“A Beastly Alibi” is a Murdoku case from the Farm 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 Easy, with 7 rooms. Every person — 8 in all — takes a row and a column of their own.
C1
C2
C3
C4
C5
C6
C7
C8
R1
Ch
M
Co
P
R2
M
Co
M
P
M
R3
Ch
Co
P
R4
Ch
M
C
Ca
L
R5
Pl
C
T
Tv
R6
S
C
C
C
R7
Tr
Te
H
T
B
R8
Tr
H
H
B
Floor plan of “A Beastly Alibi”. Letters mark the objects; the key is below. A thick blue edge marks a window. A dashed edge marks a door.
Rooms
Pasture (outdoors) — 8 tiles: Horse
Yard (outdoors) — 6 tiles: Plant
Garden (outdoors) — 9 tiles: Shrub, Tree, Tent
Farmhouse — 13 tiles: Carpet, Chair, Lamp, Table, TV, Bed
Cowshed — 9 tiles: Mud puddle, Cow
Pigsty — 9 tiles: Pig, Mud puddle
Henhouse — 10 tiles: Chicken, Mud puddle
Objects on the board
C Carpet (can be stood on)
M Mud puddle (can be stood on)
Ch Chicken (blocks the tile)
Co Cow (blocks the tile)
H Horse (can be stood on)
P Pig (blocks the tile)
B Bed (can be stood on)
T Table (blocks the tile)
Tr Tree (blocks the tile)
Ca Chair (can be stood on)
L Lamp (blocks the tile)
Pl Plant (blocks the tile)
S Shrub (blocks the tile)
Te Tent (can be stood on)
Tv TV (blocks the tile)
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 a bald head and glasses
He was beside a cow
Bernd — a man with blond hair
He was beside a bed
Cyrus — a man with a bald head and a beard
He was beside a window
Dylan — a man with black hair and glasses
He was in the Yard and he was not beside a plant
Elsa — a woman with blond hair and glasses
She was on a mud puddle and she was in a corner
Freya — a woman with blond hair
She was on a mud puddle and she was beside a chicken
Grant — a man with white hair, a beard and glasses
He was beside a horse
The victim, Vito, is a man. 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
16
Steps before anyone can be placed for certain
7
How to Start — Without Spoilers
Before anything else, count where each suspect could be if you only read their own clues:
Alex: 4 possible tiles
Bernd: 2 possible tiles
Cyrus: 4 possible tiles
Dylan: 2 possible tiles
Elsa: a single tile — their own clue settles it
Freya: 2 possible tiles
Grant: 4 possible tiles
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.