The Sump Creek Statement: a free Western logic-grid puzzle

There was a dust-up near Sump Creek before the week was out, and by sundown every story on the circuit contradicted the one before it. See what the facts will carry.

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 Trinidad Molina at Bone Wagon Road.
The broken wax seal came off Old Ridge Barlow, and there's no arguing it.
Lum Sing had nothing to do with the spent blasting cap.
It wasn't Trinidad Molina who turned up with the bent drill steel.
Nobody saw Foreman Gil Mercer anywhere near Deadfall Notch.
Lum Sing never laid hands on the bent drill steel.
Foreman Gil Mercer was never once placed at Malachite Butte.
Old Ridge Barlow was nowhere near Malachite Butte.

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.