The Smelter Ridge Affair: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

Something went wrong at Smelter Ridge, and the only honest account of it is the one set down in the ledger below. There's an answer in here. Find it.

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

The filed scale weight was Lum Sing's, and nobody disputes it.
Half the county saw Silas Quarles at Copper Basin.
Nobody could place Yee Chun at Alkali Flat.
It wasn't Kettle Jack Orrick who turned up with the worn fuse pouch.
The deputy struck Slag Bottoms off Yee Chun's account.
Silas Quarles was never linked to the worn fuse pouch.
Whatever else is true, Lum Sing wasn't at Alkali Flat.
Kettle Jack Orrick swore off any connection to the dented oil-wick lamp, and the ledger agrees.

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.