Woeful Woodworkers

by Scott Noyes
Solving Tips

Story


One Saturday afternoon, five woodworkers met at the hardware store. Each was buying parts to use on their latest projects (one was a train table). While they waited for the cashier to ring up their purchases, they got to talking shop and about recent frustrating mistakes they'd made while trying to finish the project in time for their grandkids' birthday (one assembled a large project inside and found the next day it wouldn't fit through the door no matter which way it was turned).

Using the clues below, can you figure out the order they stood in line, the part each was buying, the project he was working on, and what mistake he had made?


./Labels/h_Name.png ./Labels/h_Project.png ./Labels/h_Error.png ./Labels/h_Purchase.png
./Labels/v_Andy.png ./Labels/v_Frank.png ./Labels/v_Jon.png ./Labels/v_Ken.png ./Labels/v_Rob.png ./Labels/v_bed.png ./Labels/v_box.png ./Labels/v_house.png ./Labels/v_kitchen.png ./Labels/v_table.png ./Labels/v_blew_dust.png ./Labels/v_drilled_deep.png ./Labels/v_mismeasured.png ./Labels/v_oil_and_water.png ./Labels/v_too_large.png ./Labels/v_dowels.png ./Labels/v_feet.png ./Labels/v_hinges.png ./Labels/v_nails.png ./Labels/v_pulls.png
./Labels/v_Queue.png ./Labels/h_1.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_2.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_3.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_4.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_5.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/v_Purchase.png ./Labels/h_dowels.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_feet.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_hinges.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_nails.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_pulls.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/v_Error.png ./Labels/h_blew_dust.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_drilled_deep.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_mismeasured.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_oil_and_water.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_too_large.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/v_Project.png ./Labels/h_bed.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_box.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_house.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_kitchen.png Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark
./Labels/h_table.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. Rob (who wasn't buying nails) got in line sometime after the one who had tried cleaning up with his shop vac and blew sawdust all over his freshly finished project (who got in line immediately after the one who was building the toy box).
  2. Andy (who wasn't buying hinges) was not in line immediately before Rob.
  3. The woodworker building the bed was not there to buy hinges or nails; this person joined the line sometime after the one buying brass feet, and after (but not immediately after) the one who was building the doll house.
  4. The one buying the drawer pulls (who wasn't Jon) got in line immediately before the one who was building the toy box (who wasn't the one buying dowels).
  5. Jon joined the line sometime after the one who grabbed the wrong can and applied a water based finish before letting the oil base dry.
  6. The woodworker who accidentally drilled a pilot hole clear through the front of his project (not the first in line) was immediately in front of the one buying nails.
  7. The one who measured once and cut twice (who was either second or third in line) stood immediately behind Frank and immediately in front of Andy.
  8. Ken's project was either the play kitchen or the sleigh bed.



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.

Use the "Save" button to save a puzzle in progress. Use the "Load" button to reload the puzzle. This feature uses cookies - fear not, we aren't tracking you or stealing credit card numbers (we couldn't, even if we wanted to.) At the moment, only one puzzle may be saved at a time on each computer (unless using different browsers or accounts). There is no warning if you save over another puzzle, and no undo!

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.

Feature Requests
What would you like to see added to the JavaScript grid? Send me your requests and ideas.

Bug Reports
If you encounter something strange, or a JavaScript error, or some other oddity, let me know!

Scott
snoyes@gmail.com