Clues by Sam Mar 24, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Medium·Solved
A1
👨💻
Andre
coder
B1
👩🌾
Carol
farmer
C1
👨🍳
Daniel
cook
D1
👨🌾
Erwin
farmer
A2
👩🏫
Flora
teacher
B2
👨🏫
Gary
teacher
C2
👨🍳
Igor
cook
D2
👨🏫
Jerry
teacher
A3
🕵️♀️
Kay
sleuth
B3
👩🎤
Linda
singer
C3
👨⚖️
Mark
judge
D3
👩⚖️
Nicole
judge
A4
👩💻
Paula
coder
B4
👩🍳
Sarah
cook
C4
👨⚖️
Tom
judge
D4
👩🎨
Uma
painter
A5
👨🎤
Vince
singer
B5
🕵️♂️
Wally
sleuth
C5
👩💻
Xia
coder
D5
👩🎨
Zara
painter
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 16Criminal 4Unknown 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 · 16
[ A1 ] [ C1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ] [ C5 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 4
[ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ B4 ]
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 · Andre
"Exactly 2 of the 6 innocents neighboring Linda are in row 4"
B1 · Carol
"Linda! That was a trade secret!"
C1 · Daniel
"Thanks, Linda! I just noticed I'm a cook thanks to your tip!"
D1 · Erwin
"Last week it was corner tags, now this. What's next week?"
A2 · Flora
"Vince is the only person in a corner with one criminal neighbor"
B2 · Gary
"Linda is one of 2 innocents above Wally"
C2 · Igor
"There's an odd number of innocents below Andre"
D2 · Jerry
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Mark"
A3 · Kay
"He he... Clicking Carol makes Linda's name jump. Funny!"
B3 · Linda
"Tap on a clue a few times to quickly find who the clue is talking about"
C3 · Mark
"There are as many innocent cooks as there are innocent painters"
D3 · Nicole
"An odd number of us innocents on the edges neighbor Igor"
A4 · Paula
"Linda's tip works for both names and professions!"
B4 · Sarah
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Erwin is neighboring Flora"
C4 · Tom
"Each column has at least 3 innocents"
D4 · Uma
"All innocents in column C are connected"
A5 · Vince
"There are more innocent judges than us innocent singers"
B5 · Wally
"Row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents"
C5 · Xia
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Jerry is neighboring Andre"
D5 · Zara
"Now nothing can stop us!"
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)
B3 · Linda → INNOCENT
Because: Gary’s clue says that “Linda is one of 2 innocents above Wally,” which directly states that Linda is an innocent as part of that pair. Since all clues are truthful, this immediately fixes Linda’s status. Therefore, we can determine that B3 Linda is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Linda is one of 2 innocents above Wally" — Gary (B2)
B4 · Sarah → CRIMINAL, B1 · Carol → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue is about the people above Wally, and Wally is at B5, so the relevant people are B1 Carol, B2 Gary, B3 Linda, and B4 Sarah. It says that Linda is one of exactly two innocents above Wally, meaning there are exactly two innocents total among those four people. Since Gary at B2 is already INNOCENT and Linda at B3 is already INNOCENT, those are the two innocents the clue allows above Wally. That leaves Carol at B1 and Sarah at B4 unable to be innocent, so they must be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Sarah is CRIMINAL and B1 Carol is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Linda is one of 2 innocents above Wally" — Gary (B2)
A1 · Andre → INNOCENT
Because: Erwin is at D1, so the people to the left of Erwin are Andre at A1, Carol at B1, and Daniel at C1. The clue says that among those three, exactly one person is innocent, and that innocent person must be neighboring Flora at A2. Of these three, only Andre (A1) and Carol (B1) neighbor Flora; Daniel (C1) does not, and Carol is already known to be a criminal, so the only possible person who can satisfy the clue is Andre. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Andre is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Erwin is neighboring Flora" — Sarah (B4)
A4 · Paula → INNOCENT, C4 · Tom → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at B3, so her row 4 neighbors are A4 (Paula), B4 (Sarah), and C4 (Tom). Andre’s clue says that among the neighbors of Linda who are innocent, exactly two are in row 4, meaning exactly two of those three people in row 4 must be innocent. Since Sarah at B4 is already known to be a criminal, the only way to still have exactly two innocents in that row 4 trio is for Paula at A4 and Tom at C4 to both be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Paula is INNOCENT and C4 Tom is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 6 innocents neighboring Linda are in row 4" — Andre (A1)
B5 · Wally → INNOCENT
Because: Look at column B: Carol at B1 is a criminal, Gary at B2 is innocent, Linda at B3 is innocent, Sarah at B4 is a criminal, and Wally at B5 is the only one still unknown. Tom’s clue says each column must contain at least 3 innocents. Since column B already has two fixed criminals (B1 and B4), the only way for column B to reach 3 innocents is for the remaining unknown spot, B5, to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Wally is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Each column has at least 3 innocents" — Tom (C4)
D4 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Row 1 is stated to be the only row that has exactly 2 innocents, so every other row must have a number of innocents that is not 2. In row 4, Paula at A4 and Tom at C4 are already confirmed innocent, and Sarah at B4 is confirmed criminal, so row 4 already has at least 2 innocents and cannot end up with fewer than 2 innocents. That means row 4 must have more than 2 innocents, so the remaining person in row 4, Uma at D4, must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents" — Wally (B5)
C3 · Mark → INNOCENT
Because: Look at Linda at B3: her eight neighbors are A2 Flora, B2 Gary, C2 Igor, A3 Kay, C3 Mark, A4 Paula, B4 Sarah, and C4 Tom. Andre’s clue says Linda has exactly six innocent neighbors, so she has exactly two criminal neighbors; since Sarah at B4 is already a criminal, exactly one of the four unknown neighbors A2, C2, A3, and C3 can be criminal. Uma’s clue says all innocents in column C are connected, and Tom at C4 is an innocent, so if Mark at C3 were not innocent then Igor at C2 could not be innocent either (because any innocent at C2 would need C3 to connect down to Tom). That would make both C3 and C2 criminals at the same time, but we just established only one of A2, C2, A3, and C3 is allowed to be criminal, so Mark cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C3 · Mark is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 6 innocents neighboring Linda are in row 4" — Andre (A1)
"All innocents in column C are connected" — Uma (D4)
C2 · Igor → INNOCENT
Because: In column C, Mark at C3 is already an innocent, and Uma’s clue says all the innocents in column C must form one connected up-down chain. That means if Igor at C2 were not innocent, then Daniel at C1 could not be innocent either, because C2 would break the only possible connection between an innocent at C1 and the known innocent at C3. Mark’s clue says the number of innocent cooks equals the number of innocent painters, and since Uma at D4 is an innocent painter, there must be at least one innocent cook; the only possible innocent cooks are Daniel at C1 and Igor at C2 because Sarah at B4 is a confirmed criminal. So Igor cannot be not-innocent, because that would force Daniel to also be not-innocent and would leave zero innocent cooks, which Mark’s clue does not allow. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Igor is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"All innocents in column C are connected" — Uma (D4)
"There are as many innocent cooks as there are innocent painters" — Mark (C3)
A5 · Vince → INNOCENT
Because: Look at Linda at B3 and her neighbors: A2, B2, C2, A3, C3, A4, B4, and C4. Andre’s clue says Linda has 6 innocent neighbors in total, and exactly 2 of those innocents are in row 4; since the row 4 neighbors are A4, B4, and C4 and we already have A4 and C4 as innocents, that forces B4 to be the non-innocent there and it also means that among A2, B2, C2, A3, and C3 there must be 4 innocents. Because B2, C2, and C3 are already innocent, exactly one of A2 and A3 must be innocent and the other must be criminal. Igor’s clue says there is an odd number of innocents below Andre in column A (A2, A3, A4, A5); since A4 is innocent, the remaining three (A2, A3, A5) must contain an even number of innocents, and with A2 and A3 contributing exactly one innocent, A5 must be innocent to make that number even. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Vince is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 6 innocents neighboring Linda are in row 4" — Andre (A1)
"There's an odd number of innocents below Andre" — Igor (C2)
D3 · Nicole → INNOCENT
Because: The clue compares the total number of innocent judges to the total number of innocent singers. Right now the innocent singers are Vince at A5 and Linda at B3, and there are no other singers on the board, so there are exactly 2 innocent singers. The innocent judges already include Mark at C3 and Tom at C4, which is 2, so for there to be more innocent judges than innocent singers, the third judge, Nicole at D3, must also be innocent, making 3 innocent judges. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Nicole is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are more innocent judges than us innocent singers" — Vince (A5)
D2 · Jerry → INNOCENT
Because: The edge neighbors of Igor at C2 are B1, C1, D1, D2, and D3. Nicole’s clue says the number of innocents among those edge neighbors is odd; since D3 is already innocent and B1 is criminal, the remaining three people C1, D1, and D2 must contain an even number of innocents. Wally’s clue says row 1 has exactly 2 innocents, and since A1 is already innocent, exactly one of C1 and D1 is innocent, so among C1, D1, and D2 there is already 1 innocent coming from C1/D1. To make that total an even number, D2 must also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D2 (Jerry) is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents" — Wally (B5)
"An odd number of us innocents on the edges neighbor Igor" — Nicole (D3)
C5 · Xia → INNOCENT
Because: Mark is at C3, so the people below Mark are the two positions in the same column with higher row numbers: C4 (Tom) and C5 (Xia). Jerry’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents below Mark, and there are only those two people below him. Since Tom at C4 is already known to be innocent, the second innocent below Mark must be Xia at C5. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Xia is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Mark" — Jerry (D2)
A2 · Flora → CRIMINAL
Because: The people to the left of Jerry (D2) are A2 Flora, B2 Gary, and C2 Igor. Xia’s clue says that among the innocents in those three spots, exactly one of them is a neighbor of Andre (A1). Gary (B2) is already confirmed innocent, and B2 is a neighbor of Andre (diagonally), so Gary is already that “exactly one.” Since A2 is also a neighbor of Andre (directly below him), Flora cannot be innocent or there would be two innocents to the left of Jerry who neighbor Andre. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Flora is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent to the left of Jerry is neighboring Andre" — Xia (C5)
A3 · Kay → INNOCENT
Because: Linda is at B3, so her neighbors are A2 Flora, B2 Gary, C2 Igor, A3 Kay, C3 Mark, A4 Paula, B4 Sarah, and C4 Tom. Andre’s clue refers to “the 6 innocents neighboring Linda,” so it is telling us that among these neighbors there are exactly six innocents in total. We already know five of them are innocents (Gary, Igor, Mark, Paula, and Tom), and we already know two of them are criminals (Flora and Sarah), leaving only Kay as the remaining unknown among Linda’s neighbors. Since the clue says there must be six innocent neighbors and we currently have only five confirmed, Kay must be the sixth innocent neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Kay is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 6 innocents neighboring Linda are in row 4" — Andre (A1)
C1 · Daniel → INNOCENT
Because: The corners are A1 Andre, D1 Erwin, A5 Vince, and D5 Zara, and the clue says that Vince is the only corner person who has exactly one criminal neighbor. Vince at A5 already has exactly one criminal neighbor because Sarah at B4 is criminal while Paula at A4 and Wally at B5 are innocent. At D1, the only neighbor who could be criminal is Daniel at C1, since Igor at C2 and Jerry at D2 are innocent; that means Erwin would have exactly one criminal neighbor if and only if Daniel were criminal. Since Vince must be the only corner person with exactly one criminal neighbor, Daniel cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Daniel is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Vince is the only person in a corner with one criminal neighbor" — Flora (A2)
D1 · Erwin → CRIMINAL
Because: In row 1, Andre at A1 and Daniel at C1 are already known to be innocent, while Carol at B1 is a criminal and Erwin at D1 is the only unknown. Wally’s clue says row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents, so row 1 must have exactly 2 innocents total. Since row 1 already has those two innocents (A1 and C1), Erwin cannot also be innocent or the row would have 3 innocents. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Erwin is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents" — Wally (B5)
D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
Because: The clue from Mark says the number of innocent cooks is exactly the same as the number of innocent painters. On the board, the cooks are Daniel (innocent), Igor (innocent), and Sarah (criminal), so there are exactly two innocent cooks. The painters are Uma (innocent) and Zara (unknown), so for the number of innocent painters to also be two, Zara must be innocent as well. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zara is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are as many innocent cooks as there are innocent painters" — Mark (C3)