Clues by Sam Feb 03, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Easy·Solved
A1
👩💼
Amy
clerk
B1
👨⚕️
Berat
doctor
C1
👷♀️
Cheryl
builder
D1
👨🌾
Donald
farmer
A2
👨✈️
Eli
pilot
B2
👩✈️
Flora
pilot
C2
👷♂️
Gabe
builder
D2
👷♂️
Jason
builder
A3
👩🔧
Katie
mech
B3
👩🎨
Lucy
painter
C3
👩⚕️
Mary
doctor
D3
👩🔧
Nancy
mech
A4
👨⚖️
Oscar
judge
B4
👨🎨
Peter
painter
C4
👨⚖️
Ryan
judge
D4
👩🌾
Tina
farmer
A5
👩💼
Uma
clerk
B5
👨🎨
Vince
painter
C5
👨🔧
Xavi
mech
D5
👩⚕️
Zoe
doctor
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 4Criminal 16Unknown 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 · 4
[ C1 ] [ C2 ] [ A3 ] [ D3 ]
Criminal · 16
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ B2 ] [ D2 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ] [ 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 · Amy
"There are no innocents in row 5 who neighbor Oscar"
B1 · Berat
"Good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"
C1 · Cheryl
"Each column has at least 3 criminals"
D1 · Donald
"All these criminals, lost in time..."
A2 · Eli
"There are exactly 4 criminals in column A"
B2 · Flora
"There are more innocents in row 2 than row 5"
C2 · Gabe
"Only one column has exactly 3 criminals"
D2 · Jason
"I see criminal people. A lot of them, actually."
A3 · Katie
"Ryan and I have no innocent neighbors in common"
B3 · Lucy
"There are exactly 2 criminals below Eli"
C3 · Mary
"Row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents"
D3 · Nancy
"Both criminals above Xavi are connected"
A4 · Oscar
"You talkin' to me?<br />You are? Oh."
B4 · Peter
"How about I make you an offer you can't refuse?"
C4 · Ryan
"Are these quotes or something? I'm sorry, I don't watch movies."
D4 · Tina
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Nancy"
A5 · Uma
"Exactly 1 judge has an innocent directly above them"
B5 · Vince
"There are as many criminal builders as there are criminal mechs"
C5 · Xavi
"There is only one innocent to the right of Eli"
D5 · Zoe
"Ryan has only one innocent neighbor"
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)
B4 · Peter → CRIMINAL, B3 · Lucy → CRIMINAL
Because: Katie is at A3, and Ryan is at C4. The only people who are neighbors of both Katie and Ryan (including diagonals) are B3 Lucy and B4 Peter. Katie’s clue says that she and Ryan have no innocent neighbors in common, so neither of those shared neighbors can be innocent. That forces both Lucy at B3 and Peter at B4 to be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Peter is CRIMINAL and B3 Lucy is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Ryan and I have no innocent neighbors in common" — Katie (A3)
A4 · Oscar → CRIMINAL, A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: Eli is at A2, so the people “below Eli” are the ones in column A under him: A3 Katie, A4 Oscar, and A5 Uma. Lucy’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals among those three people. Since Katie at A3 is already known to be INNOCENT, the only way to have exactly 2 criminals below Eli is for both remaining people there, Oscar at A4 and Uma at A5, to be CRIMINAL. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Oscar is CRIMINAL and A5 Uma is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 criminals below Eli" — Lucy (B3)
C3 · Mary → CRIMINAL
Because: The only judges on the board are Oscar at A4 and Ryan at C4. Uma’s clue says that exactly 1 judge has an innocent directly above them. Oscar already has Katie at A3 directly above him, and Katie is innocent, so Oscar is that one judge. To keep the total at exactly 1, Ryan cannot also have an innocent directly above him, so Mary at C3 cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Mary is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 judge has an innocent directly above them" — Uma (A5)
D3 · Nancy → INNOCENT
Because: Row 3 contains Katie at A3, Lucy at B3, Mary at C3, and Nancy at D3. Mary’s clue says that row 3 is a row with exactly 2 innocents (and no other row has exactly 2 innocents), so row 3 must contain two innocents in total. Since Katie is already INNOCENT and both Lucy and Mary are CRIMINAL, the only way for row 3 to have exactly two innocents is for Nancy to be the second innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Nancy is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents" — Mary (C3)
C1 · Cheryl → INNOCENT
Because: The clue talks about the people above Xavi, so it refers to the four people in column C from C1 to C4. It says there are exactly two criminals among those four, and those two criminals must be connected by up/down adjacency. Since Mary at C3 is already a known criminal, she must be one of the two, and the only way for the other criminal to be connected to her is for it to be at C2 or C4; if Cheryl at C1 were the other criminal, Mary and Cheryl would not be connected unless C2 were also a criminal, which would create more than two criminals above Xavi. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Cheryl is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Both criminals above Xavi are connected" — Nancy (D3)
C5 · Xavi → CRIMINAL
Because: The people above Xavi in column C are Cheryl at C1, Gabe at C2, Mary at C3, and Ryan at C4. Nancy’s clue says “Both criminals above Xavi are connected,” which means there are exactly two criminals among those four, and since Cheryl is already INNOCENT, the only way to have exactly two connected criminals is for Mary at C3 to be one of them and for exactly one of Gabe at C2 or Ryan at C4 to be the other. Cheryl’s clue says each column has at least 3 criminals, so column C must contain at least three criminals total; with only one criminal among C2 and C4 and Cheryl INNOCENT, that third criminal in column C has to be Xavi himself. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Xavi is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both criminals above Xavi are connected" — Nancy (D3)
"Each column has at least 3 criminals" — Cheryl (C1)
A2 · Eli → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 3 already has exactly two innocents (Katie at A3 and Nancy at D3), and Mary’s clue says it is the only row that has exactly two innocents, so every other row must have a different number of innocents than 2. Xavi’s clue says there is exactly one innocent to the right of Eli, meaning that among Flora (B2), Gabe (C2), and Jason (D2), exactly one is innocent. That would make row 2 have exactly two innocents if Eli were innocent, but row 2 is not allowed to have exactly two innocents, so Eli cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Eli is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents" — Mary (C3)
"There is only one innocent to the right of Eli" — Xavi (C5)
A1 · Amy → CRIMINAL
Because: Column A contains Amy at A1, Eli at A2, Katie at A3, Oscar at A4, and Uma at A5. Eli’s clue says there are exactly 4 criminals in column A, and we already know Eli, Oscar, and Uma are criminals while Katie is innocent. That means column A currently has 3 criminals and 1 confirmed innocent, so the only way to reach exactly 4 criminals in the column is for Amy to be the fourth criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Amy is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 4 criminals in column A" — Eli (A2)
B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Because: Oscar is at A4, and the people in row 5 who neighbor him are A5 (Uma) directly below and B5 (Vince) diagonally below-right. Amy’s clue says there are no innocents in row 5 who neighbor Oscar, so any row 5 neighbor of Oscar must be a criminal. Since Vince at B5 is one of those row 5 neighbors of Oscar, Vince cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Vince is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are no innocents in row 5 who neighbor Oscar" — Amy (A1)
B2 · Flora → CRIMINAL
Because: To the right of Eli in row 2 are Flora at B2, Gabe at C2, and Jason at D2, and Xavi’s clue says exactly one of those three is innocent. Vince’s clue says the number of criminal builders equals the number of criminal mechs; since the only mech who is currently a criminal is Xavi, there must be exactly one criminal builder in total. Cheryl is an innocent builder, so among the remaining builders Gabe (C2) and Jason (D2), exactly one is criminal and the other is innocent, meaning the one innocent to the right of Eli is already forced to be either C2 or D2. That leaves Flora at B2 unable to be the one innocent to the right of Eli, so she must be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Flora is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There is only one innocent to the right of Eli" — Xavi (C5)
"There are as many criminal builders as there are criminal mechs" — Vince (B5)
D5 · Zoe → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 5 currently has Uma, Vince, and Xavi all confirmed criminals, so the number of innocents in row 5 is either 0 (if Zoe is a criminal) or 1 (if Zoe is innocent). Mary’s clue says row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents, so row 2 cannot have exactly 2 innocents. Flora’s clue says row 2 has more innocents than row 5; since row 2 can only beat a row-5 total of 1 by having 2 innocents (which is not allowed), row 5 must have 0 innocents. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zoe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents" — Mary (C3)
"There are more innocents in row 2 than row 5" — Flora (B2)
D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Because: Ryan is at C4, so his neighbors are B3, B4, B5, C3, C5, D3, D4, and D5. Among these, only Nancy at D3 is currently known to be innocent; Lucy, Peter, Vince, Mary, Xavi, and Zoe are all criminals. Zoe’s clue says Ryan has only one innocent neighbor in total, so every other neighbor besides Nancy must be a criminal, which forces Tina at D4 to be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tina is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Ryan has only one innocent neighbor" — Zoe (D5)
D2 · Jason → CRIMINAL
Because: Nancy is at D3, and her neighbors are Gabe at C2, Jason at D2, Mary at C3, Ryan at C4, and Tina at D4. Tina’s clue says “There’s an odd number of innocents neighboring Nancy,” and since Mary and Tina are both criminals, the odd number of innocents must come from the remaining three neighbors: Gabe, Jason, and Ryan. Nancy’s other clue says “Both criminals above Xavi are connected,” and since Mary at C3 is already a criminal above Xavi in column C, exactly one of Gabe at C2 and Ryan at C4 must be the second criminal above Xavi, meaning exactly one of Gabe and Ryan is innocent. That gives exactly one innocent among Gabe and Ryan, so to make the total number of innocents among Gabe, Jason, and Ryan odd, Jason cannot be innocent and must be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Jason is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both criminals above Xavi are connected" — Nancy (D3)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Nancy" — Tina (D4)
C2 · Gabe → INNOCENT
Because: Eli is at A2, so the people to the right of Eli are the others in row 2: Flora at B2, Gabe at C2, and Jason at D2. Xavi’s clue says there is only one innocent among those people to the right of Eli. Flora at B2 and Jason at D2 are already known to be criminals, so neither of them can be that one innocent. That forces Gabe at C2 to be the only innocent to the right of Eli. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Gabe is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There is only one innocent to the right of Eli" — Xavi (C5)
C4 · Ryan → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue is about the people above Xavi, who is at C5, so it refers to column C in rows 1 through 4. It says “both criminals above Xavi,” which means there are exactly two criminals among C1 Cheryl, C2 Gabe, C3 Mary, and C4 Ryan. Cheryl and Gabe are already INNOCENT, and Mary is already a CRIMINAL, so the only way to have exactly two criminals in that group is for Ryan at C4 to be the second criminal. With Mary at C3 and Ryan at C4 directly next to each other, those two criminals are also connected as the clue requires. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Ryan is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both criminals above Xavi are connected" — Nancy (D3)
D1 · Donald → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at how many criminals are already fixed in each column. Column C has exactly three criminals (Mary at C3, Ryan at C4, Xavi at C5), because C1 and C2 are both innocent. In column D, we already have Jason at D2, Tina at D4, and Zoe at D5 as criminals, with Nancy at D3 innocent, so the column will have exactly three criminals only if Donald at D1 is innocent. Gabe’s clue says only one column has exactly three criminals, and column C is already that one, so column D cannot also have three, which forces Donald to be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Donald is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only one column has exactly 3 criminals" — Gabe (C2)
B1 · Berat → CRIMINAL
Because: Mary’s clue says that row 3 is the only row that has exactly 2 innocents. In row 3, Katie and Nancy are innocents, so row 3 already satisfies the “exactly 2 innocents” count. In row 1, Cheryl is an innocent while Amy and Donald are criminals, so the only way for row 1 to also have exactly 2 innocents would be for Berat to be innocent, which is not allowed because row 3 must be the only such row. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Berat is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents" — Mary (C3)