Einsteen's 5 house riddle

Problem

Einstein wrote this riddle early during the 19th century. He said 98% of the world could not solve it. 

"There are 5 houses in 5 different colors. In each house lives a person with a different nationality. The 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet. No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar, or drink the same beverage."

The question is: Who owns the fish?

Hints:

1. The Brit lives in the red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The green homeowner drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
13. The German smokes prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

 Solution
a) We know that Norwegian lives in the 1st house (Hint: #9) and next to him lives a  guy who stays in a blue house (Hint: #14). So far we have the following:

1st House	2nd House
Norwegian	Blue House

b) We know that the green house is on the left of the white house (Hint: 4), therefore we can form a new group with the Green and White house next to each other.

Green House	White House

c) Now think carefully the combination of (a) and (b). We should reach to the conclusion that the Norwegean guy who lives in the first house, he either lives in the Red or Yellow house since the Green & White houses group can only have a position of either 3-4 or 4-5.
d) Since the Brit is the guy who lives in the Red house (Hint: 1), now we definitely know that the Norwegian lives in the Yellow house. So far we have the following information:

1st House	2nd House
Norwegian Yellow	Blue

British

Red

Group:

Green House	White House

e) Next, we know that the owner of the Green house drinks coffee (Hint: 5) and the man living in the center house drinks milk (Hint: 8). As a result, we conclude that the group of Green and Yellow house are the 4th and 5th house in order and that the center house (number 3) is the Brit.

1	2	3	4	5
Norwegian		British
Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
		Milk	Coffee

f) Hint 7 gives us another information on the first house (The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill). In-addition, the man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill (Hint 11), therefore the man living in house #2 keeps horses.

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian		British
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink			Milk	Coffee
Pet		Horses
Smoke	Dunhill

g) Hint 15 states that "The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water."  We conclude that only 2 people can have a neighbor who drinks water (House 1&2), but since House #1 already smokes Dunhill that means that House #2 smokes Blend and House #1 drinks water.

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian		British
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water		Milk	Coffee
Pet		Horses
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend

h) Hint 12 states "The owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer." See the table above and you will notice that we are missing the drink only for houses 2 and 5 but since we already know that the owner of house 2 smokes Blend, then the combination of Hint 12 applies to house #5.

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian		British
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water		Milk	Coffee	Beer
Pet		Horses
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend			Bluemaster

 i) Hint 3 states that "The Dane drinks tea.". We are missing only the drink for house #2 therefore this applies to house #2.

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian	Danish	British
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water	Tea	Milk	Coffee	Beer
Pet		Horses
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend			Bluemaster

j) Hint 10 states "The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats." As a result, house #1 keeps cats since house #2 has the owner who smokes Blend.

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian	Danish	British
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water	Tea	Milk	Coffee	Beer
Pet	Cats	Horses
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend			Bluemaster

k) Hint #13 states that "The German smokes prince". We are missing the nationalities of the owners who live in house #4 and #5 but since the owner of house #5 smokes Bluemaster, this hint applies to house #4.

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian	Danish	British	German
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water	Tea	Milk	Coffee	Beer
Pet	Cats	Horses
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend		Prince	Bluemaster

l) Hint #6 states that "The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds". We are only missing the tabacco of House #3 therefore:

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian	Danish	British	German
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water	Tea	Milk	Coffee	Beer
Pet	Cats	Horses	Birds
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend	Pall Mall	Prince	Bluemaster

m) Finally hint #2 states that "The Swede keeps dogs as pets". This combination can only be applied to house #5.

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian	Danish	British	German	Swedish
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water	Tea	Milk	Coffee	Beer
Pet	Cats	Horses	Birds		Dogs
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend	Pall Mall	Prince	Bluemaster

n) Now who owns the fish? The German owns the fish!!!
Congratulations, according to Einstein you now belong to the 2% of the people who can solve this riddle!!!

House	1	2	3	4	5
Nation	Norwegian	Danish	British	German	Swedish
Color	Yellow	Blue	Red	Green	White
Drink	Water	Tea	Milk	Coffee	Beer
Pet	Cats	Horses	Birds	FISH	Dogs
Smoke	Dunhill	Blend	Pall Mall	Prince	Bluemaster

Reference

• http://einsteinriddle.com/index.php/einstein-s-riddle-solution-explained