Clues by Sam Feb 19, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Tricky·Solved
A1
👮♀️
Betsy
cop
B1
👨⚖️
Chris
judge
C1
🕵️♂️
David
sleuth
D1
👷♀️
Evie
builder
A2
🕵️♀️
Freya
sleuth
B2
👮♂️
Gary
cop
C2
👰
Heidi
bride
D2
👨🏫
Kumar
teacher
A3
👩🔧
Linda
mech
B3
👨⚖️
Martin
judge
C3
👷♂️
Noah
builder
D3
👩🏫
Olivia
teacher
A4
👨🔧
Phil
mech
B4
👩🎨
Rose
painter
C4
👩💼
Sofia
clerk
D4
👨🏫
Thor
teacher
A5
👩🔧
Uma
mech
B5
👨🎨
Vince
painter
C5
👩💼
Wanda
clerk
D5
🤡
Zoe
clown
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 15Criminal 5Unknown 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 · 15
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ B4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ] [ C5 ]
Criminal · 5
[ C1 ] [ B2 ] [ A4 ] [ C4 ] [ 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 · Betsy
"Don't give them ideas, Chris"
B1 · Chris
"At least no one stole the bride"
C1 · David
"I'm just here for the gifts. And the bouquet."
D1 · Evie
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 5"
A2 · Freya
"Only one column has exactly 3 innocents"
B2 · Gary
"I have an invitation! Don't know why, but I do!"
C2 · Heidi
"There's a wedding crasher here somewhere!"
D2 · Kumar
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Sofia"
A3 · Linda
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Betsy"
B3 · Martin
"Rose is one of Linda's 3 innocent neighbors"
C3 · Noah
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Chris is Linda's neighbor"
D3 · Olivia
"There are exactly 3 innocents in the corners"
A4 · Phil
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in column C are Olivia's neighbors"
B4 · Rose
"Sofia is one of Thor's 2 criminal neighbors"
C4 · Sofia
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in row 5 are my neighbors"
D4 · Thor
"There are more criminals in row 2 than row 3"
A5 · Uma
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Gary"
B5 · Vince
"Exactly 2 innocents to the right of Linda are neighboring Noah"
C5 · Wanda
"I'm starting to have a hunch who it is..."
D5 · Zoe
"No one ordered a clown? Can I at least have some cake?"
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 (18 steps)
D3 · Olivia → INNOCENT, B3 · Martin → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at A3, so the people to the right of Linda are Martin at B3, Noah at C3, and Olivia at D3. Among those three, the ones who are neighboring Noah at C3 are only Martin (directly left of Noah) and Olivia (directly right of Noah), since Noah is not his own neighbor. Vince’s clue says that exactly 2 innocents to the right of Linda are neighboring Noah, and there are exactly 2 such people who could possibly fit that description: Martin and Olivia. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Olivia is INNOCENT and B3 Martin is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 innocents to the right of Linda are neighboring Noah" — Vince (B5)
B4 · Rose → INNOCENT
Because: Martin’s clue explicitly says that Rose is one of Linda’s three innocent neighbors, so Rose must be INNOCENT. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Rose is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Rose is one of Linda's 3 innocent neighbors" — Martin (B3)
C4 · Sofia → CRIMINAL
Because: Rose’s clue says that Sofia is one of Thor’s 2 criminal neighbors, which directly places Sofia in the set of criminal neighbors around Thor. That means Sofia herself must be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Sofia is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Sofia is one of Thor's 2 criminal neighbors" — Rose (B4)
A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Sofia is at C4, and her only neighbors in row 5 are B5 Vince, C5 Wanda, and D5 Zoe; A5 Uma is not her neighbor. Sofia’s clue says there are exactly 3 innocents in row 5, and exactly 2 of those 3 innocents are her neighbors. Since only two row-5 innocents can be among Sofia’s row-5 neighbors (B5, C5, D5), the remaining third row-5 innocent must be the one person in row 5 who is not Sofia’s neighbor, which is A5 Uma. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in row 5 are my neighbors" — Sofia (C4)
C3 · Noah → INNOCENT
Because: Thor is at D4, and his neighbors are C3 (Noah), D3 (Olivia), C4 (Sofia), C5 (Wanda), and D5 (Zoe). Rose’s clue says Thor has exactly 2 criminal neighbors and Sofia is one of them, so among Noah, Wanda, and Zoe there is exactly 1 criminal neighbor of Thor (since Olivia is already INNOCENT). Sofia’s clue says there are exactly 3 INNOCENTS in row 5, and because Uma and Vince are already INNOCENT, that forces exactly one of Wanda and Zoe to be CRIMINAL. Since one of Wanda or Zoe must be Thor’s one remaining criminal neighbor, Noah cannot be that criminal neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Noah is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Sofia is one of Thor's 2 criminal neighbors" — Rose (B4)
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in row 5 are my neighbors" — Sofia (C4)
A4 · Phil → CRIMINAL
Because: Linda at A3 has five neighbors: Freya (A2), Gary (B2), Martin (B3), Phil (A4), and Rose (B4). Martin’s clue says Linda has exactly 3 innocent neighbors and that Rose is one of them, and we already know Martin and Rose are innocent, so exactly one of Freya, Gary, and Phil is innocent. Noah’s clue says Chris has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and only 1 of those innocents is also a neighbor of Linda; the only people who are neighbors of both Chris and Linda are Freya and Gary, so exactly one of Freya and Gary is innocent. Since exactly one of Freya and Gary is innocent, Phil cannot be the one innocent in the set {Freya, Gary, Phil}, so Phil must be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Phil is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Rose is one of Linda's 3 innocent neighbors" — Martin (B3)
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Chris is Linda's neighbor" — Noah (C3)
C2 · Heidi → INNOCENT
Because: The clue talks about the three innocents in column C, and says that exactly two of those three are neighbors of Olivia at D3. In column C, Olivia’s neighboring positions are C2, C3, and C4, but C4 is Sofia and she is already known to be a criminal, so she cannot be one of the column C innocents. Since Noah at C3 is an innocent and is also Olivia’s neighbor, the only way to reach a total of exactly two neighboring innocents in column C is for the other neighboring innocent to be at C2. Therefore, we can determine that C2 (Heidi) is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in column C are Olivia's neighbors" — Phil (A4)
D1 · Evie → INNOCENT
Because: Chris is at B1, and the only people who are neighbors of both Chris and Linda (A3) are Freya (A2) and Gary (B2). Noah’s clue says that Chris has exactly three innocent neighbors, and only one of those three is also Linda’s neighbor, so exactly one of Freya (A2) and Gary (B2) is innocent; that forces the other two innocent neighbors of Chris to be Heidi (C2) and exactly one of Betsy (A1) or David (C1), meaning exactly one of A1 and C1 is innocent. Phil’s clue says there are exactly three innocents in column C, and since Heidi (C2) and Noah (C3) are already two of them, exactly one of David (C1) and Wanda (C5) is innocent, so A1 and C5 must have the same status (they are either both innocent or both criminal). Rose’s clue says Sofia (C4) is one of Thor’s two criminal neighbors, and since Noah (C3) and Olivia (D3) are innocent neighbors of Thor (D4), the only way for Thor to have exactly one more criminal neighbor is for exactly one of Wanda (C5) and Zoe (D5) to be criminal, so C5 and D5 have opposite statuses; therefore A1 and D5 also have opposite statuses. Olivia’s corner clue says there are exactly three innocents in the corners, and since Uma (A5) is already an innocent corner, exactly two of the other three corners (A1, D1, D5) must be innocent. Because A1 and D5 are guaranteed to include exactly one innocent between them, D1 must be the second innocent corner. Therefore, we can determine that D1 (Evie) is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 3 innocents in the corners" — Olivia (D3)
"Sofia is one of Thor's 2 criminal neighbors" — Rose (B4)
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Chris is Linda's neighbor" — Noah (C3)
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in column C are Olivia's neighbors" — Phil (A4)
D2 · Kumar → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at A3, and her neighbors are Freya (A2), Gary (B2), Martin (B3), Phil (A4), and Rose (B4). Martin’s clue says Rose is one of Linda’s 3 innocent neighbors; since Martin and Rose are already innocent and Phil is already a criminal, exactly one of Freya and Gary must be innocent to bring Linda’s innocent-neighbor total to 3. Rose’s clue says Sofia is one of Thor’s 2 criminal neighbors, and Thor (D4) neighbors Noah (C3) and Olivia (D3), who are both innocent, so the second criminal neighbor besides Sofia must be either Wanda (C5) or Zoe (D5), meaning exactly one of Wanda and Zoe is innocent. Evie’s clue says rows 2 and 5 have the same number of innocents; row 5 already has Uma and Vince innocent, plus exactly one of Wanda or Zoe innocent, so row 5 has 3 innocents and row 2 must also have 3. Row 2 already has Heidi innocent, and Freya and Gary contribute exactly one more innocent, so Kumar must be the third innocent in row 2. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Kumar is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Rose is one of Linda's 3 innocent neighbors" — Martin (B3)
"Sofia is one of Thor's 2 criminal neighbors" — Rose (B4)
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 5" — Evie (D1)
D4 · Thor → INNOCENT
Because: Thor is at D4, and his neighbors are C3 (Noah), D3 (Olivia), C4 (Sofia), C5 (Wanda), and D5 (Zoe). Rose says “Sofia is one of Thor’s 2 criminal neighbors,” so Thor has exactly two criminal neighbors and one of them is Sofia; since Noah and Olivia are already INNOCENT, the only way for Thor to have one more criminal neighbor is that exactly one of Wanda or Zoe is a criminal. Kumar says there is an odd number of criminals neighboring Sofia, and Sofia’s neighbors who could still be criminals are only Thor, Wanda, and Zoe because everyone else around her is already INNOCENT. Since exactly one of Wanda or Zoe is criminal, Sofia already has 1 criminal neighbor there, so Thor cannot also be criminal or the total would become 2, which is not odd. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Thor is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Sofia is one of Thor's 2 criminal neighbors" — Rose (B4)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Sofia" — Kumar (D2)
A3 · Linda → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at A3, and her neighbors are Freya (A2), Phil (A4), Gary (B2), Martin (B3), and Rose (B4). Martin says that Rose is one of Linda’s 3 innocent neighbors, so Linda has exactly three innocent neighbors; since Martin and Rose are already innocent and Phil is already a criminal, exactly one of Freya or Gary must be innocent and the other must be a criminal, meaning row 2 has exactly one criminal. Thor says there are more criminals in row 2 than in row 3, so with row 2 having exactly one criminal, row 3 must have zero criminals; since the only unresolved person in row 3 is Linda, she cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Linda is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Rose is one of Linda's 3 innocent neighbors" — Martin (B3)
"There are more criminals in row 2 than row 3" — Thor (D4)
B1 · Chris → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at A3, so her neighbors are Freya (A2), Gary (B2), Martin (B3), Phil (A4), and Rose (B4). Martin’s clue says Rose is one of Linda’s 3 innocent neighbors, and since Martin and Rose are already innocent while Phil is criminal, exactly one of Freya and Gary must be criminal and the other must be innocent to make exactly three innocent neighbors total. Betsy is at A1, and her neighbors are Freya (A2), Chris (B1), and Gary (B2), so among Freya and Gary there is exactly one criminal; Linda’s clue says Betsy has an odd number of criminal neighbors, which forces Chris to be innocent so the total number of criminals among Betsy’s neighbors stays odd. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Chris is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Rose is one of Linda's 3 innocent neighbors" — Martin (B3)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Betsy" — Linda (A3)
B2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
Because: Chris is at B1, and his neighbors are Betsy (A1), David (C1), Freya (A2), Gary (B2), and Heidi (C2). Noah’s clue says Chris has exactly three innocent neighbors, and only one of those three is also a neighbor of Linda; among Chris’s neighbors, the only ones who are also neighbors of Linda (A3) are Freya and Gary, so exactly one of Freya and Gary is innocent. Since Heidi is already an innocent neighbor of Chris, the other two innocent neighbors of Chris must come from Betsy, David, Freya, and Gary; with exactly one of Freya and Gary innocent, that forces exactly one of Betsy and David to be innocent as well. Uma’s clue says the number of innocents neighboring Gary is odd; Gary’s neighbors already include five known innocents (Chris, Heidi, Linda, Martin, and Noah), so among the remaining neighboring unknowns Betsy, David, and Freya there must be an even number of innocents. But Betsy and David contribute exactly one innocent, so Freya must be innocent to make the total among Betsy, David, and Freya even. Since exactly one of Freya and Gary is innocent, Gary cannot be innocent here, so he must be the criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Gary is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Chris is Linda's neighbor" — Noah (C3)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Gary" — Uma (A5)
A2 · Freya → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at A3, so her neighbors are Freya at A2, Gary at B2, Martin at B3, Phil at A4, and Rose at B4. Martin’s clue says that Rose is one of Linda’s 3 innocent neighbors, meaning Linda has exactly three innocent neighbors in total among those five people. We already know Rose and Martin are innocent, and we also know Gary and Phil are criminals, so the only way for Linda to have three innocent neighbors is for the remaining neighbor, Freya, to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Freya is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Rose is one of Linda's 3 innocent neighbors" — Martin (B3)
A1 · Betsy → INNOCENT
Because: Phil’s clue talks about “the 3 innocents in column C,” which means column C must have exactly 3 innocents in total. Freya’s clue says only one column has exactly 3 innocents, so no other column is allowed to have exactly 3 innocents. In column A, Freya, Linda, and Uma are already innocents and Phil is a criminal, so column A would have exactly 3 innocents if Betsy were a criminal, which is not allowed because column C already has 3. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Betsy is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents in column C are Olivia's neighbors" — Phil (A4)
"Only one column has exactly 3 innocents" — Freya (A2)
D5 · Zoe → CRIMINAL
Because: The corner positions are A1 (Betsy), D1 (Evie), A5 (Uma), and D5 (Zoe). Olivia’s clue says there are exactly 3 innocents among these four corners, and we already know Betsy, Evie, and Uma are innocents, which makes three. That means Zoe cannot also be innocent, so Zoe must be the criminal corner. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zoe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 3 innocents in the corners" — Olivia (D3)
C5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Because: Thor is at D4, so his neighbors are C3 (Noah), D3 (Olivia), C4 (Sofia), C5 (Wanda), and D5 (Zoe), including diagonals. Rose’s clue says that Sofia is one of Thor’s 2 criminal neighbors, meaning Thor has exactly two criminal neighbors in total. Since Sofia is already a criminal and Zoe at D5 is also a criminal neighbor of Thor, those are the two criminals Thor can have next to him. That forces Thor’s remaining neighbor at C5, Wanda, to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Wanda is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Sofia is one of Thor's 2 criminal neighbors" — Rose (B4)
C1 · David → CRIMINAL
Because: Chris is at B1, and his neighbors are Betsy (A1), Freya (A2), Gary (B2), David (C1), and Heidi (C2). Noah’s clue says there are exactly 3 innocents neighboring Chris, and we already know Betsy, Freya, and Heidi are innocents. That already makes 3 innocent neighbors of Chris, so David cannot also be innocent or the number would become 4. Therefore, we can determine that C1 David is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 innocents neighboring Chris is Linda's neighbor" — Noah (C3)