Three housesa ranch, a cape, and a bungalowhave similar, though not

Official Explanation

Analyze the information

Start by organizing the given information in a chart. The most concrete piece of information is that the ranch and the bungalow have blue siding. You're also told that one house has white siding, so it must be the Cape Cod.


Moreover, because the siding and shutter colors are different, the cape can't have white shutters; since the only other option is yellow ("Two have yellow shutters, and the other has white shutters."), it must be one of the two houses with yellow shutters. This means either the ranch also has yellow shutters and the bungalow has white shutters or vice versa. Similarly, because the ranch and bungalow have blue siding and the siding and door colors also have to be different, the ranch and bungalow must each have a yellow or a white door. Because each house has a differently colored door, there is one blue door, one yellow door, and one white door. You've already assigned the yellow and white to one of either the ranch or the bungalow, so the blue door must belong to the Cape Cod.


Approach strategically

You need a "must be true" answer choice and a "must be false" answer choice. You've already deduced that the Cape Cod can't have white shutters, so the statement that the cape has white shutters must be False. You also know that the Cape Cod must have a blue door, so the cape has a blue door must be True.

The correct answer is:

True: The cape has a blue door.
False: The cape has white shutters.

TAKEAWAY: In a puzzle question like this, organize the given information carefully and use it to make deductions about what must be true or false.