Easy
Pinned suspects
A suspect confined to one row or column claims it.
Look at the cells a suspect has left. If they all sit in one row, you do not know the exact cell yet, but you know the row is taken. Cross that row out for everyone else.
The same works for columns. A clue like "He was in the top row" pins him at once. More often, two clues together squeeze someone into one line: "on a bed" when both beds are in the third column.
Where pinned suspects come from
A row or column clue pins a suspect directly. A room that lies inside one row or column does it too: "She was in the Hallway", when the Hallway is a strip along the bottom of the board, pins her to the bottom row. An object clue pins a suspect whenever every object of that kind sits in the same line.
Earlier work also pins people. After you cross out the rows and columns other suspects hold, a map can shrink to a single line even though no clue said so on its own. Look again every time you place someone.
Follow the chain
A pinned row is a crossing for everyone else, and those crossings can pin a second suspect, whose line then pins a third. Easy cases are built around this chain. After each placement or pin, run your eye over every other suspect's map before you move on.
A row and a column at once
Sometimes one clue pins a suspect to a row and another clue, or the crossings, pins them to a column. The cell where the two lines meet is the only one left, so the suspect is placed. On most boards this is the quickest way to a first placement.
Write it down
A pinned suspect is easy to forget, because nobody has been placed yet. Mark their remaining cells with notes and cross the rest of the line for everyone else straight away. A pin you only keep in your head tends to get lost a few moves later.
Practice case: Easy 5×5
This case needs the technique above. Try it before you read the next tip.
The victim. She was alone with the killer. She was in the Potting Shed with another woman.
Pick a suspect, then tap a cell.
Play this case and the whole casebook in the app, free on iPhone, iPad and Android.
