NEW DELHI, Sept. 14 -- One of the many benefits of writing an interactive puzzle column, apart from the joy it provides, is that reader feedback sometimes helps create better versions of the same puzzles. For example, after we ran a betting puzzle during the football World Cup, Yadvendra Somra replied that it could be solved with less data than was provided. Enough time has passed since that puzzle to allow us an updated version.

# Puzzle 212.1

A cricket tournament involves eight teams including the Asian heavyweights India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and the less fancied contenders UAE, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia. Bets on the eventual champion must be placed before the tournament begins, because it is unfair to select t...