Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 16, 2026 Hard
Oct 16, 2026 — Hard case
For a whole term, students on Staircase Nine reported a grey lady drifting past their doors at midnight, and the college closed the staircase 'for structural reasons'. This month a tourist left a five-star review of her stay there: 'Charming, historic, a little haunted.'
This Hard case seats 20 suspects on a 4×5 grid. 15 of them carry a clue; the other 5 only have something to say about themselves. 6 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
Ezra the drama student starts the case already proven innocent:
The only campus nurse in Row 1 is a criminal.— Ezra, drama student (A2)
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: undergraduates, college porters, drama students, campus nurses, campus guards, groundskeepers. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the drama students”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Arlo | undergraduate | Courier |
| B1 | Bea | college porter | Servant |
| C1 | Cora | drama student | Artist |
| D1 | Dina | campus nurse | Healer |
| A2 | Ezra | drama student | Artist |
| B2 | Frank | campus guard | Enforcer |
| C2 | Gemma | college porter | Servant |
| D2 | Hattie | campus nurse | Healer |
| A3 | Ivan | groundskeeper | Laborer |
| B3 | Jasper | groundskeeper | Laborer |
| C3 | Kira | drama student | Artist |
| D3 | Leo | undergraduate | Courier |
| A4 | Mila | drama student | Artist |
| B4 | Nora | campus guard | Enforcer |
| C4 | Otto | groundskeeper | Laborer |
| D4 | Petra | undergraduate | Courier |
| A5 | Quentin | college porter | Servant |
| B5 | Ruby | campus guard | Enforcer |
| C5 | Sadie | college porter | Servant |
| D5 | Tess | undergraduate | Courier |
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 16, 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 · Medium case
- Previous Hard: Oct 15, 2026 — Change from the Big Top
- Next Hard: Oct 17, 2026 — The Itch on the Catwalk
- Clue types in this case: Above, below, left and right · Row and column clues · Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · Profession clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in universities · Meet the cast