Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 12, 2026 Hard
Oct 12, 2026 — Hard case
The night before Quiver Labs' first independent audit, a burst pipe flooded its server room and wiped six years of financial records. The pipe, the plumbers say, was cut cleanly with a hacksaw.
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. 7 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
Dina the wellness coach starts the case already proven innocent:
There are no criminals to my left.— Dina, wellness coach (D1)
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: coders, security guards, investors, wellness coaches, designers, office managers. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the wellness coaches”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Ada | coder | Scholar |
| B1 | Bruno | security guard | Enforcer |
| C1 | Cal | investor | Merchant |
| D1 | Dina | wellness coach | Healer |
| A2 | Ezra | designer | Artist |
| B2 | Frank | security guard | Enforcer |
| C2 | Greta | office manager | Official |
| D2 | Hattie | wellness coach | Healer |
| A3 | Idris | investor | Merchant |
| B3 | Joan | coder | Scholar |
| C3 | Kira | designer | Artist |
| D3 | Lena | coder | Scholar |
| A4 | Mila | designer | Artist |
| B4 | Nico | designer | Artist |
| C4 | Omar | office manager | Official |
| D4 | Percy | investor | Merchant |
| A5 | Quinn | coder | Scholar |
| B5 | Ruby | security guard | Enforcer |
| C5 | Suki | office manager | Official |
| D5 | Tariq | investor | 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 12, 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 11, 2026 — Gerald and the Four Hundred Rooms
- Next Hard: Oct 13, 2026 — The Penalty in the Ninety-Third Minute
- Clue types in this case: Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · Neighbor clues · Odd and even clues · Above, below, left and right
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in tech start-ups · Meet the cast