The Iron Butte Account: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

Word came into the sheriff's office a little after noon: trouble out by Iron Butte, and four riders who'd all been somewhere else, to hear them tell it. The territory expects an answer by sundown.

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

Doc Halloran was carrying the half-melted candle, plain as day.
Slim Pete Rourke and the scorched playing card go together — that much is settled.
Miss Delacroix was never once placed at Copper Basin.
Whatever else is true, Miss Delacroix wasn't at Iron Butte.
Preacher Dawes kept well clear of Copper Basin.
Nobody saw Preacher Dawes anywhere near Dead Man's Wash.
The deputy struck the bloodstained bandana off Miss Delacroix's account.
Nobody saw Slim Pete Rourke anywhere near Dead Man's Wash.
Nobody could place Miss Delacroix at Dead Man's Wash.

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.