The Chalk Flat Trouble: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

Word came into the sheriff's office a little after noon: trouble out by Chalk Flat, and four riders who'd all been somewhere else, to hear them tell it. Work it through, and mind the ledger.

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

Half the county saw Isham Cobb at Cañada Seca.
Ottilie Bracken was never once placed at Last Trail.
Isham Cobb had no use for the hard-twist tie rope.
Nabor Zamora swore never to have set foot in Last Trail, and the ledger agrees.
The hard-twist tie rope never belonged to Nabor Zamora.
Nabor Zamora never made it as far as Chalk Flat.
Slim Pete Rourke never laid hands on the hard-twist tie rope.
The deputy struck the torn waybill off Slim Pete Rourke's account.
Nabor Zamora was never linked to the torn waybill.
Nabor Zamora had no use for the sheared kingbolt.

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.