# mystery-o-matic puzzle of the day ## Introduction Our mission is to solve a murder mystery by uncovering who the killer is, which weapon was used, and when the crime occurred. It’s up to you to piece together the puzzle by examining the following key elements: • The suspects: You'll meet a colorful cast of characters including Alice, Bob, Carol, Dave, Frida and Eddie. One of them has met an unfortunate end while some of the others are our prime suspects. Spoiler alert: in this tutorial, poor Alice is our victim so we'll focus on Bob and Carol. • The crime: A gruesome murder has taken place, and we need to determine how it happened. Once the fatal act occurs, the victim's body remains exactly where they fellthis is a crucial detail for your investigation. • The location: each location can be connected with the others, allowing characters to move freely. For this tutorial, we’ll explore a chilling mystery set in an eerie Victorian mansion, where people has been mysteriously disappearing from time to time. The layout changes from case to case, with three to five rooms to explore. For our tutorial, here's how the rooms connect: - The kitchen is connected with dinning room and the bedroom. - The dinning room is only connected with the kitchen. - The bedroom is connected with with the kitchen and the bathroom. - The bathroom is only connected with the bedroom. • The weapons: Various weapons are scattered throughout the rooms and the killer will pick up one of the weapons, but don't expect them to be where they "should" be. That hammer? It might be in the bathroom instead of a workshop. Logic won't help you here! • The timeline: The murder occurred within a specific time window (e.g., between 8:00 and 9:30). You’ll need to reconstruct the movements of the suspects and identify when the fatal blow was struck. There is, however, one important detail that separates these puzzles from other logic whodunit games. Our puzzles try to mimic real life, where statements and clues are often chaotic, redundant or incomplete. In that sense, reconstructing all the timeline is not necessary to solve the murder, and often it is impossible! • The statements: You'll get statements from suspects and evidence from the scene. Everyone will be telling the truth, but not necessary the whole story. You will need to carefully deduce and combine facts in order to uncover the truth. ## Using the timeline board Think of the Timeline Board as your detective's whiteboard – it's where all the magic happens. This tool allows you to keep track of key events, movements, and deductions as you piece together the story behind the murder. Every case starts with some basic facts we know for sure: We know where everyone was at 9:30: – Alice's body was in the kitchen (pot-of-food) – Bob was in the dining room (chair) – Carol was in the bathroom (toilet) The list of initial clues describe where each character was at the end the timeline, and it is your job to deduce, using the suspect statements and other clues, who the killer is, which weapon was used, and when the crime occurred. The timeline board is already filled with initial clues. In order to do so, we used several symbols: the symbol means that someone was there at a given time and place. The symbol means they were not there. Finally the symbol is used to designate the victim but feel free to use other symbols if you like. At the bottom of the timeline board lies the weapon section, which shows where each available weapon was located. For instance, the killer took the murderer weapon from one the following locations: • The hammer from the dining room • The gun from the bedroom • The scissors from the kitchen • The rope from the bathroom # Understanding clues and making basic deductions Here's where it gets fun! Our suspects move between rooms every 15 minutes (they're suspiciously punctual). Our suspects must follow the location's layout when moving between rooms. They can only move to directly connected rooms during each 15-minute interval - no shortcuts allowed! Think of it like moving across a chessboard - you have to pass through the squares one at a time. For example, if Alice wants to go from the dining room to the bathroom, he must: 1. Move from the dining room to the bedroom during one 15-minute interval. 2. Stay there for any number of 15-minutes intervals (even if other suspects are also there). 3. Move from the bedroom to the bathroom during another 15-minute interval. She cannot teleport directly from the dining room to the bathroom, even though they might seem close. This rule is crucial for making deductions - if you know where and when someone started and ended up, you can often figure out where they must have been in between! Once the movement rules are clarified, let's start this case, with the following statement: Bob: "I saw Alice when I arrived in the bedroom at 8:15" What can we deduce? Quite a lot actually: • Alice was in the bedroom at 8:15 • Bob was also in the kitchen at 8:15 • Bob was NOT in the kitchen at 8:00 Using these deductions we can start completing the timeline board: New deductions are highlighted in the timeline board for your convenience. The second we finished adding these into the timetable, other deductions start popping up! Since our suspects haven't mastered the art of being in two places at once, we can also figure out where they weren't: • Neither Alice nor Bob could have been in the bathroom, kitchen, or dining room at 8:15 But where was Alice at 8:00? This is where our room layout comes in handy: Since the bedroom connects to both the kitchen and bathroom, Alice could have come from either one. But here's a solid deduction – Bob couldn't have been in the dining room at 8:00 because it doesn't connect to the bedroom! Other types of clues describe when the suspects spend some time. For instance: Carol: "I was in the dining room from 8:00 to 8:45" This tells us: • Carol was in the dining room from 8:00 to 8:45 • Carol was NOT in any of the other rooms from 8:00 to 8:45 • Carol was NOT in the dining room at 9:00 Looking at our room layout, Carol must have headed to the kitchen at 9:00 – it's the only place she could reach from the dining room! Here's another juicy clue type: Bob: "Saw nobody when I arrived to the bathroom () at 9:00" Not only does this put Bob in the bathroom at 9:00, but we can backtrack – he must have been in the bedroom at 8:45 since it's the only way to reach the bathroom! Finally, sometimes we get somehow vague clues from suspects: Carol: "I heard someone washing the dishes at 8:45" We know that someone was in the kitchen. Can you wash dishes in the bathroom? Nope, absolutely ridiculous (looking at you The Sims™). • Someone was (alive!) at the kitchen at 8:45 • Carol was NOT in the kitchen at 8:45 It can be tempting to try to guess where Carol was, but this is not possible. Characters sometimes can heard or see someone in other rooms, but their location does really matter here. However, what we can deduce using our previous observation is who was in the kitchen. Clearly, it was not Carol. We know that Bob was in the bedroom, which means that Alice was in the kitchen at 8:45. ### Determining Time of Death Figuring out when our victim met their end is crucial. Sometimes we get helpful clues like this: A blood-curdling scream from the victim was heard between 8:45 and 9:00 Since our suspects move every 15 minutes like clockwork, the murder had to happen either at 8:45 or 9:00. However, we already know that Alice was alive at 8:45 (and happily washing the dishes). So the only option here is that murder happened at 9:00. Remember that once the killer strikes, the victim body is never moved, so can easily complete the Alice's timeline until 9:30. ## Daily mystery Once the tutorial is over, let's solve the murder mystery for the day. ## Initial Clues Carol, Frida and Eddie are transported back in time into the famous Orient Express during its last voyage! * Carol was murdered in the locomotive at some time between 4:00 and 6:15 * The murderer was alone with their victim, and the body remained unmoved * The murderer wasn't caught with the body * The killer retrieved the murder weapon from one of these places: - The poison from the locomotive - The pistol from the luggage carriage - The wrench from the dining carriage - The chain from the sleeping carriage * No one saw the killer retrieving the murder weapon * We know where everyone was at 6:15: - Carol's body was in the locomotive - Frida was in the dining carriage - Eddie was in the luggage carriage * No one else was present in the location. ## Locations * The locomotive is connected with luggage carriage * The luggage carriage is connected with locomotive, dining carriage * The dining carriage is connected with luggage carriage, sleeping carriage * The sleeping carriage is connected with dining carriage ## Statements & Clues * A blood-curdling scream from the victim was heard between 5:30 and 6:00 * Inspecting the crime scene reveals that the victim was dead at 5:45 * Frida: "I did not move from the sleeping carriage between 4:00 and 4:15" * Frida: "Saw somebody when I arrived to the dining carriage at 4:30" * Eddie: "Frida definitely was not with me in the luggage carriage at 4:45" * Inspecting the body reveals no signs of contusion. * Eddie: "I know Carol was not with me in the dining carriage at 4:30" * The inspection of the body indicates there are no projectile holes. * Eddie: "The luggage carriage was empty when I arrived at 6:00" * A recent footprint matching Eddie's shoe was found in the locomotive * Frida: "Not in the dining carriage, no. Carol was not there with me at 4:30" * Inspecting the body reveals no signs of strangulation. * A close examination of the body reveals that the victim was dead at 6:00 * Eddie: "I was in the luggage carriage from 4:45 to 5:00" * Eddie: "Stayed in the dining carriage from 4:00 to 4:30" * Eddie: "Noticed Frida when I was leaving the dining carriage at 4:30" * Eddie: "I chatted with Carol in the luggage carriage" * Eddie: "Not in the luggage carriage, no. Frida was not there with me at 5:00" * Frida: "Stayed in the dining carriage from 4:30 to 6:15" * Frida: "Saw nobody when I was leaving the sleeping carriage at 4:15" * Eddie: "Stayed in the luggage carriage from 6:00 to 6:15" Determinate who did it, which weapon was used and the time of the murder. Make sure the time of murder is precise (e.g. no intervals), and it only uses steps of 15 minutes. If you are not completely sure about the solution, tell me and I will give you more clues. ## Solution eddie-poison-5:30