Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 1, 2026 Medium
Oct 1, 2026 — Medium case
At 3:12 a.m. the Sud Express stopped dead in a tunnel beneath the Pyrenees, and for eleven minutes nobody could say why. When it moved again, a sealed mailbag of uncut diamonds bound for Paris had been emptied of every stone.
This Medium case seats 20 suspects on a 4×5 grid. 17 of them carry a clue; the other 3 only have something to say about themselves. 2 of the steps can only be proven by reading two or more clues together. Every verdict you enter is checked against all the scenarios that still fit the statements on file, so a move only sticks when it is proven.
The opening statement
Idris the commercial traveller starts the case already proven innocent:
The person between me and Kofi is a criminal.— Idris, commercial traveller (A3)
The lineup
Suspects stand in alphabetical order, left to right and top to bottom. Each belongs to one of Clues & Culprits’ twelve character classes — the badge on their nameplate. This case uses 6 of them, each cast as a role in the setting: stowaways, porters, commercial travellers, musicians, engineers, professors. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the commercial travellers”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Amir | stowaway | Rogue |
| B1 | Bea | porter | Servant |
| C1 | Cal | commercial traveller | Merchant |
| D1 | Dev | commercial traveller | Merchant |
| A2 | Ezra | musician | Artist |
| B2 | Freya | engineer | Laborer |
| C2 | Gemma | porter | Servant |
| D2 | Hugo | stowaway | Rogue |
| A3 | Idris | commercial traveller | Merchant |
| B3 | Jasper | engineer | Laborer |
| C3 | Kofi | porter | Servant |
| D3 | Lena | professor | Scholar |
| A4 | Mila | musician | Artist |
| B4 | Nico | musician | Artist |
| C4 | Otto | engineer | Laborer |
| D4 | Pia | stowaway | Rogue |
| A5 | Quinn | professor | Scholar |
| B5 | Raj | professor | Scholar |
| C5 | Sadie | porter | Servant |
| D5 | Tariq | commercial traveller | Merchant |
Stuck?
The in-game hint first points at the statement to re-read, then at the suspect you can prove, then shows the proof. For a gentler nudge, open the spoiler-free hints for Oct 1, 2026, or press Share to send a friend your exact board. New to the format? The deduction-puzzle guide covers the habits that unlock every step.
More cases
- Same day: Easy case · Hard case
- Next Medium: Oct 2, 2026 — The Wheel That Loved Seventeen
- Clue types in this case: Between clues · Above, below, left and right · Corner and edge clues · Common-neighbor clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in night trains · Meet the cast