The Ice Cream Parlour

A gelateria on the Rimini seafront · an August evening in 1962 · the pistachio had sold out · Difficulty: Rookie 1 · 5×5

Rimini, a scorching evening in August 1962. The little gelateria on the seafront had sold out of pistachio by six o'clock, the last sunburnt tourists were leaving the terrace, and the ice-cream maker was counting the day's takings. Vitale, a property developer who had spent the whole summer trying to buy the parlour and knock it down for a hotel, sat down on the terrace beside the striped parasol and ordered an espresso he never drank. At sunset he was found dead there. Only four people had been near him, and each gave a one-sentence statement – find out who was alone with him.

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 sink, the ice-cream counter, the table, the parasol, the bicycle and the flower bed) cannot be occupied; the chairs and the bench can.
3. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Arturo (the owner of the hotel next door): He was in the last row.
• Brigida (a schoolteacher on holiday from Bologna): She was beside the table.
• Corrado (the ice-cream maker): He was in the Parlour. He was sitting in a chair.
• Dafne (the waitress): She was beside the bicycle.
• Vitale (a property developer who wanted the parlour): The victim. He was found on the Terrace, beside the parasol – alone with the murderer.

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