The Procession

An abbey · the patronal feast · the procession walked one row and one column · Difficulty: Chief 9 · 16×16

The feast of the abbey’s patron saint, the first clear day of autumn. After High Mass the procession walked through the abbey: along one whole row and one whole column of the floor plan, crossing itself in the Cloister Garth. Fourteen people were inside the walls: five monks, four lay servants and five pilgrims. Abbot Vilhelm lay dead in the Chapter House, beside his throne. The last blessing was never given.

Rules

The procession walked along one whole row and one whole column; nobody was on them, and the two paths crossed in the Cloister Garth.
So here every row and column holds at most one person: 15 people on 16 rows and 16 columns, so exactly one row and one column is empty (the procession’s path).
Every row and every column holds at most one person: 15 people on 16 rows and 16 columns, so exactly one row and exactly one column are empty. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
“Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the altar, the candelabra, the lecterns, the pillars, the sarcophagus, the tables, the desks, the barrels, the crates, the trees, the well…) cannot be occupied; the benches, the chairs, the stools, the throne, the armchair and the beds can. A corner of an area is a square of it that faces outwards (another area or the edge of the board) on a horizontal and on a vertical side.
Directions refer to rows, not to the same column: “exactly one row north of her was a woman” = the person in the row directly above is a woman, in any column.
“A bench was somewhere in his row” = a bench is on one of the squares of his row, in any area; the same goes for columns, and “somewhere in her area” = on a square of the area she was in. “Somebody else was beside the same bench as her” = another person was beside that bench too; the bench itself may be empty or occupied.
“He was the only man beside a table” = no other man was beside any table. “Beside a bench that nobody was sitting on” = at least one bench beside her was empty. “There were exactly two other people in his area” counts everybody else in that area.
The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

Aurel (the cantor): He was with Isaura. The procession passed right beside him.
Benjamin (the novice): He was in the Cloister Garth. The procession passed right beside him.
Cole (the sacristan): He was in the Cloister Walk. He was not beside a bench.
Dante (the almoner): He was the only man beside a table. A bench was somewhere in his row.
Elijah (the prior): The armchair was somewhere in his column. There was at least one other person in his area.
Felicia (the laundress): She was with Howell. Somebody else in her area was beside a barrel.
Giovanna (the dairymaid): Somebody else was beside the same bench as her.
Howell (the cook): He was in a corner of his area.
Isaura (the herb woman): Exactly one row north of her was a woman. She was in the last column.
Jonathan (a knight on pilgrimage): He was in a corner of his area. There were exactly two other people in his area.
Korina (a lady on pilgrimage): She was in the Guest House.
Livia (Korina’s daughter): The procession passed right beside her.
Muriel (a widow on pilgrimage): She was in the first row. Somebody else in her area was sitting on a bench.
Nessa (a visiting nun): She was beside a bench that nobody was sitting on. There was a man in her area.
Vilhelm (the abbot): The victim. He was found in the Chapter House, beside the throne – alone with the murderer.

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