Clues by Sam Feb 28, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Hard·Solved
A1
🕵️♂️
Austin
sleuth
B1
👮♂️
Ben
cop
C1
🕵️♀️
Claire
sleuth
D1
👩💻
Flora
coder
A2
🕵️♂️
Hal
sleuth
B2
👮♂️
Ivan
cop
C2
💂♂️
John
guard
D2
👨🌾
Kevin
farmer
A3
👩🍳
Laura
cook
B3
👮♀️
Maria
cop
C3
👨🍳
Nick
cook
D3
👨🌾
Olof
farmer
A4
💂♂️
Peter
guard
B4
👩🍳
Ruth
cook
C4
👨💻
Sam
coder
D4
👩💻
Tina
coder
A5
💂♀️
Uma
guard
B5
👷♀️
Vicky
builder
C5
👷♀️
Wanda
builder
D5
👷♀️
Xena
builder
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 8Criminal 12Unknown 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 · 8
[ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ B2 ] [ D2 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ B4 ] [ A5 ]
Criminal · 12
[ A1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ C2 ] [ A3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ 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 · Austin
"I socked away all the stolen socks"
B1 · Ben
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Wanda"
C1 · Claire
"Olof is one of 2 criminals in between Flora and Xena"
D1 · Flora
"Exactly 2 of Nick's 4 criminal neighbors also neighbor Wanda"
A2 · Hal
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Claire"
B2 · Ivan
"I have exactly 4 criminal neighbors"
C2 · John
"Put a sock in it, Laura! Don't reveal our hideout!"
D2 · Kevin
"I'll bet my socks we'll find them tomorrow."
A3 · Laura
"Glad we found that great hiding place for the socks across the street!"
B3 · Maria
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors"
C3 · Nick
"I actually like it barefeet. Making fists with my toes..."
D3 · Olof
"Exactly 1 criminal neighboring me is to the right of Hal"
A4 · Peter
"There are more innocents in row 1 than row 4"
B4 · Ruth
"This sucks. I want my socks back!"
C4 · Sam
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are Peter's neighbors"
D4 · Tina
"You need to pull your socks up to find them. Too bad you don't have any!"
A5 · Uma
"I've lost everything, down to my socks!"
B5 · Vicky
"There are as many criminal cooks as there are criminal farmers"
C5 · Wanda
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 innocents"
D5 · Xena
"We stole all your socks and hid them from you!"
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)
C4 · Sam → CRIMINAL, C5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Because: Claire is at C1, so the people below her are John at C2, Nick at C3, Sam at C4, and Wanda at C5. Maria’s clue says there are exactly three criminals among those four people, and exactly two of those three criminals are neighbors of Vicky at B5. The only people in Claire’s column who are neighbors of Vicky are Sam at C4 and Wanda at C5, because they touch B5 diagonally/orthogonally, while John and Nick are too far away. Since the clue requires exactly two of the three criminals below Claire to be Vicky’s neighbors, Sam and Wanda must be those two criminals. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Sam is CRIMINAL and C5 Wanda is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors" — Maria (B3)
C1 · Claire → INNOCENT
Because: Look at column C: it contains Claire at C1, John at C2, Nick at C3, Sam at C4, and Wanda at C5. Maria’s clue says “Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky’s neighbors,” which only makes sense if there are exactly three criminals somewhere below Claire in column C, meaning among C2–C5 there are three criminals; since Sam and Wanda are already criminals, exactly one of John or Nick must also be a criminal. Wanda’s clue says column C has exactly two innocents, and with Sam and Wanda already criminals, that means among Claire, John, and Nick there are exactly two innocents; but we just established that John and Nick contain exactly one criminal, so Claire must be the second innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C1 (Claire) is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors" — Maria (B3)
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 innocents" — Wanda (C5)
D3 · Olof → CRIMINAL
Because: Flora is at D1 and Xena is at D5, so the people strictly in between them in column D are Kevin at D2, Olof at D3, and Tina at D4. Claire’s clue says that there are exactly two criminals among those in-between people, and that Olof is one of those two criminals. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Olof is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Olof is one of 2 criminals in between Flora and Xena" — Claire (C1)
D5 · Xena → CRIMINAL, D1 · Flora → CRIMINAL
Because: Claire’s clue says that Olof at D3 is one of exactly two criminals strictly between Flora at D1 and Xena at D5, so the “in between” spaces are D2, D3, and D4, and since Olof is already a criminal, exactly one of D2 and D4 is criminal and the other is innocent. Sam’s clue also tells us there are 10 edge criminals in total, so there are exactly 4 edge innocents, and it says only 2 of the edge criminals are neighbors of Peter at A4; Peter’s edge neighbors are A3, A5, and B5, so at least one of those three must be an edge innocent. We already have edge-innocent Claire at C1, plus that required edge innocent among A3/A5/B5, plus the required edge innocent at either D2 or D4, which uses up at least three of the four edge-innocent spots, leaving room for at most one innocent among Flora (D1) and Xena (D5). Wanda’s clue says column C is the only column with exactly 2 innocents, so column D cannot have exactly 2 innocents; since D2/D4 contributes exactly one innocent and Olof is criminal, column D would have exactly 2 innocents if exactly one of Flora or Xena were innocent, so Flora and Xena must share the same status, and that forces both of them to be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Xena is CRIMINAL and D1 Flora is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are Peter's neighbors" — Sam (C4)
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 innocents" — Wanda (C5)
"Olof is one of 2 criminals in between Flora and Xena" — Claire (C1)
B2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Because: Nick is at C3, and his neighbors are Ivan at B2, John at C2, Kevin at D2, Ruth at B4, Sam at C4, Tina at D4, Maria at B3, and Olof at D3. Flora’s clue says Nick has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminals also neighbor Wanda; since Sam is a criminal and is adjacent to Wanda, that forces exactly one of Ruth or Tina to be a criminal as the second overlap with Wanda, and it also means there is exactly one criminal among Ivan, John, and Kevin to bring Nick’s criminal-neighbor total up to 4. Olof’s clue says that among Olof’s neighboring criminals, exactly one is to the right of Hal, and the only neighbors of Olof that are to the right of Hal are John at C2 and Kevin at D2, so exactly one of John or Kevin is a criminal. Since the single criminal among Ivan, John, and Kevin must therefore be either John or Kevin, Ivan cannot be that criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Ivan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 criminal neighboring me is to the right of Hal" — Olof (D3)
"Exactly 2 of Nick's 4 criminal neighbors also neighbor Wanda" — Flora (D1)
A3 · Laura → CRIMINAL
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are Peter's neighbors" — Sam (C4)
"Column C is the only column with exactly 2 innocents" — Wanda (C5)
"I have exactly 4 criminal neighbors" — Ivan (B2)
A4 · Peter → CRIMINAL
Because: Peter is on the edge at A4, and Sam’s clue also tells us there are 10 criminals on the edges in total. We already know five edge criminals for sure: Flora at D1, Laura at A3, Olof at D3, Wanda at C5, and Xena at D5, so five more edge criminals must come from the eight still-unknown edge people: Austin A1, Ben B1, Hal A2, Peter A4, Uma A5, Vicky B5, Kevin D2, and Tina D4. Maria’s clue says there are exactly three criminals below Claire in column C, and since Sam C4 and Wanda C5 are already criminals, exactly one of John C2 or Nick C3 is criminal; combining that with Ivan’s “exactly 4 criminal neighbors” (where Laura is already one criminal neighbor and Claire and Maria are innocent neighbors) forces exactly two of Austin A1, Ben B1, and Hal A2 to be criminals, meaning the remaining five edge criminals must include exactly three criminals among Peter, Uma, Vicky, Kevin, and Tina. Claire’s clue says there are exactly two criminals between Flora and Xena in column D, and since Olof is one of them, exactly one of Kevin or Tina is criminal, so Peter, Uma, and Vicky must contain exactly two criminals. Sam’s clue also says exactly two edge criminals are Peter’s neighbors, and since Laura is already an edge-criminal neighbor of Peter, exactly one of Uma or Vicky can be an edge-criminal neighbor, so Peter must be the other criminal in the Peter-Uma-Vicky group. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Peter is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors" — Maria (B3)
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are Peter's neighbors" — Sam (C4)
"Olof is one of 2 criminals in between Flora and Xena" — Claire (C1)
"I have exactly 4 criminal neighbors" — Ivan (B2)
A2 · Hal → CRIMINAL
Because: From Flora’s clue about Nick and Wanda, the only neighbors Nick has that also neighbor Wanda are B4, C4, and D4, and exactly 2 of Nick’s 4 criminal neighbors must be among those three. Since C4 (Sam) is already a criminal, exactly one of B4 (Ruth) or D4 (Tina) is criminal and the other is innocent, so row 4 has exactly one innocent (because A4 and C4 are criminals). Peter’s clue says row 1 has more innocents than row 4, so row 1 must have at least two innocents; with C1 (Claire) already innocent and D1 (Flora) criminal, that means at least one of A1 (Austin) or B1 (Ben) is innocent. Ivan’s clue says B2 has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and around B2 we already have A3 (Laura) criminal plus C1 (Claire) and B3 (Maria) innocent, so A1, B1, A2, C2, and C3 must contain exactly three criminals. Maria’s clue forces exactly three criminals below Claire in column C; since C4 (Sam) and C5 (Wanda) are already criminals, exactly one of C2 (John) or C3 (Nick) is criminal, so A1, B1, and A2 must contain exactly two criminals. Because at least one of A1 or B1 is innocent, A2 cannot be the innocent one in that trio, so Hal at A2 must be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A2 (Hal) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors" — Maria (B3)
"Exactly 2 of Nick's 4 criminal neighbors also neighbor Wanda" — Flora (D1)
"I have exactly 4 criminal neighbors" — Ivan (B2)
"There are more innocents in row 1 than row 4" — Peter (A4)
B1 · Ben → INNOCENT
Because: Olof at D3 says that among his neighboring criminals, exactly one is located to the right of Hal. The only neighbors of Olof that are also to the right of Hal (in Hal’s row 2) are John at C2 and Kevin at D2, so this forces exactly one of John and Kevin to be a criminal and the other to be an innocent. Hal also says there is an odd number of innocents neighboring Claire at C1; Claire’s neighbors are Ben (B1), Ivan (B2), John (C2), Kevin (D2), and Flora (D1), and we already know Ivan is innocent and Flora is a criminal. That means the number of innocents among Ben, John, and Kevin must be even, but John and Kevin contribute exactly one innocent between them, so Ben must be the second innocent to make the count even. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Ben is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 criminal neighboring me is to the right of Hal" — Olof (D3)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Claire" — Hal (A2)
A1 · Austin → CRIMINAL
Because: Claire is at C1, so the people below her in the same column are John at C2, Nick at C3, Sam at C4, and Wanda at C5. Maria’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals among those four people, and since Sam and Wanda are already known criminals, that forces exactly one of John and Nick to be a criminal. Ivan is at B2, and his neighbors include Austin at A1, Hal at A2, Laura at A3, John at C2, and Nick at C3 (among others); Ivan’s clue says he has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and Hal and Laura already make 2 of those. Since only one of John and Nick can be criminal, Ivan cannot reach 4 criminal neighbors unless Austin is also criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Austin is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors" — Maria (B3)
"I have exactly 4 criminal neighbors" — Ivan (B2)
B5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Because: Wanda is at C5, so her neighbors are Ruth (B4), Sam (C4), Tina (D4), Vicky (B5), and Xena (D5). Flora’s clue says that exactly 2 of Nick’s 4 criminal neighbors also neighbor Wanda; since Sam (C4) is both a neighbor of Nick and a neighbor of Wanda and is already known to be a criminal, exactly one of Ruth (B4) and Tina (D4) must be a criminal to make the total “criminal neighbors of Nick who also neighbor Wanda” equal to 2. That means among Ruth and Tina, there is exactly one innocent, and since Sam and Xena are criminals, Ben’s clue (“an odd number of innocents neighboring Wanda”) can only be satisfied if Vicky is not an innocent, because otherwise Wanda would have exactly two innocent neighbors (Ruth/Tina plus Vicky), which is even. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Vicky is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Nick's 4 criminal neighbors also neighbor Wanda" — Flora (D1)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Wanda" — Ben (B1)
A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Peter is at A4, so his neighbors include A3 (Laura), A5 (Uma), and B5 (Vicky), and among these three, A3 and A5 and B5 are on the edge. Sam’s clue says that exactly 2 of the edge criminals are Peter’s neighbors. Laura at A3 and Vicky at B5 are both already known edge criminals and both are Peter’s neighbors, so they already make the total of 2. That means Uma at A5 cannot also be an edge criminal neighbor, so Uma cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are Peter's neighbors" — Sam (C4)
B4 · Ruth → INNOCENT
Because: From Olof’s clue, the only neighbors of Olof who are also to the right of Hal are John (C2) and Kevin (D2), so exactly one of John and Kevin must be a criminal. From Maria’s clue, there are exactly three criminals below Claire in column C, and since Sam (C4) and Wanda (C5) are already criminals, exactly one of John (C2) and Nick (C3) is the third criminal. That means John is opposite to Kevin, and John is also opposite to Nick, so Kevin and Nick must have the same status. Vicky’s clue says the number of criminal cooks equals the number of criminal farmers; Laura is already one criminal cook and Olof is already one criminal farmer, so the remaining balance depends only on whether Ruth and Nick are criminal cooks and whether Kevin is a criminal farmer. Since Nick and Kevin always match, the only way for the cook side not to exceed the farmer side is for Ruth not to be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B4 · Ruth is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors" — Maria (B3)
"Exactly 1 criminal neighboring me is to the right of Hal" — Olof (D3)
"There are as many criminal cooks as there are criminal farmers" — Vicky (B5)
D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Because: Nick is at C3, and the only people who are both Nick’s neighbors and Wanda’s (C5) neighbors are Ruth at B4, Sam at C4, and Tina at D4. Flora’s clue says that exactly 2 of Nick’s 4 criminal neighbors also neighbor Wanda, so among those shared neighbors there must be exactly 2 criminals. Ruth is already known to be innocent, and Sam is already known to be a criminal, so the only way to reach exactly 2 criminals in that shared set is for Tina to be a criminal as well. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tina is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of Nick's 4 criminal neighbors also neighbor Wanda" — Flora (D1)
D2 · Kevin → INNOCENT
Because: Flora is at D1 and Xena is at D5, so the people in between them in column D are Kevin at D2, Olof at D3, and Tina at D4. Claire’s clue says that Olof is one of exactly two criminals among those in-between people. Since Olof is already a criminal and Tina is also already a criminal, those are the two criminals the clue allows in between Flora and Xena, so Kevin cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Kevin is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Olof is one of 2 criminals in between Flora and Xena" — Claire (C1)
C2 · John → CRIMINAL
Because: Olof is at D3, so his neighbors include C2 and D2. The clue says that among Olof’s neighboring criminals, exactly one of them is positioned to the right of Hal, and the only neighbors of Olof that are to the right of Hal are C2 (John) and D2 (Kevin), since Hal is at A2. Kevin at D2 is already known to be innocent, so the one neighboring criminal to the right of Hal must be John at C2. Therefore, we can determine that C2 John is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 criminal neighboring me is to the right of Hal" — Olof (D3)
C3 · Nick → INNOCENT
Because: Claire is at C1, so the people below her in column C are John at C2, Nick at C3, Sam at C4, and Wanda at C5. Maria’s clue says there are exactly three criminals among those four people, and that exactly two of those three criminals are neighbors of Vicky. John, Sam, and Wanda are already known criminals, which already makes three criminals below Claire, and among them Sam and Wanda are neighbors of Vicky while John is not, matching the “exactly two” requirement. That leaves no room for Nick to also be a criminal in that column segment. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Nick is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals below Claire are Vicky's neighbors" — Maria (B3)