Charles Dickens
Home Up Office Building


A few years ago, as a Christmas present, my Mom signed me up for the Dickens Book-of-the-Month Club.

As I am a huge fan of classic literature, this was the perfect gift for me. I started receiving the books last year and by now I have accumulated quite a collection.

I even built a special shelf to hold my nine favorite volumes. Each Dickens title is lovingly bound in leather with sturdy, gilt-edged pages and hand painted illustration on the cover. These illustrations depict a different landmark that was famous in London during the Victorian Era.

I received each novel in a different month (January, February, March, May, June, July, September, November, and December.  However I don't have the books arranged on the shelf in any particular order other than my personal preference.

Now any time I want to read about the adventures of Pip or the Artful Dodger, I simply reach into my bookshelf and have a Dickens of a good time reading!

From the information provided below, can you determine:
bullet

The London location pictured on the cover of each Dickens
book?

bullet

Where it sits on my shelf (A through I in the illustration)?

bullet

Which month in which I received each volume?


 

 

Dickens Book Clue List:

1. Hard Times is not the book with the Grosvenor Square illustration on the cover.
2. Great Expectations is to the immediate left of the book with the Piccadilly Street illustration on the cover.
3. The book I received in January is larger than, and next to, the one I got in December.
4. David Copperfield is to the immediate left of the book with the picture of Regent's Park on the cover.
5. I received Oliver Twist in June. I got the book with the Covent Garden illustration on the cover in February.
6. I received Book A (which is not A Tale of Two Cities) in September.
7. Bleak House is next to the book with the picture of London Bridge on the cover (which I received exactly two months after David Copperfield).
8. The book with the Newgate Prison illustration on the cover is larger than A Christmas Carol (which is larger than, and to the immediate right of, the one with the picture of St. Bartholomew's Hospital on the cover.
9. I received Little Dorrit (which is Book E) at some point after the book with the picture of Drury Lane on the cover (which happens to be Book B).
10. I received the book with the picture of St. Bartholomew's Hospital on the cover exactly two months before The Pickwick Papers (which is smaller than, and to the immediate left of, the one with the illustration of Westminster Abbey on the cover).

 

So What does Rick have to say about the Dickens Puzzle?

This puzzle is very difficult.  In fact, I think it is one of the 3 hardest puzzles I have ever submitted.  If you are a beginner at solving logic puzzles, expect a bumpy ride. 

And did I solve it?  Yes and No. The first time, I got stuck and lost my patience. I decided to "go for it" so I simply intuited the answer.

To my surprise, I lucked out and got it right!

Then when I got my patience back I returned a second time to search for a way I could have solved it without guess work.  At the conclusion of my work, I realized some of my answers contradicted each other.  So I had to start over.  I went back and tried again. 

As they say, the third time was a charm.  The puzzle is fair and the clues don't play tricks.  You just have to concentrate.

The people who solve this one have the right to be known as true Logic Aces. Send your answers to Rick Archer at dance@ssqq.com      Good luck! 

 
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