Puzzle Pack #1 Puzzle 42 Answer

Xavi’s clue says Chad is one of two or more innocents above Wanda. That statement directly includes Chad as an innocent. So Chad must be innocent.

Xavi’s clue says Chad is one of two or more innocents above Wanda, so among the people above Wanda in column B there must be at least one innocent besides Chad. Chad’s clue says all innocents in column B are connected. Between Chad and Ryan, the only people are Hal and Linda, and Hal is also between Chad and Wanda. Since the additional innocent above Wanda has to connect with Chad inside column B, Hal must be innocent.

In column B, Chad and Hal are already known innocents. Chad’s clue says all innocents in column B are connected, so the innocents in that column have to form one unbroken group. Since Linda and Ryan are the only people between Chad and Wanda in column B, Wanda cannot also be innocent without making the column-B innocents extend all the way down to her. That makes Wanda criminal.

Wanda's clue says Chad has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those is in column C. That means exactly 2 of Chad's criminal neighbors must be outside column C. Among Chad's neighbors outside column C, the only people are Bonnie, Gus, and Hal, and Hal is already innocent. So Bonnie and Gus have to be the two criminals there, which makes Bonnie and Gus criminals.

Bonnie’s clue directly says that Zara is one of Tyler’s 3 innocent neighbors. That identifies Zara as innocent.

Row 5 already has two known innocents, Xavi and Zara, and Vince is the only unknown person left in that row. Zara’s clue says row 5 has more innocents than any other row, so row 5 must end up with more innocents than row 1. Row 1 already has one known innocent, Chad, and Gus’s clue says exactly one innocent in row 1 is neighboring Janet, which means one of Donald or Evie is also innocent, so row 1 has at least two innocents. Therefore row 5 must have at least three innocents, and the only way to reach that is for Vince to be innocent. So Vince must be innocent.

In column B, Chad and Hal are innocent and Wanda is criminal, so the only unknown people there are Linda and Ryan. Chad’s clue says all innocents in column B are connected, and the people strictly between Chad and Wanda are Hal, Linda, and Ryan. Since Hal is already an innocent, the innocents in column B must form one unbroken group with Chad and Hal, so Ryan cannot be innocent unless Linda is also innocent. This leaves Ryan as criminal.

Tyler’s neighbors contain exactly 3 innocents, and Zara is one of them. Tyler already has two known innocent neighbors, Xavi and Zara, so among the three unknown neighbors Mary, Nancy, and Sarah, exactly one is innocent and the other two are criminals. That makes D3 Nancy a criminal. Wanda’s clue says Chad has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and only 1 of those 3 is in column C. Chad already has two known criminal neighbors outside column C, Bonnie and Gus, so the one remaining criminal neighbor must be either Donald or Isaac, both in column C. Therefore Chad’s other unknown neighbor, Linda, cannot be that third criminal in column C, so B3 Linda must be a criminal.

Chad’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals in column C, so the two column C neighbors there, Donald and Isaac, have to account for that column C criminal count. At the same time, Bonnie and Zara must have the same number of criminal neighbors; Bonnie already has 1, while Zara has 0 known criminals, so Zara’s unknown neighbors Sarah and Tyler have to supply that. And Xavi must have more innocent neighbors than Evie, with Xavi already on 1 known innocent while Evie has 0. If Janet were innocent, then Donald, Isaac, Sarah, and Tyler would have to satisfy all three of those requirements together, but they cannot. So Janet cannot be innocent. That makes Janet criminal.

Janet’s clue says Zara and Hal have the same number of innocent neighbors. Right now Zara’s neighbors already include 1 known innocent, Xavi, and Hal’s neighbors already include 1 known innocent, Chad. Since those counts are already equal, the clue does not let either side gain any extra innocent neighbor without matching the other side, and the only target singled out in Zara’s neighbor set here is Sarah. So Sarah must be innocent.

Bonnie’s clue says Zara is one of Tyler’s exactly 3 innocent neighbors. Tyler’s neighbors are Mary, Nancy, Sarah, Xavi, and Zara, and among them Sarah, Xavi, and Zara are already the 3 known innocents. That leaves Mary as the only still-unknown neighbor affected by this clue, so Mary must be criminal.

Nancy’s clue says Bonnie and Zara must have the same number of criminal neighbors. Bonnie’s neighbors already contain 1 criminal, while Zara’s neighbors currently contain 0, and the only unknown person involved here is Tyler among Zara’s neighbors. So Tyler has to be the extra criminal neighbor for Zara, which makes Tyler criminal.

Janet’s clue says Zara and Hal have the same number of innocent neighbors. Zara’s neighbors already contain exactly 2 innocents, while Hal’s neighbors currently contain 1 known innocent, and the only unknown neighbors there are Donald, Isaac, and Kyle. So Hal’s neighbors need exactly one more innocent among those three. This leaves Kyle as criminal.

Sarah’s clue says Isaac and Wanda have the same number of innocent neighbors. Isaac’s neighbors currently have 2 known innocents, while Wanda’s neighbors currently have 3 known innocents. The only unknown in Wanda’s neighbor list is Paula, so Paula cannot be innocent, because that would raise Wanda’s innocent-neighbor count above Isaac’s. So Paula must be criminal.

Paula says there are 13 criminals in total. The board already shows 12 people confirmed as criminals, and the only unknown people left are Donald, Evie, and Isaac, so exactly one of those three must be a criminal. Hal says column C has more innocents than any other column. In column C, Mary is already a criminal and Sarah and Xavi are already innocents, so the only way for column C to have the most innocents is for both unknown people there, Donald and Isaac, to be innocents. That leaves Evie as the only unknown who can be the remaining criminal. So Evie must be a criminal.

Gus's clue says there is exactly 1 innocent among the people who are both in row 1 and neighboring Janet. That shared group is only Donald and Evie, and Evie is already criminal. So the 1 innocent in that group has to be Donald. That makes Donald innocent.

Wanda's clue says Chad has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in column C. Among Chad's neighbors in column C, Donald is already innocent, so that column-C part still needs 1 criminal. The only unknown person left there is Isaac. So Isaac must be criminal.