Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 1, 2026 Hard
Oct 1, 2026 — Hard case
For six weeks, Room 9 of St. Brannoc's private wing has housed a very ill, very wealthy patient: meals delivered, drugs dispensed, insurer billed £400,000. This morning a new night nurse opened the door. The bed had never been slept in.
This Hard case seats 20 suspects on a 4×5 grid. 16 of them carry a clue; the other 4 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
Tariq the pharmacist starts the case already proven a criminal:
The person to the right of Kofi is a criminal.— Tariq, pharmacist (D5)
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: surgeons, receptionists, pharmacists, nurses, security guards, private patients. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the pharmacists”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Ada | surgeon | Scholar |
| B1 | Bea | receptionist | Servant |
| C1 | Cal | pharmacist | Merchant |
| D1 | Dina | nurse | Healer |
| A2 | Esme | surgeon | Scholar |
| B2 | Frank | security guard | Enforcer |
| C2 | Gemma | receptionist | Servant |
| D2 | Hattie | nurse | Healer |
| A3 | Idris | pharmacist | Merchant |
| B3 | Joan | surgeon | Scholar |
| C3 | Kofi | receptionist | Servant |
| D3 | Lionel | private patient | Noble |
| A4 | Marco | private patient | Noble |
| B4 | Nora | security guard | Enforcer |
| C4 | Olive | private patient | Noble |
| D4 | Percy | pharmacist | Merchant |
| A5 | Quinn | surgeon | Scholar |
| B5 | Ruby | security guard | Enforcer |
| C5 | Sadie | receptionist | Servant |
| D5 | Tariq | pharmacist | 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 · Medium case
- Next Hard: Oct 2, 2026 — The Flash Mob at Gate Twelve
- Clue types in this case: Corner and edge clues · Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · Common-neighbor clues · Profession clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in hospitals · Meet the cast