Ths Logical Affair
Dec. 20th, 2023 09:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancingponyThis was written for the December prompt “Dashing Through the Snow” on MFUWSS. It’s not exactly a story; it’s a logic puzzle. i tried to include enough clues that it would be fun (if you like this sort of thing) without being too difficult.
I’m not posting it to AO3 since it’s not a story, but I decided to post it to my own journals in case anyone is interested in a bit of Christmas silliness.
****** It’s been requested that if/when anyone solves the puzzle, you just post that you did it without posting the solution to give others a chance to work through it. So please don‘t give the solution away yet! ******
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It's Saturday morning, and Alexander Waverly is sitting at his desk with a cup of steaming tea, a tin of biscuits, and a pipe filled with Isle of Dogs number 22. Instead of spending a relaxing day at home, he is stuck in the office, trying to complete his weekly field section summary — a daunting task, considering that five of his agents failed to turn in the assignment reports that he requested.
Early Monday morning, he’d been surprised to realize that Thrush was being unusually quiet this Christmas season, so he’d taken the opportunity to assign out some tasks that might not otherwise have merited the attention of Section Two agents. Each of his five agents was given a different task, a different cover, and a different affair name (one of which was The Carol of the Bells Affair). Each of them was told that his/her report was due on a different afternoon (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday), and each had a different reason for failing to turn in the report (one was sent out of the country on an urgent courier assignment).
From the information provided here, can you determine for each agent: his/her assigned task, cover, affair name, report due day, and excuse?
(1) The five agents are Illya Kuryakin, the one on the case code-named The Red Nosed Reindeer Affair, the one whose assignment was to test a security system, the one whose cover was an electrician, and the one who didn't turn in a report due to a bad case of food poisoning.
(2) Paul Westcott was assigned to watch over a visiting diplomat’s children.
(3) The agent who didn't turn in a report because of his/her annual physical (who wasn't on the case code-named The Deck the Halls Affair) was assigned to monitor a new Thrush satrapy.
(4) The agent whose cover was a photographer handled the case code-named The Here Comes Santa Affair.
(5) The report from April Dancer (who was not undercover as a reporter) was due at some point before Paul Westcott’s (which wasn't due on Friday).
(6) The report from the agent assigned to observe a lecture was due the day before an agent failed to turn in his/her report because of a car accident.
(7) Napoleon Solo (who was the agent on The Deck the Halls Affair) didn't have a cover as a plumber and was not sent on a courier assignment.
(8) Illya Kuryakin’s report was due the day before the report of the agent on the case code-named The Dashing Through the Snow Affair, whose report was due the day before that of the agent who couldn't complete an assignment and report due to repeated power outages.
(9) The agent assigned to investigate a theater group had a cover as a reporter. The report on the theater investigation was due the day before Mark Slate’s report, which was due the day before the report of the agent whose cover was a janitor.
(10) The report of the agent who was in a car accident was due on Tuesday. That agent was not on the Here Comes Santa Affair.
*** Paul Westcott was the agent who impersonated a Thrush bigwig in Deadly Decoy.
I’m not posting it to AO3 since it’s not a story, but I decided to post it to my own journals in case anyone is interested in a bit of Christmas silliness.
****** It’s been requested that if/when anyone solves the puzzle, you just post that you did it without posting the solution to give others a chance to work through it. So please don‘t give the solution away yet! ******
#################################
It's Saturday morning, and Alexander Waverly is sitting at his desk with a cup of steaming tea, a tin of biscuits, and a pipe filled with Isle of Dogs number 22. Instead of spending a relaxing day at home, he is stuck in the office, trying to complete his weekly field section summary — a daunting task, considering that five of his agents failed to turn in the assignment reports that he requested.
Early Monday morning, he’d been surprised to realize that Thrush was being unusually quiet this Christmas season, so he’d taken the opportunity to assign out some tasks that might not otherwise have merited the attention of Section Two agents. Each of his five agents was given a different task, a different cover, and a different affair name (one of which was The Carol of the Bells Affair). Each of them was told that his/her report was due on a different afternoon (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday), and each had a different reason for failing to turn in the report (one was sent out of the country on an urgent courier assignment).
From the information provided here, can you determine for each agent: his/her assigned task, cover, affair name, report due day, and excuse?
(1) The five agents are Illya Kuryakin, the one on the case code-named The Red Nosed Reindeer Affair, the one whose assignment was to test a security system, the one whose cover was an electrician, and the one who didn't turn in a report due to a bad case of food poisoning.
(2) Paul Westcott was assigned to watch over a visiting diplomat’s children.
(3) The agent who didn't turn in a report because of his/her annual physical (who wasn't on the case code-named The Deck the Halls Affair) was assigned to monitor a new Thrush satrapy.
(4) The agent whose cover was a photographer handled the case code-named The Here Comes Santa Affair.
(5) The report from April Dancer (who was not undercover as a reporter) was due at some point before Paul Westcott’s (which wasn't due on Friday).
(6) The report from the agent assigned to observe a lecture was due the day before an agent failed to turn in his/her report because of a car accident.
(7) Napoleon Solo (who was the agent on The Deck the Halls Affair) didn't have a cover as a plumber and was not sent on a courier assignment.
(8) Illya Kuryakin’s report was due the day before the report of the agent on the case code-named The Dashing Through the Snow Affair, whose report was due the day before that of the agent who couldn't complete an assignment and report due to repeated power outages.
(9) The agent assigned to investigate a theater group had a cover as a reporter. The report on the theater investigation was due the day before Mark Slate’s report, which was due the day before the report of the agent whose cover was a janitor.
(10) The report of the agent who was in a car accident was due on Tuesday. That agent was not on the Here Comes Santa Affair.
*** Paul Westcott was the agent who impersonated a Thrush bigwig in Deadly Decoy.
