yes?

u were right too shani (and part of only 2% apparently)! did it take u long?

that didn't go to plan - you'll have to space the rows out for yourselves!

you're such a smartie, R! don't know how this will format, but...

house 1 2 3 4 5
color yellow blue red green white
nation norweigian dane brit german swede
drink water tea milk coffee beer
smoke dunhill blend pall mall prince bluemaster
pet cats horse birds fish dogs

anyone for any more?

a....ah....aahhh -CHOOO!

well done 'smug'! so, are we supposed to work your puzzle out then? do you want to know how old child 1 is and when their birthday is? is it something like 'today' or maybe new year's day/eve? just wild guesses - i'll have to think (and are you sure we've got enough information to work it out...?)

well boni - you may be right... as well as being my favourite time of day (so to speak), the dark, quiet hours have surely induced a certain level of madness and not infrequent fear and loneliness - but i've learned to embrace it (a vampiro heritage perhaps?)

you need to be bored to attampt the last puzzle, as it takes quite some patience (draw a table to work it out if you have a delayed plane trip or a long train journey to while away).

if you've been on here for a while, you notice patterns in peoples posting habits - some may have guessed by my increased visits recently that i've been seeking diversions from a work overload lol

Hints:

The Brit lives in the red house.
The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
The Dane drinks tea.
The green house is on the left of the white house.
The green homeowner drinks coffee.
The person who smokes Pall Mall rears birds.
The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
The man living in the center house drinks milk.
The Norwegian lives in the first house.
The man who smokes Blend lives next to the one who keeps cats.
the man who keeps the horse lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
the owner who smokes Bluemaster drinks beer.
the german smokes Prince.
the norwegian lives next to the blue house.
the man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water.

Einstein said 98% of the world could not solve this but you will if you're logical.

ok - bored of that now. try this one (einstein's not mine):

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.

Who owns the fish?

oh. well i got the answer and i'm no good at maths then. LOL - of COURSE you're right - simple error (and i'm VERY embarrassed and will whip myself immediately). anyway, i was trying to help (good intentions) and just spotted the dscending ages thing was different from the way i was thinking. u r right. it doesn't matter. but the other point i made was important, now wasn't it?

ooooh - i was going to resist the knitting 'thread' (sorry) but i can't (i'm like you katq!). please don't buy from JL until u know it's something ur gonna stick with though - just go to some charity shops (the source of all my stock) or beg off an old friend/relative while u learn. once u get used to substituting yarns in patterns for cheap ones you manage to get hold of, the results are truly unique! sometimes people donate whole knotting bags from some old dear whose clever fingers are past their prime - you can get sets of needles, stitch holders etc etc for next to nothing.

you forgot 1-6-6 Tricky...
...and @shani - it's not that it matters when adding up, but when working out the product (multiplying from left to right would give different answers for 4-3-3 ie. 4x3=12; 12x3=36 BUT 3x3=6; 6x4=24 so go from youngest to oldest when working out)

well we can't let that happen

i think i've got it! you need to have the ages ascending shani

interesting... i'm with you shani - the OLDEST has blue eyes, so it is singular therefore the younger two could be twins. it's the trees that i'm not getting (404 - we need a puzzled smiley!)