Clues & Culprits › Archive › October 2026 › Oct 19, 2026 Hard
Oct 19, 2026 — Hard case
Three days out of Reykjavík, the MS Borealis swerved to avoid an iceberg no other ship on the North Atlantic had reported, and spent an unplanned day in the tiny duty-free port of Skálavík. The passengers spent £2 million there. The ship's officers, it emerges, own most of the shops.
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. 4 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
Ruby the security officer starts the case already proven a criminal:
Dev and I share the same verdict: both criminal or both innocent.— Ruby, security officer (B5)
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: radio officers, security officers, entertainers, pursers, captains, galley cooks. Clues about a role (“exactly one of the security officers”) count everyone in it.
| Seat | Suspect | Role in this case | Class |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | Arlo | radio officer | Courier |
| B1 | Bruno | security officer | Enforcer |
| C1 | Cora | entertainer | Artist |
| D1 | Dev | purser | Merchant |
| A2 | Ezra | entertainer | Artist |
| B2 | Frank | security officer | Enforcer |
| C2 | Greta | captain | Official |
| D2 | Hana | galley cook | Cook |
| A3 | Iris | entertainer | Artist |
| B3 | Juno | radio officer | Courier |
| C3 | Kira | entertainer | Artist |
| D3 | Leo | radio officer | Courier |
| A4 | Mabel | galley cook | Cook |
| B4 | Ned | radio officer | Courier |
| C4 | Omar | captain | Official |
| D4 | Percy | purser | Merchant |
| A5 | Queenie | galley cook | Cook |
| B5 | Ruby | security officer | Enforcer |
| C5 | Suki | captain | Official |
| D5 | Tariq | purser | 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 19, 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 18, 2026 — Lobster for the Whole Crew
- Next Hard: Oct 20, 2026 — The Ambassador's Missing Speech
- Clue types in this case: Neighbor clues · Between clues · Same-verdict and exactly-one clues · If–then clues
- All October 2026 cases · More cases in cruise ships · Meet the cast