Clues by Sam Feb 25, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Medium·Solved
A1
👮♂️
Adam
cop
B1
💂♀️
Betty
guard
C1
👨⚕️
Floyd
doctor
D1
👨⚕️
Gus
doctor
A2
👮♂️
Hank
cop
B2
👨💼
Ike
clerk
C2
👷♂️
Jose
builder
D2
👷♂️
Kevin
builder
A3
👮♀️
Lisa
cop
B3
👨💼
Muj
clerk
C3
👨💼
Nick
clerk
D3
👷♀️
Olive
builder
A4
💂♀️
Paula
guard
B4
👨🍳
Ronald
cook
C4
👩🍳
Sue
cook
D4
👨🍳
Tyler
cook
A5
💂♀️
Uma
guard
B5
🕵️♀️
Vicky
sleuth
C5
🕵️♀️
Wanda
sleuth
D5
🕵️♀️
Xia
sleuth
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 10Criminal 10Unknown 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 · 10
[ C1 ] [ A2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ D3 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ]
Criminal · 10
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ B2 ] [ C3 ] [ A4 ] [ 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 · Adam
"Vicky has exactly 3 criminal neighbors"
B1 · Betty
"Alright! Hang on to your socks! It's happening!"
C1 · Floyd
"Wanda has exactly 3 innocent neighbors"
D1 · Gus
"There is only one innocent to the right of Adam"
A2 · Hank
"There are exactly 2 innocents in between Ike and Vicky"
B2 · Ike
"There are exactly 3 innocents in row 4"
C2 · Jose
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Muj is in row 4"
D2 · Kevin
"Row 1 is the only row with exactly 3 criminals"
A3 · Lisa
"Clever. But you all got caught anyways."
B3 · Muj
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Ike is in row 3"
C3 · Nick
"All that talk about socks was just a devious diversion! Ha ha!"
D3 · Olive
"There is only one innocent to the left of Gus"
A4 · Paula
"Haha, you thought we'd steal socks, didn't you?"
B4 · Ronald
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 3"
C4 · Sue
"Hey! Where's my hat!!!"
D4 · Tyler
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 4"
A5 · Uma
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and B"
B5 · Vicky
"We told you something would happen today!"
C5 · Wanda
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Ronald are in column A"
D5 · Xia
"Our big plan is finally in motion!"
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 · Ronald → INNOCENT, B3 · Muj → INNOCENT
Because: Ike is at B2 and Vicky is at B5, so the only people in between them in the same column are the two squares B3 and B4. Hank’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents in between Ike and Vicky, and there are exactly two people there: Muj at B3 and Ronald at B4. Since both of the in-between positions must be innocents to make the count exactly 2, Muj and Ronald are forced to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Ronald is INNOCENT and B3 Muj is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents in between Ike and Vicky" — Hank (A2)
D3 · Olive → INNOCENT
Because: In row 3, the people are Lisa at A3, Muj at B3, Nick at C3, and Olive at D3, and we already know Muj is innocent. Muj’s clue says Ike has exactly three neighboring criminals, and only one of those three is in row 3; since the only row 3 neighbors of Ike are Lisa, Muj, and Nick (and Muj is innocent), that forces exactly one of Lisa or Nick to be a criminal and the other to be an innocent. That means row 3 currently has Muj plus exactly one of Lisa or Nick as innocents, so it has exactly two innocents unless Olive is also innocent. Ronald’s clue says the number of innocents in row 3 is odd, so Olive must be the one that makes it three instead of two. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Olive is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 3" — Ronald (B4)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Ike is in row 3" — Muj (B3)
C2 · Jose → INNOCENT
Because: Ike is at B2, and Muj says that exactly 3 of Ike’s neighbors are criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals being in row 3. Since Muj at B3 is already innocent, the row 3 criminal among Ike’s neighbors must be either Lisa at A3 or Nick at C3, so the other two criminal neighbors of Ike must come from the non-row-3 neighbors. Olive says there is only one innocent to the left of Gus, and the people to the left of Gus at D1 are Adam at A1, Betty at B1, and Floyd at C1, so exactly two of those three are criminals. That already fills the “two non-row-3 criminals neighboring Ike” requirement using Adam/Betty/Floyd, so Jose at C2 cannot be a criminal neighbor of Ike. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Jose is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Ike is in row 3" — Muj (B3)
"There is only one innocent to the left of Gus" — Olive (D3)
B2 · Ike → CRIMINAL
Because: In row 3, we already know Muj at B3 and Olive at D3 are innocents, so there are at least 2 innocents in that row. Ronald’s clue says the number of innocents in row 3 is odd, so row 3 must have 3 innocents in total, which means exactly one of Lisa at A3 and Nick at C3 is a criminal. Jose’s clue says Muj has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and only one of those criminals is in row 4; since Ronald at B4 is innocent, that row 4 criminal must be either Paula at A4 or Sue at C4, leaving two more criminal neighbors to come from B2 Ike, A3 Lisa, and C3 Nick. Because only one of Lisa and Nick can be a criminal, Ike at B2 must be the other criminal to reach the required total of two criminals among those three positions. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Ike is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 3" — Ronald (B4)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Muj is in row 4" — Jose (C2)
D4 · Tyler → INNOCENT
Because: Muj is at B3, and his row 4 neighbors are A4 Paula, B4 Ronald, and C4 Sue. Jose’s clue says Muj has exactly three neighboring criminals, and only one of those three is in row 4; since Ronald is already innocent, that means exactly one of Paula or Sue is a criminal. Ike’s clue says row 4 has exactly three innocents, and we already have Ronald as one innocent; since exactly one of Paula or Sue is a criminal, only one of them can add another innocent in row 4, so Tyler must be the third innocent to reach a total of three. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tyler is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Muj is in row 4" — Jose (C2)
"There are exactly 3 innocents in row 4" — Ike (B2)
D2 · Kevin → INNOCENT
Because: Muj is at B3, and Jose’s clue says exactly three of Muj’s neighbors are criminals, with only one of those criminals coming from row 4. Muj’s row 4 neighbors are A4 Paula, B4 Ronald, and C4 Sue, and since Ronald is already INNOCENT, the one row 4 criminal must be either Paula or Sue, which forces the other one to be INNOCENT. That means row 4 has three innocents for sure: Ronald, Tyler, and whichever of Paula or Sue is not the criminal. Tyler’s clue says rows 2 and 4 have the same number of innocents, so row 2 must also have three innocents; with Hank and Jose already INNOCENT and Ike CRIMINAL, Kevin at D2 must be INNOCENT to reach three. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Kevin is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Muj is in row 4" — Jose (C2)
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 4" — Tyler (D4)
D1 · Gus → CRIMINAL
Because: Gus is at D1, so the people to the left of Gus are A1 Adam, B1 Betty, and C1 Floyd. Olive’s clue says there is only one innocent to the left of Gus, meaning exactly one of Adam, Betty, and Floyd is innocent. Kevin’s clue says Row 1 has exactly 3 criminals, so Row 1 has exactly 1 innocent in total. Since that single innocent in Row 1 is already to the left of Gus, Gus cannot be the innocent in Row 1 and must be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Gus is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There is only one innocent to the left of Gus" — Olive (D3)
"Row 1 is the only row with exactly 3 criminals" — Kevin (D2)
A1 · Adam → CRIMINAL
Because: Ike is at B2, so his neighbors include the three people in row 1 at A1 Adam, B1 Betty, and C1 Floyd, and also the row 3 neighbors at A3 Lisa and C3 Nick (since Muj at B3 is known innocent). Muj’s clue says Ike has exactly three criminal neighbors in total, and exactly one of those is in row 3, so exactly two of Ike’s criminal neighbors must be in row 1, meaning exactly two of Adam, Betty, and Floyd are criminals. Gus’s clue says there is only one innocent to the right of Adam, and the people to Adam’s right in row 1 are Betty, Floyd, and Gus; since Gus is already a criminal, that forces exactly one of Betty and Floyd to be a criminal. With only one criminal among Betty and Floyd, the requirement that there are exactly two criminals among Adam, Betty, and Floyd can only be met if Adam is the other criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Adam is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Ike is in row 3" — Muj (B3)
"There is only one innocent to the right of Adam" — Gus (D1)
A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL, C5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Because: Muj is at B3, and Jose’s clue says Muj has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, with exactly 1 of those criminals being in row 4. Muj’s row 4 neighbors are A4 Paula, B4 Ronald, and C4 Sue, and since Ronald is already INNOCENT, that forces exactly one of Paula or Sue to be a CRIMINAL. Vicky is at B5, and Adam’s clue says Vicky has exactly 3 criminal neighbors; Vicky’s neighbors are A4 Paula, B4 Ronald, C4 Sue, A5 Uma, and C5 Wanda. Since Ronald is INNOCENT, the four people Paula, Sue, Uma, and Wanda must contain exactly 3 criminals, but we already know Paula and Sue together contribute exactly 1 criminal, so Uma and Wanda must both be criminals to reach a total of 3. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is CRIMINAL and C5 Wanda is CRIMINAL, and so on.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Muj is in row 4" — Jose (C2)
"Vicky has exactly 3 criminal neighbors" — Adam (A1)
B5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Because: Muj is at B3, and Jose says Muj has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, with only 1 of those criminals coming from row 4, meaning exactly one of A4 Paula and C4 Sue is a criminal, and exactly one of A3 Lisa and C3 Nick must be a criminal to bring the total up to 3 alongside the already-criminal B2 Ike. Ronald is at B4, and Wanda says Ronald has exactly 5 criminal neighbors, with exactly 2 of those in column A; since A5 Uma is already a criminal, that forces exactly one of A3 Lisa and A4 Paula to be a criminal. Putting these together gives Lisa and Paula as opposite, which makes Nick match Paula, and Sue match Lisa, so among Lisa, Nick, Paula, and Sue there are exactly 2 criminals total. Ronald needs 3 additional criminal neighbors besides Uma and Wanda, so the only way to reach 5 is for B5 Vicky to be the third additional criminal neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Vicky is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Muj is in row 4" — Jose (C2)
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Ronald are in column A" — Wanda (C5)
D5 · Xia → CRIMINAL
Because: In row 5, Uma at A5, Vicky at B5, and Wanda at C5 are already known criminals, so row 5 currently has exactly 3 criminals plus Xia at D5 still unknown. Kevin’s clue says that row 1 is the only row with exactly 3 criminals, meaning no other row is allowed to end up with exactly 3 criminals. If Xia were innocent, then row 5 would stay at exactly 3 criminals, which would give another row with exactly 3 criminals besides row 1 and violate the clue. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Xia is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Row 1 is the only row with exactly 3 criminals" — Kevin (D2)
B1 · Betty → CRIMINAL
Because: Ronald is at B4, so his neighbors include A3 Lisa, A4 Paula, and A5 Uma in column A. Wanda’s clue says that among the five criminals neighboring Ronald, exactly two are in column A; since Uma is already a criminal, that forces exactly one of Lisa or Paula to be a criminal and the other to be an innocent. That means columns A’s extra two unknowns (Lisa and Paula) contain exactly one innocent in total. Uma’s clue says columns A and B have the same number of innocents; column A already has Hank as an innocent, and from above Lisa and Paula add exactly one more innocent, so column A has exactly two innocents. Column B already has Muj and Ronald as innocents, so to match column A’s two innocents, Betty cannot also be an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Betty is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and B" — Uma (A5)
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Ronald are in column A" — Wanda (C5)
C1 · Floyd → INNOCENT
Because: Ike is at B2, so his neighbors are Adam (A1), Betty (B1), Floyd (C1), Hank (A2), Jose (C2), Lisa (A3), Muj (B3), and Nick (C3). Muj’s clue says that among the three criminals neighboring Ike, exactly one of those criminals is in row 3, which also means Ike has exactly three criminal neighbors in total. Adam and Betty are already confirmed criminals neighboring Ike, and they are both in row 1, so the third criminal neighbor must be in row 3 (either Lisa or Nick) to make the “exactly one in row 3” part true. That leaves no room for Floyd (who is in row 1) to be a criminal neighbor of Ike, so Floyd must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Floyd is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Ike is in row 3" — Muj (B3)
C4 · Sue → INNOCENT
Because: Wanda is at C5, and her neighbors are Ronald at B4, Sue at C4, Tyler at D4, Vicky at B5, and Xia at D5. Floyd’s clue says Wanda has exactly 3 innocent neighbors. Ronald and Tyler are already known to be innocent, while Vicky and Xia are already known to be criminal, so they cannot count toward the three. That forces Sue to be the third innocent neighbor of Wanda. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Sue is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Wanda has exactly 3 innocent neighbors" — Floyd (C1)
A4 · Paula → CRIMINAL
Because: Muj is at B3, so his neighbors include the three people in row 4 next to him: A4 Paula, B4 Ronald, and C4 Sue. Jose’s clue says that among the three criminals neighboring Muj, only one of them is in row 4. Since Ronald and Sue are already known to be innocent, the only possible row 4 neighbor who could be that one criminal is Paula. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Paula is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Muj is in row 4" — Jose (C2)
A3 · Lisa → INNOCENT
Because: Look at columns A and B, since Uma’s clue says they contain an equal number of innocents. In column B, B3 (Muj) and B4 (Ronald) are innocent, while B1, B2, and B5 are criminals, so column B has exactly 2 innocents. In column A, A2 (Hank) is innocent and A1, A4, and A5 are criminals, so the only way for column A to also have 2 innocents is for A3 (Lisa) to be innocent as well. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Lisa is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns A and B" — Uma (A5)
C3 · Nick → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 3 contains Lisa at A3, Muj at B3, Nick at C3, and Olive at D3. Ronald’s clue says the number of innocents in row 3 is odd. We already know Lisa, Muj, and Olive are innocents, so row 3 already has 3 innocents; if Nick were also innocent, that would make 4 innocents, which is even and would break the clue. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Nick is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 3" — Ronald (B4)