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Murder mystery sudoku — the five daily cases for 18 August 2026

Every detective in the world got these same five crime scenes on 2026-08-18. Each one is procedurally generated and then proved to have exactly one logical solution before it is published — including the cases where somebody is lying. You place every suspect back on the map using only their testimony: exactly one person per row, never two in a column. Whoever is left alone with the victim did it.

Beginner — The Royal Greenhouse

A 5×5 grid across 4 rooms: fountain, palmhouse, potting, orchid. A compact scene and short, direct testimony — the ladder's first rung.

Cracked by 2 detectives so far.

Beginner — The Museum of Curiosities

A 5×5 grid across 4 rooms: atrium, office, archive, gallery. A compact scene and short, direct testimony — the ladder's first rung.

Easy — The Courtroom

A 6×6 grid across 4 rooms: gallery, hallway, archive, judgeschambers. A wider map, and clues that start needing to be combined.

Easy — The Museum of Curiosities

A 6×6 grid across 5 rooms: garden, archive, workshop, atrium, library. A wider map, and clues that start needing to be combined.

Medium — The Art School

A 7×7 grid across 5 rooms: kilnroom, courtyard, lockerroom, atelier, gallery. The first cases that reward pencil marks, and where an accomplice occasionally appears.

Medium — The Theatre Royal

A 7×7 grid across 5 rooms: wings, stage, balcony, dressing, foyer. The first cases that reward pencil marks, and where an accomplice occasionally appears.

The twist: one suspect is an accomplice — every statement they make is false.

Cracked by 1 detective so far.

Hard — The Cookie Thief

A 8×8 grid across 6 rooms: cellar, kitchen, hallway, livingroom, attic, nursery. A liar is likely, motives may be in play, and one assumption is usually needed.

Hard — The Hiking Trip

A 10×8 grid across 7 rooms: rangerstation, meadow, cave, overlook, trailhead, summit, forestpath. A liar is likely, motives may be in play, and one assumption is usually needed.

Expert — The Royal Greenhouse

A 9×9 grid across 7 rooms: shed, arbor, palmhouse, potting, orchid, terrace, fountain. The full board — a lying accomplice on half of them, and the motive to prove as well as the name.

The twist: one suspect is an accomplice — every statement they make is false; and the accusation also demands the motive, not just the name.

Expert — The Hotel Meridian

A 9×9 grid across 8 rooms: cellar, suite, kitchen, bar, lobby, ballroom, gallery, terrace. The full board — a lying accomplice on half of them, and the motive to prove as well as the name.

The twist: one suspect is an accomplice — every statement they make is false.

How to read a case above

The grid size is the size of the crime scene, so a 10×9 expert case is a far larger search than a 5×5 beginner one — but the difficulty is really carried by the clues, not the square count. A beginner case tells you almost directly where somebody stood. An expert case tells you where somebody was not, three times, and expects you to do the rest — and on half of them one of those statements is a lie told to protect the killer. If a case lists a motive, naming the right person is not enough on its own; you have to prove why.

How to play · Solving cases with a liar · Techniques

← the cases for 2026-08-17

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