Puzzle Pack #1 Puzzle 36 Answer

Julie’s clue is about the people below Floyd in column A. Floyd is at A2, and the people below him are Kyle at A3, Paula at A4, and Vince at A5. Since Julie says Vince is one of two or more innocents below Floyd, that directly includes Vince among those innocents. Therefore, we can determine that A5 is INNOCENT.

Ronald is at B4, so his neighbors are A3, B3, C3, A4, C4, A5, B5, and C5. Floyd is at A2, so Floyd’s neighbors are A1, B1, B2, A3, and B3. The only overlap between those two groups is A3 and B3, which are Kyle and Lucy. Vince says that none of Ronald’s 5 innocent neighbors is Floyd’s neighbor, so none of the overlapping people can be innocent neighbors of Ronald. Since Kyle at A3 and Lucy at B3 are both neighbors of Ronald and also neighbors of Floyd, they cannot be among Ronald’s innocent neighbors. Therefore, we can determine that A3 is CRIMINAL and B3 is CRIMINAL.

Julie says that Vince is one of two or more innocents below Floyd, so in Floyd’s column there must be at least two innocent people somewhere below A2. The people below Floyd are Kyle at A3, Paula at A4, and Vince at A5. Kyle is already known to be criminal, and Vince is innocent, so the only way to have at least two innocents below Floyd is for Paula to be innocent as well. Therefore, we can determine that A4 is INNOCENT.

Ronald at B4 has five neighbors: Kyle at A3, Lucy at B3, Mary at C3, Vince at A5, Wanda at B5, and Scott at C4. Floyd at A2 is neighboring Kyle, Lucy, and Mary, so Vince’s clue says none of Ronald’s five innocent neighbors can be any of those three people. Since Kyle and Lucy are already criminals, the only way Ronald can have five innocent neighbors is for Vince, Wanda, Mary, and Scott to be innocent, which in particular fixes Scott. Kyle’s clue also fits that, because the innocents in column C can then be Scott at C4 together with whichever other column C innocents there are, and they remain connected. Therefore, we can determine that C4 is INNOCENT.