The Pony Post

Malealea, Lesotho · nightfall · the pony dealer did not come to supper · Difficulty: Officer 3 · 5×5

Malealea, Lesotho, at nightfall. The last trekkers are in, the ponies are fed and smoke rises from the rondavel, the round thatched hut. Vuyani, a pony dealer from Quthing, rode up today to settle an old debt over a stallion. When the supper bell rang he did not come, and he was found dead. The police can only ride up at dawn.

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 chests, the water troughs, the saddle rack and the tree) cannot be occupied; the horses, the hay bale and the stool can.
3. Directions refer to rows and columns: “exactly one row north of him was a member of staff” = a member of staff was in the row directly above his, in any column; “she was the easternmost person in her area” = nobody else in her area was in a column east of hers.
4. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Atang (pony guide): A chest was somewhere in his area.
• Bokang (stable hand and farrier): He was the only one beside a water trough. Exactly one row north of him was a member of staff.
• Clementina (retired mission nurse from Roma): She was in the last row.
• Dineo (schoolteacher from Maseru): She was the easternmost person in her area.
• Vuyani (pony dealer from Quthing): The victim. He was found in the Rondavel, beside a chest – alone with the murderer.

← Cases