Puzzle Pack #1 Puzzle 43 Answer

Nick is at A4, and the people above him in column A are Isaac at A3, Eve at A2, and Adam at A1. Freya’s clue says Isaac is one of two or more criminals above Nick, so Isaac must be a criminal, and there must be at least one other criminal among those people above Nick as well. Therefore, we can determine that A3 is CRIMINAL.

In column A, Isaac says he is one of 2 criminals there, and Isaac at A3 is already known to be a criminal. That means exactly one of A1, A2, A4, and A5 is also a criminal. Freya says Isaac is one of two or more criminals above Nick. Since Isaac is at A3 and Nick is at A4, the people above Nick in the same column are A1, A2, and A3, so there must be at least two criminals among those three positions. With Isaac already one of them, one of A1 or A2 must also be criminal. That already uses up the only other criminal allowed in column A, so A4 and A5 cannot be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that A4 is INNOCENT and A5 is INNOCENT.

Nick is at A4, so the people above him are A1, A2, and A3. Freya says Isaac is one of two or more criminals above Nick, and since Isaac is A3, that means at least one of A1 or A2 is also criminal. Freya is innocent, so her criminal neighbors are among A1, B1, C1, A2, C2, A3, and B3. Isaac at A3 is already criminal, and at least one of A1 or A2 is criminal too, so Freya already has at least 2 criminal neighbors. Nick says Freya and Vince have the same number of criminal neighbors, so Vince must also have at least 2 criminal neighbors. Tom says Vince has an odd number of innocent neighbors in row 4. Vince’s neighbors in row 4 are Nick at A4, Olivia at B4, and Ronald at C4. Nick is innocent, so to make the total number of innocents among those three odd, Olivia and Ronald must be the same status. Since Vince must still have at least 2 criminal neighbors overall, Olivia and Ronald cannot both be innocent, so they must both be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B4 is CRIMINAL, C4 is CRIMINAL, and so on.

Olivia says that Freya has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and one of them is Isaac. Freya’s neighbors are Adam, Barb, Carl, Eve, Gary, Isaac, Jane, and Katie, so besides Isaac exactly two of those seven are criminal. Nick says Freya and Vince have the same number of criminal neighbors, so Vince also has exactly 3 criminal neighbors. Vince’s neighbors are Olivia, Ronald, Tom, Wanda, and Zach, and we already know Olivia and Ronald are criminal while Tom is innocent. That means Wanda and Zach must contribute exactly one more criminal neighbor between them, so one of them is criminal. Now look at Wanda’s own neighbors: Ronald, Sarah, Vince, and Zach. Ronald is already criminal, and if Wanda were innocent then Vince could not reach his required total of 3 criminal neighbors unless Zach were criminal; in that case Wanda would be adjacent to exactly two criminals already forced next to her on that side. The remaining placement makes Wanda the criminal that satisfies Vince’s count. Therefore, we can determine that C5 is CRIMINAL.