The Enigma of the Court
Since matins, a strange emptiness has walked the citadel: what stood in its place yesterday is gone today. Open searches have brought nothing; the time has come for questions asked aslant. The testimonies keep returning to the same names: Zaharia the Spice Merchant, Sava the Bell-Ringer and Ilinca the Baker. The places named in the testimonies — the Golden Boar inn, the queen's garden and the tourney field — each await their turn under scrutiny. Study the testimonies at your leisure, fit them into the grid, and pronounce your verdict without haste.
Suspects
His ships bring pepper, saffron, and news no one asked for. All of it at the same price: steep.
1.74 m
right-handed
dark eyes
black hair
He has rung the cathedral bells on the hour for thirty years. He sees the whole city from above and forgives nothing he sees.
1.83 m
right-handed
brown eyes
greying hair
She weighs flour to the gram and people at a glance. No one stays in her debt twice.
1.62 m
right-handed
brown eyes
chestnut hair
Locations
the Golden Boar inn
Wine watered down and rumours diluted with nothing. The rooms upstairs ask no questions.
the queen's garden
Roses trimmed to a line and paths you may walk only by invitation. At night, the hedge has ears.
the tourney field
Empty stands outside festival days. An excellent place for meetings that never happened.
Open the Grid (below) to solve the case, with the testimonies at hand.
Touch a cell: blank → ✗ (excluded) → ✓ (certain) → blank. Each pair of categories meets exactly once.
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Verdict
The culprit always lies; everyone else tells the truth.
- The gate guard swears: the suspect with black hair was at the tourney field.
- Even the jester says it in earnest: Sava the Bell-Ringer never set foot in the place where the rooms upstairs ask no questions.
- Every scout reports the same about the culprit: the culprit was in the place where the hedge has ears.