“Short Circuit” is a Murdoku case from the Supermarket category: a board of 8×8, 7 suspects and one victim. Read the clues, work out where everybody was standing, and name the suspect who was left alone with the body.
The Board
The floor plan as the case hands it to you: 8×8, rated Hard, with 5 rooms. Every person — 8 in all — takes a row and a column of their own.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
R1
T
T
B
T
R2
T
T
Ch
S
R3
B
R4
S
T
B
R5
T
Ta
C
C
T
R6
S
R7
T
Ta
Ta
T
T
R8
Floor plan of “Short Circuit”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below.
Rooms
Checkout — 8 tiles: TV, Table, Cash register
Toy Aisle — 13 tiles: Shelf, TV
Stockroom — 12 tiles: TV, Box
Bakery — 19 tiles: Box, TV, Shelf, Table
Staff Room — 12 tiles: TV, Chair, Shelf
Objects on the board
T TV (blocks the tile)
B Box (blocks the tile)
S Shelf (blocks the tile)
Ta Table (blocks the tile)
C Cash register (blocks the tile)
Ch Chair (can be stood on)
The Suspects and Their Clues
Each suspect comes with what the witnesses remember. Read them all before placing anyone — a clue about one person is very often what pins down another.
Alex — a man with black hair and glasses
He was not beside a wall
Bernd — a man with a bald head, a beard and glasses
He was north of Grant
Cyrus — a man with brown hair and glasses
He was north of Alex
Dylan — a man with a bald head and a beard
He was not west of a chair
Edison — a man with blond hair and a beard
He was alone with a suspect who had a beard
Freya — a woman with white hair and glasses
She was beside a shelf and she was beside a TV
Grant — a man with blond hair
He was not west of a chair and he was in the same column or row as a chair
The victim, Victoria, is a woman. Nothing else about them is known, and no clue depends on it.
How Hard It Really Is
Deduction steps from the first clue to the verdict
Before anything else, count where each suspect could be if you only read their own clues:
Alex: 6 possible tiles
Bernd: 42 possible tiles
Cyrus: 42 possible tiles
Dylan: 11 possible tiles
Edison: 42 possible tiles
Freya: 2 possible tiles
Grant: 8 possible tiles
The first deductions after that, in the order the solver finds them:
Bernd is north of Grant – impossible cells removed.
Cyrus is north of Alex – impossible cells removed.
Grant: only column 7 possible – blocked for others.
That is as far as this page goes. From here on it is yours — the in-game hint giver explains each next step if you get stuck, without giving the answer away.
This case has exactly one solution, and it can be reached by forward deduction alone — no guessing.