The Cottonwood Ford Reckoning: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

It started at Cottonwood Ford and it ended badly, and the space in between is what wants sorting out. The ledger will hold up if you will.

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

Everyone agreed: Josiah Crandall had the horsehair snare.
Everyone agreed Francisco Rael was at Cerro Prieto.
Widow Ynez Trujillo had no use for the cut hobble strap.
Nobody could place Widow Ynez Trujillo at Cottonwood Ford.
You can rule out the soaked land patent for Widow Ynez Trujillo.
Widow Ynez Trujillo stayed well away from Bitterroot Wash.
Lupe Carrasco swore never to have set foot in Cottonwood Ford, and the ledger agrees.
The soaked land patent wasn't Lupe Carrasco's.

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.