Equation Detective – Level 1 – Medium

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Four friends — Max, Ruby, Theo, and Sofia — each bought a different item: pizza, salad, burger, or drink.

Each purchase was made on a different day: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, or Friday.
Each item cost a different amount.

Read more about how to solve these puzzles here

Clues:

The person who bought the salad paid £2 less than the one who bought the burger.
Ruby didn’t make her purchase on Tuesday or Friday.
Theo spent £1 less than Max.
The drink cost £5.
The total cost of Ruby and Sofia’s items was £15.
Theo did not buy the burger or the pizza.
The pizza cost £7.
Max purchased salad on Monday.
Sofia did not buy the drink, nor pizza, nor did she buy anything on Tuesday.

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Your Answers:

Additional instructions for Equation Detective (Level 1, Medium)

Equation Detective – Medium

Medium puzzles usually have fewer direct placements and more clues that only become useful once the grid has some structure.

Build momentum:

Start with any clue that mentions a specific day/price — those are high-value anchors.
Translate price relationships into a “mini system” on the side (e.g. wrap = salad + 1, juice = 2 × wrap).
As soon as you deduce a price, place it and immediately eliminate that price from everyone else.

Key habit: after every placement, re-scan the clue list — a clue that was “too vague” often becomes decisive.

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