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.