Clues by Sam Jan 16, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Tricky·Solved
A1
👩🎨
Alice
painter
B1
👩🏫
Betty
teacher
C1
💂♂️
Chase
guard
D1
💂♂️
Daniel
guard
A2
👷♂️
Floyd
builder
B2
👨🏫
Gus
teacher
C2
👷♂️
Henry
builder
D2
👨🍳
Igor
cook
A3
👨💼
Jerry
clerk
B3
👨🌾
Kumar
farmer
C3
👩🌾
Lucy
farmer
D3
💂♀️
Megan
guard
A4
👩💼
Nicole
clerk
B4
👩🎨
Pam
painter
C4
👨🌾
Raul
farmer
D4
👨💻
Sam
coder
A5
👩🍳
Uma
cook
B5
👩💼
Wanda
clerk
C5
👩💻
Xena
coder
D5
👩💻
Zoe
coder
Final Board State
This puzzle is fully solved.
All characters have been identified as innocent or criminal based on today's clues.
Final Result
Innocent 16Criminal 4Unknown 0
See how each clue leads to the final result
Answer (spoilers)
A quick reference of the final identities. For explanations, see the reasoning above.
▶ Answer list (spoilers)
Innocent · 16
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ C5 ]
Criminal · 4
[ C1 ] [ A2 ] [ B5 ] [ D5 ]
Clues
Raw text reference from the original puzzle
Original clue texts as provided in today's puzzle. No deductions or interpretations are applied here.
▶ Raw clues (original text)
A1 · Alice
"Sam is one of Raul's 6 innocent neighbors"
B1 · Betty
"Exactly 3 of Gus' 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Henry"
C1 · Chase
"Where's the challenge if everyone's innocent?"
D1 · Daniel
"Henry is one of Igor's 4 innocent neighbors"
A2 · Floyd
"I was in top 1% yesterday, but I cheated."
B2 · Gus
"Each column has at least one criminal"
C2 · Henry
"Exactly 2 innocents above Xena are neighboring Igor"
D2 · Igor
"I heard you see stats if you're one of the top 50% fastest solvers"
A3 · Jerry
"I don't like competing, even if I was in top 1% yesterday"
B3 · Kumar
"There are exactly 4 innocents in column A"
C3 · Lucy
"There are more criminals in row 2 than row 4"
D3 · Megan
"2 of us 3 guards have an innocent directly to the left of them"
A4 · Nicole
"Row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals"
B4 · Pam
"I had my record time yesterday! I like easy puzzles."
C4 · Raul
"There are as many innocent coders as there are innocent guards"
D4 · Sam
"Sorry, I don't have a clue for you today."
A5 · Uma
"Exactly 2 of the 10 innocents on the edges are Kumar's neighbors"
B5 · Wanda
"No one in row 3 has more than one criminal neighbor"
C5 · Xena
"Jerry, you can click on the result stats to hide them!"
D5 · Zoe
"I tried hacking the server to give myself the best time!"
Answer Explanation
Full reasoning transcript (reference)
This is the full reasoning transcript for today's puzzle. For an interactive walkthrough, use Replay above.
▶ View full transcript (17 steps)
C2 · Henry → INNOCENT
Because: The clue directly states that Henry is one of Igor's innocent neighbors, so Henry is innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Henry is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Henry is one of Igor's 4 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
D3 · Megan → INNOCENT
Because: Relevant people are Igor at D2 and his neighbors: C1 (Chase), D1 (Daniel), C2 (Henry), C3 (Lucy), and D3 (Megan). Clue 1 says Igor has exactly 4 innocent neighbors and Henry is one of them; Daniel is also already known to be innocent. Clue 2 says exactly two innocents above Xena (C1, C2, C3, C4) are neighboring Igor; only C1, C2, and C3 neighbor Igor, and since C2 is already innocent, exactly one of C1 or C3 is innocent. That gives Igor three innocents among his neighbors so far (Daniel, Henry, and exactly one of C1/C3), so to reach four, D3 (Megan) must also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D3 · Megan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Henry is one of Igor's 4 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
"Exactly 2 innocents above Xena are neighboring Igor" — Henry (C2)
B1 · Betty → INNOCENT
Because: The three guards are known to be Chase at C1, Daniel at D1, and Megan at D3, so the people directly to their left are, respectively, Betty at B1, Chase at C1, and Lucy at C3. Megan says that exactly two of those three left neighbors are innocent. Daniel’s clue fixes that Igor (D2) has exactly four innocent neighbors; with Daniel (D1), Henry (C2), and Megan (D3) already innocent, only one of Chase (C1) and Lucy (C3) can be innocent. Since exactly one of C1 and C3 is innocent, Betty at B1 must be the second innocent among the three left-of-guard positions. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Betty is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Henry is one of Igor's 4 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
"2 of us 3 guards have an innocent directly to the left of them" — Megan (D3)
B3 · Kumar → INNOCENT
Because: Relevant people: Henry (C2), Igor (D2), Daniel (D1), Megan (D3), Chase (C1), Lucy (C3), Gus (B2), Betty (B1), and Kumar (B3). Daniel says Henry is one of Igor’s four innocent neighbors; Igor’s five neighbors are Henry, Daniel, Megan, Chase, and Lucy, and since Daniel, Megan, and Henry are already innocent, exactly one of Chase or Lucy is innocent. Betty says exactly three of Gus’s six innocent neighbors also neighbor Henry; the people who neighbor both Gus and Henry are Betty, Chase, Kumar, and Lucy, so exactly three of these four are innocent. With Betty already innocent, exactly two among Chase, Kumar, and Lucy are innocent, and together with “exactly one of Chase or Lucy,” Kumar must be the second innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B3 · Kumar is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Henry is one of Igor's 4 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
"Exactly 3 of Gus' 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Henry" — Betty (B1)
A4 · Nicole → INNOCENT, A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Gus (B2) and Henry (C2) share exactly four common neighbors: B1, C1, B3, and C3; among these, B1 and B3 are already known to be innocent. Betty’s clue says Gus has exactly 6 innocent neighbors and exactly 3 of those also neighbor Henry, so among the four common neighbors exactly three are innocent—therefore exactly one of C1 or C3 is innocent and the other is criminal. Counting Gus’s neighbors then gives four fixed innocents (B1, B3, Henry at C2, and one of C1/C3), so to reach six, exactly two of A1, A2, and A3 must be innocent. Kumar’s clue says column A has exactly four innocents; with A1–A3 contributing exactly two, the remaining two must be A4 and A5. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Nicole is INNOCENT and A5 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 3 of Gus' 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Henry" — Betty (B1)
"There are exactly 4 innocents in column A" — Kumar (B3)
A1 · Alice → INNOCENT
Because: Relevant spots are column A (A1–A5) and Kumar at B3, whose edge neighbors are A2, A3, and A4; we already know A4 and A5 are innocent. Kumar says column A has exactly 4 innocents, and Uma says exactly 2 of the edge innocents are Kumar’s neighbors. Since the only edge neighbors of Kumar are A2, A3, and A4, and A4 is already innocent, exactly one of A2 or A3 can be innocent. Column A needs 4 innocents total; with A4 and A5 already innocent, two of A1, A2, and A3 must be innocent, but only one of A2/A3 can be, so A1 must be the other. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Alice is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 4 innocents in column A" — Kumar (B3)
"Exactly 2 of the 10 innocents on the edges are Kumar's neighbors" — Uma (A5)
D4 · Sam → INNOCENT
Because: The clue explicitly says Sam is one of Raul’s six innocent neighbors, which directly makes Sam an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D4 · Sam is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Sam is one of Raul's 6 innocent neighbors" — Alice (A1)
B4 · Pam → INNOCENT, C3 · Lucy → INNOCENT
Because: Raul sits at C4 with eight neighbors: B3, C3, D3, B4, D4, B5, C5, and D5. Alice’s clue says Sam is one of Raul’s six innocent neighbors, so exactly two of Raul’s neighbors are criminals; among these eight we already know B3 (Kumar), D3 (Megan), and D4 (Sam) are innocent. Nicole’s clue says row 5 has exactly two criminals; among Raul’s neighbors, the row‑5 trio B5 (Wanda), C5 (Xena), and D5 (Zoe) therefore contain exactly those two criminals. That uses up both criminal spots among Raul’s neighbors, so the remaining unknown neighbors C3 (Lucy) and B4 (Pam) must both be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Pam is INNOCENT and C3 Lucy is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals" — Nicole (A4)
"Sam is one of Raul's 6 innocent neighbors" — Alice (A1)
C1 · Chase → CRIMINAL
Because: Relevant people: Igor at D2 and his neighbors C1 (Chase), D1 (Daniel), C2 (Henry), C3 (Lucy), and D3 (Megan). The clue says Igor has exactly 4 innocent neighbors and Henry is one of them. Among these five neighbors, Daniel, Henry, Lucy, and Megan are already known to be innocent—this makes four. That leaves Chase as the only neighbor who cannot also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Chase is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Henry is one of Igor's 4 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
D2 · Igor → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar (B3) has three edge neighbors: A2, A3, and A4. Uma’s clue says exactly 2 of the 10 edge innocents are Kumar’s neighbors; since A4 is already innocent, exactly one of A2 or A3 is also innocent (the other is criminal). On the edges we already know A1, B1, D1, A4, D3, D4, and A5 are innocent; adding exactly one of A2/A3 makes 8 edge innocents, so we still need exactly 2 more among D2, B5, C5, and D5. Nicole’s clue says row 5 has exactly 2 criminals; with A5 innocent, exactly one of B5, C5, and D5 is innocent. To reach the needed two more edge innocents, D2 must be the second one. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Igor is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals" — Nicole (A4)
"Exactly 2 of the 10 innocents on the edges are Kumar's neighbors" — Uma (A5)
C4 · Raul → INNOCENT
Because: Row 4 already has Nicole, Pam, and Sam confirmed innocent, so only Raul could make row 4 have any criminals. Nicole says row 5 is the only row with exactly two criminals, so row 2 cannot have two and thus has at most one. Lucy says row 2 has more criminals than row 4, which can only happen if row 4 has zero criminals (since row 2 cannot reach two). That forces Raul to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Raul is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals" — Nicole (A4)
"There are more criminals in row 2 than row 4" — Lucy (C3)
B5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 5 is the only row with exactly two criminals, and Uma (A5) is already innocent, so exactly one of Wanda (B5), Xena (C5), and Zoe (D5) must be innocent. Raul’s clue says the number of innocent coders must equal the number of innocent guards. Comparing the professions of Wanda, Xena, and Zoe against the innocents already placed outside Row 5, the only way to keep those two counts equal is for the lone innocent in Row 5 to be one of Xena or Zoe; if Wanda were the lone innocent, the innocent coder/guard totals would no longer match. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Wanda is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals" — Nicole (A4)
"There are as many innocent coders as there are innocent guards" — Raul (C4)
B2 · Gus → INNOCENT
Because: Around Gus (B2) the neighbors are A1, B1, C1, A2, C2 (Henry), A3, B3, and C3; of these, A1, B1, C2, B3, and C3 are already innocent, and C1 is criminal. Betty’s clue says Gus has exactly 6 innocent neighbors, so with one criminal already at C1, exactly one of the two unknown neighbors A2 or A3 must be criminal. Wanda’s row-3 clue applied to Kumar (B3) means B3 cannot have more than one criminal neighbor; since B3’s only possible criminal neighbors are A2, A3, and Gus, at most one of those three can be criminal. Combining these, because exactly one of A2 or A3 is criminal, Gus cannot also be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Gus is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 3 of Gus' 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Henry" — Betty (B1)
"No one in row 3 has more than one criminal neighbor" — Wanda (B5)
A2 · Floyd → CRIMINAL
Because: We’re comparing rows 2 and 4. Row 4 is fully known and all four (Nicole, Pam, Raul, Sam) are innocent, so row 4 has 0 criminals. In row 2, Gus, Henry, and Igor are confirmed innocent, leaving only Floyd undecided. Lucy’s clue says row 2 must have more criminals than row 4, so row 2 must have at least 1 criminal; the only way to achieve that is for Floyd to be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Floyd is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are more criminals in row 2 than row 4" — Lucy (C3)
A3 · Jerry → INNOCENT
Because: Gus (B2) has eight neighbors: A1 Alice, B1 Betty, C1 Chase, A2 Floyd, C2 Henry, A3 Jerry, B3 Kumar, and C3 Lucy; Jerry is the only one among them with unknown status. The clue states Gus has exactly six innocent neighbors (and among those six, exactly three also neighbor Henry). We already know five of these neighbors are innocent—Alice, Betty, Henry, Kumar, and Lucy—and two are criminals—Chase and Floyd—so the sixth innocent must be Jerry. Therefore, we can determine that A3 · Jerry is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 3 of Gus' 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Henry" — Betty (B1)
D5 · Zoe → CRIMINAL
Because: We look column by column. Columns A, B, and C already contain a criminal (Floyd at A2, Wanda at B5, and Chase at C1), so they satisfy the clue. In column D, Daniel, Igor, Megan, and Sam (D1–D4) are all confirmed innocent, leaving only Zoe (D5) as the sole possible criminal to meet “each column has at least one criminal.” Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zoe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Each column has at least one criminal" — Gus (B2)
C5 · Xena → INNOCENT
Because: Row 5 contains Uma (innocent), Wanda (criminal), Xena (unknown), and Zoe (criminal). The clue says Row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals. Since Wanda and Zoe already make two criminals in that row, Xena cannot also be a criminal without exceeding two. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Xena is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals" — Nicole (A4)