pseudo-pair type problems are rare in 3x5 grids

[Kitku]

oh, now I understand! coincidentally, in another topic on the forum I wrote about this strategy

So, to spot it fast, just look for the clues that have more/less with the same step. Then look whether either both "lesser" or both "greater" items belong to the same category. In this case it was "computer" and "basketball". Even if they aren't, keep them in mind - they may be revealed to be equal to item that is in the same category.

Why it works? If "Neal" ="toaster", then both "computer" and "basketball" would have to be at the same distance from "Neal"="toaster", so they would have to be equal, but they cannot, because they belong to the same cateory

There are is at least one obvious example of this in the puzzle that I posted earlier. Also, in that grid there is another benefit of comparing clues with steps - check clues 1. and 10.

[nitinbaisoya]

great thanks for sharing this clue

[vibes1234]

pat44
ok i will try to explain in smaller, simpler steps.
It will be a long explanation, so gear up !

in your probe example, the green dot in the grid shows that Enceladus = Tago Jib. Thus, whenever any clue has enceladus or tago jib, feel free to substitute them as required.

Clue 1 says "The probe going to Neptune launched 1 month before the mission going to Enceladus"
So, I would read it as "The probe going to Neptune launched 1 month before the mission going to Enceladus(Tago Jib)"

Next, clue 6 says "The Jani Mila launched 1 month after the Raiukan."

The first thing to do is to spot if any two clues have the same distance mentioned between two items.
E.g. X is $1 more or $1 less than Y; if X is 4 years more or 4 years less than Y etc.

At this point, it doesn't matter if both clues have the word "more" or both have the word "less" or if one has "more" and the other has "less" mentioned. Sometimes, the comparison terms are before/after, greater than/less than, younger/older etc.
The critical thing is that the difference has to be of the same value.
In your case, the distance is 1 month in both the clues which is the common factor.
* Please note that it is not sufficient data if clue 1 vaguely said that Neptune launched sometime after enceladus. Or if clue 6 simply said that jani mila launched considerably before raiukan. these clues do not give a definite value, and hence cannot be applied for this particular logic.

I will now put the two clues together as thus:

Neptune = 1 MONTH BEFORE Enceladus(Tago Jib)

Jani Mila = 1 MONTH AFTER Raiukan

Now, i would like to introduce you to a technique which i visually use to help eliminate possible choices. Or to find a possible option as well.
Since the two clues use contrasting terms for comparison, i.e. one clues says "before" and the other clue says "after", what i use is a cross-comparison method to analyse further.
So we need to draw an imaginary diagonal line linking Neptune with Raiukan, and also an imaginary diagonal line to link Enceladus(Tago Jib) with Jani Mila, which would look like a cross. (a diagonal line because the comparison words (before and after) are contrasting words. if both clues had the word after, then it would be a straight comparison technique where we would simply need to visualise a straight vertical line linking the word directly below it)

The purpose of doing this is to check whether neptune = raiukan or if neptune ≠ raiukan. similarly, we need to check whether enceladus(tago jib) = jani mila, or if enceladus(tago jib) ≠ jani mila.
From this, the relationship between neptune and raiukan is still unclear, however we can clearly see that enceladus(tago jib) DOES NOT equal jani mila. (this can be confirmed in two ways. firstly the grid itself shows that enceladus ≠ jani mila. and also tago jib ≠ jani mila because they are from the same category.

So when you discover that if enceladus(tago jib) ≠ jani mila, you can automatically say that neptune ≠ raiukan.
WHY? I'll explain what will happen if we consider that neptune = raiukan.

if we consider neptune = raiukan, then as per clue 6 it would mean that jani mila launched 1 month after raiukan(neptune). in other words, it means that neptune is 1 month BEFORE jani mila. But that would clash with clue 1 which clearly says that neptune is 1 month BEFORE enceladus(tago jib). neptune cannot be 1 month before tago jib as well as jani mila, or else both tago jib and jani mila would end up with the same values in the grid.
Hence, neptune ≠ raiukan.

Thus, whenever you come across two clues, where its mentioned X>/< Y by one step (or 2 steps, 3 steps) and another clue also has the same step distance mentioned between two items, then we can do a quick straight or cross reference between all the values mentioned in the two clues and help in elimination. The comparison can be between both the X's of the two clues, or between the X's and Y's of the two clues depending on whether the comparison word is identical or contrasting.

Hope this helps...


NOTE: in the above example, another way of putting the two clues together could be:

Neptune = 1 MONTH BEFORE Enceladus(Tago Jib)

Raiukan = 1 MONTH BEFORE Jani Mila

now that we have used the IDENTICAL comparison word "before" by changing the order of clue 6,
you can simply check in the grid whether neptune = or ≠ raiukan by drawing a straight vertical imaginary line linking them.
and also compare whether enceladus(tago jib) = or ≠ jani mila by drawing a straight vertical imaginary line linking them.

* Btw, a simpler way to reason why neptune cannot be equal to raiukan is because, if neptune = raiukan, that would mean enceladus(tago jib) would be = jani mila. but obviously tago jib cannot be equal to jani mila being items in the same category.
Thus, you can conclude that neptune ≠ raiukan.

The conclusion is:

if X is one month before Y, and if A is one month before B & if X = A, then Y is also = B. (this is because X & A both are one month before Y and one month before B, so obviously Y & B have to be equal.)
And similarly if X ≠ A, then Y is also ≠ B.

[JoshGrams]

I practiced by writing them out and lining them up. It's not about one being before and one being after, it's about them being the same distance apart (usually adjacent/one step).

So in the simpler case you have two pairs that you know are adjacent:

purchase(toaster), purchase(computer)
customer(Neil), purchase(basketball)

Computer and basketball are different prices (since they're in the same category), so if the toaster is computer-$1 and Neil is basketball-$1 then they ALSO have different prices.

---

The probe situation is more complicated, because while the clues give two adjacent pairs, they're in completely separate categories.

dest(Neptune), dest(Enceladus)
probe(Raiukan), probe(Jani Mila)

But when you mark probe(Tago Jib) as being dest(Enceladus), then you can rewrite it as:

dest(Neptune), probe(Tago Jib)
probe(Raiukan), probe(Jani Mila)

And then you know that since the two probes on the right are in different months, then the two things on the left are also in different months, since they're each one month less than the thing on the right. dest(Neptune) is not probe(Raiukan).

---

So as Kitku says, the way to spot these is to look for multiple clues where X is 1 step after Y (or before Y, sometimes you have to mentally swap to get them both in the same order). Or it could happen with 2 steps after/before, although I don't usually do the bigger puzzles yet so I haven't seen that.

Also as Kitku says, sometimes you get pairs of clues that directly give you a connection, such as "Mr Alvarado's class is held 1 period after the Latin class." and "The Pre-Calculus class is held 1 period after the Latin class." so you know Mr Alvarado teaches Pre-Calculus.

[pat44]

wow, vibes1234, this is SUPER helpful. I have to spend some time absorbing it, and practicing. JoshGrams, I agree, writing them out is a great way to practice.

[pat44]

vibes1234, how are you seeing these diagonal lines?

[JoshGrams]

Maybe like this? (poor example, as these clues don't form a deduction, and you don't end up needing this kind of cross-deduction in this puzzle at all, but...)