Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

The Last Crate

The Altes Land on the Elbe, an October evening · the last apples of the harvest · a buyer who never drove back to Hamburg · Difficulty: Officer 4 · 8×8

Altes Land, Anke’s fruit farm, an October afternoon: the last Elstar apples have been picked. Volkhard, a buyer from Hamburg, had come to set this year’s price – he would pay less than last year, he told everyone. At seven his car was still in the yard, but he was nowhere to be seen. Seven people were on the farm. Volkhard was found dead; he never named this year’s price.

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 apple trees, the ladder, the counter, the barrels, the cart, the well, the beehive, the table, the crates and the scales) cannot be occupied; the stool, the benches and the hay bale can.
  3. Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly two rows south of him was somebody beside a barrel” = the person in the row two rows further down was beside a barrel, in any column.
  4. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area. The victim made no statement – his square, too, follows from the others’.

Statements

  • Anke (fruit farmer, owner of the farm): She was alone in her area.
  • Bjarne (her son): Exactly two rows south of him was somebody beside a barrel. He was not in the Young Orchard.
  • Carsten (cider maker): There was exactly one other person in his area. An apple tree was somewhere in his row.
  • Dennis (student picker): The scales were somewhere in his area.
  • Elke (seasonal picker): She was in a corner of her area. The ladder was somewhere in her row.
  • Frauke (café owner from Jork): She was the only one beside a bench. The beehive was not in her area.
  • Gesine (self-picking visitor): The beehive was somewhere in her area. The scales were somewhere in her row.
  • Volkhard (fruit buyer from Hamburg): The victim. He was alone with the murderer.

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