Clues & Culprits › Archive › Oct 6, 2026 Hard walkthrough
Oct 6, 2026 Full Proof Walkthrough
Every verdict in the Hard case “Blind Tasting at Château Morel”, in an order where each step is proven by the statements already on file.
Play it first Just a hint, please
This Hard 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. 4 of the steps can only be proven by reading two or more clues together. The order below is one valid route; any order where each verdict is proven when you enter it reaches the same answer.
Spoiler: show the full walkthrough
Start: Bea (B1) begins the case proven a criminal.
The person below Pia is innocent.— Bea, housekeeper (B1)
Step 1: Tess (D5, delivery driver) is innocent. This follows from Bea’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Step 2: Olive (C4, estate owner) is innocent. This follows from Tess’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
None of my neighbors is a criminal.— Tess, delivery driver (D5)
Step 3: Pia (D4, wine critic) is innocent. This follows from Tess’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Step 4: Leo (D3, delivery driver) is innocent. This follows from Pia’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
The person between me and Hugo is innocent.— Pia, wine critic (D4)
Step 5: Raj (B5, winemaker) is a criminal. This follows from Olive’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly one of Raj and me is a criminal.— Olive, estate owner (C4)
Step 6: Marco (A4, estate owner) is innocent. This follows from Raj’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly one of Marco and me is innocent.— Raj, winemaker (B5)
Step 7: Nico (B4, label painter) is innocent. This follows from Marco’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
The person between me and Olive is innocent.— Marco, estate owner (A4)
Step 8: Silas (C5, delivery driver) is innocent. This follows from Tess’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Step 9: Hugo (D2, wine critic) is innocent. This needs 2 statements together — Leo’s and Silas’s. Assume the opposite verdict and at least one of them breaks.
Only one of my five neighbors is a criminal.— Leo, delivery driver (D3)
There is exactly one criminal between me and Cora.— Silas, delivery driver (C5)
Step 10: Cora (C1, label painter) is a criminal. This needs 2 statements together — Leo’s and Hugo’s. Assume the opposite verdict and at least one of them breaks.
Column C has exactly two criminals.— Hugo, wine critic (D2)
Step 11: Quentin (A5, housekeeper) is a criminal. This needs 2 statements together — Leo’s and Cora’s. Assume the opposite verdict and at least one of them breaks.
Exactly three of the four housekeepers are criminals.— Cora, label painter (C1)
Step 12: Iris (A3, label painter) is innocent. This follows from Quentin’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
There are no criminals between me and Esme.— Quentin, housekeeper (A5)
Step 13: Gemma (C2, housekeeper) is a criminal. This needs 3 statements together — Leo’s, Nico’s and Iris’s. Assume the opposite verdict and at least one of them breaks.
Exactly five of my eight neighbors are innocent.— Nico, label painter (B4)
If Joan is innocent, then Gemma is a criminal.— Iris, label painter (A3)
Step 14: Arlo (A1, delivery driver) is a criminal. This follows from Gemma’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Arlo and I are either both criminals or both innocent.— Gemma, housekeeper (C2)
Step 15: Kofi (C3, housekeeper) is innocent. This follows from Leo’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Step 16: Joan (B3, winemaker) is a criminal. This follows from Nico’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Step 17: Felix (B2, wine critic) is innocent. This follows from Kofi’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly two of my eight neighbors are criminals.— Kofi, housekeeper (C3)
Step 18: Esme (A2, winemaker) is a criminal. This follows from Arlo’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Joan and I have exactly one criminal neighbor in common.— Arlo, delivery driver (A1)
Step 19: Dexter (D1, estate owner) is innocent. This follows from Joan’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly six of the fourteen people on the edges are criminals.— Joan, winemaker (B3)
The final lineup
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arlo criminal | Bea criminal | Cora criminal | Dexter innocent |
| 2 | Esme criminal | Felix innocent | Gemma criminal | Hugo innocent |
| 3 | Iris innocent | Joan criminal | Kofi innocent | Leo innocent |
| 4 | Marco innocent | Nico innocent | Olive innocent | Pia innocent |
| 5 | Quentin criminal | Raj criminal | Silas innocent | Tess innocent |
What happened
The judges were right. Joan, Esme and Raj, the estate's winemakers, knew the pouring order because Raj had written the competition's scoring software. Bea, Gemma and Quentin, working the event as housekeepers, swapped Morel's rosé for a decanted Saint-Aurèle at the service table, its colour corrected with a drop of Cora's beetroot dye from the label studio. Arlo drove the empty bottles to a recycling bank forty miles away. The gold medal brought in €200,000 of orders; the real wine had cost them €60,000, and the estate's good name, in the end, a great deal more.