Puzzle Pack #2 Puzzle 23 Answer

The only builders are Hank at D2 and Uma at D4, and Xia’s clue says no builder has an innocent directly to the left. The spaces directly left of those builders are C2 and C4, which are Gus and Thor. So Gus and Thor cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C2 is CRIMINAL and C4 is CRIMINAL.

Ryan is at B4, so his neighbors in column A are only A3, A4, and A5. Alice at A1 and Eve at A2 are not Ryan's neighbors. Gus says there are exactly 4 innocents in column A, and exactly 2 of those 4 are Ryan's neighbors. Since column A has 5 people total, that means exactly 1 person in column A is criminal. Among the 4 innocents, the 2 who are Ryan's neighbors must come from A3, A4, and A5, so the other 2 innocents in column A must be the only column-A people who are not Ryan's neighbors: A1 and A2. Therefore, we can determine that A1 is INNOCENT and A2 is INNOCENT.

Gus is at C2 and Katie is at B3, so their common neighbors are exactly B2, C3, and D2. Eve’s clue says none of those common neighbors is innocent. Since the only people in that shared-neighbor group are Floyd at B2, Mark at C3, and Hank at D2, each of them must be not innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B2 is CRIMINAL, C3 is CRIMINAL, and so on.

In row 2, the two criminals are already Floyd at B2 and Gus at C2. They are directly next to each other, so the criminals in that row are already connected just by those two. That means there cannot be any other criminal in row 2, because adding D2 as a criminal would make there be more than two criminals in that row. Therefore, we can determine that D2 is INNOCENT.

Wanda is at B5, so the people above her are B1, B2, B3, and B4. Hank’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals among those four people, and that Ryan is one of them. Since Ryan is B4, the clue directly tells us Ryan is criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B4 is CRIMINAL.

Column A is Eve at A2, Joy at A3, Paula at A4, and Vince at A5 between Eve and Vince. Ryan says there is only one innocent in between Eve and Vince, so among the two people between A2 and A5, which are Joy and Paula, exactly one is innocent. Gus says exactly 2 of the 4 innocents in column A are Ryan's neighbors; Ryan at B4 neighbors A3, A4, and A5 in column A, so among Joy, Paula, and Vince, exactly two are innocent. Since Joy and Paula already contain exactly one innocent, Vince must be the other innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A5 is INNOCENT.

Vince says there are more innocent painters than innocent sleuths. We already know Eve at A2 is an innocent painter, while no sleuth is currently known to be innocent, so for that comparison to stay true, Chad at C1 cannot also be an innocent sleuth because that would create an innocent sleuth to match the known innocent painter count. That forces Chad to be the other status instead. Therefore, we can determine that C1 is INNOCENT.

Column B contains Bruce at B1, Floyd at B2, Katie at B3, Ryan at B4, and Wanda at B5. Chad says there is an odd number of criminals in that column, and we already know Floyd and Ryan are criminals, so the total in column B must be 3 or 5. Hank says Ryan is one of 3 criminals above Wanda, which means there are exactly 3 criminals in the squares above Wanda in column B, namely among B1 to B4. Since B2 and B4 are already criminals, exactly one of B1 or B3 is also criminal, so there are exactly 3 criminals in the whole column above Wanda. That makes the total number of criminals in column B exactly 3, so Wanda cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B5 is INNOCENT.

Debra at D1 has exactly one criminal neighbor, because her neighbors are Chad at C1, Gus at C2, and Hank at D2, and only Gus is criminal. So Zach at D5 must also have exactly one criminal neighbor. Zach’s neighbors are Uma at D4, Thor at C4, and Xia at C5, and since Thor is criminal while Xia is innocent, Uma cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D4 is INNOCENT.

Looking at the rows as they stand, row 1 already has exactly 2 innocents because A1 and C1 are innocent, row 2 has exactly 2 innocents because A2 and D2 are innocent, and row 5 has exactly 3 innocents because A5, B5, and C5 are innocent. Uma’s clue says only one row can have exactly 2 innocents, so no other row besides one of rows 1 or 2 can end up with that total. In row 4, we already have B4 and C4 criminal and D4 innocent, so the only way row 4 would avoid having exactly 2 innocents is for A4 to be criminal. If A4 were innocent, row 4 would contain exactly 2 innocents, which Uma’s clue does not allow. Therefore, we can determine that A4 is CRIMINAL.

Column A has four innocents: Alice at A1, Eve at A2, Vince at A5, and one more person, so Joy at A3 must be that fourth innocent. Gus’s clue says exactly 2 of those 4 innocents in column A are neighbors of Ryan at B4. Ryan’s neighbors in column A are only Joy at A3 and Vince at A5, since Alice at A1 and Eve at A2 are too far away. Because Vince is already innocent, the second innocent neighbor must be Joy. Therefore, we can determine that A3 is INNOCENT.

Row 5 already has three known innocents at A5, B5, and C5, so the clue from Paula says row 5 must end up with more innocents than every other row. Uma’s clue says only one row has exactly two innocents, and row 1 already does, since A1 and C1 are innocent while B1 and D1 are not yet confirmed. That means row 5 cannot also have exactly two innocents, so it cannot stay at just those three known positions with D5 not innocent. The only way for row 5 to be strictly ahead of the other rows while keeping row 1 as the only row with exactly two innocents is for D5 to also be innocent, giving row 5 four innocents. Therefore, we can determine that D5 is INNOCENT.

Zach says there are 13 innocents in total, so with 20 people on the board there must be exactly 7 criminals altogether. We already know 6 criminals: Floyd, Gus, Mark, Paula, Ryan, and Thor, so among the four unknown people only one can still be criminal. Hank says Ryan is one of 3 criminals above Wanda. Wanda is at B5, and the people above her are Bruce at B1, Floyd at B2, Katie at B3, and Ryan at B4. Since Ryan and Floyd are already criminals, that clue means exactly one of Bruce or Katie is also criminal, so the single remaining criminal is in column B. That leaves no criminal slots for Debra or Olive, so both of them must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D1 is INNOCENT and D3 is INNOCENT.

Uma says that only one row has exactly 2 innocents. Row 2 already has exactly 2 innocents, since Eve and Hank are innocent while Floyd and Gus are criminal. Row 4 also has exactly 2 innocents only if Katie were criminal, because then row 3 would have just Joy and Olive as innocents alongside criminal Mark. So Katie cannot be criminal, and must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B3 is INNOCENT.

Paula’s clue says row 5 has uniquely more innocents than every other row. Row 5 has 4 innocents, so every other row must have fewer than 4 innocents. Row 1 already has Alice, Chad, and Debra innocent, so Bruce cannot also be innocent or row 1 would also have 4 innocents. Therefore, we can determine that B1 is CRIMINAL.