Problem #11: A Dinner Party

We were given a formal dinner party for ten (including ourselves) which is a number I always like because the host can sit at one end of the table and the hostess at the other, and still maintain the correct alternate male and female around the table. My wife was trying to work out the seating. "Tom and Jean have not been here to dinner before so they are the guests of honor. Tom must sit on my right and Jean on your right, but I don't know how I want to seat the others.: "Well," I said, "I would like Janet on my left. I have a soft spot for her." "You can have her," replied my wife, "but I will not have her husband Jack next to me; I think he should be next to Mary Ann."

Since we do not place husbands and wives next to each other, this determined the seating of everyone, including Howard's wife Lois, and Mary Ann's husband Bill. Can you work out the seating arrangement?


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