Washed Out

Hard — logic-grid deduction puzzle

A sudden shower washed the ink off the scorecards of Henry, Alice, William and Rosie, who umpired the last four matches of the day on the outside courts.

On the second Monday, always the busiest day of the fortnight, play ran on into the evening. The last four matches on the outside courts each had a court to themselves, and no two went the same number of sets: the quickest was over in two, and the longest went the full five. They finished one after another as the light faded. Their umpires, Henry, Alice, William and Rosie, had left their scorecards on a bench on the way in, and a sudden shower washed the ink right off. Now the results desk needs to know when each match ended, where it was played and how long it lasted, and all it has to go on is what the four umpires remember.

Clues

  1. Rosie's match finished after the one on Court 18 and before the five-set match.
  2. Henry's match and William's finished back to back, though neither of them could say which ended first.
  3. Of the matches umpired by Alice, Henry and Rosie, Henry's was the last to finish.
  4. Whoever was on Court 12 saw the match go to three sets.
  5. Either Alice was in the chair on Court 18 or Henry was in the chair on Court 12, but not both.
  6. Rosie, the umpire of the three-set match and the umpire on Court 15 were three different people.
  7. No other match finished between the five-set match and the four-set match.

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