LG Book Question - Page 193

[dmbehring]

For the life of me I can not figure out why N must go 5th. Without that inference M/L are not forced into 3 and 6 and therefore I obviously have trouble with the questions.

Can someone PLEASE explain why N must go 5th??

Also - why must the 1st tour be by an experienced guide? I understand that 2nd and 4th must be experienced but I don't understand why the 1st must be, as well.

Thank you SO MUCH in advance!

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting, dmbehring!

I think the reason that you're getting frustrated is that you're looking at the inferences made in the solution diagram on page 195 in the wrong order.

After you add J is on 4 to your diagram, the next step is to realize that the M __ __ L (or L __ __ M) chunk is pretty severely restricted. It can now only fit 2/5 or 3/6.

But wait! We have another severely restricted chunk as well! The OK or KO chunk! If we were to try to put the M/L chunk in 2/5, where would we put the K/O chunk? It could not go between M and L, as J is in the way; it couldn't go outside M and L, as there is only one space on each end...

So, M and L are restricted to 3/6 not because of N, but because of J and the O/K chunk. Once we do that, the only spots that remain are 1, 2, and 5.

So, what about the O/K chunk?? The only place left that it can fit is in 1/2!

NOW we're left with only one slot left, 5, and only one player, N. N gets forced into 5 after everything else is locked in; N is not the driving force.

Now that we have a lot of our pieces in play, we can look to the rule that says both K and O have to be experienced - since we know they go 1-2 (we just don't know the order), that means that both spot 1 and 2 are 'experienced' spots!

You were getting frustrated because you were reading the inferences 'backwards' in a way - N gets forced into 5 because of M/L, not the other way around, and you determine that 1/2 are experienced because you've put K/O there, not the other way around!

When you have big chunks like the M/L and O/K chunks, it's a really good idea to take a long look at them to see how restricted they really are; if there are two of them, check to see if their restrictions affect each other!

Please let me know if this helps clear up a few things!