Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 22, 2026 Hard
Oct 22, 2026 — Hard case
For a year Thornbury has received anonymous letters, on lilac paper and in green ink, revealing everybody's secrets — and villagers have been leaving a 'fee' under the church doormat to stop the next one. Every letter was posted from the village's own postbox.
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. 4 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
Silas the postie starts the case already proven a criminal:
If Cora is a criminal, then I'm innocent.— Silas, postie (C5)
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: posties, judges, bandleaders, nurses, farmers, teachers. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the posties”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Arlo | postie | Courier |
| B1 | Basil | judge | Official |
| C1 | Cora | bandleader | Artist |
| D1 | Dina | nurse | Healer |
| A2 | Emil | judge | Official |
| B2 | Freya | farmer | Laborer |
| C2 | Greta | judge | Official |
| D2 | Hattie | nurse | Healer |
| A3 | Ivan | farmer | Laborer |
| B3 | Jasper | farmer | Laborer |
| C3 | Kira | bandleader | Artist |
| D3 | Lena | teacher | Scholar |
| A4 | Mila | bandleader | Artist |
| B4 | Ned | postie | Courier |
| C4 | Otto | farmer | Laborer |
| D4 | Petra | postie | Courier |
| A5 | Quinn | teacher | Scholar |
| B5 | Raj | teacher | Scholar |
| C5 | Silas | postie | Courier |
| D5 | Theo | teacher | Scholar |
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: Easy case · Medium case
- Previous Hard: Oct 21, 2026 — Everything Left Wearing a Coat
- Next Hard: Oct 23, 2026 — Sold Out in Four Minutes
- Clue types in this case: Odd and even clues · Row and column clues · Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · Most-neighbors clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in village fêtes · Meet the cast