in reply to Pairing Riddle (OT)

Given the down votes it attracted, it might have been better to motivate it with breeding dogs to avoid touching on taboos.° =)

But I enjoyed it from a mathematical perspective, since it's a a problem which can be perfectly described in graph theoretic terms: a directed graph with a "child of" relation with certain restrictions:

Here the solution in short, but hidden behind a spoiler tag to protect those interested.

I'll try to add a character graph later.

Update

Not easy to draw.

Arrows go upwards meaning "child of". (Didn't indicate gender since it didn't really matter. Chose any of 4 combinations for B and X and adjust the partners accordingly :)

  

A   B   X   Y
 \ / . , \ /
  C   .   Z
   \ ’ . /
   🤵🏻‍♂️   👰🏻‍♂️
     \ /
     👶🏻

Hope it's clear why the bride is C's half-sister by B, and the groom is Z's half-brother by X. And all above rules are respected.

Cheers Rolf
(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
see Wikisyntax for the Monastery

°) apparently do most so called "purebred" dogs have an inbreeding factor of 25%. That's like the outcome of incest. One more reason why I'd always opt for a mongrel.

¹) in some western countries this is technically legal, because the laws don't cover that case.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^2: Pairing Riddle (OT)
by Ratazong (Monsignor) on Apr 27, 2026 at 07:49 UTC
    Hi LanX, there is another possibility not mentioned in your spoiler:

    To be the niece and the aunt of "Uncle" at the same time, the woman needs to be child of his brother and his grandfather.

    • => the mother of the woman has married both of them (not at the same time, of course!)
    • => in order to prevent any bloodline-issues, the biological father of the woman is someone completely different and the mother of the woman had no children neither with the brother nor with the grandfather
    Or even easier:
    • the woman was married to the uncle of her uncle ... so she is his aunt
    • after that marriage was over, she married her uncle

    seems to be much easier than originally thought ... but does not involve any graph-theory ...

    So long, Rata

[reply]
      Thanks, Rata. But I think you missed the requirement in the OP that uncle/aunt by marriage doesn't count.

      > > > "Direct" means blood related, i.e sibling of one parent, not "uncle by marriage".

      In hindsight it becomes clearer why breeding dogs would be a better setting for this puzzle.

      Dogs don't know marriage, divorce and soap operas° ... ;)

      And many breeders rely on incest, restricting them to uncle/aunt relationships would be a "moral" advantage.

      Update

      The trivial solution (of many) if "by marriage" was allowed ...

      ... is to marry your fiancé*'s uncle/aunt first, like for a day:

      • Boy meets girl at a Perl conference and they discuss this puzzle
      • Both bring their cool nerdy uncle/aunt to the next YAPC in Las Vegas
      • They are cross-marrying the plus ones for a day, and hence are declared uncle and aunt by an Elvis impersonator at the pre conference meeting
      • They get divorced again by an Michael Jackson impersonator during the social event
      • They marry each other with the blessing of an Larry Wall impersonator during a lightning talk
      • The "marry my uncle first" tradition quickly becomes the cultural norm in silicon valley, after 25 years all other partnerships are declared illegal under the reign of emperor Peter Thiel.

      There is also a same gender marriage version of this riddle, but requires an orange Trump impersonator dressed as Dr. Jesus.

      Cheers Rolf
      (addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
      see Wikisyntax for the Monastery

      °)

      X married Bishop Y, her step-grandfather, in 1998 (update: hence this person could have an half-uncle who becomes her nephew by marriage.)

[reply]

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