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Sunday Times Teaser 2959 – The Magnificent Seven

by Graham Smithers

Published June 9 2019 (link)

After a day’s filming, a group of those involved in the film’s production went for a gallop.

They split into threes, with a samurai leading each grouping.

The seven samurai were:

BRONSON,  BRYNNER,  BUCHHOLZ,  COBURN,  DEXTER,  MCQUEEN and VAUGHN

The others involved in the gallop were:

ALANIZ,  ALONZO,  AVERY,  BISSELL,  BRAVO,  DE HOYOS,  HERN,
LUCERO,  NAVARRO,  RUSKIN,  RUSSELL,  SUAREZ,  VACIO and WALLACH

For each grouping, any two names from the three had exactly 2 letters in common (eg, BRYNNER and BRAVO have B and R in common).

If I told you who accompanied BRONSON, you should be able to tell me who accompanied (a) MCQUEEN and (b) DEXTER

6 Comments Leave one →
  1. Brian Gladman permalink

    This solution uses the partition_unique utility described here

  2. Bill Scott permalink

    I’m struggling with the white solution as it appears you can substitute Russell with Ruskin.
    Where have I gone wrong?

    • Brian Gladman permalink

      Hi Bill, I suggest that you ask your question on this site as you re more likely to get help there. In any event, it will be impossible to say what you are doing wrong until you set out your solution in detail. By the way, it isn’t sufficient to show that you have groups for Bronson, Dexter and McQueen that work – you then have to show that the other four groups are also possible using those left.

    • Robert Brown permalink

      If Bronson = Brian’s white text value, Brynner must be Navarro + Ruskin

  3. Tony Smith permalink

    Hi Brian
    For 6 weeks New Scientist has published a “Puzzle” (not “Enigma”).
    Some are fully visible online to non-subscribers; some seem to be only partly so.
    Regards
    Tony Smith

    • Brian Gladman permalink

      Thanks Tony, I have looked at them and I might start publishing solutions at some point.

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