Snape's puzzle

[dfrankis at dial.pipex.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 19172

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Amanda Lewanski <editor at t...> wrote:
> rja.carnegie at e... wrote:
> 
> > Btw, am I right in thinking that not enough information is given 
for
> > the reader to solve the potions puzzle?
> 
> You are correct. Another complaint my husband made, that without a
> visual, the best a reader can do is narrow it to (I believe) three
> choices. Me, I'm lousy at that sort of puzzle, I just read it and 
took
> Hermione's word.
> 

I have always assumed that there is not enough information given, and 
therefore never attempted the puzzle, because Hermione has more 
information than the reader.  The clues describe the bottles partly 
by size, and we can't see where, for example, the biggest one is - 
but Hermione can. How about another contest here - given what she 
says about where the 'forward' and 'back' bottles are, can we 
reconstruct the rest of the puzzle?  Or a real mathematician's 
challenge, to prove that Snapes clues *are* adequate, given you can 
see the bottles.

David