THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE QUIZ - if you have stumbled upon this walkthrough by accident, it's probably a good idea to look away now.
If you wanted the link to the hints for non-Potterheads, click here.
For the link to the Sporcle University thread, click here.
If not, look below for the walkthrough!
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Step 1 – Ron’s favourite
team are the Chudley Cannons. So we know they came last, so we can enter 13 for the Cannons. Gwenog Jones played for the
all-female Holyhead Harpies, so we can enter 01 for Harpies.
Step 2(a) – The Harpies clue tells us that only the Cannons
finished below the teams named after birds. Therefore, the three teams named
after birds, the Falcons, the Kestrels and the Magpies must have finished in 10th,
11th and 12th places, the three worst positions excluding
the Cannons’ last place. We know from the Cannons
clue that no team is adjacent to a team finishing immediately above/below them,
so the bordering Kestrels and Magpies cannot have finished 11th, as
this would cause a breach of this rule. So we therefore know that the Falcons finished eleventh.
Step 2(b) – The Harpies clue also tells us that the Magpies
finished ahead of the Falcons. As we know that the Magpies finished 10th
or worse, the only place they can occupy is 10th, so we can enter 10 for the Magpies. This leaves twelfth place for the Kestrels to occupy.
Step 3(i) – So there’s a lot
of information here. Look at the Magpies clue.
It tells us that the positions of Puddlemere and Wimbourne add to make 13, but
neither finished fifth or better. Combinations of numbers that add to make 13
are 1+12, 2+11, 3+10, 4+9, 5+8, 6+7. But only one of these has no numbers five
or smaller: 6 and 7, so they most occupy these spots between them.
Step 3(ii) – The Kestrels clue tells us that the Tornados and Pride
of Portree must have finished above Puddlemere United and the Wasps. We know
the only places above Puddlemere and the Wasps that are left untaken are 02,
03, 04 and 05. From the Falcons clue, we
know that 02 and 05 are taken by the Arrows and the Catapults, so that leaves
us with just 03 and 04. As the Tornados finished above Pride of Portree, we can
enter 03 for the Tornados, and 04 for Pride of Portree.
Step 4 – The Tornados clue
tells us that the team alphabetically first in each row did not
position
highest in their row. We know that the Arrows and the Catapults occupy 02 and 05
from the Falcons clue, so we can establish that,
since the Arrows are alphabetically first in the row, the we can enter 02 for the Catapults, and assign fifth place to the Arrows.
Step 5 – So let’s look at
the four positions we haven’t filled – 06, 07, 08 and 09. If we look back to
step 3(a), we established that Puddlemere United and Wimbourne Wasps occupied 06
and 07 in some order, so the Wanderers and the Bats must occupy 08 and 09
between them somewhere – so we can split them up into two pairs. Now look at the
clue for Pride of Portree: if the Wasps
finished ahead of United, the Wanderers would finish above the Bats. But, should this happen, then according to the Arrows clue,
United must finish ahead of Wasps. This is a contradiction, so we know that United must come sixth, and then that Wasps come
seventh, so that we avoid it.
Step 6 – Finally, we have
two spots left – eighth and ninth. We know (way back from the Cannons clue) that seventh place cannot border
eighth, so we can finish up by entering 08 for the Bats and then 09 for the
Wanderers. Congratulations, you solved it. (Well, you kind of cheated by
looking here but I’ll forgive you).
