Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

The Emerald River

Soča valley, the last Sunday of September · a canoe and kayak centre closes for the winter · the boats counted one last time · Difficulty: Inspector 7 · 10×10

The Soča valley in the Julian Alps, the last Sunday of September. For eighteen summers Vesna ran the canoe and kayak centre below the village. By nine o’clock the campfire was burning, but Vesna did not come out for the toast. Nine other people were at the centre. Vesna was found dead. It was the last evening of the season.

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 counter, the parasol, the table, the waters, the desk, the lockers, the bicycle, the tents, the campfire, the tree, the shower, the shelf, the crates, the coil of rope, the barrel, the lifebuoy, the bollard, the washtub, the coat rack and the rock) cannot be occupied; the chairs, the boats, the bridges, the logs, the benchs and the deckchair can.
  3. Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly one row north of him was a guest” = the person in the row directly above was a guest, 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

  • Anja (receptionist): She was the only one beside a bench. Exactly two rows north of her was a woman.
  • Boštjan (head instructor): He was the only man beside a locker.
  • Cvetka (café manager): A chair was somewhere in her area.
  • Dejan (river guide): He was beside the water.
  • Ema (nature photographer): The bollard was somewhere in her column. She was the easternmost person in her area.
  • Franc (kayak dealer): The bicycle was somewhere in his column. He was the southernmost person in his area.
  • Gaja (slalom paddler): She was right beside an area where nobody was. She was in a corner of her area.
  • Hinko (hiker): The coil of rope was somewhere in his row. The rock was somewhere in his column.
  • Igor (fly fisherman): He was in the Equipment Store.
  • Vesna (owner of the centre): The victim. She was alone with the murderer.

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