Thursday 27 August 2026

How it works

Every witness is either honest or a liar. An honest witness only says true things, and a liar only says false ones, like the knights and knaves in Raymond Smullyan's puzzles. Each of them makes one statement below. Your job is to mark every witness honest or liar so that all the statements hold up together. Exactly one way of doing that works, and you can reach it by reasoning alone: try a guess, follow what it forces, and drop it the moment two statements clash.

The statements

1. The TypistExactly four of us are liars.
2. The GovernessThe Baker is a liar.
3. The PorterThe Governess and I are the same kind.
4. The PainterThe Porter is a liar, or the Typist is, or both.
5. The BakerThe Porter and the Typist are the same kind.