Puzzle Pack #1 Puzzle 41 Answer

Nancy’s clue says that the only innocent below Gus is Zach’s neighbor. The only person strictly between Laura and Xavi is Ruby, and Ruby is also one of Zach’s neighbors. That means the one innocent below Gus is already accounted for within that stretch below Gus, so Laura cannot be the innocent there. So Laura must be criminal.

Laura’s clue says Ellie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, and none of those innocent neighbors are to the left of Nancy. Among Ellie’s neighbors, the people to the left of Nancy are Isaac and Keith. The clue allows 0 innocents in that group, and there are already 0 known innocents there, so Isaac and Keith cannot be innocent. So Isaac and Keith must be criminals.

Laura’s clue says Ellie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, and neither of those innocents is to the left of Nancy. Among Ellie’s neighbors, the only people to the left of Nancy are Isaac and Keith, and both of them are already criminals. So Ellie’s 2 innocent neighbors must come from the other three neighboring people who are not to the left of Nancy: Austin, Bonnie, and Flora. Keith’s clue says there is exactly 1 innocent above him, and the people above Keith are Bonnie and Flora, so exactly one of Bonnie and Flora is innocent. That means the second innocent neighbor of Ellie has to be Austin. So Austin must be innocent.

Ellie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, and none of those innocents are to the left of Nancy. Among Ellie’s neighbors, Isaac and Keith are to the left of Nancy and are already known criminals, while Austin is already an innocent and is not to the left of Nancy, so Bonnie and Flora must be the other two innocents. That gives Ellie’s neighbors exactly 2 criminals in total. Austin also says Ellie and Sam have an equal number of criminal neighbors, so Sam’s neighbors must also contain exactly 2 criminals. Sam already has 1 known criminal neighbor, Laura, and 1 known innocent neighbor, Nancy, so there is room for exactly 1 criminal among Ruby, Xavi, and Zach. This leaves Zach as criminal.

Laura’s clue says Ellie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, and none of those innocents are to the left of Nancy. In Ellie’s neighbor group, Austin is already one innocent, while the only unknown neighbors left are Bonnie and Flora. Zach’s clue says the three guards together must contain an odd number of innocents, and the only guards still affected here are Bonnie, Ellie, and Flora. Putting those limits together, Ellie cannot be one of the innocents in the guard group. So Ellie must be criminal.

Ellie says her neighbors contain exactly 2 innocents, and none of those innocents are to the left of Nancy. Isaac and Keith are the neighbors of Ellie who are to the left of Nancy, so they are not among those two innocents. Isaac also says Hank has more criminal neighbors than Austin, and right now each of them has 1 known criminal neighbor. Ellie says all criminals above Xavi must be connected, and the people above Xavi are Cheryl, Gus, Laura, and Ruby, with Laura already criminal. If Gus were innocent, then Bonnie, Flora, Cheryl, Diane, and Ruby would have to satisfy all of those clue requirements at the same time, and that is impossible. So Gus cannot be innocent. That makes Gus criminal.

Laura’s clue says Ellie has exactly two innocent neighbors, and none of those innocents are to the left of Nancy. In Ellie’s neighbor group, Austin is already one innocent, while the people to the left of Nancy there are Isaac and Keith, both criminal, so the only unknowns that clue can still affect are Bonnie and Flora. Isaac’s clue only compares Hank’s and Austin’s numbers of criminal neighbors, and Gus’s clue says the people shared by Gus and Hank contain an odd number of innocents. That shared group is Cheryl, Diane, Laura, and Nancy, with Laura already criminal and Nancy already innocent. So within the shared group, Cheryl and Diane cannot contribute one more innocent, because that would change the innocent total there; they must both be criminals. That makes Cheryl and Diane criminals.

Keith’s neighbors must contain exactly 5 criminals, and 4 of those are already known, so among the still-unknown neighbors of Keith there is exactly 1 criminal. In that unknown group, the only people who can still be that criminal are Flora, Olive, and Peter. That means Ruby cannot be the criminal in Keith’s neighbor group. So Ruby must be innocent.

Nancy’s clue says that the only innocent below Gus is one of Zach’s neighbors. Among Zach’s neighbors, the ones below Gus are Ruby and Xavi. Ruby is already known to be innocent, so she is that one innocent below Gus named by the clue. That means Xavi cannot be innocent. So Xavi must be criminal.

Ellie’s clue says her neighbors contain exactly 2 innocents, and none of those innocents are to the left of Nancy. Among Ellie’s neighbors, Austin is already one innocent, Isaac and Keith are criminal, so the second innocent has to come from Bonnie or Flora. Ruby’s clue says the number of innocent cops equals the number of innocent guards. Right now there are no known innocent cops and no known innocent guards. If Wally were criminal, then there would be no innocent cop at all, while Bonnie or Flora would have to supply an innocent guard to complete Ellie’s two innocent neighbors. That would make the counts of innocent cops and innocent guards unequal. So Wally must be innocent.

Isaac's neighbors and Zach's neighbors must have the same number of innocents, but right now Isaac's neighbors have 0 known innocents while Zach's neighbors already have 1. Among the unknown people these clues can still affect, the only unknown person in Zach's neighbors is Sam. Cheryl's clue about Keith's exactly 5 criminal neighbors only affects Flora, Olive, and Peter, not Sam. So Sam must be innocent.

Isaac’s neighbors must have the same number of innocents as Zach’s neighbors, and Zach’s neighbors already have 2 innocents while Isaac’s neighbors currently have none. So among Flora, Olive, and Peter, two of them must be innocent. Olive’s neighbors must contain more innocents than Bonnie’s neighbors, and both of those groups currently have 1 known innocent. With Peter assumed criminal, the only people left who could raise Olive’s innocent-neighbor count are Peter and Vicky, so only Vicky could help Olive get ahead, while Bonnie could still be raised by Flora. That cannot satisfy both clues at the same time. So Peter cannot be criminal. That makes Peter innocent.

Ellie’s clue says her neighbors contain exactly 2 innocents, and none of those innocents are to the left of Nancy. Among Ellie’s neighbors, Austin is already one innocent, Isaac and Keith are to the left of Nancy and are criminal, so the two remaining places that can supply Ellie’s second innocent are Bonnie and Flora. Peter’s clue says Gus has more innocent neighbors than Zach. Zach already has 2 innocent neighbors, while Gus currently has only 1 known innocent, Nancy. If Hank were criminal, then the only open people available to raise Gus’s innocent-neighbor count would be Bonnie and Flora, but those two are already needed by Ellie’s clue. So Hank at D2 must be innocent.

Ellie’s neighbors contain exactly 2 innocents in total, and none of those innocents are to the left of Nancy. Among Ellie’s neighbors, Austin is already an innocent, Isaac and Keith are already criminals, and the only unknown neighbors left are Bonnie and Flora. So the second innocent among Ellie’s neighbors has to be Bonnie, because Bonnie and Austin are the neighbors not to the left of Nancy, while Flora cannot be that second innocent. Hank’s clue about column B then leaves Flora as the criminal there. So Bonnie must be innocent and Flora must be criminal.

Diane’s clue says Isaac and Zach have the same number of innocent neighbors. Right now, Isaac’s neighbors include 1 known innocent, while Zach’s neighbors include 2 known innocents. The only unknown person left among the neighbors relevant to this clue is Olive, in Isaac’s neighbor group, so she has to provide Isaac’s missing second innocent neighbor. So Olive must be innocent.

Sam’s clue says there are 9 innocents in total. On the board, the innocents already identified are Austin, Bonnie, Hank, Nancy, Olive, Peter, Ruby, Sam, and Wally, which is exactly 9 people. That leaves no room for Vicky to be innocent. So Vicky must be criminal.