Clues by Sam Feb 09, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Easy·Solved
A1
👩🏫
Amy
teacher
B1
👮♂️
Chase
cop
C1
👨🏫
David
teacher
D1
👨🔧
Gabe
mech
A2
👷♀️
Hazel
builder
B2
👮♂️
Ivan
cop
C2
👩🔧
Joyce
mech
D2
👨🔧
Kumar
mech
A3
👷♀️
Linda
builder
B3
👩🌾
Mary
farmer
C3
👨🎤
Noah
singer
D3
👨🌾
Ollie
farmer
A4
👨💼
Paul
clerk
B4
👮♀️
Ruth
cop
C4
👩🎤
Susan
singer
D4
👩🌾
Tina
farmer
A5
👩💼
Uma
clerk
B5
👩🏫
Vera
teacher
C5
👨🎤
Will
singer
D5
👨💼
Xavi
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 14Criminal 6Unknown 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 · 14
[ A1 ] [ A2 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ C5 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 6
[ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ D1 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ B5 ]
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 is only one innocent in row 1"
B1 · Chase
"What if we try to catch innocents one day instead?"
C1 · David
"Both innocents above Will are connected"
D1 · Gabe
"There are at least 10 innocents on the edges"
A2 · Hazel
"Only one person in column B has exactly 3 innocent neighbors"
B2 · Ivan
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Uma"
C2 · Joyce
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents in row 4 is Vera's neighbor"
D2 · Kumar
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in row 5 are Susan's neighbors"
A3 · Linda
"I almost feel bad for the criminals."
B3 · Mary
"Can the criminals ever win?"
C3 · Noah
"There are exactly 2 innocents to the right of Ivan"
D3 · Ollie
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 3"
A4 · Paul
"Maybe we're all winners? We did this together!"
B4 · Ruth
"I don't feel like a winner..."
C4 · Susan
"I guess it's game over for me."
D4 · Tina
"Exactly 2 innocents in column C are neighboring me"
A5 · Uma
"Exactly 2 innocents to the left of Kumar are neighboring David"
B5 · Vera
"You win, I lose."
C5 · Will
"Joyce is one of 2 innocents above me"
D5 · Xavi
"There are more innocents in row 3 than row 5"
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)
C2 · Joyce → INNOCENT
Because: Will’s clue explicitly says that “Joyce is one of 2 innocents above me,” which directly states that Joyce is an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Joyce is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Joyce is one of 2 innocents above me" — Will (C5)
D4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Because: Vera is at B5, so her neighbors in row 4 are only A4 Paul, B4 Ruth, and C4 Susan; D4 Tina is not Vera’s neighbor. Joyce’s clue says there are exactly two innocents in row 4, and exactly one of those two innocents is Vera’s neighbor. Since Tina is the only person in row 4 who is not Vera’s neighbor, the “other” innocent in row 4 must be Tina. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tina is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents in row 4 is Vera's neighbor" — Joyce (C2)
C1 · David → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at column C above Will at C5: the people there are David at C1, Joyce at C2, Noah at C3, and Susan at C4. Will’s clue says there are exactly two innocents among those four, and Joyce is one of them, so among David, Noah, and Susan there is exactly one innocent and the other two are criminals. Tina at D4 says exactly two people in column C who neighbor her are innocent; the column C neighbors of D4 are Noah at C3, Susan at C4, and Will at C5, and since Will is already innocent, exactly one of Noah and Susan is innocent. That uses up the single innocent allowed among David, Noah, and Susan, so David cannot be that innocent and must be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C1 David is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Joyce is one of 2 innocents above me" — Will (C5)
"Exactly 2 innocents in column C are neighboring me" — Tina (D4)
C3 · Noah → INNOCENT, C4 · Susan → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue talks about the people above Will, meaning the four spots in column C above C5: C1 David, C2 Joyce, C3 Noah, and C4 Susan. It says there are exactly two innocents among those four, and those two innocents must be connected by orthogonal adjacency. Joyce at C2 is already known to be innocent, and David at C1 is already known to be criminal, so the second innocent must be either Noah at C3 or Susan at C4. If Susan at C4 were the second innocent, then the two innocents would be C2 and C4, but they would not be connected unless C3 were also innocent, which would create more than two innocents above Will; so the second innocent must be Noah at C3, and Susan at C4 must be criminal to keep the total at exactly two. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Noah is INNOCENT and C4 Susan is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both innocents above Will are connected" — David (C1)
D2 · Kumar → INNOCENT
Because: Ivan is at B2, so the people to the right of Ivan in the same row are C2 Joyce and D2 Kumar. Noah’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents to the right of Ivan, which means both of those right-side positions must be innocent. Since Joyce at C2 is already known to be INNOCENT, the other right-side person, Kumar at D2, must also be INNOCENT to make the total exactly two. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Kumar is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents to the right of Ivan" — Noah (C3)
A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Row 5 has four people: Uma at A5, Vera at B5, Will at C5, and Xavi at D5, and Susan is at C4. Susan’s row-5 neighbors are only the three squares directly above row 5 in her neighborhood: B5, C5, and D5; A5 is the only position in row 5 that is not Susan’s neighbor. Kumar’s clue says there are exactly three innocents in row 5, and exactly two of those three are Susan’s neighbors, so the remaining innocent in row 5 must be the one person who is not Susan’s neighbor, which is Uma at A5. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in row 5 are Susan's neighbors" — Kumar (D2)
B2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar is at D2, so the people to the left of Kumar are A2 Hazel, B2 Ivan, and C2 Joyce. David is at C1, and among those three, only Ivan at B2 and Joyce at C2 are neighbors of David (Hazel at A2 is too far away to be a neighbor, even diagonally). Uma’s clue says that exactly two innocents to the left of Kumar are neighboring David, so both of the only possible candidates, Ivan and Joyce, must be innocent. Since Joyce is already confirmed innocent, this forces Ivan to be innocent as well. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Ivan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 innocents to the left of Kumar are neighboring David" — Uma (A5)
B5 · Vera → CRIMINAL
Because: Vera at B5 is adjacent to Paul at A4 and Ruth at B4, and those two are the only row 4 positions that can affect Uma at A5 besides Vera. Joyce’s clue says there are exactly two innocents in row 4, and we already know Tina at D4 is innocent while Susan at C4 is criminal, so exactly one of Paul or Ruth is the second innocent in row 4. That means Uma’s two row 4 neighbors (Paul and Ruth) include exactly one innocent. Ivan’s clue says Uma has an odd number of innocent neighbors, and Uma’s only neighbors are Paul, Ruth, and Vera, so with exactly one innocent already coming from Paul/Ruth, Vera cannot be innocent or the total would become 2, which is even. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Vera is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents in row 4 is Vera's neighbor" — Joyce (C2)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Uma" — Ivan (B2)
D5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Because: Row 5 has Uma at A5, Vera at B5, Will at C5, and Xavi at D5, and the clue says there are exactly 3 innocents in that row. Since Uma and Will are already known innocents, the only way to reach a total of 3 innocents in row 5 is for Xavi to be the third innocent. This also matches the rest of the clue, because Susan at C4 is a neighbor of C5 and D5 but not of A5, so the two neighbor-innocents can be Will and Xavi. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Xavi is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in row 5 are Susan's neighbors" — Kumar (D2)
A3 · Linda → INNOCENT, B3 · Mary → INNOCENT, D3 · Ollie → INNOCENT
Because: Row 5 already has three innocents: Uma at A5, Will at C5, and Xavi at D5, with Vera at B5 being criminal. Xavi’s clue says there are more innocents in row 3 than in row 5, so row 3 must have at least four innocents. Since a row only has four people and Noah at C3 is already innocent, the remaining three people in row 3 (Linda at A3, Mary at B3, and Ollie at D3) must also be innocent to reach four. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Linda is INNOCENT, B3 Mary is INNOCENT, and D3 Ollie is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are more innocents in row 3 than row 5" — Xavi (D5)
A2 · Hazel → INNOCENT
Because: Row 3 contains Linda at A3, Mary at B3, Noah at C3, and Ollie at D3, and all four of them are already known to be innocent, so row 3 has 4 innocents. Ollie’s clue says rows 2 and 3 have an equal number of innocents, so row 2 must also have 4 innocents. Since row 2 consists of Hazel at A2, Ivan at B2, Joyce at C2, and Kumar at D2, that forces Hazel to be innocent as well. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Hazel is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 3" — Ollie (D3)
A1 · Amy → INNOCENT
Because: Vera is at B5, and her neighbors are A4, B4, C4, A5, and C5. Joyce’s clue says there are exactly two innocents in row 4, and only one of those two is Vera’s neighbor; since Susan at C4 is already a criminal and Tina at D4 is already an innocent, this forces exactly one of A4 or B4 to be an innocent. That means Vera has exactly three innocent neighbors in total: A5 and C5 are innocents, and exactly one of A4 or B4 is an innocent. Hazel’s clue says only one person in column B has exactly three innocent neighbors, so Vera at B5 must be the only one in column B with that count. Chase at B1 would have exactly three innocent neighbors only if Amy at A1 were not an innocent, because B1 already has three known innocent neighbors (A2, B2, and C2) and its other relevant neighbor A1 is the only one that can change that count. Since B1 is not allowed to also have exactly three innocent neighbors, Amy at A1 must be an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Amy is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents in row 4 is Vera's neighbor" — Joyce (C2)
"Only one person in column B has exactly 3 innocent neighbors" — Hazel (A2)
B1 · Chase → CRIMINAL, D1 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 1 contains Amy at A1, Chase at B1, David at C1, and Gabe at D1. Amy’s clue says there is only one innocent in row 1, and we already know Amy herself is innocent. That means the other three people in row 1 cannot be innocent, so Chase at B1 and Gabe at D1 must be criminals (and David at C1 already fits as criminal). Therefore, we can determine that B1 Chase is CRIMINAL and D1 Gabe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There is only one innocent in row 1" — Amy (A1)
A4 · Paul → INNOCENT
Because: The edge positions are the entire outside ring of the board, which includes A1–D1, A5–D5, A2–A4, and D2–D4. On those edges, we already have exactly nine confirmed innocents: A1, A2, A3, D2, D3, D4, A5, C5, and D5, and every other edge position besides A4 is already confirmed criminal or innocent. Gabe’s clue says there are at least 10 innocents on the edges, so the only remaining edge person who can raise the edge-innocent total from 9 to at least 10 is Paul at A4. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Paul is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are at least 10 innocents on the edges" — Gabe (D1)
B4 · Ruth → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 4 currently has Paul at A4 marked INNOCENT and Tina at D4 marked INNOCENT, while Ruth at B4 is the only unknown in that row. Joyce’s clue says “Only 1 of the 2 innocents in row 4 is Vera’s neighbor,” which fixes that there are exactly two innocents in row 4 total. Since Paul and Tina are already the two innocents, Ruth cannot also be an innocent, so her status must be CRIMINAL. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Ruth is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents in row 4 is Vera's neighbor" — Joyce (C2)