Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

The Court of the Lions

The Alhambra, Granada · a September night visit · the thirteenth lion · Difficulty: Inspector 7 · 10×10

Granada, a September night: the Nasrid palaces stay open after dark. Among the members of the night visit is Vicente, the collector, who boasts of a “thirteenth lion” that appears in no inventory. While a flamenco guitar was playing, he fell behind the group and was found dead in the Hall of the Abencerrages. Nobody left the palace: the murderer is one of the nine.

Rules

  1. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
  2. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the fountains, the water, the trees, the hedges, the pillars, the lanterns, the ladder and the camera) cannot be occupied; the chairs, the benches and the carpets can. A corner of an area is a square of that area that borders the outside (another area or the edge of the board) on one horizontal and one vertical side.
  3. Directions refer to rows, not to the same column: “exactly one row north of her was a man” = the person in the row directly above is a man, in any column.
  4. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

  • Alba (the night guide): She was in the Gallery.
  • Bernardo (the guard): The camera was somewhere in his row.
  • Carla (the restorer of the lions): Exactly one row north of her was a man.
  • Dulcinea (a honeymooner): She was with Emiliano.
  • Emiliano (a honeymooner): He was not in a corner of his area.
  • Fermina (the photographer): She was in the Hall of the Kings.
  • Gaspar (the flamenco guitarist): There was no other man in his area. He was sitting on a bench or a chair.
  • Hope (an American writer): A hedge was somewhere in her row. She was not in the Lindaraja Garden.
  • Idris (a calligrapher from Fez): He was alone in his area. He was beside a lantern.
  • Vicente (the collector): The victim. He was found in the Hall of the Abencerrages, beside a fountain – alone with the murderer.

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