The Congress

the State Chancellery · autumn 1815 · four delegations under strict protocol · Difficulty: Chief 9 · 16×16

Autumn 1815. The great powers have gathered to redraw the map of Europe, and tonight the State Chancellor receives the four delegations on the first floor of the Chancellery – Austrians, Britons, Prussians and Russians, four of each, with music in the Ballroom and cards in the Card Room. The protocol of the congress is strict: so that no delegation can ever be accused of a secret consultation, no two members of the same delegation may be in the same room at the same time. Shortly before midnight Vasily, the Tsar’s envoy, is found dead in the Chancellor’s Cabinet, struck down beside the writing desk. The doors are locked at once and the fifteen people on the floor are questioned one by one; every one of them states truthfully where they were at the moment of the murder – and the protocol, they all insist, was observed to the letter. Work out everybody’s square – and the one person who was alone with the envoy.

Rules

Protocol: the congress kept strict protocol – no two members of the same delegation were in the same area. Each delegation (the four Austrians, the four Britons, the four Prussians and the four Russians – the victim included) was therefore spread over four different areas, and any two people who shared an area belonged to different delegations. Statements such as “There was a Prussian in his area.” or “There was no Briton in his area.” refer to the delegations shown on the cards.
Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
“Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (candelabra, statues, pillars, tables, bookcases, the piano…) cannot be occupied; the chairs, the benches, the sofas and the armchairs 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.
“Right beside an area where nobody was” = on a square that touches an empty area directly – left, right, above or below, across the wall.
Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “south of Natalia” = in a row further down, in any column. “On the same diagonal” = the two squares lie on one diagonal line of the board, in either direction and at any distance.
The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

Amalia (the Chancellor’s wife): There was a man in her area. She was beside a statue.
Bernhard (State Chancellor): He was right beside an area where nobody was. He was beside a table.
Constanze (countess): There was a Russian in her area. A bookcase was somewhere in her row.
Dietmar (secretary of the congress): He was beside a table. There was a Prussian in his area.
Edwina (the ambassador’s wife): An armchair was somewhere in her row.
Fitzwilliam (Foreign Secretary): He was the only man beside a chair. He and Constanze were on the same diagonal.
Georgiana (lady-in-waiting): There was no Austrian in her area. She was not in the Gallery.
Harold (colonel): He was south of Natalia. An armchair was somewhere in his column.
Ignatz (general): A bench was somewhere in his area. He was in a corner of his area.
Johanna (baroness): The staircase was somewhere in her area. A candelabrum was somewhere in her column.
Kaspar (plenipotentiary): A candelabrum was somewhere in his column. There was no Briton in his area.
Luise (princess): There was an Austrian in her area. She was in the Ballroom.
Mikhail (aide-de-camp): He was alone in his area. An armchair was somewhere in his column.
Natalia (princess): A chair was somewhere in her column.
Olga (countess): She was in the Antechamber. There was no man in her area.
Vasily (the Tsar’s envoy): The victim. He was found in the Cabinet, beside a desk – alone with the murderer.

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