Clues by Sam Jan 27, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Medium·Solved
A1
👩🎨
Anna
painter
B1
👨💻
Ben
coder
C1
👩🏫
Diane
teacher
D1
👩💻
Emma
coder
A2
👩💼
Freya
clerk
B2
👨⚕️
Gary
doctor
C2
👨🏫
Hal
teacher
D2
👨⚖️
Isaac
judge
A3
👨⚕️
Jose
doctor
B3
👨🎨
Kumar
painter
C3
💂♂️
Logan
guard
D3
👩⚖️
Maria
judge
A4
🤡
Rob
clown
B4
👨🎨
Salil
painter
C4
👨🎨
Thor
painter
D4
🤡
Uma
clown
A5
👨💼
Vince
clerk
B5
👩⚕️
Wanda
doctor
C5
💂♀️
Xena
guard
D5
👩💼
Zoe
clerk
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 10Criminal 10Unknown 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 · 10
[ D1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ A3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ B5 ]
Criminal · 10
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ A2 ] [ D2 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ A5 ] [ C5 ] [ 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 · Anna
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and C"
B1 · Ben
"I hate stealing from clowns. They always turn it into a joke."
C1 · Diane
"Who let the clowns in?"
D1 · Emma
"Is no one taking Rob seriously? Shouldn't we help?"
A2 · Freya
"There are more innocents in column B than column C"
B2 · Gary
"Both criminals above Vince are connected"
C2 · Hal
"There are more innocents in row 2 than row 5"
D2 · Isaac
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Diane"
A3 · Jose
"There's an odd number of criminals in between Diane and Xena"
B3 · Kumar
"It's hard to take a clown seriously."
C3 · Logan
"I'm still not sure, did someone actually rob Rob?"
D3 · Maria
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya"
A4 · Rob
"Hey! Someone robbed me!"
B4 · Salil
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Isaac is Maria's neighbor"
C4 · Thor
"Uma is one of Maria's 3 innocent neighbors"
D4 · Uma
"Ha ha... Is that how you became Rob? He, he, he... HA HA!"
A5 · Vince
"Gary has exactly 6 criminal neighbors"
B5 · Wanda
"Exactly 1 of us 3 doctors has an innocent directly to the right of them"
C5 · Xena
"An odd number of innocents in column C neighbor Isaac"
D5 · Zoe
"I did actually rob him! Oh, no, that was supposed to be a secret."
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 (15 steps)
A3 · Jose → INNOCENT, B2 · Gary → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar is at B3, and Freya is at A2. The only people who are neighbors of both Kumar and Freya are Gary at B2 and Jose at A3, because those are the only squares that touch both A2 and B3. Maria’s clue says that exactly 2 of Kumar’s 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya, so the count of Kumar’s innocent neighbors that also touch Freya must be exactly 2. Since Gary and Jose are the only possible people who could make up that “also neighbor Freya” group, both Gary and Jose must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Jose is INNOCENT and B2 Gary is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
A2 · Freya → CRIMINAL, A1 · Anna → CRIMINAL, A4 · Rob → INNOCENT
Because: The people above Vince in column A are Anna at A1, Freya at A2, Jose at A3, and Rob at A4. Gary’s clue says there are exactly two criminals among those four, and those two criminals are connected by up-down adjacency. Since Jose at A3 is already known to be innocent, he breaks the column into two separated parts, so a criminal at A4 could not be connected to any criminal at A1 or A2. The only way to have two connected criminals above Vince is for the pair to be Anna at A1 and Freya at A2, which also forces Rob at A4 to be innocent because the clue says there are only two criminals there in total. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Freya is CRIMINAL, A1 Anna is CRIMINAL, and A4 Rob is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Both criminals above Vince are connected" — Gary (B2)
B4 · Salil → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar’s neighbors are Freya, Gary, Hal, Jose, Logan, Rob, Salil, and Thor. Maria’s clue says Kumar has exactly 6 innocent neighbors, so among these eight neighbors exactly two are criminals; since Freya is already a criminal, exactly one more of the remaining seven neighbors is a criminal, meaning Hal, Logan, Thor, and Salil contain exactly one criminal in total because Gary, Jose, and Rob are already innocent. Jose’s clue looks at the people between Diane (C1) and Xena (C5), which are Hal (C2), Logan (C3), and Thor (C4), and says an odd number of them are criminals, so at least one of Hal, Logan, and Thor is a criminal. Since there is exactly one criminal across Hal, Logan, Thor, and Salil altogether, that one criminal must be among Hal, Logan, and Thor, which forces Salil to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Salil is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"There's an odd number of criminals in between Diane and Xena" — Jose (A3)
C4 · Thor → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar is at B3, and his eight neighbors are Freya, Gary, Hal, Jose, Logan, Rob, Salil, and Thor. Maria’s clue says Kumar has exactly 6 innocent neighbors; since Freya is already a criminal, that forces exactly two of Hal, Logan, and Thor to be innocent. Salil’s clue about Isaac at D2 says Isaac has exactly three innocent neighbors, and among those innocents only one is also a neighbor of Maria; the only neighbors of Isaac who are also neighbors of Maria are Hal at C2 and Logan at C3, so exactly one of Hal and Logan is innocent. Since only one of Hal/Logan can be innocent but we still need two innocents among Hal, Logan, and Thor, Thor must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C4 (Thor) is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Isaac is Maria's neighbor" — Salil (B4)
D4 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Thor’s clue explicitly says that Uma is one of Maria’s three innocent neighbors, which directly identifies Uma as innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Uma is one of Maria's 3 innocent neighbors" — Thor (C4)
D2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Because: Around Kumar at B3, the only neighbors whose statuses are not already known are Hal at C2 and Logan at C3. Maria’s clue about “Kumar’s 6 innocent neighbors” means Kumar has exactly two criminal neighbors, and since Freya at A2 is already one criminal neighbor, exactly one of Hal and Logan must be criminal while the other is innocent. Around Maria at D3, her neighbors are Hal, Isaac, Logan, Thor, and Uma, and Thor and Uma are already innocent; Thor’s clue says Maria has exactly three innocent neighbors, so among Hal, Isaac, and Logan there is exactly one innocent person. Since Hal and Logan already contain exactly one innocent between them, Isaac cannot be that innocent and must be one of the two criminals in Maria’s neighborhood. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Isaac is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"Uma is one of Maria's 3 innocent neighbors" — Thor (C4)
C5 · Xena → CRIMINAL
Because: Kumar is at B3, and his neighbors are Freya (A2), Jose (A3), Rob (A4), Gary (B2), Salil (B4), Hal (C2), Logan (C3), and Thor (C4). Maria’s clue says Kumar has exactly 6 innocent neighbors, and since Gary, Jose, Rob, Salil, and Thor are already known innocents while Freya is already a known criminal, that forces exactly one of Hal or Logan to be innocent and the other to be criminal. Diane is at C1, and Isaac’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents below Diane, meaning among Hal (C2), Logan (C3), Thor (C4), and Xena (C5) there are exactly two innocents; with Thor already innocent, there can be only one more innocent among Hal, Logan, and Xena. Since Hal and Logan already contain exactly one innocent between them, Xena cannot be innocent and must be the extra criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C5 (Xena) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Diane" — Isaac (D2)
C1 · Diane → CRIMINAL
Because: Kumar is at B3, and his neighbors include Gary at B2 and Thor at C4, who are already innocent, plus the unknowns Hal at C2 and Logan at C3. Maria’s clue says Kumar has exactly 6 innocent neighbors, and since all of Kumar’s other neighbors besides Hal and Logan are already fixed as either innocent (Gary, Jose, Rob, Salil, Thor) or criminal (Freya), this forces exactly one of Hal and Logan to be innocent. Xena’s clue says the number of innocents in column C who neighbor Isaac at D2 is odd, and the only column C people who neighbor Isaac are Diane at C1, Hal at C2, and Logan at C3. Since exactly one of Hal and Logan is innocent, Diane cannot be innocent (that would make two innocents total), so Diane must be criminal to keep the count odd. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Diane is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"An odd number of innocents in column C neighbor Isaac" — Xena (C5)
D1 · Emma → INNOCENT
Because: Isaac is at D2, and his neighbors are Diane at C1, Emma at D1, Hal at C2, Logan at C3, and Maria at D3. Salil’s clue says there are exactly three innocents among those neighbors, and among those three innocents, exactly one is also a neighbor of Maria. The only people who are neighbors of both Isaac and Maria are Hal (C2) and Logan (C3), since Emma (D1) is not adjacent to Maria, so the clue forces exactly one of Hal and Logan to be innocent. Because Maria is already one innocent neighbor of Isaac, and Isaac must have three innocent neighbors total, two of the three spots Emma, Hal, and Logan must be innocent; with only one of Hal and Logan allowed to be innocent, Emma must be the other innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Emma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Isaac is Maria's neighbor" — Salil (B4)
A5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Because: Kumar is at B3, and his eight neighbors are Freya (A2), Gary (B2), Hal (C2), Jose (A3), Logan (C3), Rob (A4), Salil (B4), and Thor (C4). Maria’s clue says Kumar has exactly 6 innocent neighbors, and since Freya is already a criminal, exactly one of the other seven neighbors must be a criminal; with Gary, Jose, Rob, Salil, and Thor already known innocent, that forces exactly one of Hal and Logan to be innocent and the other to be criminal. That means column C has exactly two innocents in total: Thor, plus exactly one of Hal or Logan. Anna’s clue says columns A and C have an equal number of innocents, and column A already has exactly two known innocents (Jose and Rob), so A5 cannot be innocent without making column A have three innocents while column C has only two. Therefore, we can determine that A5 (Vince) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and C" — Anna (A1)
B1 · Ben → CRIMINAL, B3 · Kumar → CRIMINAL
Because: Gary is at B2, and his eight neighbors are Anna (A1), Freya (A2), Jose (A3), Ben (B1), Kumar (B3), Diane (C1), Hal (C2), and Logan (C3). Vince’s clue says Gary has exactly 6 criminal neighbors; since Anna, Freya, and Diane are already criminals and Jose is already innocent, that forces exactly 3 of the four unknowns Ben, Kumar, Hal, and Logan to be criminals (so exactly 1 of them is innocent). Kumar is at B3, and his neighbors include five already-known innocents: Jose (A3), Rob (A4), Gary (B2), Salil (B4), and Thor (C4), plus Hal (C2) and Logan (C3) which are still unknown. Maria’s clue says Kumar has exactly 6 innocent neighbors, so exactly one of Hal and Logan must be innocent (the other must be criminal). Since the only way to have exactly one innocent among Ben, Kumar, Hal, and Logan while also having exactly one innocent among Hal and Logan is for that single innocent to be either Hal or Logan, Ben and Kumar cannot be the innocent one and must be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Ben is CRIMINAL and B3 Kumar is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"Gary has exactly 6 criminal neighbors" — Vince (A5)
B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar is at B3, and his neighbors are Freya, Gary, Hal, Jose, Logan, Rob, Salil, and Thor. Maria’s clue says Kumar has exactly 6 innocent neighbors; since Gary, Jose, Rob, Salil, and Thor are already known innocents and Freya is a known criminal, exactly one of the two unknown neighbors Hal or Logan must be innocent. Hal and Logan are both in column C, so column C has exactly two innocents in total: Thor plus whichever of Hal or Logan is innocent. Freya’s clue says column B has more innocents than column C, and column B currently has only two known innocents (Gary and Salil) with Wanda as the only unknown there, so Wanda must be innocent to make column B exceed column C’s two innocents. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Wanda is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
"There are more innocents in column B than column C" — Freya (A2)
C2 · Hal → INNOCENT
Because: The three doctors are Wanda at B5, Gary at B2, and Hal at C2, and Wanda’s clue says that exactly one of these three doctors has an innocent directly to their right. Wanda’s direct right neighbor is Xena at C5, who is a criminal, so Wanda is not counted. Hal’s direct right neighbor is Isaac at D2, who is a criminal, so Hal is not counted either. That leaves only Gary, whose direct right neighbor is Hal, so for the total to be exactly one, Hal must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Hal is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 of us 3 doctors has an innocent directly to the right of them" — Wanda (B5)
C3 · Logan → CRIMINAL
Because: Kumar is at B3, so his eight neighbors are Freya (A2), Gary (B2), Hal (C2), Jose (A3), Logan (C3), Rob (A4), Salil (B4), and Thor (C4). Of these, we already know six are innocent: Gary, Hal, Jose, Rob, Salil, and Thor, and we also know Freya is a criminal. Maria’s clue refers to “Kumar’s 6 innocent neighbors”, so Kumar must have exactly six innocent neighbors, which means the only remaining neighbor, Logan, cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Logan is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Kumar's 6 innocent neighbors also neighbor Freya" — Maria (D3)
D5 · Zoe → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 2 has Gary and Hal as innocents, so row 2 contains exactly 2 innocents. Hal’s clue says row 2 has more innocents than row 5, so row 5 must have fewer than 2 innocents. Row 5 already has Wanda as an innocent, so it cannot have 0 innocents, which means row 5 must have exactly 1 innocent in total; therefore Zoe cannot be an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zoe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are more innocents in row 2 than row 5" — Hal (C2)