So, Twistmas is over for another year. I managed to post a different, new twistery every day for 12 days up to and including Christmas Day. A rather crazy and pointless task I set myself, but I did it nonetheless. I hope anyone who took the trouble to look in over that time enjoyed the twisteries.

For those of you who missed them, I thought I would post all 12 Days of Twistmas together now, with links back to their solutions. Time to finish up that last slice of Twistmas cake as you peruse the puzzles.

The First Day of Twistmas

She swam in the marina while he tinkered with the boat. She was a strong swimmer, so why did she drown just as she was about to climb out?

Solution

The Second Day of Twistmas

He got up from the picnic and walked off the cliff to his death. His wife blamed it on their daughter’s crippling medical condition.

Solution

The Third Day of Twistmas

The ricin-extraction manual proved death came from a castor bean plant, though no trace of poison was found in her system.

Solution

The Fourth Day of Twistmas

No one understood why he drove into the mountainside until forensics found traces of fine gauze on the bonnet of the wrecked car.

Solution

The Fifth Day of Twistmas

The bank robbers’ C-list celebrity masks threw the police off the scent. The breakthrough? Traces of animal hair in a dropped bag.

Solution

The Sixth Day of Twistmas

3 pathologists failed to find a cause of death though all remarked on the mysterious pinpricks in the dead hypochondriac’s skin.

Solution

The Seventh Day of Twistmas

The murder weapon, a sword, was still lodged in the victim’s body, yet there was no blood & cause of death was given as asphyxia.

Solution

The Eighth Day of Twistmas

Internally locked room. Victim alone, holding a box with a hole in it. Head blown apart. Locked in the box: a gun & a loop of fishing line.

Solution

The Ninth Day of Twistmas

It looked like a suicide pact. The 2 bodies lay together. But why the separate suicide notes & why had she shot herself & he taken poison?

Solution

The Tenth Day of Twistmas

“As you deal so shall you die,” was scrawled in blood above the butchered meat-packing executive. Yellow petals were scattered on his body.

Solution

The Eleventh Day of Twistmas

“I am innocent!” declared Hélène, thereby proving her guilt.

Solution

The Twelfth Day of Twistmas

He admitted keeping victims in steel boxes. Were they dead or alive? Yes & no. He sent the police a letter to explain: ψ.

Solution