Red-Handed blog

Guides and methods for deduction puzzles where one of the statements is a lie. New here? Start with what is a Red-Handed puzzle, then work a full case in how to solve who-is-lying puzzles. Prefer to just play? Jump in below.

• Eliminate the Impossible: Sherlock Holmes's Method as an Actual Technique

  Holmes's two famous rules, eliminate the impossible and never guess, are usually quoted as atmosphere. In a well-built deduction puzzle they are literally the solving method.

• How to Solve Who-Is-Lying Puzzles: A Worked Example

  One statement in the set is false and you do not know which. Here is the elimination method that finds it, worked end to end on a four-suspect case.

• Puzzles Like Red-Handed: Where Else to Find Deduction With a Liar in It

  If you like deduction puzzles where somebody is lying, here is what else scratches the same itch, from knights and knaves to Murdle to classic logic grids.

• Red-Handed for Beginners: Five Mistakes That Keep You Stuck

  New to liar-based deduction puzzles? These are the five habits that keep beginners stuck, and what to do instead on your first few cases.

• Red-Handed vs Logic Grid Puzzles: One Question Changes Everything

  Both give you clues and ask you to work out who did what. The difference is that a logic grid's clues are all true, and one of Red-Handed's is not. Here is how that changes the solve.

• What Is a Red-Handed Puzzle? The Whodunnit Where One Statement Is a Lie

  A Red-Handed puzzle gives you a crime, a handful of suspects, and one account that cannot be true. Here is how the deduction works, and why the liar is always the culprit.

• What Makes a Deduction Puzzle Hard? We Measured 4,500 of Them

  More suspects feels harder. We measured it across 4,500 generated cases and found the opposite: widening the cast makes a deduction puzzle easier, not harder. Here is what actually drives difficulty.