Who it's for
Adults who enjoy logic grid puzzles, and anyone who has always meant to try one. Every puzzle is a small scene from Pennyfold, an invented village with a duck pond, a green and one bus route, where four friends run the Deduction Club: Winnie the librarian, Fergus the retired postman, Lottie the schoolteacher and Arjun from the corner shop. Nothing worse than a muddle ever happens, and there is no crime.
The book follows the club through one year, and the puzzles grow harder as the seasons turn, from a gentle spring to fiendish winter grids. Every solution is written out step by step, so you see how to reach the answer, not only what it is.
Inside the book
- The front pages. Contents and an index of all 80 puzzles, Welcome to Pennyfold, How to Solve a Logic Grid, The Clue Words, a worked example drawn in three stages across two pages, and Tips from the Club.
- Spring, easy: 20 puzzles, three categories of four, one page each. The first six use plain clues only.
- Summer, medium: 25 puzzles, set during the village's Fair Week.
- Autumn, hard: 20 puzzles, "Harvest Home". Each takes a facing spread, with the story and clues on the left and a large grid on the right.
- Winter, fiendish: 15 puzzles, "The Winter Lights", the biggest grids in the book, also on facing spreads.
- Solutions, with worked steps. Each gives the full answer table, then numbered steps showing how to reach it.
How to use it
- Read the pages before puzzle 1, even if you have solved logic grids before. The Clue Words page says exactly what each clue word means in this book.
- Carry every tick across. After each tick, cross out the rest of its row and column, and copy what you know into the other boxes.
- Never guess. Every puzzle can be solved by reasoning alone, so a mark you are not sure of is one you don't need yet.
- Read the steps, not just the answer. When a puzzle beats you, the solution shows the move you missed.
How it compares
If you have ever reached the answer page of a logic puzzle and still not known how anyone got there, this is the difference. Some logic puzzle collections mix puzzle formats, use crime mysteries, or provide answer keys showing only completed grids. Pennyfold keeps to one kind, the logic grid, in one village over one year, with everyday mix-ups rather than crime stories. Every solution gives the answer table, then numbered steps, and every puzzle was checked by two separate programs to have exactly one answer.
Frequently asked questions
Are the solutions explained?
Yes. Every puzzle has the complete answer, then numbered deductions that lead to it.
Is there only one answer to each puzzle?
Yes. Every puzzle was checked by two separate solving programs to have exactly one answer, and the clues use a small set of words defined on The Clue Words page.
Is it a mystery or crime book?
No. It is a cozy village story with no crime in it. The club untangles gentle mix-ups at events like the Egg Hunt and the Raffle.
Are the grids big enough to write in?
Yes. No grid cell is smaller than 0.30 inches, and each hard and fiendish grid gets a page to itself.
How big is it?
8.5 x 11 inches, 194 pages, printed in black ink.
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