Friday 16 October 2026

How it works

Every witness is either honest or a liar. An honest witness only says true things, and a liar only says false ones, like the knights and knaves in Raymond Smullyan's puzzles. Each of them makes one statement below. Your job is to mark every witness honest or liar so that all the statements hold up together. Exactly one way of doing that works, and you can reach it by reasoning alone: try a guess, follow what it forces, and drop it the moment two statements clash.

The statements

1. The ClockmakerThe Vicar and the Shepherd are the same kind.
2. The PotterAt least two of us are liars.
3. The ViolinistThe Ferryman is honest.
4. The VicarIf the Violinist is honest, then so is the Shepherd.
5. The ShepherdThe Vicar is a liar.
6. The FerrymanThe Clockmaker and the Vicar are the same kind.