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Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

The Circus

Grand Meridian Circus · after the evening show · the last bow · Difficulty: Inspector 8 · 12×12

The evening show of the Grand Meridian Circus is over, the crowd has gone home and the lights are going out one by one – when Vittorio, the ringmaster, is found dead backstage, beside the dressing table. Eleven people were still on the circus ground: five artistes, three of the crew and three visitors. One of them is the killer. Read every statement, find everyone’s square on the plan and unmask the murderer – alone with Vittorio backstage.

Rules

  1. Exactly one person was sitting on a horse.
  2. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
  3. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the ropes, the mast, the cannon, crates, the safe, caravans, the booth…) cannot be occupied; the podium, the spectators’ seat, the bed, the horses, the hay bales, the chairs, the bench and the stools can (one can sit on a horse). A corner of an area is a square of that area with two outer sides.
  4. Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly one row north of him was a woman” = the person in the row directly above is a woman, in any column; “north of Cordelia” = in a row further up, in any column.
  5. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

  • Alessandra (trapeze artist): She was not in a corner of her area.
  • Balthazar (strongman): He was in the Menagerie. He was the southernmost person in his area.
  • Cordelia (acrobat): She was in a corner of her area. Exactly one row north of her was a man.
  • Dmitri (knife thrower): He was north of Julius. He was the only one beside a crate.
  • Esmeralda (illusionist): She was beside the ropes.
  • Fabian (tent master): He was in the Caravans area. He was not in a corner of his area.
  • Griselda (animal keeper): She was in the Menagerie. She was the easternmost person in her area.
  • Horatio (cook): He was in the Canteen.
  • Ilona (local journalist): She was in the Box Office.
  • Julius (rival impresario): He was not in the Ringmaster’s Wagon.
  • Kristina (devoted fan): She was beside a caravan. There was a woman in her area.
  • Vittorio (the ringmaster): The victim. He was found backstage, beside the dressing table – alone with the murderer.

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