This fingerprint was found at the window to the sky:

and these are the fingerprints of each suspect:

Intelligence Officer

Sheikh

Journalist

Archaeologist

Mystic

You have Deduced Correctly!

Congratulations!

The Mystic is frog-marched into a constabulary wagon and driven off to meet his fate.

All the suspect's details:

Sadly you are mistaken... (at least in some details)

The murderer was the Mystic, using the Scorpion Jar, at the Collapsed Ziggurat .

All the suspect's details:

The Key for Grid Headers

suspect

[O] is Intelligence Officer.

[S] is Sheikh.

[J] is Journalist.

[A] is Archaeologist.

[M] is Mystic.

weapon

[T] is Cuneiform Tablet.

[P] is Poisoned Wine.

[S] is Scorpion Jar.

[M] is Bronze Mace.

[U] is Ash-Filled Urn.

location

[V] is Deserted Village.

[P] is Excavation Pit.

[Z] is Collapsed Ziggurat.

[O] is Colonial Outpost.

[W] is Star-Watcher's Platform.

You have not made a selection for all the categories.

How to Play

Try to find the murderer, what weapon they used and where the murder took place (suspect, weapon, location).

Turn over the cards to find the names of the suspects, weapons and locations. Click on the cards to find more detailed information. This information may be used in the clues.

Each person can only be in one location and have one weapon. This constraint makes the problem tractable.

Draw a grid like the one in the popup window to help you to solve the crime (or you can use the grid on the page by clicking on cells). Place an X in cells where the combination of items is false and O if it is true.

Each cell in the grid represents the combination of the two items specified at the top of the column and the left of the row. For example, the center grid represents which suspect has which weapon.

The clues allow you to rule out possibilities and the grid allows you to track the state accurately. Finally the grid will be filled with X's where connections are false and O's where they are true.

There will only be a single O in a given row or column (otherwise you have made a mistake), and this explcitly links a person to a weapon, or a weapon to a location, or a person to a location.

For example, if a clue states (or indirectly implies) that Major Gladstone was not in The Park, then place an X in the cell intersecting those two symbols.

If a clue states that Major Gladstone had The Revolver, then place an O in the cell intersecting those two symbols. This will automatically place X's in all the remaining cells in the related row and column.

Why? If Major Gladstone has The Revolver, then no one else can have it (that accounts for the X's in The Revolver row). Similarly, Major Gladstone cannot have any other weapon (that accounts for the X's in the Major Gladstone column).

Similarly, if Major Gladstone was not in The Park, but the Revolver is in The Park, then Major Gladstone cannot have the Revolver, and you can place an X in that box.

After you have filled the grid with all the information from the clues, you can start making deductions using the grid itself. For example, if there is only one empty space (non-X) in a row or column of a given block, then that space must be true and you can place an O there. It must be true since all other cells are false and it is the only remaining possibility. Usually this will cause other rows or columns to get more X's. Check to see if there are other rows/columns now with only one empty cell and proceed to fill those with O.

There are also other deductions which can be made e.g. if The Revolver is in the Park and Major Gladstone is in The Park, then Major Gladstone must have The Revolver and you can put an O in that cell.

Finally you will have enough information (a full grid) to solve the crime. You will know who, where and with what weapon.

Then proceed to Make an Accusation and see if you got the correct answer.