The Petting Zoo

A little farm zoo at the edge of town · a sunny Saturday in May · the ponies were saddled · Difficulty: Detective 5 · 6×6

A little farm zoo at the edge of a small town, on the first warm Saturday in May. Children fed the ducks, the hens strutted around their coop, the ponies stood saddled in the paddock and the hay barn smelled of summer. Viggo, who owned the zoo, had told his two keepers that morning that he was selling the land to a builder. At noon he was found on the picnic lawn, beside the bench. Everyone who was there gave a short statement – find the one 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 trees, the signpost, the hen coop, the water, the flower bed and the wheelbarrow) cannot be occupied; the bench, the ponies and the hay bales can.
3. 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.
4. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Annie (a teacher on a class trip): She was beside a pony.
• Bodhi (a young father taking a rest): A hay bale was somewhere in his row.
• Camilla (a blogger photographing the hens): She was in a corner of her area.
• Dunstan (the pony keeper): He was beside a pony. Exactly one row north of him was a keeper.
• Elsie (the keeper of the ducks and hens): She was the southernmost person in her area.
• Viggo (the owner of the petting zoo): The victim. He was found on the Picnic Lawn, beside the bench – alone with the murderer.

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