Puzzle Pack #2 Puzzle 43 Answer

Paul’s clue says that the two criminals in row 4 must be connected. In row 4, Paul is already known to be innocent, so the only unknown people this clue can still decide are Ollie, Ruth, and Sofia. Those clue limits fix all three of them: Ruth and Sofia are the connected pair of criminals in that row, and Ollie is not one of the two. So Ruth and Sofia must be criminals, and Ollie must be innocent.

Among Austin's neighbors, there is exactly 1 innocent, and those neighbors are Bonnie, Eric, and Helen. Bonnie and Helen are also the Chad-neighbors who are above Paul, and that group contains exactly 1 innocent. So Bonnie and Helen already account for the single innocent that Austin's neighbor group is allowed to have. This leaves Eric as criminal.

Austin’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly one innocent, and among the still-unknown neighbors there are only Bonnie and Helen. Eric’s clue says exactly two innocents are in the shared group of people who are both between Bonnie and Wanda and neighboring Eric, and that shared group is exactly Helen and Larry. So these two clues together determine the three unknown people involved: Helen is innocent, Bonnie is criminal, and Larry is innocent. That makes Larry innocent.

Austin’s neighbors must contain exactly 1 innocent, and among those neighbors the only unknown people are Bonnie and Helen. Column B must contain exactly 3 innocents, and it already has 2 known innocents: Larry and Paul. So the remaining innocent needed for column B has to come from Bonnie or Helen. That already uses up the one innocent allowed among Austin’s neighbors, so Wanda cannot be innocent. That makes Wanda criminal.

Wanda’s clue says that exactly two criminals among the people below Donna must form one connected group. Below Donna are D2 Jerry, D3 Noah, D4 Sofia, and D5 Zara, and Sofia is already one known criminal there. So the second criminal in that group has to be adjacent to Sofia within that same column, which leaves D3 Noah or D5 Zara, not Jerry. That makes Jerry innocent.

Ollie’s clue says column B is the only column with exactly 3 innocents, and Wanda’s clue says the criminals below Donna must be connected. The people below Donna are Jerry, Noah, Sofia, and Zara, with Jerry already innocent and Sofia already criminal. If Donna were innocent, the remaining open people would have to make both of those clues true at the same time, but they cannot. That means Donna cannot be innocent. So Donna must be criminal.

Ruth's clue says Chad has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and exactly 1 of those innocents is above Paul. That means exactly 2 of Chad's innocent neighbors are not above Paul. Among Chad's neighbors who are not above Paul, Donna, Isaac, and Jerry are the only ones there, and Jerry is already a known innocent while Donna is a known criminal. So Isaac has to fill the remaining innocent spot, which makes Isaac innocent.

Isaac’s clue says that among the edge people who are Sofia’s neighbors, exactly one is innocent. That group is Noah, Xia, and Zara. From the current board and these clues, the only ones in that group who can still be that innocent person are Noah and Zara, so Xia cannot be the innocent one there. So Xia must be criminal.

Larry’s clue says Sofia’s neighbors and Bonnie’s neighbors must contain the same number of innocents. Right now Sofia’s neighbors have 0 known innocents, while Bonnie’s neighbors already have 1 known innocent, Isaac. If Chad were innocent, then Bonnie’s neighbor group would be pushed even further ahead on innocent count, and the same remaining unknown people would also have to fit Ollie’s clue that column B is the only column with exactly 3 innocents. Those requirements cannot all be satisfied at once. So Chad at C1 must be criminal.

Among the still-unknown edge people who are not neighbors of Sofia, there is exactly 1 innocent: Austin, Bonnie, Kay, and Vicky. In that group, the only people who can still be that innocent are Bonnie, Kay, and Vicky. So Austin cannot be the innocent one in that group, and Austin must be criminal.

Austin’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly one innocent. Among Austin’s unknown neighbors, Bonnie and Helen are the only places that innocent can be, so between them there is exactly one innocent and one criminal. Eric’s clue says he has more criminal neighbors than innocent neighbors. In Eric’s neighbor list, Austin is already a criminal and Larry is already innocent, and Bonnie and Helen contribute one criminal and one innocent altogether. That makes Eric’s known total 2 criminals and 2 innocents before Kay is counted, so Kay must be a criminal to give Eric more criminal neighbors than innocent ones. So Kay must be criminal.

Austin’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly one innocent, and right now none of Austin’s neighbors is known innocent, so that one innocent has to come from Bonnie or Helen. Kay’s clue says Noah has more criminal neighbors than Austin, and at the moment Noah already has 2 known criminals while Austin has 1 known criminal. If Mark were innocent, then Bonnie and Helen would be the ones left to satisfy Austin’s clue, but that makes these two clue requirements clash. So Mark must be criminal.

Ollie’s clue says column B has exactly 3 innocents, and column B currently already has 2 known innocents, with only Bonnie and Helen still unknown there. Larry’s clue says Sofia’s neighbors and Bonnie’s neighbors have the same number of innocents; right now Sofia’s neighbors have 0 known innocents, while Bonnie’s neighbors already have 1 known innocent. Taking those two clue limits together fixes the two unknowns in column B: Bonnie has to be innocent and Helen has to be criminal. So Bonnie is innocent and Helen is criminal.

Isaac's clue says there are exactly 4 innocents on the edge, and exactly 1 of those edge innocents is a neighbor of Sofia. Among the edge people who are not neighbors of Sofia, the remainder is A1 Austin, B1 Bonnie, C1 Chad, D1 Donna, A2 Eric, D2 Jerry, A3 Kay, A4 Ollie, D4 Sofia, A5 Vicky, B5 Wanda, and that group already contains 3 known innocents: Bonnie, Jerry, and Ollie. So any unknown edge person in that non-neighbor group cannot also be innocent. That makes A5 Vicky criminal.

Bonnie’s clue says the number of innocent clerks must equal the number of innocent guards. The clerks already have 1 innocent, and the guards already have 1 innocent. Noah is the only unknown person left in the groups this clue talks about, so he cannot also be innocent without making the guard total higher than the clerk total. So Noah must be criminal.

Wanda’s clue says that exactly two criminals among the people below Donna are connected. Below Donna are Jerry, Noah, Sofia, and Zara, and Jerry is innocent while Noah and Sofia are already known criminals. That already gives the required connected pair of criminals below Donna, so the only still-unknown person in that group, Zara, cannot also be a criminal. So Zara must be innocent.