Can you explain this?

Martha,

Here's the deal:

The Stem Rule creates the following blocks:
[K, H, G]
[L, F]

(Note that [K, H, G] is created by the Stem Rule + Rule 5.)


Now, to the set up:

__ __ __ __ __ __ __

Recall that F must be 3rd or 5th (Rule 1).
And that L cannot be 4th or 6th (Rule 2).

What does this mean?
Well, if F were 5th, then L would be 4th. This violates Rule 2. So F cannot be 5th. F must be 3rd.

Since F is 3rd, L is 2nd.


So now, what do we do with the [K, H, G] block? It must go [4, 5, 6] -or- [5, 6, 7].

Where can it go?
Well, if we place it [4, 5, 6], then K will be 4th.
But if K is 4th, then L must be 5th (Rule 4).
But that won't work, because the [K, H, G] block requires that if K is 4th, then H must be 5th.
So the [K, H, G] must go [5, 6 ,7].

So now we have __, L, F, __, K, H, G.


Now all we have left to place are M and J.

By Rule 3, if J is 1st, then H must be 2nd. But we know that L must be 2nd. So J cannot be 1st. Then only other option is for J to be 4th.

There's your answer: J must be 4th.

The question says F is on the day after the day after L, meaning it would be L...x...F since we don't know what that day is. Your solution says LF. Is this a typo?