Mixed Doubles

A tennis club · the evening of the final · the pairs speak with one voice · Difficulty: Inspector 8 · 12×12

The evening of the mixed-doubles final at the Lindenpark Tennis Club. Five pairs played the tournament under the eyes of Katya, the club’s coach, and they are so used to each other that they even gave some of their sentences together. Shortly after the last rally Valerio, the club president, was found dead in his Office, beside his desk. Eleven people were at the club: the five pairs and the coach. One of them is the killer. Read every statement, find everyone’s square on the plan and unmask the murderer – alone with Valerio in the Office.

Rules

1. In the pairs’ joint sentences, “one of them” means exactly one of the two.
2. Every row and every column holds exactly one person. As soon as you place someone, cross out their whole row and column.
3. “Beside” = directly left, right, above or below, and in the same area. Squares with objects (the nets, the ball baskets, the ball machine, the court roller, the scoreboard, the flower boxes, the parasols, the tables, the counters, the trophies, the lockers, the shower, the racket stands, the desk) cannot be occupied; the seats – the grandstand seats, the benches, the chairs, the bar stool and the umpire’s chair – can. A corner of an area is a square of that area that borders the outside (another area or the edge of the board) on one horizontal and one vertical side.
4. “A net was somewhere in her row” = a net stands on one of the squares of her row, in any area; the same goes for columns.
5. Directions refer to rows and columns, not to the same line: “exactly one row north of her was a woman” = the person in the row directly above is a woman, in any column.
6. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Annabel (defending champion): A net was somewhere in her row. A ball basket was somewhere in the row of one of them.
• Benoit (defending champion): The ball machine was somewhere in his area. A ball basket was somewhere in the row of one of them.
• Carlos (finalist): He was in the last row. A ball basket was somewhere in the column of one of them.
• Dalia (finalist): She was in a corner of her area. A ball basket was somewhere in the column of one of them.
• Estelle (semi-finalist): She was in the Shop.
• Felipe (semi-finalist): He was the only man beside a counter.
• Goran (newcomer to the club): He was with Dalia. He was sitting on a seat (a bench, a chair, a grandstand seat, the bar stool or the umpire’s chair).
• Hermine (newcomer to the club): She was sitting on a seat (a bench, a chair, a grandstand seat, the bar stool or the umpire’s chair).
• Irina (veteran of the club): She was on the Centre Court. One of them was sitting on a bench.
• Jannik (veteran of the club): A ball basket was somewhere in his column. One of them was sitting on a bench.
• Katya (the coach): Exactly one row north of her was a woman. She was in the last column.
• Valerio (the club president): The victim. He was found in the Office, beside the desk – alone with the murderer.

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