Clues & Culprits › Archive › Oct 15, 2026 Easy walkthrough
Oct 15, 2026 Full Proof Walkthrough
Every verdict in the Easy case “The Clock That Kept Wrong Time”, in an order where each step is proven by the statements already on file.
Play it first Just a hint, please
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. 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: Nico (B4) begins the case proven a criminal.
Both of the couriers in Column D are innocent.— Nico, restorer (B4)
Step 1: Leo (D3, courier) is innocent. This follows from Nico’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Step 2: Ezra (A2, restorer) is a criminal. This follows from Leo’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly one of Ezra and me is a criminal.— Leo, courier (D3)
Step 3: Otto (C4, art handler) is a criminal. This follows from Ezra’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Otto and I are either both criminals or both innocent.— Ezra, restorer (A2)
Step 4: Juno (B3, courier) is a criminal. This follows from Otto’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Juno and I share the same verdict: both criminal or both innocent.— Otto, art handler (C4)
Step 5: Freya (B2, art handler) is innocent. This follows from Juno’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
The person between me and Bea is innocent.— Juno, courier (B3)
Step 6: Gemma (C2, cloakroom attendant) is innocent. This follows from Freya’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
The person between me and Hattie is innocent.— Freya, art handler (B2)
Step 7: Hattie (D2, first-aider) is a criminal. This follows from Gemma’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
My row has exactly two innocents.— Gemma, cloakroom attendant (C2)
Step 8: Dina (D1, first-aider) is a criminal. This follows from Hattie’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
None of us first-aiders is innocent.— Hattie, first-aider (D2)
Step 9: Cora (C1, restorer) is innocent. This follows from Dina’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Only one of my three neighbors is a criminal.— Dina, first-aider (D1)
Step 10: Bea (B1, cloakroom attendant) is innocent. This follows from Cora’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly two of my five neighbors are criminals.— Cora, restorer (C1)
Step 11: Arlo (A1, courier) is a criminal. This follows from Bea’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
The person to my left is a criminal.— Bea, cloakroom attendant (B1)
Step 12: Ivan (A3, art handler) is a criminal. This follows from Arlo’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
There are no innocents between me and Mila.— Arlo, courier (A1)
Step 13: Mila (A4, restorer) is innocent. This follows from Ivan’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly three of my five neighbors are criminals.— Ivan, art handler (A3)
Step 14: Kofi (C3, cloakroom attendant) is innocent. This follows from Mila’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
Exactly four of Juno's eight neighbors are criminals.— Mila, restorer (A4)
Step 15: Petra (D4, courier) is innocent. This follows from Nico’s statement and the verdicts already proven.
The final lineup
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arlo criminal | Bea innocent | Cora innocent | Dina criminal |
| 2 | Ezra criminal | Freya innocent | Gemma innocent | Hattie criminal |
| 3 | Ivan criminal | Juno criminal | Kofi innocent | Leo innocent |
| 4 | Mila innocent | Nico criminal | Otto criminal | Petra innocent |
What happened
The gilded case came back; the 1690 movement inside it did not. Otto, an art handler who had taken apart every clock he ever owned, built a modern movement to fit the old case with Ivan's help, and Nico and Ezra, the restorers, aged its brass with vinegar and tea and painted the dial's tiny planets back on by hand. Arlo and Juno, the museum's couriers, took the real movement to a collector in Geneva in a hatbox; Dina and Hattie, the first-aiders, signed the hatbox out as 'emergency supplies'. The new clock kept perfect time, but its moon had been set by someone who never looks at the sky.