ones in which you must discover the winner of a competition, like in this one. Normally, you won't start with all the info, so you'll have to use your brain a bit to figure it out. Start by filling out the bottom, and then use the hints to figure out the rest. Now for some logic puzzle solving hints!
Some Logic Mnemonics
These are from the book Classic Mathemagic.
If you need to remember Pi to ten digits, remember the sentence, "May I have a large container of orange juice right now please?" May has 3 letters, and the first number in pi is 3. Then I has one letter. The next number in Pi is 1. Keep going like this and you'll get Pi, rounded to ten digits!
If you are multiplying two binomials, like (2a+3)(a-7), then you might want to remember this word: FOIL. F stands for first, so multiply the first term of each binomial. 2a*a=2a2! Next, the O stands for Outer. Multiply the two outer terms, in this case, 2a*-7=-14a. I means Inner. Multiply the inner digits, which here are 3 and a. This gives you 3a. Finally, L means Last, so multiply 3*-7 to get -21. Now add all your results together. You should have 2a2-14a+3a-21. This ends up as 2a2-11a-21. It's easy to keep organized with a chart like this:
F:2a2
O:-14a
I:3a
L:-21
Keeping your data like this, all in plain view, can be really helpful.