Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 22, 2026 Easy
Oct 22, 2026 — Easy case
The overnight sleeper to Vienna carried one sad piece of cargo: a coffin going home for burial, its paperwork in perfect order. Somewhere after Salzburg, the coffin's occupant climbed out, changed into a suit and ordered a coffee in the dining car.
This Easy case seats 16 suspects on a 4×4 grid. 15 of them carry a clue; the other 1 only have something to say about themselves. Every step can be proven from a single clue plus what you already know. 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
Ned the conductor starts the case already proven a criminal:
The only musician in Column A is a criminal.— Ned, conductor (B4)
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 5 of them, each cast as a role in the setting: conductors, diplomats, musicians, doctors, engineers. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the conductors”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Arlo | conductor | Courier |
| B1 | Basil | diplomat | Official |
| C1 | Cora | musician | Artist |
| D1 | Dina | doctor | Healer |
| A2 | Emil | diplomat | Official |
| B2 | Freya | engineer | Laborer |
| C2 | Greta | diplomat | Official |
| D2 | Hattie | doctor | Healer |
| A3 | Ivan | engineer | Laborer |
| B3 | Jasper | engineer | Laborer |
| C3 | Kira | musician | Artist |
| D3 | Leo | conductor | Courier |
| A4 | Mila | musician | Artist |
| B4 | Ned | conductor | Courier |
| C4 | Otto | engineer | Laborer |
| D4 | Petra | conductor | 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 22, 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: Medium case · Hard case
- Previous Easy: Oct 21, 2026 — The Okapi with the Question-Mark Scar
- Next Easy: Oct 23, 2026 — The Collapse at Table Nine
- Clue types in this case: Above, below, left and right · Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · Neighbor clues · Corner and edge clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in night trains · Meet the cast