Clues by Sam Mar 25, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Medium·Solved
A1
🕵️♀️
Anna
sleuth
B1
👩⚖️
Bonnie
judge
C1
👨🔧
Carl
mech
D1
👩🌾
Diane
farmer
A2
👨⚕️
Erwin
doctor
B2
👨🎤
Gabe
singer
C2
👨🎤
Hank
singer
D2
👨🔧
Isaac
mech
A3
🕵️♂️
Klay
sleuth
B3
👩💻
Laura
coder
C3
👨🌾
Martin
farmer
D3
👨⚖️
Noah
judge
A4
👷♂️
Peter
builder
B4
👷♂️
Ryan
builder
C4
👷♀️
Stella
builder
D4
👩💻
Tina
coder
A5
👮♀️
Uma
cop
B5
👮♀️
Vera
cop
C5
👨⚕️
Will
doctor
D5
👩💻
Xia
coder
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 4Criminal 16Unknown 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 · 4
[ C1 ] [ D3 ] [ B4 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 16
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ A4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ] [ C5 ]
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 · Anna
"There are more criminals in row 2 than row 5"
B1 · Bonnie
"You know wax figures, right?"
C1 · Carl
"I'm starting to doubt my own identity here"
D1 · Diane
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents on the edges are Tina's neighbors"
A2 · Erwin
"There is only one innocent above Tina"
B2 · Gabe
"I just have one of those faces, you know?"
C2 · Hank
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Stella"
D2 · Isaac
"It wasn't me! It was my... twin!"
A3 · Klay
"Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C"
B3 · Laura
"There's an equal number of criminals in rows 3 and 5"
C3 · Martin
"It wasn't me! It was... me from the future!"
D3 · Noah
"Exactly 1 innocent in row 3 is on the edges"
A4 · Peter
"It was my shadow! Not me!"
B4 · Ryan
"Considering everyone tells the truth... Just, wow!"
C4 · Stella
"An odd number of innocents in column C are Gabe's neighbors"
D4 · Tina
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 1"
A5 · Uma
"Column A has more criminals than any other column"
B5 · Vera
"It was me! No, wait... It was not me!"
C5 · Will
"Erwin is one of Laura's 7 criminal neighbors"
D5 · Xia
"Each column has at least 3 criminals"
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)
A3 · Klay → CRIMINAL
Because: In row 3, the edge positions are A3 and D3. Noah at D3 is already known to be innocent, so there is already one innocent in row 3 who is on an edge. Noah’s clue says there is exactly one innocent in row 3 on the edges, so A3 cannot also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A3 (Klay) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent in row 3 is on the edges" — Noah (D3)
C4 · Stella → CRIMINAL
Because: Klay’s clue explicitly says, “Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C,” which directly states that Stella is a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Stella is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C" — Klay (A3)
C5 · Will → CRIMINAL
Because: In column C there are Carl at C1, Hank at C2, Martin at C3, Stella at C4, and Will at C5. Klay’s clue says Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C, so there is exactly 1 innocent in that column. Stella’s clue says an odd number of the innocents in column C are Gabe’s neighbors, and the only people in column C who are neighbors of Gabe at B2 are C1, C2, and C3. Since there is only one innocent in column C, for that count to be odd the lone innocent must be among C1–C3, which means Will at C5 cannot be the innocent in column C. Therefore, we can determine that C5 (Will) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C" — Klay (A3)
"An odd number of innocents in column C are Gabe's neighbors" — Stella (C4)
A2 · Erwin → CRIMINAL
Because: Will’s clue explicitly says that Erwin is one of Laura’s criminal neighbors, which directly assigns Erwin the status CRIMINAL. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Erwin is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Erwin is one of Laura's 7 criminal neighbors" — Will (C5)
D1 · Diane → CRIMINAL, D2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Because: The people above Tina are exactly the three people in column D above D4: Diane at D1, Isaac at D2, and Noah at D3. Erwin’s clue says that among those people, there is only one innocent in total. Since Noah is already known to be innocent, he must be that one innocent above Tina, so Diane and Isaac cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Diane is CRIMINAL and D2 Isaac is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There is only one innocent above Tina" — Erwin (A2)
D5 · Xia → INNOCENT
Because: Tina is at D4, and her edge neighbors are D3 (Noah), C5 (Will), and D5 (Xia). Diane’s clue says there are exactly three innocents on the entire edge, and exactly two of those edge-innocents are Tina’s neighbors. Since Noah at D3 is already an innocent and Will at C5 is already a criminal, the only remaining way for Tina to have two edge-innocent neighbors is for Xia at D5 to be the second one. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Xia is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents on the edges are Tina's neighbors" — Diane (D1)
D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Because: In column D, Diane at D1 and Isaac at D2 are already known criminals, while Noah at D3 and Xia at D5 are already known innocents. Xia’s clue says each column has at least 3 criminals, so column D must contain a third criminal somewhere. Since the only remaining undetermined person in column D is Tina at D4, she must be that third criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tina is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Each column has at least 3 criminals" — Xia (D5)
A4 · Peter → CRIMINAL, A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL, B5 · Vera → CRIMINAL
Because: Tina at D4 has five neighbors: C3, D3, C4, C5, and D5. Diane’s clue says there are exactly three innocents on the edges in total, and exactly two of those edge-innocents are Tina’s neighbors; since D3 and D5 are already known to be innocents and are both Tina’s neighbors, they must be the two mentioned, leaving only one more edge-innocent anywhere else. Tina’s own clue says row 1 has an odd number of innocents, and since Diane at D1 is a criminal, that means A1, B1, and C1 contain either one innocent or three innocents; it cannot be three, because that would already create more than three edge-innocents when combined with D3 and D5. So exactly one of A1, B1, and C1 is the one remaining edge-innocent, which means no other edge positions can be innocent, including A4, A5, and B5. Therefore, we can determine that A4 (Peter) is CRIMINAL, A5 (Uma) is CRIMINAL, and B5 (Vera) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents on the edges are Tina's neighbors" — Diane (D1)
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 1" — Tina (D4)
A1 · Anna → CRIMINAL
Because: In column A, we already know Erwin at A2, Klay at A3, Peter at A4, and Uma at A5 are criminals, so column A has at least 4 criminals. Klay’s clue says Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C, which fixes column C at exactly 4 criminals total. Uma’s clue says column A has more criminals than any other column, so column A must have more than 4 criminals, meaning it must have all 5 people as criminals. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Anna is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C" — Klay (A3)
"Column A has more criminals than any other column" — Uma (A5)
B2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL, C2 · Hank → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 5 already has three criminals (Uma at A5, Vera at B5, and Will at C5), because only Xia at D5 is innocent. Anna’s clue says row 2 has more criminals than row 5, so row 2 must have at least four criminals. In row 2, Erwin at A2 and Isaac at D2 are already criminals, so the only way for row 2 to reach four criminals is for both remaining spots, Gabe at B2 and Hank at C2, to be criminals as well. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Gabe is CRIMINAL and C2 Hank is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are more criminals in row 2 than row 5" — Anna (A1)
B3 · Laura → CRIMINAL
Because: Laura is at B3, so her eight neighbors are Erwin (A2), Gabe (B2), Hank (C2), Klay (A3), Martin (C3), Peter (A4), Ryan (B4), and Stella (C4). Will’s clue says Erwin is one of Laura’s 7 criminal neighbors, so among those eight neighbors exactly seven are criminals; since six of them are already known criminals (Erwin, Gabe, Hank, Klay, Peter, Stella), exactly one of Martin and Ryan must be criminal and the other must be innocent. Stella is at C4, and her neighbors include Noah (D3) and Xia (D5), who are already two innocents, plus the three not-yet-fixed people Laura (B3), Martin (C3), and Ryan (B4). Hank’s clue says Stella has an odd number of innocent neighbors, so the number of innocents among Laura, Martin, and Ryan must be odd; but Martin and Ryan together contribute exactly one innocent, so Laura must contribute zero innocents, meaning she is a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B3 · Laura is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Erwin is one of Laura's 7 criminal neighbors" — Will (C5)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Stella" — Hank (C2)
C3 · Martin → CRIMINAL
Because: In row 5, Uma at A5, Vera at B5, and Will at C5 are criminals, while Xia at D5 is innocent, so row 5 has exactly three criminals. Laura’s clue says rows 3 and 5 have an equal number of criminals, so row 3 must also have exactly three criminals. In row 3, Klay at A3 and Laura at B3 are already criminals and Noah at D3 is innocent, so the only way for row 3 to reach three criminals is for Martin at C3 to be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Martin is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of criminals in rows 3 and 5" — Laura (B3)
C1 · Carl → INNOCENT
Because: In column C, the people are Carl at C1, Hank at C2, Martin at C3, Stella at C4, and Will at C5. Klay’s clue says that Stella is one of exactly 4 criminals in column C, so column C must contain exactly 4 criminals total. Since Hank, Martin, Stella, and Will are already confirmed criminals, the only way for column C to have exactly 4 criminals is for Carl to be the lone innocent there. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Carl is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Stella is one of 4 criminals in column C" — Klay (A3)
B1 · Bonnie → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue from Diane says “Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents on the edges are Tina’s neighbors,” which only makes sense if there are exactly three innocents on edge spaces in total. Right now we already know three edge-positioned innocents: Carl at C1, Noah at D3, and Xia at D5. Bonnie is also on an edge space (B1), so if Bonnie were innocent there would be four innocents on the edges, and Diane’s clue would not be able to truthfully refer to “the 3 innocents on the edges.” Therefore, we can determine that B1 Bonnie is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 innocents on the edges are Tina's neighbors" — Diane (D1)
B4 · Ryan → INNOCENT
Because: Laura is at B3, and she has exactly eight neighbors: Erwin at A2, Gabe at B2, Hank at C2, Klay at A3, Martin at C3, Peter at A4, Ryan at B4, and Stella at C4. Will’s clue says that Erwin is one of Laura’s 7 criminal neighbors, which means that among Laura’s eight neighbors, exactly seven are criminals. In that neighbor set, Erwin, Gabe, Hank, Klay, Martin, Peter, and Stella are already known to be criminals, which fills all seven criminal-neighbor slots. That leaves Ryan as the only neighbor who cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Ryan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Erwin is one of Laura's 7 criminal neighbors" — Will (C5)