Puzzle Pack #2 Puzzle 26 Answer

The painters are Clyde at C1, Gus at C2, and John at A3. Amy says exactly two painters have a criminal directly to their left. John cannot be one of them because nobody is to the left of A3, so the two painters that must fit the clue are Clyde and Gus. That means the person directly left of Clyde, Bruce at B1, is criminal, and the person directly left of Gus, Frank at B2, is criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B2 is CRIMINAL and B1 is CRIMINAL.

The only builders on the board are Amy at A1, Wanda at B5, and Vicky at A5. Frank’s clue says every builder must not have an innocent directly above them. Amy is already innocent, but she has nobody above her, so she does not affect this clue. Vicky at A5 has Noah at A4 directly above, and Wanda at B5 has Ollie at B4 directly above. That means A4 and B4 cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B4 is CRIMINAL.

Row 1 contains Amy at A1, Bruce at B1, Clyde at C1, and Debra at D1. Ollie’s clue says Debra is one of 3 criminals in that row, so Debra must be criminal and row 1 must contain exactly three criminals total. Since Amy is already innocent and Bruce is already criminal, the only way for row 1 to have exactly three criminals is for both Clyde and Debra to be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that C1 is CRIMINAL and D1 is CRIMINAL.

Amy is at A1 and is already known to be innocent, while Vicky is at A5. Clyde’s clue says there is an odd number of criminals in between Amy and Vicky, so among the three people strictly between them in column A, namely A2, A3, and A4, there must be 1 or 3 criminals. Debra’s clue says the total number of criminals in column A is odd, and since Amy at A1 is innocent, that means the four remaining spots A2 through A5 must contain an odd number of criminals. If A2, A3, and A4 already contribute an odd number, then A5 cannot also be a criminal, because that would make A2 through A5 an even number of criminals. Therefore, we can determine that A5 is INNOCENT.