Mabel's Lucky Notebook

Very Easy — logic-grid deduction puzzle

An old steward's notebook shows how many aces six players served in the first week, and which lucky charm each one brought.

It has been a warm, bright first week at the grass courts, and the strawberries are selling fast. All week, six players have kept a lucky charm close by, tucked in a bag or tied to a chair. Old Mabel has looked after an outside court for thirty summers, and she writes down every ace in a little notebook. Now the players are teasing each other about whose charm worked best. Mabel is happy to settle it, as long as they can work it out from her notes.

Clues

1. Of the players with the toy frog, the teddy and the ribbon, the one with the ribbon served the most aces.
2. Compared with Poppy and the player with the clover, the player with the red socks served more aces than one and fewer than the other.
3. George did not serve 39 aces.
4. Mabel's notebook gave Alfie 36 aces.
5. Only one of these was true: Harriet brought the old coin, or Harriet served 32 aces.
6. Either Oliver served 17 aces or the player with the old coin did, but not both.
7. One of Harriet and the player with the ribbon served 23 aces, and the other served 32.
8. Whoever served 8 aces didn't have the teddy.
9. On a list of the players from fewest aces to most, Alfie and George came right next to each other.

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