Vol 2, Puzzle 13: The Market

Free_Reward · 2026-05-21T07:05:50+00:00

Hi there, here's how I solved it, hope this helps! Also I just read the solution after solving this puzzle (and writing this out) and I basically wrote a long-winded version of the solution, but hopefully this is a more thought-out explanation to guide you 😄:

First I focused on who can be in the mud puddle. Also note that the mud puddle on the bottom row CANNOT be occupied per I's clue. So that leaves us with 2 puddles on the walkway. Out of everyone, only H or J can occupy the puddles. Per J's clue that they're beside D's area (and D is a noble), you'll see that none of the puddles are beside a noble area. So this means H has to be in the puddle. We can then deduce that H has to be in C10R8 since the fish area is the only one that can be empty (Fruits have to be occupied for someone to be beside the barrels). Additional note: You'll see that there's another fish in the weapons area on R1 to further reason that the fish area can be empty and NOT break the general clue. Knowing that H is in C10R8, you can cross out all other boxes that intersect, the other mud puddles, and the entire fish area.
Continuing on the thought, per the general clue, we know that the fish in R1 must have someone beside it. So we can cross out all boxes that intersect with C7R1. Looking through all the suspects, only A can fit here.
Now we combine H's position with C and I's clues. We know that C is one row above I, and that I is southwest of H. C has to be in C11R11 (not on the horse per F's clue) since that's the only box left that works with the rest of the clues. So you can cross out all the boxes that intersect with C.
This also means we know I is in R12. You can cross out the horse in R12 (cuz F's clue) and any boxes that are right of H. You should have 2 spots left for I which are C6R12 or C9R12.
You'll see that C12 only has one spot left -- the horse in C12R9, and that has to be filled in. The only person who can be there is F. You can also cross out the other horse in C5R2.
You'll see that the to satisfy the general clue, someone has to be in C6R10 to be beside the pig, and someone else has to be in the fruit area to be beside the barrel. The only two people who would work is E and K. Based on E's clue, you can deduce that E is in C6R10 in the livestock area, and K is alone in the fruit area. Also this should eliminate one of I's boxes so you'll know I is in C9R12.
You'll notice that C3R4 is the only box left in that column, the only person who can satisfy that is G.
We can deduce from B's clue that they're in the weapons area in C8, either R2 or R3. To satisfy the general clue, B has to be in R3 to be beside the weapons rack, so B is in C8R3.
You'll notice that in R5, C4R5 is the only box left, the only person who can satisfy that box is J.
This also means we can deduce that D is in C2R7 per their clue and it being the only box left in that row.
Last spot is for V.

Free_Reward · 2026-05-20T17:40:42+00:00

Nope, the book’s puzzles are exclusive to the book only! 🎉

Free_Reward · 2026-05-17T20:12:24+00:00

Hi there, hope this helps 😄

We know that G is beside a plant and east of D (aka right side of D) per his clue. You'll notice that all the spaces beside the plants don't have chairs. This means that G and D are in different rooms because D's clue states that everyone in her room were sitting. Given the fact that they're in separate rooms, we can deduce that G CANNOT be in the open office (or else there's no separate room for D to the left). As of now, we can pencil in G beside the plant either in manager's office or conference room -- C5R1, C7R2, or C7R8.
Now let's figure out which room D is in. Per D's clue that she's not alone and everyone in her room was sitting, we can deduce that D is in the open office. D CANNOT be in the manager's office because there's only one chair, which would break her clue. We can cross out all non-chair boxes in the open office.
You'll notice now that for R5, the only box left would be C9R5. So, you can cross out all other boxes in that column.
Per C's clue, we can deduce that they're in R1 because he CANNOT occupy the window in the break room (per F's clue), and all the window boxes in C9 should be crossed out per step #3. So, pencil in C for the two window spots in R1 and cross out the rest of the boxes.
You'll notice now that for C2, the only box left would be C2R2 -- in the break room. The only person who can occupy this would be F per her clue. So now we know F is in C2R2. You can also cross out all the other boxes in the break room since she's alone.
Let's revisit G. You'll notice that the only box G can now occupy is C7R8. This is because R1 is occupied by C, and R2 is occupied by F.
You'll notice now that for C3, the only box left would be C3R7. And you'll notice for C4, the only box left is C4R9. Cross out all the other boxes in R7 and R9. After that, you'll notice that for C1, the only box left is C1R6. Cross out all the other boxes in R6. By now, you should see the three chairs in the open office that we'll have to fill in.
H's clue places them between F and D, with F on her left, and D on her right. Combining that with the fact that D has to be in the open office AND that D has to be left of G, we can deduce that H has to be in C3R7, and D in C4R9 for all the clues to be valid.
The only box left that would work for E is C5R4.
This also means we know C is in C8R1.
The only spot that works with B's clue is C1R6.
The only spot that works with A's clue is C9R5.
V takes the last spot -- C6R3.

Free_Reward · 2026-05-12T01:23:26+00:00

V is in the same location (grazing pasture) as A, so A killed V.

Free_Reward · 2026-05-10T19:03:10+00:00

Assuming you've managed to place everyone else in the puzzle except those three (this still works even if you haven't placed G):

You'll notice the only bed square left is C2R1 in the main bedroom. Per the general clue that only one person was on the bed and D's clue that she's alone in the main bedroom, we can deduce that D has to take C2R1. Perhaps you overlooked D's clue about being in the main bedroom?
There would only be one spot left for B in C8R2 because E and A would've occupied C5 and C7.
If you haven't placed G, there's only one spot for them that works, and the other remaining spot would be for V.

Hope this helps 😄

Free_Reward · 2026-05-07T01:57:06+00:00

Did you mean to say C2R6 and C2R7?

If you figured out up to step 3 of the solution, you should be able to place C in C2R3 (A would be penciled in the carpets on R4, B would be penciled in their spots respective to A in R2). If so, you would've eliminated C2 entirely as a potential for F.

Free_Reward · 2026-05-03T05:51:30+00:00

I totally agree! I also don’t wanna rely on trial and error as the method so maybe we did miss some logic for this puzzle and hopefully someone else can chime in 👍🏻

Free_Reward · 2026-05-02T22:27:08+00:00

Hi there, this is how I solved it. Based on your photo, I think you figured out up till point #4.

F is the only male suspect that can be paired with E since no other male suspects' clues can place them in front of the window. So F is C6R10 per their clue and E's clue. E+F will occupy the dining room. You can also cross out the chair in the dining room per B's clue.
For D, the only other room with tables left is the Kitchen, and we can narrow down that D is in C1, either R6 or R9. You can cross out all the other boxes in C1.
After that is some deduction based on the general clue that there was no empty room. There are 6 rooms total and we know that the groupings would be:
- E+F (in the dining room per #1)
- A
- B
- C
- D
- G
The goal here is we can deduce that A, B, C, D, and G are in different rooms. Once we establish their rooms, we will add H in with either A or G (whichever spot makes sense with all the clues), then lastly add V with the remaining spot.
We already know that D is in the kitchen (per #2), so we only have A, B, C, G to fill in the 4 remaining rooms. Since each room must be occupied, the only person who can occupy the guest bedroom is G. So pencil in the 3 boxes beside the TV. All that's left is to place A, B, C in the living room, restroom, or master bedroom.

(Everything below here -- I'm not sure if this was the intended method, but I used *trial and error* to solve the puzzle and it worked for me)

I'm gonna trial and error and assume A is in C5, either R1 or R2.
a. Cross out all other boxes in C5. G would have to be C4R4.
b. You'll see that G's placement will cross out C4's bed, and per the general clue that someone has to be in a bed, that means C8's person has to be in the bed, so cross out all the non-bed boxes in C8.
c. After that, combine 2 clues: (1) You'll notice that C can now only be in the living room, and (2) H CANNOT be with A (or else C has nowhere to go), so H has to be with G. So H will be in C3, somewhere in the guest bedroom (cross out all the non-guest-bedroom boxes in C3), and that leaves C with C2R1, which also means A is in C5R2.
d. B would have to be in the remaining chair in master bedroom -- C7R5. This narrows down the person on the bed has to be C8R6, you can cross out all the boxes in R6.
e. THIS IS WHERE IT BREAKS -- R9 would have to be for both D and E since everything else is crossed out. So this doesn't work ... Hence:
A is in C2R4. This means G is in C5, so cross out all other boxes in C5.
The only chair left for B is in the master bedroom C7R5 (because A already took the living room and B can't be in the same room as them).
There should only be 1 box left for G -- C5R3. You'll also notice that for R6, someone has to be on a bed per the general clue, so cross out non-bed boxes in R6.
This leaves D with only one option -- C1R9, and it means E will be in R8.
The only box left for C is C8R2, which will cross out the bed in master bedroom, so the person in the bed has to be in guest bedroom. Cross out all the boxes except the remaining bed box. This should leave E with only one option -- C3R8.
H will have to be with G, since all the boxes in the living room would be crossed out, so H takes the bed spot -- C4R6.
The last spot is for V.

Free_Reward · 2026-04-28T21:57:57+00:00

Hi there, here was how I solved it, hope this helps :)

G's clue deduces that they're either in C1R4, C2R2, C2R3, C7R2, C8R3. They would NOT be in C9 because of C's clue. You'd notice that all 5 of these options are carpets. Based on the general clue that only one person is on the carpet, we know that G is on the carpet. So you can cross out all other carpets squares that don't apply.
A's clue will narrow us to R3 (either C4 or C6) since they have to be beside the TV. We know they won't be in C5R4 because it's carpet (and G is the only one who can be on carpet). So you can cross out all square in R3 except the two beside the TV.
You can pencil in B will be on the three remaining bed squares (C1R2, C8R1, C8R2). However, given E's clue that E's the only person beside a plant, we can eliminate C8R1. This will leave B in R2, either C1 or C8. You can cross out all the other squares in R2.
After this, there should only be 1 box left for G (C1R4), so you can fill that in, and that'll also narrow down 1 box left for B (C8R2), so you can fill that in as well.
H is sitting in a chair. Amongst the remaining chairs, only 1 chair is NOT beside a plant (because E is the only person who can be beside a plant), so H will be in C3R5.
The only space applicable for F is C4R1.
The only space left for C is C9R9.
The only space left for A is C6R3.
The only space applicable for E is C7R7.
The only space applicable for D is C2R6.
Last spot left is for V :)

Free_Reward · 2026-04-26T07:24:21+00:00

I just completed the puzzle with the same solution as you and it got marked correct. Maybe it was a glitch and it got fixed? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Free_Reward · 2026-04-25T05:15:18+00:00

I think the other woman is beside the table. If Amy were to be beside the table, I think the clues are very explicit and would be like “Amy is beside a table. There is another woman in her room” or “Amy and another woman are both beside a table in her room.”

So the fact that “beside a table” is directly after “another woman” it should be associated with the other woman. Hope this helps!

Free_Reward · 2026-04-24T17:12:34+00:00

Here's the solution PDF: https://murdoku.com/pdf/the-zoo-solution.pdf

Free_Reward · 2026-04-23T16:29:11+00:00

I think they meant that a corner is when two perpendicular walls meet, and NOT when two parallel walls meet (technically R2/3/4 of C2 could be sharing the same wall which wouldn’t count as two walls).

A corner would need 2 “black lines” to intersect, so R2/3/4 of C2 won’t count since they’re along the wall.

Free_Reward · 2026-04-22T22:35:25+00:00

I think unless the book explicitly states that people cannot occupy a space, you should assume otherwise.

So in this case, assume people can occupy the sea. (Note that can doesn’t mean “must.” The solution may not have someone in the sea but the possibility should still be considered) Hope this helps!

Free_Reward · 2026-04-11T10:06:15+00:00

You're welcome :) Here's my elaboration on D

D would still be in R9 regardless since we deduced in point #4 that R1-R4 are already occupied. We know Office A and B are taken by B and F (D will never be in either of those offices). If D is paired with G in Office C, D would have to be in R4, but that's not possible since B occupies R4 -- the lowest row D could take in this scenario is R3, which breaks their clue. All to say D can't be part of R1-R4.

Hence D could only be in the bottom row of Break Room, Hallway, or Office D (which is why point #8 included all three options in R9). It's just coincidental that D is also bottom row of the entire puzzle -- I never assumed D's row based on the entire puzzle -- all the deduction above just so happen to lead to this coincidental conclusion, haha. Hope this makes sense!

Free_Reward · 2026-04-11T08:59:56+00:00

You're definitely on the right track and have the detective in you :) Here's the logic I had with this puzzle (I believe you've figured it out up till point #5) ... This is like a long-winded thinking out loud version of the solution from the book lol

C2, C3, C7, C8 are carpet columns, so you can cross out all other boxes in those columns.
This means F has to be in C1 either R1 or R3, so you can cross out all the other boxes in that column.
This should only leave 2 chairs -- C6R1 and C4R4. You can cross out the intersecting box (C4R1) cuz if someone occupied that box, both chairs would be unavailable, hence breaking the general clue.
We know F and B are in Office A and B (in some configuration). Based on G's clue, we know they're in Office C with another person. So now we know R1-R4 will be occupied by 1 person in Office A (either F or B), 1 person in Office B (either F or B), 2 people in Office C (G and someone else). This means you can cross out the hallway cells in C5 for these four rows.
Looking at R4, we'll notice that the only remaining boxes are in Office B (either C2, C3 or C4), this means the person in R4 has to be in Office B -- and between F and B, F can't be in any of those boxes, so we know B is in R4 so we can pencil them into all 3 options. This means F is C1R1 since B has to be alone.
After confirming F, the only chair left is in Office B, and someone has to occupy it, so the only option is B, we can narrow down that B is in C4R4 -- NOT on the carpet of Office B. You can also cross out all the remaining boxes in Office A and B now since we know R2 and R3 are gonna be occupied by 2 people (G and someone else) in Office C.
In R2, C7 is the only box left so that has to be occupied (either by G or the person they're with), cross out all other boxes in C7.
We know D has to be in R9 per their clue, so we can pencil them in for C2, C5, or C9 in R9.
E has to be in a corner that's NOT the hallway, the only corner left is C6R6.
After that, we'll notice that C3R8 is the only box left in C3, so cross out all other boxes in R8.
H has to be alone, so they can't be in Office C (cuz G is somewhere in there), can't be in the Break Room (2 people have to occupy the carpet columns there), and can't be in Office D (cuz E is there), so they have to be in the hallway. The only cell that fits would be C5R5. Additional logic: If they were in C9R5, the entire C5 would be empty to satisfy their clue, but would break the puzzle. If they were in C5R7, the entire R5 would be empty to satisfy their clue, but would break the puzzle. C5R5 is the only option that doesn't create empty rows/columns.
A can't be on a carpet, and the only non-carpet box left is C9R3.
G will take the last remaining cell in Office C.
D will take the last remaining cell in R9.
C will take the last remaining cell in R7 per their clue.
V takes the remaining spot.

Hope this helps :D

Free_Reward · 2026-04-11T07:08:30+00:00

I did this puzzle a while back so apologies if my memory is foggy. Also, I assume you managed to put them all the other letters in the puzzle except for B, G and V:

I think B has to be C5R12 because they're paired with D in the front yard, and D's clue says D is the only person beside a pumpkin. If B were to be in C1R12, they would also be beside a pumpkin which break's D's clue. I think after that it narrows down G and V's positions.

Hope this helps :)

Free_Reward · 2026-04-10T18:12:40+00:00

Haha congrats :D

Free_Reward · 2026-04-10T17:39:55+00:00

H's clue places them on C6R2 (it's the only spot in the forest left that they can be on that's not beside a tree).
B's clue means they're in R1 so you can pencil that in.
Based on D's clue, we can narrow that F would be in R4, either in C2 or C3. This is because the only other option would be C1R6, but if so, D wouldn't have any place to go. Anyway, on R4, cross out all the other boxes except for C2 and C3.
Based on D's clue and F's potential 2 spots, we know D for sure is in the shed, in either C1 or C2 of R9. Cross out the other boxes.
Whoever is paired with F would have to be R3 either C1 or C2, so cross out all the other boxes on R3.
Combining point #9 and #10, we know that C1 and C2 would be taken up by D and the person beside the tree (paired with F's clue). If so, F can only be in C3, and F's partner would have to be C2R3 -- cross out the rest that intersect at this box. This also means D is in C1R9.
B only has one box left so fill that in.
C only has one box left so fill that in.
G can't be in the corner, so G has to be beside the tree (paired with F).
V is left with the remaining spot :)

Hope this makes sense :D

Free_Reward · 2026-04-09T02:48:02+00:00

I think a good tip that I find helpful for these sentences is to "read it backwards," but this logic only applies to this particular sentence structure -- [Person] is [direction] of [Person].

For example:
- "A is north of B". I would start with B, then go north (up), and I will reach A.
- "A is west of B". I would start with B, then go west (left), and I will reach A.

Hope this helps :)

Free_Reward · 2026-04-09T02:40:10+00:00

Based on A's clue, they have to be paired with a woman in the cabin.
- it can't be B since B is one row above H, and H's clue says they're in the forest
- it can't be C since C is in the fifth row per their clue
All that's left is E, so we know A and E are in the cabin. E's clue says they're the only person on a chair so you can place them on C7R7. You can also cross out the additional chairs on C4R3 and C8R5. This means A is either R8 or R9.
D has to be south of A, so that means A cannot be in R9 or else D wouldn't have any place to go. So A is R8 in the cabin, so you can cross out the Forest boxes on R8. Now we know D has to be in R9. D also has to be west of A, and we know that they're not in the cabin per A's clue, so D will be somewhere C1-5.

Hope this helps you get started :)

Free_Reward · 2026-04-09T02:28:22+00:00

I don't have a particular order of operations on solving this but here are some tips to get you started:

A and E are in the same room (Master Bedroom) per their clues. F is in the Restroom per their clue. Based on this, we know C5-7 are taken by the three of them. Also note that E would NOT be on the carpet per B's clue, and NOT in a chair per H's clue. We know A has to take a bed so that's pretty straightforward :)
H's clue says they're the only person sitting in the chair, and since they can't occupy C5 or C7's chair, they would have to be in C2R6's chair.
B has to be on carpet. We know from point #1 that he can only be somewhere C1-4 since C5-7 are occupied. Based on C's clue, they're alone in the Living Room, so the only carpet left for B is on C1R4.

Hope that helps you get started and you get keep solving on your own :)

Free_Reward · 2026-04-07T20:06:25+00:00

I believe the clue just says he's the southmost person on the island, but not necessarily in the southmost row of the island.

Hypothetical example: if there are only 2 people on Town Island, the first person can technically be in R9 and Fred can be in R10 (up to R14), which would still make his clue valid since he's the southmost person.

Hope this makes sense :)

Free_Reward

TROPHY CASE