Clues by Sam Feb 13, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Tricky·Solved
A1
👨🍳
Andre
cook
B1
🕵️♀️
Betty
sleuth
C1
🕵️♂️
Clyde
sleuth
D1
👨🎤
Daniel
singer
A2
👨🌾
Eric
farmer
B2
👨⚖️
Gary
judge
C2
👮♂️
Ike
cop
D2
👨🌾
Jose
farmer
A3
💂♂️
Kumar
guard
B3
👩⚖️
Mary
judge
C3
🕵️♂️
Nick
sleuth
D3
💂♀️
Olive
guard
A4
👷♀️
Penny
builder
B4
💂♀️
Rose
guard
C4
👮♀️
Susan
cop
D4
👨🍳
Thor
cook
A5
👷♀️
Uma
builder
B5
👷♀️
Vera
builder
C5
👩🎤
Wanda
singer
D5
👩🌾
Xia
farmer
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 ] [ C1 ] [ A2 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ]
Criminal · 6
[ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ A3 ] [ B4 ] [ 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 · Andre
"There are 6 criminals in total"
B1 · Betty
"It's not immature if you steal Werther's Originals"
C1 · Clyde
"I guess we found the culprits"
D1 · Daniel
"Only one person in a corner has exactly 3 innocent neighbors"
A2 · Eric
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Mary is in row 3"
B2 · Gary
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and C"
C2 · Ike
"There's been a break-in to the candy factory!"
D2 · Jose
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Thor is neighboring Uma"
A3 · Kumar
"You're the immature one Uma!"
B3 · Mary
"Olive is one of 3 innocents in column D"
C3 · Nick
"I'm not sure about this one... I like candy."
D3 · Olive
"2 of my neighbors on the edges are innocent"
A4 · Penny
"Candies are for kids. Everyone knows that."
B4 · Rose
"There's nothing immature about stealing stuff!"
C4 · Susan
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Uma"
D4 · Thor
"There are exactly 3 innocents in row 4"
A5 · Uma
"A candy heist? Isn't that a bit immature?"
B5 · Vera
"Kumar has exactly 4 innocent neighbors"
C5 · Wanda
"Each column has at least one criminal"
D5 · Xia
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Gary is to the right of Andre"
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)
D3 · Olive → INNOCENT
Because: Mary’s clue says, “Olive is one of 3 innocents in column D,” which directly states that Olive is an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Olive is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Olive is one of 3 innocents in column D" — Mary (B3)
D4 · Thor → INNOCENT, D2 · Jose → INNOCENT
Because: Olive is at D3, and her neighbors are C2, D2, C3, C4, and D4. Among those neighbors, the only ones who are on the edge of the board are Jose at D2 and Thor at D4, because they are in column D; the other three neighbors are not on the edge. Olive’s clue says that 2 of her neighbors on the edges are innocent, and there are exactly 2 such edge-neighbors. That forces both Jose and Thor to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Thor is INNOCENT and D2 Jose is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"2 of my neighbors on the edges are innocent" — Olive (D3)
D5 · Xia → CRIMINAL, D1 · Daniel → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue from Mary says that Olive is one of exactly three innocents in column D. In column D we already know Jose at D2 is innocent, Olive at D3 is innocent, and Thor at D4 is innocent, which makes three innocents there already. Since column D must have only those three innocents, the remaining two people in that column, Daniel at D1 and Xia at D5, cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Xia is CRIMINAL and D1 Daniel is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Olive is one of 3 innocents in column D" — Mary (B3)
C4 · Susan → INNOCENT
Because: Look at row 4: A4 Penny, B4 Rose, C4 Susan, and D4 Thor, with Thor already known to be innocent. Jose says that among the people to the left of Thor, exactly one innocent is neighboring Uma; since Uma is at A5, the only people in row 4 who neighbor Uma are A4 and B4, so exactly one of A4 and B4 is innocent. Thor also says there are exactly 3 innocents in row 4, so besides Thor there must be exactly two innocents among A4, B4, and C4; with only one innocent allowed between A4 and B4, the second innocent must be C4. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Susan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Thor is neighboring Uma" — Jose (D2)
"There are exactly 3 innocents in row 4" — Thor (D4)
B5 · Vera → INNOCENT
Because: Uma is at A5, so her neighbors are Penny at A4, Rose at B4, and Vera at B5. Jose’s clue says that among the people to the left of Thor, exactly one innocent person is neighboring Uma; the only people who are both left of Thor and neighboring Uma are Penny and Rose, so exactly one of Penny and Rose is innocent and the other is criminal. Susan’s clue says there is an odd number of criminals neighboring Uma, so the three neighbors (Penny, Rose, Vera) must contain 1 or 3 criminals; since Penny and Rose already contribute exactly 1 criminal between them, Vera cannot be a criminal or the total would become 2. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Vera is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Thor is neighboring Uma" — Jose (D2)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Uma" — Susan (C4)
A2 · Eric → INNOCENT, B2 · Gary → INNOCENT
Because: Kumar is at A3, so his neighbors are Eric at A2, Gary at B2, Mary at B3, Penny at A4, and Rose at B4. Vera’s clue says Kumar has exactly 4 innocent neighbors, and since Mary is already innocent, that means exactly three of Eric, Gary, Penny, and Rose are innocent. Jose’s clue links Penny and Rose by saying that among the people to the left of Thor who neighbor Uma, exactly one is innocent; those two people are Penny at A4 and Rose at B4, so one of them is innocent and the other is criminal. That uses up the single criminal allowed among Eric, Gary, Penny, and Rose, so Eric and Gary must both be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Eric is INNOCENT and B2 Gary is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Thor is neighboring Uma" — Jose (D2)
"Kumar has exactly 4 innocent neighbors" — Vera (B5)
C2 · Ike → INNOCENT
Because: Mary is at B3, and her eight neighbors are Eric (A2), Gary (B2), Ike (C2), Kumar (A3), Nick (C3), Penny (A4), Rose (B4), and Susan (C4). Eric’s clue says that Mary has exactly six innocent neighbors, and only one of those innocent neighbors is in row 3, so among Kumar and Nick exactly one is innocent and the other is criminal, meaning there is exactly one criminal already among Mary’s row-3 neighbors. Jose’s clue talks about the people to the left of Thor (who is at D4) who neighbor Uma (at A5); the only such people are Penny (A4) and Rose (B4), and it says exactly one of them is innocent, so the other one is criminal. That uses up the second and final criminal allowed among Mary’s neighbors, so Ike cannot be criminal and must be one of the six innocents neighboring Mary. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Ike is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Thor is neighboring Uma" — Jose (D2)
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Mary is in row 3" — Eric (A2)
C5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Because: Gary’s neighbors include exactly two people who are to the right of Andre, namely Betty at B1 and Clyde at C1, because those are the only neighbors of Gary in row 1 to the right of Andre at A1. Xia’s clue says that among the six innocent neighbors of Gary, exactly one is to the right of Andre, so exactly one of Betty and Clyde is innocent. That guarantees that exactly one of the corners A1 or D1 has three innocent neighbors (A1 would have three if Betty is innocent, and D1 would have three if Clyde is innocent), so the “only one corner has exactly 3 innocent neighbors” slot is already taken by A1 or D1. Therefore D5 must not have three innocent neighbors, and since D5’s other two neighbors (Susan at C4 and Thor at D4) are already innocent, Wanda at C5 cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Wanda is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only one person in a corner has exactly 3 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Gary is to the right of Andre" — Xia (D5)
A1 · Andre → INNOCENT
Because: Gary is at B2, and his neighbors are A1 (Andre), B1, C1, A2, C2, A3, B3, and C3. Xia’s clue says that among the 6 innocent neighbors Gary has, only 1 is to the right of Andre; since the only neighbors of Gary that are to the right of Andre (A1) are B1 and C1, this forces exactly one of B1 and C1 to be innocent. Mary is at B3, and Eric’s clue says that among the 6 innocent neighbors Mary has, only 1 is in row 3; Mary’s only neighbors in row 3 are A3 and C3, so this forces exactly one of A3 and C3 to be innocent. That means B1, C1, A3, and C3 contain exactly 2 innocents total, but Gary needs 3 more innocent neighbors beyond the already-known innocents A2, C2, and B3, so Andre at A1 must be innocent to supply the third. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Andre is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Gary is to the right of Andre" — Xia (D5)
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Mary is in row 3" — Eric (A2)
A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Look at the seven unknown people: B1 Betty, C1 Clyde, A3 Kumar, C3 Nick, A4 Penny, B4 Rose, and A5 Uma. Xia’s clue says that Gary has exactly 6 innocent neighbors, which forces exactly 2 of {Betty, Clyde, Kumar, Nick} to be criminals; it also says only one of Gary’s innocent neighbors is to the right of Andre, so exactly one of {Betty, Clyde} is innocent, meaning exactly one of {Betty, Clyde} is a criminal and exactly one of {Kumar, Nick} is a criminal. Now use Daniel’s corner clue: A1 has exactly 3 innocent neighbors exactly when Betty is innocent, and D1 has exactly 3 innocent neighbors exactly when Clyde is innocent. Since exactly one of {Betty, Clyde} is innocent, that already guarantees exactly one of those two corners has 3 innocent neighbors, so A5 cannot also have 3 innocent neighbors; that means Penny and Rose cannot both be innocent, so at least one of {Penny, Rose} is a criminal. Andre’s clue says there are 6 criminals total; since 3 criminals are already known (Daniel, Wanda, Xia), there must be exactly 3 criminals among the seven unknowns. But we have already forced exactly 2 criminals among {Betty, Clyde, Kumar, Nick} and at least 1 criminal among {Penny, Rose}, which already makes 3 criminals without using Uma, so Uma cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only one person in a corner has exactly 3 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Gary is to the right of Andre" — Xia (D5)
"There are 6 criminals in total" — Andre (A1)
A3 · Kumar → CRIMINAL, C3 · Nick → INNOCENT
Because: Gary (B2) has eight neighbors: Andre (A1), Betty (B1), Clyde (C1), Eric (A2), Ike (C2), Kumar (A3), Mary (B3), and Nick (C3), and Xia’s clue says exactly six of those neighbors are innocents. Andre, Eric, Ike, and Mary are already known innocents, so among Betty, Clyde, Kumar, and Nick there must be exactly two innocents; and since the only neighbors of Gary that are to the right of Andre are Betty and Clyde, Xia’s clue also fixes that exactly one of Betty and Clyde is innocent, so exactly one of Kumar and Nick is innocent. Gary’s other clue says columns A and C have the same number of innocents; column A already has three known innocents (A1, A2, A5) and column C already has two known innocents (C2, C4) with C5 known criminal, so this equality forces 2 + (A4 is innocent?) = (C1 is innocent?) + 2×(Nick is innocent?). The left side is always 2 or 3, but if Nick were criminal then the right side could only be 0 or 1, so Nick must be innocent, and then Kumar must be the criminal because exactly one of them is innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Kumar is CRIMINAL and C3 Nick is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Gary is to the right of Andre" — Xia (D5)
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and C" — Gary (B2)
B4 · Rose → CRIMINAL
Because: Column B currently has no known criminal, and Wanda’s clue says each column has at least one criminal, so at least one of B1 (Betty) or B4 (Rose) must be criminal. Gary’s clue says columns A and C have the same number of innocents, which means A4 (Penny) and C1 (Clyde) must match: they are either both innocent or both criminal. If we try to place column B’s required criminal at B1 instead of B4, then A1 cannot have exactly 3 innocent neighbors, so Daniel’s “only one corner has exactly 3 innocent neighbors” forces D1 to be the corner with 3, which requires C1 to be innocent and therefore A4 to be innocent too; but then A5 would also end up with 3 innocent neighbors unless B4 is criminal, because A5 already has B5 as an innocent neighbor and would also have A4 and B4 as innocent neighbors otherwise. So even in the only way B1 could be the column B criminal without breaking the corner clue, B4 is still forced to be criminal, and if B1 is not the criminal then B4 must be the criminal to satisfy Wanda’s clue. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Rose is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only one person in a corner has exactly 3 innocent neighbors" — Daniel (D1)
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and C" — Gary (B2)
"Each column has at least one criminal" — Wanda (C5)
A4 · Penny → INNOCENT
Because: Thor is at D4, so the people to the left of Thor in row 4 are Susan at C4, Rose at B4, and Penny at A4. Jose’s clue says that among the people to the left of Thor, exactly one innocent is a neighbor of Uma at A5. The only people to the left of Thor who are also neighbors of Uma are Rose at B4 and Penny at A4 (Susan at C4 is not adjacent to Uma), and since Rose is already known to be a criminal, the only way the clue can still be true is for Penny to be the innocent neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Penny is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Thor is neighboring Uma" — Jose (D2)
C1 · Clyde → INNOCENT
Because: Look at the five people in column A: Andre, Eric, Kumar, Penny, and Uma. In column A, four of them are already known to be innocent (Andre, Eric, Penny, and Uma), so column A has 4 innocents. Gary’s clue says columns A and C have an equal number of innocents, and in column C we already have three known innocents (Ike, Nick, and Susan) with Clyde still unknown. For column C to also have 4 innocents, Clyde must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Clyde is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and C" — Gary (B2)
B1 · Betty → CRIMINAL
Because: Gary is at B2, so his neighbors are Andre (A1), Betty (B1), Clyde (C1), Eric (A2), Ike (C2), Kumar (A3), Mary (B3), and Nick (C3). The clue says there are exactly 6 innocents among those neighbors, and only 1 of those 6 innocents is to the right of Andre (A1). Right of Andre means in row 1 at B1, C1, or D1; among Gary’s neighbors there, Clyde at C1 is already an innocent, so he can be the “only 1” innocent to the right of Andre. Since Andre, Clyde, Eric, Ike, Mary, and Nick are already 6 innocents neighboring Gary, Betty cannot also be an innocent neighbor or the total would be more than 6 (and there would be more than one innocent to the right of Andre). Therefore, we can determine that B1 Betty is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 6 innocents neighboring Gary is to the right of Andre" — Xia (D5)