Follow-up: Logic Problem #3

This exercise was originally posted at: http://maritimeorca0.blogspot.com/2016/01/logic-problem-3.html

The Task

Solve Logic Problem #3

Use the text provided to find the order in which each region finished each race and the full names of runners for each of the four legs.

Solutions

Logic Problem #3

PDF

Notes

I think I should explain what went wrong when I made this logic problem. For starters, I was very busy at the time I was making it. To make things a little more interesting, I tried a different approach than my previous logic problems.

I'm not good at making baseless decisions. When I create logic problems, I actually start by looking through random articles at Wikipedia until I find a table that I can use as a starting point. The article was 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics. A table provided a list of events for men and women showing the full names and nationalities as well as times for the medal winners. The original idea was to include a portion of the running events including one relay each for men's and women's. I also planned on including times. To simplify, I decided that the top three relay teams would set the entire list of participants. In other words, All medal winners would be taken from a pool of 24 runners (3 teams x 2 relays x 4 legs = 24).

I felt that my usual approach, to keep a long list of possibilities that are reduced by adding clues when Excel seems to become overwhelmed, seemed like it wasn't going to work. For the first time ever, I created the solution before the clues.

I still went back to Excel to help figure out what had not yet been eliminated. Before long, I realized that I was being way too ambitious. I was behind schedule, and I hadn't even touched additional races or times. Those were removed from the exercise.

While adding a check to my Excel spreadsheet, I misread the table that I created as a solution. I added a clue about different regions. I included both men's and women's, but I forgot that the races were arranged by where the regions placed rather than by the regions themselves. As a result, I had runners from the same nation but said they were different.

I realized that my spreadsheet was now worthless. I couldn't restart from scratch because I had other things to do. I added several clues and revised the messed up clue in hopes that I could narrow down the possibilities. Then I started the testing phase. I was actually somewhat relieved to find that my clues brought me close to the solution. I added two more to resolve lingering problems toward the end. Those were the last two clues listed in the logic problem.

Feel Free to Comment

Now that this exercise has concluded, feel free to share any thoughts that you had regarding results, your approach, and any other ideas that popped in your head regarding this exercise.

Upon completion of this exercise, please fill out the following form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/15JYKmhTRwThF2ALSf6iaWwcV1gZUhZSXExDS2vpbH30/viewform?usp=send_form
Responses to the above form are collected and stored in a spreadsheet that can be viewed at:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kTOFXF6lCE_gaAXcIjyqZVh5A_NNSTEuYpyN3tZZ-LY/pubhtml