Wide Open

A planter’s residence · a tropical night · every door propped open · Difficulty: Chief 9 · 16×16

A planter’s residence on a tropical island, a sweltering night in 1925. Every door of the house had been propped open for the breeze, so whoever stood in a room could see and hear into the next one. The family, seven guests and the staff were scattered through the rooms, the veranda and the garden. Vian, the planter, was found dead in the Study.

Rules

1. Every door stood wide open. Company meant everybody in one’s own area or one door away. In that sense the victim was alone with the murderer.
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 palms, the flower beds, the fountain, the statues, the lanterns, the tables, the birdcage, the pillar, the piano, the gramophone, the candelabrum, the paintings, the folding screen, the staircase, the grandfather clock, the coat rack, the wardrobes, the bookcases, the desk, the globe, the chests, the washtubs, the mirror, the crates, the barrels, the well, the stove, the sink, the counter) cannot be occupied; the seats – the chairs, the armchairs, the sofas, the benches, the stools, the loungers, the hammock and the beds – can: whoever is on a seat was sitting. An armchair is not a chair.
4. “A barrel was somewhere in her row” = a barrel is on one of the squares of her row, in any area; the same goes for columns.
5. The murderer was alone with the victim: nobody else was in that area.

Statements

• Ander (the planter’s brother): The candelabrum was somewhere in his area.
• Brienne (the planter’s wife): She was the only woman sitting in a chair.
• Charles (their son): He was the only man beside a painting.
• Demi (their daughter): A barrel was somewhere in her column. She was the only woman beside a chair.
• Emiliano (guest): There was exactly one other person in his company. The well was somewhere in his column.
• Faustina (guest): She was in the last column. Somebody else in her company was sitting on a lounger.
• George (guest): He was beside a palm. There were exactly three other people in his company.
• Hillary (guest): She was alone: nobody was in her company.
• Ibrahim (guest): A flower bed was somewhere in his area. A bench was somewhere in his row.
• Janet (guest): An armchair was somewhere in her row. The birdcage was somewhere in her area.
• Kiefer (guest): He was not in the Garden. There was a member of the family in his company.
• Leland (the house steward): There was no other man in his company. A crate was somewhere in his area.
• Marianne (the cook): She was sitting. She was with Janet.
• Nola (the maid): A barrel was somewhere in her column.
• Otis (the gardener): There was a member of the family in his company. A bookcase was somewhere in his column.
• Vian (the planter): The victim. He was found in the Study, beside the desk – alone with the murderer, who was in the Study or one open door away.

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