Helpful Hints to the Wondercade Whodunit!

Neil Patrick Harris is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Wondercade. In his spare time he also acts — fairly well, too, as his Tony and Emmy Awards can attest.

August 16, 2023 10:19 am

So you need some guidance on solving Wondercade’s Whodunit issue. ZERO judgment. In fact, I’m a firm believer in asking for help when you need it. And if you need it, I will help. Slight SPOILERS, obviously, but I do hope my sage wisdom guides you to the solution… -NPH

Bar

All of these wines are fake, so the only relevant part of them is their name.
These are the HOUSE varieties.
Only the first word of each wine is relevant.
The first word of each wine relates to the word HOUSE in some way.

Fashion Closet

The outfits are ordered in a specific way. The logical path needed to determine the correct outfit is in that order.
The first two outfits give a lot of information. What changed between the two of them?
You have all the information you need from the first two outfits if you know two colors that aren’t on the outfit at all, if you know the color of a specific piece of the outfit, and if you know that another color has to be in the outfit somewhere.
After the third outfit, you should know three of the pieces of clothing.
The Looney Tunes character is not one that would first come to mind when most people think of Looney Tunes, but it is definitely a major character. They’re a little…out there.

Kitchen

The core of something is the center two letters.
The outer covering of something is the first and the last letters.
The bigrams are in order.

The Salon

The best way to go about this is to go by size. Start with the 1×1 rectangles, then the 1×2 and the 2×1 rectangles, and so on and so forth.
The number of rectangles is a two digit number, and the two-digits will add to 6.

Home Theater

This review really seems to be harping on the vampire. Most people wouldn’t call that character a vampire though – even though they do drink blood.
The review seems to point out that multiple times characters go in a creature’s mouth. What famous musical involves going into a creature’s mouth?
The movie version of this musical starred Rick Moranis.

Hydroponic Garden

The steps are given to you in an order that makes a logical progression. You may not be able to set down a plant with every step, but you will get information out of every step.
Step 1: The store is REI.
Step 2: There’s only one column left where you can place two flowers and have them not be next to each other.
Step 3: This will let you tell which A flower goes where.
Step 4: Two of the relevant flowers are already placed, which will force the position of the one that begins with the letter S.
Step 5: The common English word is where a bear would sleep or a room in some houses.

Library

There’s no trick here – this is just straight up trivia. If you don’t know, feel free to Google it, but try to guess first.

Dogs’ Playroom

The best way to go about this is to come up with 7-letter words that mean “surprise greatly.” When you get the right one, it will become obvious what the second word of the dog breed is.
There is a daily newspaper comic about a particular dog of this breed.

THE FINALE

First, you will need to solve another logic puzzle like the one in the Hydroponic Garden. However, unlike that one, all of the clues are hidden throughout the narrative and the pictures.
Relevant pieces of information are hidden in the following places:
- 2 pieces of info in the Bar section
- 2 pieces of info in the Runway section
- 1 piece of info in the Home Theater section
- 2 pieces of info in the Hydroponic Garden section (including one in the picture)
- 1 piece of info in the Grooming Studio section
You may not be able to place rooms right away, but you should keep track of rooms that you know are adjacent, as they will resolve in later parts of the logic.
The afternoon sun is in the west, which means rooms on the eastern side of the building can’t see it.
Once you’ve placed the rooms, it should be much easier to find your answers in the correct rooms. If you think you have the correct answer to a puzzle, and you find it in a room other than the character’s room or the Foyer, then you don’t have the correct answer to the puzzle.
When we say to retrace the culprit’s steps, we literally mean to retrace their steps. Start in the same relative position in the culprit’s room that the answer started in the Foyer, and then follow the same path. It should spell a new phrase.