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Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

The Last Aria

Opening night · Royal Opera House · the interval, 21:05 · Difficulty: Inspector 7 · 16×16

Opening night at the Royal Opera. During the interval the prima donna, Vera, is found dead on the chaise longue in her dressing room. Fifteen people were in the building – singers, musicians, staff and three guests – and each of them told the police where they had been. Fourteen statements are true. One person lied: the murderer. Find everyone’s exact position on the plan and unmask the liar. The killer was alone with Vera in her dressing room.

Rules

  1. Every suspect made one statement. Fourteen statements are true – only the murderer’s statement is false. (A statement with several parts is false if any part of it is untrue.)
  2. The backstage rooms are the five rooms in rows 1–3: Vera’s Dressing Room, the Chorus Room, the Wardrobe, the Props Store and the Director’s Office. The west side of the house means the Dressing Room, the West Wing, the West Box and the Box Office.
  3. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
  4. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with fittings (racks, desks, instruments, counters…) cannot be occupied; chairs, armchairs, seats, benches, stools, sofas, the throne, the podium and the chaise longue can.
  5. Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “he was south of her” = in a row further down, in any column; “west of him” = in a column further left, in any row.
  6. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

  • Arthur (tenor): He was with Edmund, west of him.
  • Beatrice (mezzo-soprano): She was in the Royal Box with Olivia, sitting in an armchair.
  • Cedric (baritone): He was with Hazel, west of her – and west of Gordon.
  • Daisy (chorus singer): She was on the Stage with Arthur, beside a pillar.
  • Edmund (bass): He was with Daisy, beside the fountain.
  • Flora (harpist): She was in the Orchestra Pit with Gordon, beside her harp.
  • Gordon (conductor): He was with Flora, south of her and west of Hazel.
  • Hazel (violinist): She was on the Balcony with Cedric, south of him.
  • Isaac (timpanist): He was in the Backstage Corridor, beside the trolley, east of Daisy.
  • Jasper (stage manager): He was east of Beatrice.
  • Kirsty (wardrobe mistress): She never left the backstage rooms (rows 1–3).
  • Leonard (doorman): He stayed on the west side of the house (Dressing Room, West Wing, West Box or Box Office).
  • Molly (season-ticket holder): She was in the Bar with Nigel.
  • Nigel (music critic): He was with Molly, sitting on a bar stool, east of Beatrice.
  • Olivia (patroness): She was with Beatrice, beside the table.
  • Vera (prima donna): The victim. She was found on the chaise longue in her dressing room – alone with the murderer.

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