solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and dead ends

Clue ten tells you that the cat owner lives next to the Blend-smoking Dane,putting him in the first house.Now with only one spot left on the grid,you know that the German in the green-walled house must be the culprit.You and the police burst into the house,catching the thief fish-handed.While that explanation was straightforward,solving puzzles like this often involves false starts and dead ends