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Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

The Farm

Hollybrook Farm · the eve of the market · dusk · Difficulty: Inspector 7 · 10×10

The eve of the autumn market at Hollybrook Farm. The animals are fed, the carts are loaded – and when the bell rings for supper, Vilma, the farmer, is found dead in the barn, among the hay bales. Nine people were on the farm: three of her family, three farmhands and three visitors. One of them is the killer. Read every statement, find everyone’s square on the plan of the farm and unmask the murderer – alone with Vilma in the Barn.

Rules

  1. Exactly two people were sitting on hay bales.
  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 stove, tables, the well, carts, trees, coops…) cannot be occupied; the bed, the chairs, the benches, the hay bales and the horses 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 Beryl” = in a row further up, in any column.
  5. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

  • Albert (the farmer’s husband): He was south of Giles.
  • Beryl (daughter): She was beside an apple tree. Exactly one row north of her was a female farmhand.
  • Clement (son): He was in the Yard. There was a member of the family in his area.
  • Dulcie (dairymaid): She was in the Vegetable Garden.
  • Egon (stable hand): He was south of Freda.
  • Freda (farmhand): Exactly one row north of her was a female farmhand. Exactly two rows north of her was a woman.
  • Giles (vet): He was in a corner of his area. There was a member of the family in his area.
  • Hedda (neighbour): She was not lying on the bed.
  • Ivor (horse dealer): Exactly one row south of him was a woman. He was beside a chair.
  • Vilma (the farmer): The victim. She was found in the Barn – alone with the murderer.

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