Clues by Sam Mar 22, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Hard·Solved
A1
💂♂️
Adam
guard
B1
👮♂️
Brian
cop
C1
👨⚕️
Chris
doctor
D1
👷♀️
Ellie
builder
A2
👮♂️
Frank
cop
B2
👨🌾
Gabe
farmer
C2
👩💻
Helen
coder
D2
👷♂️
Ivan
builder
A3
💂♀️
Jane
guard
B3
👮♀️
Karen
cop
C3
👩💻
Linda
coder
D3
👷♀️
Maria
builder
A4
💂♀️
Olive
guard
B4
🕵️♀️
Petra
sleuth
C4
👨💻
Steve
coder
D4
👩🌾
Tina
farmer
A5
🕵️♀️
Uma
sleuth
B5
🕵️♂️
Vince
sleuth
C5
👨⚕️
Xavi
doctor
D5
👨⚕️
Ziad
doctor
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 6Criminal 14Unknown 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 · 6
[ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ D4 ] [ C5 ]
Criminal · 14
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ] [ 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
"It's the best! Sometimes I catch myself, just for fun."
B1 · Brian
"There are more criminals in column C than column D"
C1 · Chris
"Petra is one of Steve's 5 criminal neighbors"
D1 · Ellie
"Sounds like this new attitude is catching on"
A2 · Frank
"Getting caught sounds exciting! I wish I was a criminal."
B2 · Gabe
"Getting caught is kind of fun actually! Then you can escape again!"
C2 · Helen
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen's neighbor"
D2 · Ivan
"Each row has at least 2 criminals"
A3 · Jane
"Olive, I think you're alone with your opinion"
B3 · Karen
"There's an odd number of criminals on the edges"
C3 · Linda
"Oh, the week is ruined if I don't get caught at least once!"
D3 · Maria
"I don't mind getting caught. I mean, I guess I deserved it?"
A4 · Olive
"I hate getting caught!"
B4 · Petra
"Brian and Karen have only one innocent neighbor in common"
C4 · Steve
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Petra are in column C"
D4 · Tina
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda's neighbors"
A5 · Uma
"Phew! Almost didn't get caught this time!"
B5 · Vince
"There are more innocents in column A than column B"
C5 · Xavi
"I must say, today's attitude caught me by surprise."
D5 · Ziad
"Only one row has exactly 2 innocents"
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)
C4 · Steve → CRIMINAL, C2 · Helen → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue is about the criminals in column C and asks which of them are neighbors of Linda at C3. Linda’s only neighbors who are also in column C are Helen at C2 (directly above) and Steve at C4 (directly below); no one else in column C is adjacent to Linda. Since the clue says exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda’s neighbors, those two must be Helen and Steve. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Steve is CRIMINAL and C2 Helen is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda's neighbors" — Tina (D4)
C1 · Chris → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at column C: C1 Chris, C2 Helen, C3 Linda, C4 Steve, and C5 Xavi. Tina says there are exactly 4 criminals in column C, and exactly 2 of those 4 are Linda’s neighbors; the only people in column C who are neighbors of Linda at C3 are C2 and C4, so the other 2 criminals in column C must come from the non-neighbors C1, C3, and C5. Now use Steve’s clue about Petra at B4: Petra has exactly 5 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminal neighbors are in column C. Petra’s only neighbors in column C are C3, C4, and C5, so exactly 2 of C3, C4, and C5 are criminals; since C4 Steve is already a criminal, exactly one of C3 Linda or C5 Xavi is a criminal and the other is innocent. That means among C1, C3, and C5, we already have exactly one criminal coming from C3 or C5, but Tina’s clue requires there to be two criminals in total among C1, C3, and C5, so C1 must be the other criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Chris is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda's neighbors" — Tina (D4)
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Petra are in column C" — Steve (C4)
B4 · Petra → CRIMINAL
Because: Chris’s clue explicitly says that Petra is one of Steve’s criminal neighbors, which directly states that Petra herself is a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Petra is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Petra is one of Steve's 5 criminal neighbors" — Chris (C1)
B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL, D5 · Ziad → CRIMINAL
Because: Steve at C4 has eight neighbors: Karen, Linda, Maria, Petra, Tina, Vince, Xavi, and Ziad. Chris’s clue says Steve has exactly five criminal neighbors and that Petra is one of them; since Tina is already known to be innocent, that means four of the remaining six neighbors (Karen, Linda, Maria, Vince, Xavi, Ziad) must be criminals. Helen’s clue says there are exactly two criminals in row 3, and only one of those two is Karen’s neighbor; in row 3, Karen’s only neighbors are Jane and Linda, so this forces exactly one of Karen and Maria to be a criminal. Tina’s clue says there are four criminals in column C; with Chris, Helen, and Steve already criminal in column C, exactly one of Linda and Xavi must be a criminal. So among Karen, Maria, Linda, and Xavi there are exactly two criminals total, but Steve still needs four criminals among the six people Karen, Linda, Maria, Vince, Xavi, and Ziad, which forces both Vince and Ziad to be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Vince is CRIMINAL and D5 Ziad is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda's neighbors" — Tina (D4)
"Petra is one of Steve's 5 criminal neighbors" — Chris (C1)
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen's neighbor" — Helen (C2)
A4 · Olive → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at row 3 (A3 Jane, B3 Karen, C3 Linda, D3 Maria) and Helen’s clue saying “Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen’s neighbor.” That clue already fixes that row 3 contains exactly 2 criminals, which means row 3 also contains exactly 2 innocents. Ziad’s clue says only one row on the whole board has exactly 2 innocents, so no other row is allowed to end up with exactly 2 innocents. In row 4, Petra and Steve are already criminals and Tina is already innocent, so if Olive at A4 were innocent then row 4 would have exactly 2 innocents (Olive and Tina), which is not allowed; Olive must be the fourth-row criminal instead. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Olive is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen's neighbor" — Helen (C2)
"Only one row has exactly 2 innocents" — Ziad (D5)
D2 · Ivan → CRIMINAL
Because: Helen’s clue says there are exactly two criminals in row 3, so because row 3 has four people, row 3 must also have exactly two innocents. Ziad’s clue says only one row has exactly two innocents, so once row 3 has two innocents, every other row must have a number of innocents different from two. Petra’s clue makes Frank (A2) and Gabe (B2) split one innocent and one criminal, and Helen (C2) is already a criminal, so row 2 currently has exactly one innocent among A2 and B2. That means row 2 would have exactly two innocents if and only if Ivan (D2) were innocent, which is not allowed because row 3 is already the only row with exactly two innocents. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Ivan is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Brian and Karen have only one innocent neighbor in common" — Petra (B4)
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen's neighbor" — Helen (C2)
"Only one row has exactly 2 innocents" — Ziad (D5)
D3 · Maria → CRIMINAL, B3 · Karen → INNOCENT
Because: Petra is at B4, and Steve’s clue says that among Petra’s neighbors there are exactly 5 criminals, with exactly 2 of those in column C. Since Olive (A4), Steve (C4), and Vince (B5) are already criminals, that forces exactly 2 criminals among the remaining neighbors A3, B3, C3, A5, and C5, and because Steve (C4) already supplies one of the column C criminals, exactly one of C3 and C5 is a criminal. Helen’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals in row 3, and only one of them is Karen’s neighbor; the only row 3 neighbors of Karen (B3) are A3 and C3, so exactly one of A3 and C3 is a criminal. That means the group A3, C3, A5, C5 must already contain at least two criminals (one from A3/C3, and one from C3/C5, and if C3 is the criminal then C5 is innocent which makes A5 have to be a criminal to avoid row 5 being the second row with exactly 2 innocents), but Steve’s clue allows only two criminals total among A3, B3, C3, A5, C5, so Karen at B3 cannot be a criminal. With Karen innocent, Helen’s clue also forces the second row 3 criminal to be Maria at D3 (since row 3 must still have two criminals, and only one of them can be adjacent to Karen, which D3 is not). Therefore, we can determine that D3 Maria is CRIMINAL and B3 Karen is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Petra are in column C" — Steve (C4)
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen's neighbor" — Helen (C2)
"Only one row has exactly 2 innocents" — Ziad (D5)
A2 · Frank → INNOCENT, B2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Because: Petra at B4 says, via Steve’s clue, that among Petra’s neighbors there are exactly 5 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminals are in column C; since Steve at C4 is already one of them and Olive and Vince are already criminals, this forces exactly one of Jane (A3) and Uma (A5) to be innocent. Petra also says Brian and Karen have only one innocent neighbor in common, and their common neighbors are exactly Frank (A2), Gabe (B2), and Helen (C2); since Helen is already a criminal, that means exactly one of Frank and Gabe is innocent. Vince says column A has more innocents than column B, and since Karen is already an innocent in column B, Gabe cannot be the second innocent in column B because then Frank would have to be criminal, and column A would be able to contain at most two innocents (only Adam plus the one innocent among Jane and Uma), so it could not be more than column B. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Frank is INNOCENT and B2 Gabe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Petra are in column C" — Steve (C4)
"Brian and Karen have only one innocent neighbor in common" — Petra (B4)
"There are more innocents in column A than column B" — Vince (B5)
B1 · Brian → CRIMINAL
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda's neighbors" — Tina (D4)
"There are more innocents in column A than column B" — Vince (B5)
"Only one row has exactly 2 innocents" — Ziad (D5)
"Each row has at least 2 criminals" — Ivan (D2)
D1 · Ellie → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at C3, and Tina’s clue says “Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda’s neighbors,” which tells us that column C contains exactly 4 criminals in total. Brian’s clue says there are more criminals in column C than in column D, so column D must have fewer than 4 criminals. In column D we already have Ivan at D2, Maria at D3, and Ziad at D5 as criminals, and Tina at D4 as innocent, so the only way for column D to have fewer than 4 criminals is for Ellie at D1 to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Ellie is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda's neighbors" — Tina (D4)
"There are more criminals in column C than column D" — Brian (B1)
A1 · Adam → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at row 3: Karen is already INNOCENT and Maria is already CRIMINAL. Helen’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals in row 3, so the remaining two people in that row (Jane at A3 and Linda at C3) must be one CRIMINAL and one INNOCENT, which means row 3 has exactly 2 innocents in total. Ziad’s clue says only one row has exactly 2 innocents, so no other row can have exactly 2 innocents; in row 1, Ellie is already INNOCENT, so the only way for row 1 to have exactly 2 innocents would be if Adam were also INNOCENT, and that is ruled out. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Adam is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen's neighbor" — Helen (C2)
"Only one row has exactly 2 innocents" — Ziad (D5)
C3 · Linda → CRIMINAL
Because: Petra is at B4, so her neighbors are A3, B3, C3, A4, C4, A5, B5, and C5. Steve’s clue says there are exactly 5 criminals among those neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminals are in column C; since C4 is already a criminal, exactly one of C3 and C5 must be a criminal, and the other must be innocent. Also, because A4, C4, and B5 are already criminals, we need exactly two more criminals among A3, C3, A5, and C5; with exactly one of C3/C5 being criminal, that forces exactly one of A3/A5 to be criminal as well. Karen’s clue says the total number of edge criminals is odd; we already have 8 confirmed edge criminals, so among the edge unknowns A3, A5, and C5 there must be an odd number of criminals. But we just established exactly one of A3 and A5 is criminal, which is already odd, so C5 must be innocent to keep the total odd; therefore C3 must be the column C neighbor criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Linda is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Petra are in column C" — Steve (C4)
"There's an odd number of criminals on the edges" — Karen (B3)
C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Because: Tina’s clue talks about “the 4 criminals in column C,” so column C must contain exactly four criminals in total. We already know that Chris at C1, Helen at C2, Linda at C3, and Steve at C4 are criminals, which already makes four criminals in column C. That leaves no room for Xavi at C5 to also be a criminal, so Xavi must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Xavi is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column C are Linda's neighbors" — Tina (D4)
A3 · Jane → INNOCENT
Because: In row 3, the people are Jane at A3, Karen at B3, Linda at C3, and Maria at D3. Helen’s clue says that there are exactly two criminals in row 3, and that only one of those two is a neighbor of Karen. We already know Linda and Maria are criminals, so they must be the two criminals in row 3 mentioned by the clue, which means Jane cannot also be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Jane is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals in row 3 is Karen's neighbor" — Helen (C2)
A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: Petra is at B4, so her neighbors are A3 Jane, B3 Karen, C3 Linda, A4 Olive, C4 Steve, A5 Uma, B5 Vince, and C5 Xavi. Steve’s clue says that Petra has exactly 5 criminal neighbors in total, and exactly 2 of those 5 are in column C. Among Petra’s neighbors, we already know four criminals: Linda (C3), Olive (A4), Steve (C4), and Vince (B5), and the two column C criminals are already fixed as Linda and Steve. That means Petra must have one more criminal neighbor, and the only neighbor still unknown is Uma at A5. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Petra are in column C" — Steve (C4)