Clues by Sam Feb 10, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Medium·Solved
A1
👩⚖️
Betty
judge
B1
👨⚖️
Daniel
judge
C1
👨⚖️
Eric
judge
D1
👮♀️
Flora
cop
A2
👨🌾
Gary
farmer
B2
👨🎨
Ike
painter
C2
👮♀️
Janet
cop
D2
🥷
Kyle
ninja
A3
👩🎨
Lisa
painter
B3
👨🎨
Nick
painter
C3
👩🏫
Olga
teacher
D3
👨🏫
Phil
teacher
A4
👨🔧
Ryan
mech
B4
👩🔧
Sofia
mech
C4
👩🌾
Tina
farmer
D4
👩🏫
Uma
teacher
A5
👩🌾
Vicky
farmer
B5
👨🎤
Will
singer
C5
👨🎤
Xavi
singer
D5
👩🎤
Zara
singer
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 9Criminal 11Unknown 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 · 9
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ B5 ] [ C5 ]
Criminal · 11
[ C1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ 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 · Betty
"Both criminals below Eric are connected"
B1 · Daniel
"There's an equal number of criminals in columns A and B"
C1 · Eric
"There are more innocents in row 1 than row 5"
D1 · Flora
"Janet and Kyle have only one innocent neighbor in common"
A2 · Gary
"Ryan is one of 2 innocents in between Betty and Vicky"
B2 · Ike
"There are no innocents to the left of Olga"
C2 · Janet
"There are 9 innocents in total"
D2 · Kyle
"What would I do with a wrench? Hide behind it?"
A3 · Lisa
"Exactly 1 innocent on the edges is a farmer"
B3 · Nick
"I didn't nick your wrench!"
C3 · Olga
"There are exactly 3 criminals in column C"
D3 · Phil
"Only one person in row 2 has exactly 3 criminal neighbors"
A4 · Ryan
"Hey! Where's my wrench?"
B4 · Sofia
"There are exactly 2 criminals above Will"
C4 · Tina
"Poor Ryan. A mech without a wrench is like a farmer without a... farm"
D4 · Uma
"I was going to teach the wrench a lesson, but alright, take it back."
A5 · Vicky
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents neighboring Ryan is in row 5"
B5 · Will
"2 of us 3 singers have an innocent directly to the left of us"
C5 · Xavi
"An odd number of innocents in column B neighbor Lisa"
D5 · Zara
"What would a singer to with a wrench? Sing to it?"
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)
A4 · Ryan → INNOCENT
Because: Betty is at A1 and Vicky is at A5, so the people in between them are exactly A2 Gary, A3 Lisa, and A4 Ryan. Gary’s clue says that Ryan is one of the two innocents among those in-between people, which directly requires Ryan to be an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Ryan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Ryan is one of 2 innocents in between Betty and Vicky" — Gary (A2)
A3 · Lisa → CRIMINAL
Because: Betty is at A1 and Vicky is at A5, so the people in between them in column A are Gary at A2, Lisa at A3, and Ryan at A4. Gary’s clue says that Ryan is one of exactly two innocents among those in-between people. We already know Gary at A2 is INNOCENT, and Ryan at A4 is INNOCENT, which fills the two innocent spots. That leaves Lisa at A3 as the only remaining in-between person, so she cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Lisa is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Ryan is one of 2 innocents in between Betty and Vicky" — Gary (A2)
A5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue talks only about people on the edge squares, and says that among all edge people, exactly one innocent is a farmer. The only farmers on edge squares are Gary at A2 and Vicky at A5, and we already know Gary is innocent. That means the edge’s one innocent farmer is already accounted for by Gary, so Vicky cannot also be an innocent farmer. Therefore, we can determine that A5 (Vicky) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent on the edges is a farmer" — Lisa (A3)
B5 · Will → INNOCENT
Because: Ryan is at A4, and his row 5 neighbors are only A5 Vicky and B5 Will. Vicky’s clue says that Ryan has exactly two innocent neighbors, and exactly one of those two is in row 5. Since Vicky at A5 is already a criminal, the only way for there to be an innocent neighbor of Ryan in row 5 is for Will at B5 to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Will is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents neighboring Ryan is in row 5" — Vicky (A5)
C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Because: The three singers are Will at B5, Xavi at C5, and Zara at D5. Will’s clue says that exactly two of these three singers have an innocent directly to their left. Will does not count, because the person directly left of Will (A5, Vicky) is a criminal, so the only way to reach a total of two is for both Xavi and Zara to have an innocent directly to their left. Zara’s left neighbor is Xavi at C5, so Xavi must be innocent to make Zara count. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Xavi is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"2 of us 3 singers have an innocent directly to the left of us" — Will (B5)
B2 · Ike → CRIMINAL
Because: Ryan is at A4, and the only known innocent neighbor of Ryan in row 5 is Will at B5. Vicky’s clue says Ryan has exactly two innocent neighbors, and exactly one of those two is in row 5, so the other innocent neighbor must be either Nick at B3 or Sofia at B4, meaning exactly one of B3 and B4 is innocent. Xavi’s clue looks at the column B neighbors of Lisa (A3), which are Ike at B2, Nick at B3, and Sofia at B4, and says an odd number of them are innocent; since B3 and B4 already contribute exactly one innocent, B2 cannot be innocent or the total would become even. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Ike is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents neighboring Ryan is in row 5" — Vicky (A5)
"An odd number of innocents in column B neighbor Lisa" — Xavi (C5)
B3 · Nick → CRIMINAL
Because: Olga is at C3, so the people to the left of Olga are A3 Lisa and B3 Nick. Ike’s clue says there are no innocents to the left of Olga, which means everyone to Olga’s left must be a criminal. Lisa is already a criminal, so for the clue to remain true, Nick must also not be an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B3 Nick is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are no innocents to the left of Olga" — Ike (B2)
B4 · Sofia → INNOCENT
Because: Ryan is at A4, so his neighbors are A3 Lisa, B3 Nick, B4 Sofia, A5 Vicky, and B5 Will. Vicky’s clue says that exactly two of Ryan’s neighbors are innocent, and exactly one of those two innocents is in row 5. Will at B5 is already an innocent in row 5, while Vicky at A5 is a criminal, so Will must be the one innocent neighbor in row 5 and the other innocent neighbor must be outside row 5. The only neighbor of Ryan outside row 5 who is not already a known criminal is Sofia at B4, so Sofia must be the second innocent neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Sofia is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 innocents neighboring Ryan is in row 5" — Vicky (A5)
B1 · Daniel → INNOCENT
Because: Will is at B5, so the people “above Will” are the four people in column B at B1 Daniel, B2 Ike, B3 Nick, and B4 Sofia. Sofia’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals among those four. Ike and Nick are already known criminals, and Sofia is already known innocent, so the total number of criminals above Will is already exactly 2 without counting Daniel. That means Daniel cannot be a criminal, or the number would become 3 and the clue would be false. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Daniel is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 criminals above Will" — Sofia (B4)
A1 · Betty → INNOCENT
Because: In column B, the only criminals are Ike at B2 and Nick at B3, so column B has exactly 2 criminals. Daniel’s clue says columns A and B have an equal number of criminals. Column A already has Lisa at A3 and Vicky at A5 as criminals, which is also 2, so A1 cannot be a criminal without making column A have 3 criminals and breaking the equality. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Betty is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of criminals in columns A and B" — Daniel (B1)
C3 · Olga → CRIMINAL
Because: Eric is at C1, so the people below him in column C are Janet at C2, Olga at C3, Tina at C4, and Xavi at C5. Betty’s clue says there are exactly two criminals among those people, and those two criminals are connected; with only two criminals, being connected means they must be directly next to each other orthogonally. Since Xavi at C5 is already INNOCENT, the only possible adjacent pairs of two criminals below Eric are C2 with C3 or C3 with C4, and either way Olga at C3 must be one of the criminals. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Olga is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both criminals below Eric are connected" — Betty (A1)
C1 · Eric → CRIMINAL
Because: The relevant people are in column C: Eric at C1, then Janet at C2, Olga at C3, Tina at C4, and Xavi at C5. Olga’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals in column C, and we already know Olga at C3 is a criminal while Xavi at C5 is innocent. Betty’s clue talks about Eric and says that both criminals below Eric are connected, which means there are exactly two criminals among the four people below Eric in column C (C2 through C5). Since column C must contain 3 criminals total, and exactly 2 of them are below Eric, the remaining 1 criminal in column C must be Eric himself at C1. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Eric is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Both criminals below Eric are connected" — Betty (A1)
"There are exactly 3 criminals in column C" — Olga (C3)
D1 · Flora → INNOCENT, D5 · Zara → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at the number of innocents in row 1 and row 5. In row 1, Betty and Daniel are already innocents, while Eric is a criminal, so row 1 currently has exactly 2 innocents plus whatever Flora is. In row 5, Will and Xavi are already innocents, while Vicky is a criminal, so row 5 currently has exactly 2 innocents plus whatever Zara is. For row 1 to have more innocents than row 5, Flora must add an innocent to row 1 and Zara must not add an innocent to row 5, so Flora is innocent and Zara is criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Flora is INNOCENT and D5 Zara is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are more innocents in row 1 than row 5" — Eric (C1)
D3 · Phil → CRIMINAL
Because: Janet is at C2 and Kyle is at D2, so their common neighbors are the people who neighbor both of them: Eric at C1, Flora at D1, Olga at C3, and Phil at D3. Flora’s clue says that among these shared neighbors, there is only one innocent. Eric and Olga are already known criminals, and Flora herself is already known innocent, so Flora is currently the one innocent shared neighbor. That means Phil cannot also be innocent, or there would be more than one innocent shared neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Phil is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Janet and Kyle have only one innocent neighbor in common" — Flora (D1)
C2 · Janet → CRIMINAL
Because: In row 2, Gary at A2 has neighbors B2, A3, and B3 who are all already criminals, and his other neighbors A1 and B1 are innocents, so A2 has exactly 3 criminal neighbors no matter what. Phil’s clue says that only one person in row 2 has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, so Kyle at D2 must not have exactly 3. But D2’s criminal neighbors that are already fixed are C1, C3, and D3, which is exactly 3, and the only neighbor of D2 whose status could change that count is Janet at C2. So Janet must be a criminal so that D2 has 4 criminal neighbors instead of 3, leaving A2 as the only row-2 person with exactly 3 criminal neighbors. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Janet is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only one person in row 2 has exactly 3 criminal neighbors" — Phil (D3)
C4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Because: The clue talks about the people below Eric, meaning everyone else in column C under C1. In that column, Janet at C2 and Olga at C3 are already known to be criminals, and they are orthogonally adjacent so they are connected. Because the clue says “both criminals below Eric,” there must be exactly two criminals below Eric in total, so no one else below Eric in column C can be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Tina is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Both criminals below Eric are connected" — Betty (A1)
D2 · Kyle → CRIMINAL, D4 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: The only unknown people on the board are Kyle at D2 and Uma at D4; everyone else is already marked innocent or criminal. Janet at C2 says there are 9 innocents in total, and we can already count 9 confirmed innocents: Betty (A1), Daniel (B1), Flora (D1), Gary (A2), Ryan (A4), Sofia (B4), Tina (C4), Will (B5), and Xavi (C5). That means there cannot be any additional innocents among the unknowns, so Kyle and Uma must both be criminals to keep the total number of innocents at exactly 9. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Kyle is CRIMINAL and D4 Uma is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are 9 innocents in total" — Janet (C2)