Puzzle Pack #1 Puzzle 41 Answer

Below Gus in column C are Laura at C3, Ruby at C4, and Xavi at C5. Nancy’s clue says there is exactly one innocent among those people, and that innocent is a neighbor of Zach at D5. Zach’s neighbors are C4, C5, and D4, so among the people below Gus, only Ruby and Xavi could be that one innocent; Laura is not a neighbor of Zach. Therefore, we can determine that C3 is CRIMINAL.

Ellie is at A2, so her neighbors are A1, B1, B2, A3, and B3. Nancy is at D3, and everyone to the left of Nancy in that row is A3, B3, and C3. 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 ones to the left of Nancy are A3 and B3, because C3 is not Ellie’s neighbor. So Ellie’s 2 innocent neighbors must be the other two possible neighbors, A1 and B1 or B2. That means A3 and B3 cannot be innocent neighbors of Ellie. Therefore, we can determine that A3 is CRIMINAL and B3 is CRIMINAL.

Keith is at B3, so the people above him are Bonnie at B1 and Flora at B2, and his clue says exactly one of those two is innocent. Laura says the two innocent neighbors of Ellie are not to the left of Nancy; since Nancy is at D3, every position left of Nancy is in columns A, B, or C, so the only neighboring position of Ellie that is not left of Nancy is D3 itself. Ellie’s neighbors are Austin, Bonnie, Flora, Isaac, Keith, and Peter, and among those only Nancy is not a neighbor, so the only way Laura’s statement can be true is that the two innocent neighbors of Ellie are Austin at A1 and Peter at B4, because every other neighbor except those two is left of Nancy and Isaac and Keith are already criminals. Therefore, we can determine that A1 is INNOCENT.

Ellie’s neighbors are A1, B1, B2, A3, B3, A4, and B4. Laura says exactly two of those neighbors are innocent, and neither of those two is left of Nancy, so they must be on column D’s side of Ellie’s neighborhood; among Ellie’s actual neighbors, that leaves only B2 and B4 as the two innocent neighbors. Austin says Ellie and Sam have the same number of criminal neighbors. Since Ellie has 7 neighbors total and exactly 2 of them are innocent, Ellie has 5 criminal neighbors. Sam’s neighbors are C3, D3, C4, C5, and D5, and with Laura at C3 a criminal and Nancy at D3 innocent, Sam can have 5 criminal neighbors only if C4, C5, and D5 are all criminals. Therefore, we can determine that D5 is CRIMINAL.