Nine Suspects

Hints & answer for 2026-10-09

Chief difficulty · “A Storm and a Scream” at the Salt Marsh Retreat · play it first

These are the official hints for the Nine Suspects daily puzzle of 2026-10-09. They go from gentle nudge to full spoiler — open only as many as you need.

Hint 1 — Getting started (no spoilers)

This is a 7×7 board, so exactly one person stands in every row and every column. Start with the most restrictive clues — "on a [furniture]" clues pin a suspect to just a handful of squares, and "in front of a window" only fits squares that touch a window. Mark everything impossible with an X.

Hint 2 — Where to focus

Two clues do the heaviest lifting today:

  • Ben: “He was beside a TV.”
  • Iris: “She was on a bed.”

Resolve these first, then use the sudoku rule to strike out their rows and columns for everyone else.

Hint 3 — The victim's room (mild spoiler)

Vaughn was found in the Study. Work out which suspects could possibly have been in that room — only one of them ends up there alone.

The answer — who is the murderer? (full spoiler)

Ada is the murderer. Ada was alone in the Study with Vaughn. Case closed.

Play the 2026-10-09 case

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