logic puzzle

Do you remember those logic puzzles from elementary school?  You know, like "Edna is standing next to Brian.  the person in the blue shirt is not next to the person in the green shirt.  Rachel isn't wearing green.  Jason is taller than Brian."  etc, and you have to figure out what color shirt everyone is wearing, their relative heights, and what order they are standing in?

Well I rocked those logic puzzles.  I would go through them really fast, and my answers were always right.  However, the part where I got stuck was then the teacher would ask me to explain to everyone else how I arrived at my answer.  I was always confused by this.  Both because I didn't think I should have to explain when I was right, and also because I couldn't actually explain why I was right, I just knew I was.  I seemed to naturally skip a lot of middle steps that my brain did without instruction, so if I tried to go back over it step by step, I'd get stuck.

Anyway, this project I'm working on at work reminds me of those logic puzzles, except with plane tickets, a time axis, 37 calendars, soft requirements like "Rachel would kind of prefer to stand next to Jason, if possible.", and no guarantee there even is a right answer.

It kind of makes my head spin, but I think I'm actually figuring it out. I just hope no one asks me to justify the final product.