Clues by Sam Feb 02, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Easy·Solved
A1
👨🌾
Austin
farmer
B1
🕵️♀️
Betty
sleuth
C1
👩🌾
Claire
farmer
D1
👩✈️
Dana
pilot
A2
👨🌾
Eric
farmer
B2
🕵️♂️
Floyd
sleuth
C2
👨✈️
Gary
pilot
D2
👨✈️
Ivan
pilot
A3
🕵️♀️
Joy
sleuth
B3
👨🎨
Kumar
painter
C3
👩⚕️
Lisa
doctor
D3
💂♂️
Martin
guard
A4
👨🔧
Ollie
mech
B4
👨🎨
Rob
painter
C4
👩⚕️
Susan
doctor
D4
💂♀️
Tina
guard
A5
👩🔧
Uma
mech
B5
💂♀️
Vera
guard
C5
👨🔧
Will
mech
D5
👩🎨
Zoe
painter
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 13Criminal 7Unknown 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 · 13
[ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ D1 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ B5 ]
Criminal · 7
[ A1 ] [ A2 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ 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 · Austin
"Only one row has exactly one criminal"
B1 · Betty
"Exactly 2 innocents in column C are neighboring Kumar"
C1 · Claire
"Will has exactly 4 innocent neighbors"
D1 · Dana
"There is only one innocent to the right of Eric"
A2 · Eric
"What if the clues were like "I have a hunch Floyd is a criminal"?"
B2 · Floyd
"If Dana says so, then I must be a criminal."
C2 · Gary
"It's hard to argue with logic."
D2 · Ivan
"Dana is one of Claire's 3 innocent neighbors"
A3 · Joy
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 3 and 4"
B3 · Kumar
"Even the criminals believe in logic"
C3 · Lisa
"Martin is one of 4 innocents in column D"
D3 · Martin
"Both innocents below Claire are connected"
A4 · Ollie
"But is it logical to put all trust in logic?"
B4 · Rob
"Both innocents below Austin are connected"
C4 · Susan
"I'm glad no one is arrested on a whim"
D4 · Tina
"What if someone just feels like a criminal, without logical evidence?"
A5 · Uma
"How about some nice paradoxes some day to spice things up?"
B5 · Vera
"If only real life was as logical"
C5 · Will
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 criminals"
D5 · Zoe
"Maybe one day the clues are just hunches."
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)
D1 · Dana → INNOCENT
Because: Ivan’s clue says that Dana is one of Claire’s 3 innocent neighbors, which directly labels Dana as innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Dana is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Dana is one of Claire's 3 innocent neighbors" — Ivan (D2)
B2 · Floyd → CRIMINAL, C2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
Because: Eric is at A2, so the people to the right of Eric in the same row are Floyd at B2, Gary at C2, and Ivan at D2. Dana’s clue says there is only one innocent among those three people. Since Ivan at D2 is already known to be innocent, Floyd and Gary cannot also be innocent or the clue would be broken. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Floyd is CRIMINAL and C2 Gary is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There is only one innocent to the right of Eric" — Dana (D1)
B1 · Betty → INNOCENT
Because: Claire is at C1, so her neighbors are Betty at B1, Floyd at B2, Gary at C2, Dana at D1, and Ivan at D2. Ivan’s clue says that Claire has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and Dana is one of those innocents. We already know Dana is innocent and Ivan is also innocent, while Floyd and Gary are criminals, so the only remaining neighbor who can be the third innocent is Betty. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Betty is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Dana is one of Claire's 3 innocent neighbors" — Ivan (D2)
C3 · Lisa → INNOCENT, C4 · Susan → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar is at B3, so his neighbors include the three people in column C that touch him: Gary at C2 (diagonal up-right), Lisa at C3 (directly right), and Susan at C4 (diagonal down-right). Betty’s clue says that exactly 2 innocents in column C are neighboring Kumar, so among those three column-C neighbors, exactly two must be innocent. Since Gary at C2 is already known to be a criminal, the only way to still have exactly two innocent column-C neighbors of Kumar is for Lisa at C3 and Susan at C4 to be the two innocents. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Lisa is INNOCENT and C4 Susan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 innocents in column C are neighboring Kumar" — Betty (B1)
D3 · Martin → INNOCENT
Because: Lisa’s clue says that Martin is one of the 4 innocents in column D, which directly includes Martin among the innocents. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Martin is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Martin is one of 4 innocents in column D" — Lisa (C3)
C5 · Will → CRIMINAL
Because: Claire is at C1, so the people below her in column C are Gary at C2, Lisa at C3, Susan at C4, and Will at C5. Martin’s clue says “Both innocents below Claire are connected,” which means there are exactly two innocents somewhere below Claire. We already know Lisa (C3) and Susan (C4) are innocents, and they are connected because they are directly adjacent in the same column, so they must be the two innocents the clue refers to. That leaves no room for Will (C5) to also be innocent, so Will must be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Will is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both innocents below Claire are connected" — Martin (D3)
C1 · Claire → INNOCENT
Because: In column C, we already know that Gary at C2 and Will at C5 are criminals, while Lisa at C3 and Susan at C4 are innocent, leaving only Claire at C1 unknown. Will’s clue says that column C is the only column with exactly 2 criminals, so column C must have exactly 2 criminals in total. Since those two criminals are already Gary and Will, Claire cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Claire is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 criminals" — Will (C5)
B4 · Rob → INNOCENT, B5 · Vera → INNOCENT
Because: Will is at C5, and his five neighbors are Rob at B4, Susan at C4, Tina at D4, Vera at B5, and Zoe at D5. Claire’s clue says Will has exactly 4 innocent neighbors, so exactly one of those five neighbors is a criminal. Lisa’s clue says there are exactly 4 innocents in column D; since Dana at D1, Ivan at D2, and Martin at D3 are already innocent, exactly one of Tina at D4 and Zoe at D5 must be a criminal. That guarantees Will already has a criminal neighbor among Tina and Zoe, so Rob and Vera cannot be the criminal neighbor and must both be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Rob is INNOCENT and B5 Vera is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Martin is one of 4 innocents in column D" — Lisa (C3)
"Will has exactly 4 innocent neighbors" — Claire (C1)
B3 · Kumar → INNOCENT
Because: The clue says that column C is the only column that has exactly 2 criminals. In column C we already have Gary at C2 and Will at C5 as criminals, while Claire, Lisa, and Susan are innocents, so column C does have exactly 2 criminals. In column B, the only criminal currently is Floyd at B2, and Betty, Rob, and Vera are already innocents, so Kumar at B3 is the only person who could make column B reach exactly 2 criminals. Since no other column is allowed to have exactly 2 criminals, Kumar cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B3 Kumar is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 criminals" — Will (C5)
A1 · Austin → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at column A: Austin is at A1, and the people below him are Eric (A2), Joy (A3), Ollie (A4), and Uma (A5). Rob’s clue says “Both innocents below Austin are connected,” which means exactly two of those four people are innocents, so the other two below Austin must be criminals. If Austin were innocent, then column A would contain exactly those two criminals and no others, so column A would have exactly 2 criminals. Will’s clue says column C is the only column with exactly 2 criminals, so column A cannot have exactly 2 criminals, which forces Austin not to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Austin is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 criminals" — Will (C5)
"Both innocents below Austin are connected" — Rob (B4)
A3 · Joy → INNOCENT
Because: Row 1 already has exactly one criminal, because Austin is a criminal and Betty, Claire, and Dana are all confirmed innocents. Austin’s clue says that only one row on the whole board has exactly one criminal, so no other row is allowed to end up with exactly one criminal. In row 3, Kumar, Lisa, and Martin are all confirmed innocents, so if Joy were a criminal then row 3 would have exactly one criminal, which is not allowed. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Joy is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only one row has exactly one criminal" — Austin (A1)
A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue talks about the people below Austin in column A, which are Eric at A2, Joy at A3, Ollie at A4, and Uma at A5. It says there are exactly two innocents among those four, and that those two innocents are connected using only up-down-left-right adjacency. Joy at A3 is already known to be innocent, so she must be one of those two innocents. For there to be only two innocents total and for them to be connected, the other innocent has to be directly above or directly below Joy, meaning it must be Eric at A2 or Ollie at A4. If Uma at A5 were the other innocent instead, she would not be connected to Joy unless Ollie at A4 were also innocent, which would create three innocents below Austin and break the clue. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both innocents below Austin are connected" — Rob (B4)
A4 · Ollie → INNOCENT, D4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Because: Row 3 has Joy, Kumar, Lisa, and Martin, and all four of them are already known to be innocent, so row 3 contains 4 innocents. Joy’s clue says rows 3 and 4 have an equal number of innocents, so row 4 must also contain 4 innocents. In row 4, Rob and Susan are already innocent, so the only way for row 4 to reach 4 innocents is for Ollie at A4 and Tina at D4 to also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Ollie is INNOCENT and D4 Tina is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 3 and 4" — Joy (A3)
D5 · Zoe → CRIMINAL
Because: In column D we have Dana at D1, Ivan at D2, Martin at D3, Tina at D4, and Zoe at D5. Lisa’s clue says that Martin is one of exactly four innocents in column D, meaning there are four innocents total in that column. Since Dana, Ivan, Martin, and Tina are already all confirmed innocents, those four slots fill the clue’s total and leave no room for Zoe to also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zoe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Martin is one of 4 innocents in column D" — Lisa (C3)
A2 · Eric → CRIMINAL
Because: Will’s clue says that column C is the only column that has exactly 2 criminals. In column C, we can already see exactly 2 criminals (Gary at C2 and Will at C5), with everyone else in that column innocent, so the clue’s “exactly 2” condition is satisfied there. That means no other column is allowed to end up with exactly 2 criminals. In column A, we already have two known criminals (Austin at A1 and Uma at A5), so if Eric at A2 were innocent then column A would also have exactly 2 criminals, which is not allowed; Eric must be the third criminal in column A. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Eric is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 criminals" — Will (C5)