Things are getting better between me and Christie. We're talking on the phone more, and on Friday, she gave my wife a gift for me. It was a puzzle. A doozie of a puzzle. The accompanying literature (which may or may not be accurate) indicated the puzzle was created by Einstein, and the solution is extemely difficult to determine.

I did the puzzle in (what I thought) was a couple of hours (I told you this is a difficult puzzle). Then, I tried to do it again, so I could document the solution, step-by-step. In attempting to redo the puzzle, I discovered two things. One, when you slow down to document, you can quickly lose your train of thought. Two, when you work too quickly on a puzzle, you can make silly mistakes. After trying to recreate my solution (over a span of six hours), I finally realized that my original solution had a flaw. I was pissed, and put the puzzle down.

I picked it up last night again, since the Oscars had interfered with my normal TV schedule. This time, speed was not my primary goal. The goal was to make sure that the documentation process did not get screwed up. I worked methodically, checking every step of the way. About 11:30, I got curious about the Oscars (go figure), and put the puzzle down. This morning, I resumed my work, and finally finished; this time after getting the correct answer (at least I think it's correct - Christie didn't give me an answer sheet to check against, but the answer looks correct).

In an attempt to drive any of you puzzle-crazy readers insane, I am posting the puzzle here. Good luck


Assumptions:
1. No two people have the same nationality, live in the same house, keep the same types of pets, drink the same beverage or play the same sport.
2. The houses are all located in a single row.

Clues:
1. The Brit lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who plays football rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house plays soccer.
8. The man living in the centre house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who plays baseball lives next to the one who keeps cats
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who plays soccer.
12. The owner who plays hockey drinks lemonade.
13. The German plays basketball.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who plays baseball has a neighbour who drinks water.
16. One owner keeps fish.


That's it. Can you determine the order of the houses by colour, which person lives in each home, what pets each keeps, what beverage each drinks, and what sport each plays?

Good luck!