Mulliner's Miracle Cures

by Aussie Meyer
Solving Tips

Story


There are few spots more idyllic than the hamlet of Lesser Lossingham, and few couples as happy as the inventor Wilfred Mulliner and his wife Angela. Late last Saturday morning, Wilfred strolled in to their little home,"The Gables" and surprised his better half by emptying his pockets and dropping twenty shilling pieces upon the kitchen table.

"What's all this, darling? And where have you been since the crack of dawn?" she inquired.

"I've been visiting with my fellow villagers, my dear. At precisely 30 minute intervals, starting at 7:30 and culminating at 9:30," he said (very precisely, for he is a scientist), "I chatted with the grocer, the postmistress, the constable, the publican and the Vicar. Each of them complained of some malady or troublesome condition, and I took orders from them for five of my patent remedies. One wanted the 2 shilling size of .. now what was it? There was an order for a 3 shilling ... and someone wanted the 4 shilling ... I say, my memory seems to be playing tricks on me! I can't seem to recall who paid how much for what!"

Looking over the coins as if to derive some clue, he ventured, "Well, mathematics tells me that the other two customers must have ordered the large bottles - 5 shilling and 6 shilling - but of what? One of them was feeling the lumbago and wanted my Ease-O, and another was feeling wan and pale, so I recommended the Raven Gipsy Face Cream. I know that someone was trying to lose weight, and I advised the Reduc-O, but another citizen was subject to lassitude, so I prescribed my famous Buck-U-Uppo tonic. What else? Ah, yes ... a splotchy complexion troubled one of our neighbors, so I said I'd send along some Snow of the Mountains lotion."

"Well, we'll have to re-trace your steps and see if we can find some clues as to who ordered what item and what they paid, Wilfred!" said Angela, thinking clearly. Aided by a pot of strong tea and some crumpets, Wilfred recalled the five clues shown below.

Can you help him determine whom he spoke to at what time, what they ordered, and how much they paid?


./Labels/h_Customer.png ./Labels/h_Price.png ./Labels/h_Remedy.png
./Labels/v_Grocer.png ./Labels/v_Postmistress.png ./Labels/v_Constable.png ./Labels/v_Publican.png ./Labels/v_Vicar.png ./Labels/v_2_shilling.png ./Labels/v_3_shilling.png ./Labels/v_4_shilling.png ./Labels/v_5_shilling.png ./Labels/v_6_shilling.png ./Labels/v_Ease_O.png ./Labels/v_Raven_Gipsy.png ./Labels/v_Reduc_O.png ./Labels/v_Buck_U_Uppo.png ./Labels/v_Snow_Mountains.png
./Labels/v_Time.png ./Labels/h_7_30.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_8_00.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_8_30.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_9_00.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_9_30.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/v_Remedy.png ./Labels/h_Ease_O.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_Raven_Gipsy.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_Reduc_O.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_Buck_U_Uppo.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_Snow_Mountains.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/v_Price.png ./Labels/h_2_shilling.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_3_shilling.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_4_shilling.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_5_shilling.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_6_shilling.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
x o blank
x o blank x o blank x o blank x o blank
x o blank x o blank x o blank x o blank
JavaScript Grid by Scott Noyes

Clues

  1. The villager Wilfred spoke to at 8 a.m. paid one more shilling than the person who ordered the Raven Gipsy Face Cream.
  2. The citizen who ordered Reduc-O chatted with Wilfred a half hour before the Vicar, and an hour after the customer who paid the most.
  3. At 8:30 in the morning, someone handed Wilfred more money than the one who ordered Snow of the Mountains lotion; but the Snow of the Mountains client paid more than the Publican.
  4. Wilfred stopped at the Grocer's immediately before he saw the person who gave him five shillings.
  5. The very first person Wilfred met that morning paid one shilling more than the Constable, who paid 2 shillings more than the one who ordered the Buck-U-Uppo.



Solving Tips


Use an X when you are sure that two fields do not match. Use a dot when you are sure that two fields do match. Click once to place an X. Click a second time to place a dot. Click a third time to clear the box.

Select marker color by clicking the colored radio buttons. You can use colored marks to indicate which clue provided a value, or to indicate a guess that might not be correct, or just because you like solving puzzles in teal.

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Use the "Current Solution Window" button to parse the grid for your solution. This feature simply looks for dots in the top set of rows and creates a list that you can copy and paste into your email for submission.

If you want to clear the grid and start over, just refresh the page. Note that there is a bug in IE6 (and possibly other browsers), so that if a color other than the default is selected, that color may appear to be selected after the reload, but the actual color used will be the default.

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Scott
snoyes@gmail.com