Every detective in the world got these same crime scenes on 2026-09-17 — each difficulty published twice, once untimed and once as time attack. Each case 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.
A 5×5 grid across 3 rooms: Aviary, Bear pit, Gift shop. Seven statements, seven squares nobody could stand on, and enough testimony that the surplus is what pins the last two down.
A 5×5 grid across 3 rooms: Elephant yard, Aviary, Bear pit. Seven statements, four squares nobody could stand on, and enough testimony that the surplus is what pins the last two down.
A 6×6 grid across 5 rooms: Elephant yard, Aviary, Bear pit, Penguin pool, Gift shop. Seven statements, seven squares nobody could stand on, and no assumption anywhere: elimination alone closes it.
A 6×6 grid across 4 rooms: Elephant yard, Aviary, Penguin pool, Gift shop. Six statements, ten squares nobody could stand on, and no assumption anywhere: elimination alone closes it.
An 8×7 grid across 6 rooms: Lion den, Gift shop, Entrance, Aviary, Elephant yard, Bear pit. Nine statements, thirteen squares nobody could stand on, almost as many rooms as suspects, so a room claim nearly names a square, and one round of assume-and-test after elimination ran dry.
An 8×7 grid across 5 rooms: Café, Penguin pool, Elephant yard, Lion den, Gift shop. Eight statements, fifteen squares nobody could stand on, and one round of assume-and-test after elimination ran dry.
A 9×8 grid across 7 rooms: Penguin pool, Main path, Bear pit, Café, Lion den, Entrance, Elephant yard. Thirteen statements, fifteen squares nobody could stand on, almost as many rooms as suspects, so a room claim nearly names a square, and one round of assume-and-test after elimination ran dry.
A 9×8 grid across 6 rooms: Elephant yard, Gift shop, Main path, Penguin pool, Entrance, Aviary. Twelve statements, fourteen squares nobody could stand on, and one round of assume-and-test after elimination ran dry.
A 10×9 grid across 8 rooms: Gift shop, Penguin pool, Elephant yard, Main path, Bear pit, Café, Entrance, Aviary. Twelve statements, eighteen squares nobody could stand on, almost as many rooms as suspects, so a room claim nearly names a square, and two rounds of assume-and-test after elimination ran dry.
A 10×9 grid across 8 rooms: Aviary, Main path, Café, Gift shop, Elephant yard, Entrance, Penguin pool, Bear pit. Twelve statements, nineteen squares nobody could stand on, almost as many rooms as suspects, so a room claim nearly names a square, and one round of assume-and-test after elimination ran dry.
The twist: the accusation also demands the motive, not just the name.
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
Every day's cases — the calendar · ← the cases for 16 September