Clues by Sam Mar 12, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B1
💂♂️
guard
C1
👮♂️
cop
D1
👩🌾
farmer
A2
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B2
👨🍳
cook
C2
👮♀️
cop
D2
👮♂️
cop
A3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B3
👩💼
clerk
C3
👩💼
clerk
D3
👨🌾
farmer
A4
👷♂️
builder
B4
👷♀️
builder
C4
👷♂️
builder
D4
👨🌾
farmer
A5
💂♀️
guard
B5
💂♂️
guard
C5
👩🍳
cook
D5
👩🍳
cook
Final Board State
This puzzle is fully solved.
All characters have been identified as innocent or criminal based on today's clues.
See how each clue leads to the final result
Skip the reasoning — 8 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Mar 12, 2026 — a Hard solved in 15 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 8 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Evie (D1), Gus (B2), Janet (A3), Nick (D3), Tyler (D4), Uma (A5), Vince (B5) and Xia (D5); the remaining 12 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D5 · Xia → CRIMINAL
Chris’s clue says that Xia is one of Wanda’s 3 criminal neighbors, which directly states that Xia is a criminal (and Xia is indeed Wanda’s neighbor at D5 next to C5). Therefore, we can determine that D5 Xia is CRIMINAL.
02.B4 · Rose → INNOCENT
Xia’s clue explicitly says that Rose is one of the innocents in row 4, which directly fixes Rose’s identity as innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Rose is INNOCENT.
03.A4 · Peter → INNOCENT, B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Wanda is at C5, and her neighbors are Rose at B4, Scott at C4, Tyler at D4, Vince at B5, and Xia at D5. Chris’s clue says Xia is one of Wanda’s 3 criminal neighbors, so among those five neighbors exactly three are criminals; since Xia is already a criminal and Rose is already an innocent, that forces exactly two criminals among Scott, Tyler, and Vince. Xia’s clue says row 4 has exactly three innocents and includes Rose, so only one of Peter, Scott, and Tyler can be a criminal. If Vince were innocent, then Scott and Tyler would both have to be criminals to give Wanda the needed two criminals besides Xia, but row 4 only allows one criminal among Peter, Scott, and Tyler, so Vince must be one of Wanda’s criminals. With Vince criminal, Wanda still needs one more criminal from Scott or Tyler, and since row 4 allows only one criminal among Peter, Scott, and Tyler, that means Peter cannot be the criminal and must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Peter is INNOCENT and B5 Vince is CRIMINAL.
04.B3 · Laura → INNOCENT
Gus is at B2, so the people below Gus are the other people in column B: Laura at B3, Rose at B4, and Vince at B5. Rose’s clue says that exactly 2 of those people below Gus are innocents. We already know Rose is INNOCENT and Vince is CRIMINAL, so Laura must be the second innocent to make the total exactly 2. Therefore, we can determine that B3 Laura is INNOCENT.
05.C5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Xia is at D5, so her only neighbors are Wanda at C5, Scott at C4, and Tyler at D4. Laura’s clue says Xia has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, so among Wanda, Scott, and Tyler there is exactly 1 criminal. Chris’s clue says Xia is one of Wanda’s 3 criminal neighbors; Wanda’s neighbors are Rose, Scott, Tyler, Vince, and Xia, and since Vince and Xia are already criminals while Rose is already innocent, exactly one of Scott or Tyler must be Wanda’s third criminal neighbor. That means Scott and Tyler already account for the single criminal among Xia’s three neighbors, so Wanda cannot be the criminal there and must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Wanda is INNOCENT.
06.D4 · Tyler → CRIMINAL
Scott is at C4, so his neighbors are Laura (B3), Megan (C3), Nick (D3), Rose (B4), Tyler (D4), Vince (B5), Wanda (C5), and Xia (D5). Peter’s clue says that among these eight neighbors there are exactly four criminals in total, and exactly one of those four is in row 3. Vince and Xia are already known criminals, so that accounts for two of the four criminals, and neither is in row 3; also Laura, Rose, and Wanda are already known innocents. That means the remaining three neighbors Megan, Nick, and Tyler must contain exactly two criminals, and since exactly one criminal is allowed in row 3 (between Megan and Nick), Tyler must be the other criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tyler is CRIMINAL.
07.C4 · Scott → INNOCENT
Wanda is at C5, so her neighbors are Rose at B4, Scott at C4, Tyler at D4, Vince at B5, and Xia at D5. Chris’s clue says that Wanda has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and that Xia is one of those criminals. We already know Xia is a criminal, and Tyler and Vince are also criminals, so that already makes 3 criminal neighbors for Wanda. That means none of Wanda’s other neighbors can be criminal, so Scott cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Scott is INNOCENT.
08.A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Row 5 contains Uma at A5, Vince at B5, Wanda at C5, and Xia at D5, and we already know Vince and Xia are criminals while Wanda is innocent. Tyler’s clue says that row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals, so no other row is allowed to end up with exactly 2 criminals. If Uma were innocent, then row 5 would have exactly the two criminals Vince and Xia, which would violate Tyler’s clue, so Uma cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is CRIMINAL.
09.A3 · Janet → CRIMINAL
Scott is at C4, and his neighbors are B3, C3, D3, B4, D4, B5, C5, and D5. Peter says that Scott has exactly four criminal neighbors and only one of those four is in row 3; since Tyler at D4, Vince at B5, and Xia at D5 are already criminals and none of Scott’s other non-row-3 neighbors can add another criminal, the fourth criminal neighbor must be in row 3, meaning exactly one of Megan at C3 or Nick at D3 is a criminal. Tyler then says row 3 has exactly two criminals, but row 3 already has Laura at B3 as innocent and only one criminal among C3 and D3, so the second criminal in row 3 must be Janet at A3. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Janet is CRIMINAL.
10.A1 · Bobby → INNOCENT
Helen is at C2, so her row 1 neighbors are B1 Chris, C1 Donald, and D1 Evie. Vince’s clue says Helen has exactly 3 neighboring criminals, and exactly 1 of those 3 is in row 1; since Chris is already INNOCENT, that forces exactly one of Donald and Evie to be a CRIMINAL. That means row 1 already contains one CRIMINAL among C1 and D1, so if A1 Bobby were also a CRIMINAL then row 1 would have exactly 2 criminals. Tyler’s clue says row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals, so row 1 cannot have exactly 2 criminals, which forces Bobby not to be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Bobby is INNOCENT.
11.A2 · Flora → INNOCENT, C2 · Helen → INNOCENT
Helen at C2 has row 1 neighbors C1 and D1 (since B1 is already innocent), and Vince’s clue says exactly one of Helen’s three neighboring criminals is in row 1, so exactly one of C1 and D1 is a criminal and row 1 therefore has exactly three innocents (A1, B1, and the innocent one of C1/D1). Wanda’s clue says rows 1 and 2 have an equal number of innocents, so row 2 must also have exactly three innocents, meaning there is exactly one criminal in row 2. Peter’s clue about Scott at C4 says Scott has exactly four criminal neighbors and only one of those is in row 3; since Tyler, Vince, and Xia are already three criminal neighbors of Scott, exactly one of C3 and D3 is the fourth criminal, and that also means Helen has exactly one neighboring criminal in row 3. Now Vince’s clue about Helen’s three neighboring criminals is satisfied by one in row 1 and one in row 3, so the third neighboring criminal must be in row 2, and the only row 2 neighbors of Helen are Gus at B2 and Isaac at D2, so exactly one of them is the row 2 criminal. Since row 2 has exactly one criminal total, Flora at A2 and Helen at C2 must both be innocents. Therefore, we can determine that A2 (Flora) is INNOCENT and C2 (Helen) is INNOCENT.
12.D3 · Nick → CRIMINAL
Helen is at C2, so her row 1 neighbors are B1 Chris, C1 Donald, and D1 Evie. Vince’s clue says there are exactly three criminals neighboring Helen, and only one of those three is in row 1; since Chris is already innocent, this forces exactly one of Donald or Evie to be the row 1 criminal, meaning the other one is innocent. Isaac is at D2, and the edge neighbors of Isaac are exactly Donald at C1, Evie at D1, and Nick at D3; Flora’s clue says an odd number of those edge neighbors are innocent. Because Donald and Evie contribute exactly one innocent between them, Nick cannot be innocent (that would make two innocents, which is even), so Nick must be criminal to keep the total number of innocent edge neighbors odd. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Nick is CRIMINAL.
13.C3 · Megan → INNOCENT
Scott is at C4, so his neighbors are Laura at B3, Megan at C3, Nick at D3, Rose at B4, Tyler at D4, Vince at B5, Wanda at C5, and Xia at D5. Peter’s clue says that Scott has exactly four neighboring criminals in total, and exactly one of those neighboring criminals is in row 3. Right now, Nick (row 3), Tyler (row 4), Vince (row 5), and Xia (row 5) are already four criminals among Scott’s neighbors, with only Nick in row 3. That means Megan cannot be a criminal, because she would either make a fifth criminal neighbor for Scott or create a second row-3 criminal neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Megan is INNOCENT.
14.C1 · Donald → INNOCENT, D1 · Evie → CRIMINAL
Helen is at C2, and Vince’s clue says Helen has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, with exactly 1 of those criminals in row 1; since Nick at D3 is already a criminal neighbor of Helen (and not in row 1) and Chris at B1 is innocent, this forces Donald (C1) and Evie (D1) to be split (exactly one criminal), and it also forces Gus (B2) and Isaac (D2) to be split (exactly one criminal). Nick’s row-1 clue is about who has exactly 2 innocent neighbors: Chris (B1) already has at least three innocent neighbors (Bobby, Flora, and Helen), and Donald (C1) already has at least three innocent neighbors (Chris and Helen, plus whichever of Gus or Isaac is the innocent one), so neither Chris nor Donald can be the “exactly 2” person. That means the only row-1 candidates for “exactly 2 innocent neighbors” are Bobby (A1) and Evie (D1), and exactly one of them must fit. Bobby has exactly 2 innocent neighbors exactly when Gus is criminal (since Bobby’s only unknown neighbor is Gus), and Evie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors exactly when Isaac is innocent and Donald is criminal, or when Isaac is criminal and Donald is innocent (because Helen is innocent and Evie’s only other neighbors are Donald and Isaac). If Donald were criminal, then Evie would have exactly 2 innocent neighbors precisely when Isaac is innocent, and in that same situation Gus would be the criminal one (since Gus and Isaac are split), making Bobby also have exactly 2 innocent neighbors, so Donald cannot be criminal here and must be innocent. With Donald forced innocent and Vince’s clue forcing exactly one of Donald and Evie to be the row-1 criminal neighbor of Helen, Evie must be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Donald is INNOCENT and D1 Evie is CRIMINAL.
15.B2 · Gus → CRIMINAL, D2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Helen is at C2, and her neighbors are B1, C1, D1, B2, D2, B3, C3, and D3. Vince’s clue says there are exactly three criminals among those neighbors, and only one of those three is in row 1; since Evie at D1 is already a criminal neighbor in row 1 and Nick at D3 is a criminal neighbor in row 3, the third criminal neighbor must be either Gus at B2 or Isaac at D2, but not both. Evie’s clue says that in row 1, exactly one person has exactly four innocent neighbors; Bobby at A1 and Evie at D1 cannot, because corner positions only have three neighbors. Chris at B1 has exactly four innocent neighbors only if Gus is a criminal (otherwise Chris would have five innocent neighbors), while Donald at C1 would have exactly four innocent neighbors only if both Gus and Isaac were innocent, which is impossible because Vince’s clue requires one of them to be a criminal. So Chris must be the only row 1 person with exactly four innocent neighbors, forcing Gus to be a criminal, and then Vince’s clue forces Isaac to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Gus is CRIMINAL and D2 Isaac is INNOCENT.