Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

Best in Show

Ingliston, a Sunday in August · the championship show before the last judging · a rosette nobody will pin · Difficulty: Detective 5 · 9×9

Ingliston, western Edinburgh, the Sunday of a championship dog show. Vanora, the renowned breeder and judge, was due in the hall for the day's last judging, Best in Show, but the ring steward could not find her. Eight others were there: three exhibitors, two judges, the ring steward, the show secretary and the tea tent operator. Vanora was found dead. The final award was never announced.

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 cars, the caravan, the quiet dogs, the barking dogs, the crate, the desk, the microphone, the cabinet, the kettle, the shelf, the flower bed, the trophy, the cone, the washtub, the sink, the mirror, the bistro tables, the counter, the tea tray and the tiered cake) cannot be occupied; the benches, the armchair, the chairs and the stool can.
  3. Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly one row north of him was a judge” = the person in the row directly above was a judge, in any column; “the northernmost person in her area” = nobody else in her area was in a row further up.
  4. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area. The victim made no statement – her square, too, follows from the others’.

Statements

  • Angus (handler of a Border Collie): A bistro table was somewhere in his column. He was the southernmost person in his area.
  • Bethia (Scottish Terrier breeder): She was in a corner of her area. She was alone in her area.
  • Craig (handler of a Deerhound): He was not in a corner of his area. A barking dog was somewhere in his area.
  • Davina (group judge): She was beside the flower bed. There was exactly one other person in her area.
  • Elspeth (breed judge): She was the only one beside the shelf.
  • Finlay (ring steward): Somebody else in his area was beside the flower bed.
  • Gordon (show secretary): He was the only one beside the desk.
  • Heather (runs the tea tent): She was sitting in a chair.
  • Vanora (the Best in Show judge): The victim. She was alone with the murderer.

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