You thank the last person as they step outside, “It’s been a lovely evening, drive safely!” You wait in the doorway to see them off, waving as the car begins to pull away. Closing the door, you breathe a tired sigh.

You stroll into the living room before it finally hits you. After weeks of discussions and the purchase of a 5-story building downtown, you are finally the proud owner of your very own clothing empire! You’ve just closed negotiations with 5 designers who have started their own small companies, but haven’t been able to hit it big yet. Aside from settling on a salary for each of them, you also agreed to hire the employees they already have. This is indeed a wonderful moment for you! “YES,” you yell enthusiastically!

Startled, your cat jumps sideways off the couch, landing on the coffee table and knocking a glass of wine all over your papers. Your delight quickly turns to horror as you realize what your precious (and soon-to-die) tabby has just done. You dash into the kitchen for some napkins but it’s too late; half of your papers are already ruined. You can’t believe it. You just spent all night sorting out the details, and you would really prefer to not have another 8 hour evening with those crazy designers! Besides, they might try to change their salaries.

With the information you have left, can you figure out what salary you agreed on with each designer, which item they design, how many employees they have, and on which floor of your new building they will be located?

Designers: Aimee, Claude, Darla, Evan, Faye
Items: Purses, Pants, Skirts, Shoes, Tops
Floors: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Number of Employees: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Salary: 133k, 138k, 141k, 146k, 152k

1. The salary of the person designing pants is more than Darla, but less than the designer on the 2nd floor.
2. The five unique designers are: Faye, the one designing purses, the one on the 5th floor, the one whose salary is 146k, and the one with 5 employees.
3. Only 15 employees will work above the 3rd floor.
4. The shoe designer does not have the lowest salary, despite having the fewest employees.
5. The sum of the numbers in one designer’s salary is also their total number of employees.
6. The salary of the designer on the 3rd floor is 138k.
7. The five different floors are: the floor with 9 employees, the floor of the 133k salary, the floor Aimee is on, the 2nd floor, and the floor where the tops are designed.
8. The designer on the 1st floor has the same number of employees as letters in their name.
9. The purse designer has the most employees, but she doesn’t have the highest salary.
10. You remember that Faye really likes purses, but that has nothing to do with this puzzle.