Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 5, 2026 Easy
Oct 5, 2026 — Easy case
During three days of merger talks at the Hotel Meridian, the pianist in the Palm Court played the same Chopin nocturne forty-one times. Somewhere in those forty-one performances, every figure from the sealed boardroom upstairs reached a rival bidder.
This Easy case seats 16 suspects on a 4×4 grid. 14 of them carry a clue; the other 2 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
Basil the hotel manager starts the case already proven innocent:
The person between me and Juno is innocent.— Basil, hotel manager (B1)
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: bartenders, hotel managers, tycoons, pianists, valets. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the hotel managers”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Amir | bartender | Rogue |
| B1 | Basil | hotel manager | Official |
| C1 | Celia | tycoon | Noble |
| D1 | Dexter | tycoon | Noble |
| A2 | Emil | hotel manager | Official |
| B2 | Felix | bartender | Rogue |
| C2 | Greta | hotel manager | Official |
| D2 | Hugo | bartender | Rogue |
| A3 | Iris | pianist | Artist |
| B3 | Juno | valet | Courier |
| C3 | Kira | pianist | Artist |
| D3 | Lionel | tycoon | Noble |
| A4 | Mila | pianist | Artist |
| B4 | Nico | pianist | Artist |
| C4 | Omar | hotel manager | Official |
| D4 | Petra | valet | 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 5, 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 4, 2026 — Scrubbed at T-Minus Ninety
- Next Easy: Oct 6, 2026 — The Machine That Answered Too Well
- Clue types in this case: Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · Between clues · Above, below, left and right · Neighbor clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in grand hotels · Meet the cast