Rookie pencil guide
How to solve a logic-grid puzzle, one clean mark at a time.
A logic grid is a record of what can and cannot be true. Start with the labels, make the strongest eliminations first, and let each confirmed pairing narrow the rest of the case.
1. Read before you mark
Frontier Logic Rookie cases place suspects down one side of the grid and categories such as locations and evidence across the top. Read the case and clue list once so the labels mean something before you begin.
2. Give the marks one job each
Use an X for a pairing that cannot be true. Use a circle for a pairing that must be true. Leave everything else blank until a clue earns a mark. This keeps a hopeful hunch from looking like a deduction.
3. Start with direct exclusions
If a clue says a suspect was not at a location, make that X at once. Direct language produces the quickest useful marks. Look for every place that same fact applies before you move on.
4. Let a circle do its work
When you confirm one pairing, that person cannot match any other entry in the same category, and that entry cannot match anyone else. Add those forced Xs. This is the most dependable way a small fact becomes a larger deduction.
5. Compare the remaining possibilities
Later clues often become useful only after the obvious Xs are already in place. Re-read them against the smaller set of blanks. A clue that seemed vague at the start may now leave only one possible square.
What counts as finished?
Every row and category should resolve to one confirmed pairing, with the rest ruled out. Frontier Logic cases are designed so that this complete arrangement is unique. Use the answer key to check your reasoning without treating it as the first step.
The first fifteen cases in each volume are Rookie cases, built to teach this notation before the Seasoned and Marshal puzzles ask for longer chains of deduction.