The Slag Bottoms Account: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

There's a version of the Slag Bottoms business going round the saloon and another going round the church, and neither one holds up. 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

Two witnesses put Powder Kate Dunn at Malachite Butte.
Doc Isabel Rennick and the bloodied ore sack go together — that much is settled.
Mule-Ear Bodie never laid hands on the broken wax seal.
Mule-Ear Bodie never made it as far as Powderhouse Gap.
Kettle Jack Orrick was never at Slag Bottoms.
Kettle Jack Orrick had no use for the torn payroll ledger.
You can rule out the broken wax seal for Kettle Jack Orrick.
Mule-Ear Bodie swore never to have set foot in Slag Bottoms, 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.