Frontier Logic

Daily case

Frontier Logic Daily No. 8 September 12, 2026 Rookie

The La Ciénega Affair: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

Word came into the sheriff's office a little after noon: trouble out by La Ciénega, and four riders who'd all been somewhere else, to hear them tell it. Take it a line at a time.

This free Rookie logic-grid puzzle has 4 suspects, 4 locations, and 4 pieces of evidence. New to logic grids? Start with the pencil-solving guide.

How to mark the grid

●
These two belong together.
✕
These two are ruled out.
blank
Still undecided.
How to play

Click, tap or press Enter on a cell to cycle it: blank, then ● for a confirmed pairing, then ✕ for one you have ruled out. Nothing fills itself in — the deductions are yours to make. Use the arrow keys to move around the grid.

Fill obvious Xs does the bookkeeping only: for each ● you have marked, it crosses off the rest of that pairing's own row and column. It never adds a ●, never reads a clue, and never changes a mark you made.

On a narrow screen the grid scrolls sideways.

Every case has exactly one solution, and it is always reachable by deduction alone. Nothing here guesses for you, and Check will not tell you which mark is wrong.

Clues and evidence

  1. Etta Boyce was placed at Antelope Bench, plain as day.
  2. Etta Boyce wasn't carrying the stiffened bullhide quirt.
  3. The maguey catch rope never belonged to Adelia Thorne.
  4. Adelia Thorne swore never to have set foot in Hackberry Tank, and the ledger agrees.
  5. Adelia Thorne never laid hands on the stiffened bullhide quirt.
  6. Etta Boyce swore off any connection to the maguey catch rope, and the ledger agrees.
  7. Whatever else is true, Adelia Thorne wasn't at Wire Gap.
  8. Nobody saw Feliciano Ortega anywhere near Hackberry Tank.
  9. The maguey catch rope wasn't Feliciano Ortega's.
  10. The frayed hair mecate never belonged to Adelia Thorne.

The grid

On a narrow screen the grid scrolls sideways.

Your marks, completions and streak are saved in this browser only. There is no account, and clearing your browser data clears that local progress. If you accept analytics, the site sends anonymous puzzle-usage events; it never sends your grid marks, clues or solution.

If you want a hundred more

Five volumes, printed and portable

Each Frontier Logic volume collects 100 western mystery logic-grid puzzles, every one with exactly one solution and a complete answer key. Every volume stands alone, in standard and large print.

Opens Amazon, who sell the books and set the final price.