Puzzle Pack #2 Puzzle 27 Answer

Zara's clue says there are exactly 2 innocents to the left of Isaac. That group currently has 0 known innocents, and the only unknown people left in it are Gus and Hank. Since those two spots must supply the full total of 2 innocents, Gus and Hank must both be innocent.

Hank's clue says row 3 contains exactly 3 innocents, and exactly 1 of those innocents is one of Oscar's row-3 neighbors, which are Kyle and Linda. That means the other 2 innocents in row 3 must be the people in row 3 who are not Oscar's neighbors. Those people are Martin and Noah, and there are no known innocents there yet. So Martin and Noah must be innocent.

Noah’s clue says that the two criminals below Chloe must be connected. Below Chloe are Hank, Linda, Paula, and Vera, and Hank is already innocent, so the only people this clue can still affect are Linda, Paula, and Vera. For the two criminals in that group to be connected, Paula has to be one of them, because she is the only one who can make a connected pair with either Linda or Vera. So Paula must be criminal.

Below Chloe are Hank, Linda, Paula, and Vera, and Noah’s clue says the criminals in that group are exactly two people and those two must be connected. Paula is already one criminal there, so that clue tightly restricts who below Chloe can be criminal. Paula’s clue also says column B is the only column with exactly 2 innocents, which fixes how column B can be filled overall. Putting those limits together determines Chloe’s status. So Chloe must be criminal.