Puzzle Pack #2 Puzzle 26 Answer

Amy’s clue says exactly 2 painters have a criminal directly to their left. The painter cases named here are Clyde at C1 with Bruce directly to his left, and Gus at C2 with Frank directly to his left. Since those are the painter cases that must account for the clue’s total of 2, the people directly left of them have to be criminals. So Frank and Bruce must be criminal.

Frank’s clue says that no builder has an innocent directly above them, so the total number of builders with an innocent directly above is exactly 0. Wanda is a builder, and Ollie is directly above Wanda. Since that count is already filled by none, Ollie cannot be innocent. So Ollie must be criminal.

Ollie’s clue says Debra is one of the exactly three criminals in row 1. In row 1, Amy is already innocent and Bruce is already criminal, so the only unknown people left there are Clyde and Debra. Since this clue still has to account for exactly three criminals in that row, those two remaining spots must both be criminals. So Clyde and Debra must be criminals.

One clue says column A has an odd number of criminals, so among Emily, John, Noah, and Vicky there must be an odd number of criminals. The other clue says the people strictly between Amy and Vicky also have an odd number of criminals, and those people are Emily, John, and Noah. So Emily, John, and Noah already account for an odd criminal count by themselves, and column A must also have an odd criminal count. That means adding Vicky cannot change that odd count to even. So Vicky must be innocent.