Can you solve 'Einstein’s Riddle'? - Dan Van der Vieren

Before he turned physics upside down, a young Albert Einstein supposedly showed off his genius by devising a complex riddle involving a stolen exotic fish and a long list of suspects. Can you resist tackling a brain teaser written by one of the smartest people in history? Dan Van der Vieren shows how.

Lesson by Dan Van der Vieren, animation by Artrake Studio.

[earth-]

dude was just lonely, all his neighbors had pets. 😂

[sdvampire]

The Brit doesn't drink tea
Everyone: wait that's illegal

[camthefemalefont]

I love puzzles like these. You're given vague information and multiple clues, then you have to sort people into categories based on the clues. I love it! My math teacher had four puzzles like this for me to solve just before Christmas break and I spent almost the entire hour and a half of class working on them. One of the best math classes I've ever had this year!

[supertron]

Me: I solved this puzzle! I solved a puzzle by Einstein himself!!!
Ted-ED: Did Einstein really invent this puzzle? Probably not.
Me: _Why must you hurt me in this way?_

[sophiaonearth]

Nothing in my life has ever been as satisfying as solving this puzzle by myself

[Chey_]

How bout you get 5 cops to check each house at once

[mmori]

My entire childhood spent solving professor layton puzzles has prepared me for this moment! This is the type of riddle I enjoy, I know it’s not super hard to grasp but filling in the boxes and making progress feels so good

[diagonalleaf]

I had a teacher who gave our class this riddle to do over the weekend, Sadly she discovered she had cancer and didn't come back to school (she ended up being fine) and our class never discovered how to solve it but this video finally showed me how to solve it.

[nadiabouk]

“The only problem is that after you’ve spent an hour trying to solve this, the thief ran back to the store and returned the fish”

[blythe]

"It's up to you, the city's best detective"...

So that means we're not going to get the fish back??

[minalakbar]

"Police can't search the houses one by one"
Me: "DIVIDE OR CALL MORE!"

[leah_]

This kind of puzzle is my favorite--and it's one of the only Ted Ed riddles I've ever been able to solve! :) This was so satisfying!

[LossztYT]

Me: alright I’m going to bed now
Ted-Ed: No you’re not
Me: no I’m not

[veracretano]

Admittedly, I usually end up skipping for the answer on puzzles like these, but this one just sort of grasped my attention and it was really satisfying to get the answer through the sudoku/codeword style

[ChartreusePearl]

I hope they do more riddles that involve grids and clues (i.e. The sorting hat riddle and the fire crystal riddle)

[grbacky]

If I’m the city’s best detective, the city is doomed.

[ikechristensen]

If I'm the city's best detective, the city's screwed.

[desertsage]

I loved these types of puzzles as a kid. I remember my 5th grade teacher handing out this puzzle to the class right before the Thanksgiving break. Most of the other kids were busy chatting with each other, but I was fascinated with this puzzle.

[sonaliv]

It is so satisfying when you get a clue and then fill in a bunch of info. Great riddle.

[elliotthebigender]

I think the funniest part of this riddle was all the nationalities saying hello or hi