Scenedoku

Crime-scene logic cases

The Missing Door Signs

A country-house hotel · the last evening of the repainting · six doors without their signs · Difficulty: Chief 9 · 16×16

A country-house hotel on the last evening of the repainting. The painters had cleared six rooms in turn, taken the brass signs off their doors and heaped the furniture wherever there was room; the police plan shows those rooms as 1 to 6. Vasilios, the proprietor, was found dead in the Hall at the foot of the staircase. The signs still lay in a crate.

Rules

  1. The painters had taken down six door signs: rooms 1–6 are, in some order, the Library, the Salon, the Dining Room, the Study, the Conservatory and the Billiard Room.
  2. The furniture was heaped wherever there was room, so what stands in a numbered room says nothing about its name.
  3. “Sitting in a chair” = in a chair; an armchair, a sofa, a bench, a deckchair and the stool are not chairs.
  4. “Right beside an area where nobody was” = his square touches an empty area across the wall.

Statements

  • Amelie (a guest, a translator): She was in the Study. She was the only woman beside a ladder.
  • Brice (a guest, a wine merchant): He was in the Dining Room. An armchair was somewhere in his column.
  • Cecile (a guest, a violinist): She was the only woman sitting in a chair.
  • Donna (a guest, a photographer): Exactly one person was sitting in an armchair – not her, but somebody in her area.
  • Edward (a guest, an antiques dealer): A fireplace was somewhere in his row.
  • Francesco (a guest, a retired colonel): He was not in the Conservatory. A carpet was somewhere in his column.
  • Gwyneth (a guest, a botanist): There was a man in her area. She was the only woman beside a dust sheet.
  • Heloise (a guest, a novelist): She was alone with somebody on a carpet. She was in the Conservatory.
  • Iain (the painters' foreman): He was right beside an area where nobody was. He was sitting in a chair.
  • Jake (a painter): He was sitting in a chair. He was with Amelie.
  • Kelsey (the painters' apprentice): Firewood was somewhere in her row. A dust sheet was somewhere in her column.
  • Laura (the housekeeper): She was in the Salon.
  • Matthew (the porter): Somebody else in his area was beside the stool. A carpet was somewhere in his column.
  • Nadia (the cook): She was in the last row.
  • Oleg (the receptionist): He was in the Billiard Room. He was with Cecile.
  • Vasilios (the proprietor): The victim. He was found in the Hall, beside the staircase.

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