The Sinkhole Draw Business: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

Word came into the sheriff's office a little after noon: trouble out by Sinkhole Draw, and four riders who'd all been somewhere else, to hear them tell it. Sort out who was where before the trail goes cold.

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

Kettle Jack Orrick was at Sinkhole Draw — that much is settled.
The deputy struck the bent drill steel off Winnie Corbett's account.
Winnie Corbett had no use for the torn payroll ledger.
The bloodied ore sack wasn't Whistle Rufe Mink's.
Kettle Jack Orrick swore off any connection to the bent drill steel, and the ledger agrees.
No one puts Winnie Corbett at Powderhouse Gap.
Kettle Jack Orrick wasn't carrying the bloodied ore sack.
The deputy struck Quicklime Pond off Winnie Corbett's account.
Nobody could connect Winnie Corbett to the bloodied ore sack.
Judge Amos Pell was never at Quicklime Pond.

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.