Clues by Sam Apr 04, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Hard·Solved
A1
👨🏫
Alex
teacher
B1
👩⚕️
Betty
doctor
C1
👩⚕️
Esha
doctor
D1
👩🍳
Frida
cook
A2
👨🍳
Ghani
cook
B2
🕵️♀️
Habiba
sleuth
C2
👨⚕️
Ivan
doctor
D2
👷♂️
John
builder
A3
💂♂️
Keith
guard
B3
👷♂️
Logan
builder
C3
👩🎨
Nala
painter
D3
👨🎨
Olof
painter
A4
🕵️♀️
Penny
sleuth
B4
💂♀️
Rose
guard
C4
👮♀️
Samira
cop
D4
👩🎨
Uma
painter
A5
🕵️♂️
Vince
sleuth
B5
👨🏫
Wally
teacher
C5
👮♀️
Xola
cop
D5
👮♂️
Ziad
cop
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 15Criminal 5Unknown 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 · 15
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ D1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ]
Criminal · 5
[ A2 ] [ A3 ] [ C4 ] [ 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 · Alex
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Ziad"
B1 · Betty
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4"
C1 · Esha
"Ok, I'm starting to see the challenge here..."
D1 · Frida
"I'm new to this puzzle. Is this supposed to be a hard one?"
A2 · Ghani
"Well that was kind of fun. Will come back tomorrow!"
B2 · Habiba
"Wait, I thought this was Murdle! Where am I again?"
C2 · Ivan
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Olof"
D2 · John
"Exactly 2 innocents below Betty are neighboring Xola"
A3 · Keith
"There are more innocents in row 1 than row 2"
B3 · Logan
"Only one of the 2 guards has exactly 3 criminal neighbors"
C3 · Nala
"What a crazy puzzle! Should have joined on a Monday"
D3 · Olof
"There's an odd number of criminals above Xola"
A4 · Penny
"2 of the 3 painters have an innocent directly to the left of them"
B4 · Rose
"2 of Esha's neighbors in row 1 are innocent"
C4 · Samira
"Know of any puzzles where criminals are the heroes?"
D4 · Uma
"Ghani has exactly 4 innocent neighbors"
A5 · Vince
"Only one person has only one innocent neighbor"
B5 · Wally
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 4"
C5 · Xola
"Oh, so we're the bad guys in this puzzle? Bugger."
D5 · Ziad
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Logan is Penny's neighbor"
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 (16 steps)
B4 · Rose → INNOCENT, B5 · Wally → INNOCENT
Because: The people below Betty in column B are Habiba at B2, Logan at B3, Rose at B4, and Wally at B5. Among those four, the only ones who are neighbors of Xola at C5 are Rose at B4 (diagonally adjacent) and Wally at B5 (directly adjacent). John’s clue says that exactly 2 innocents below Betty are neighboring Xola, and there are only these two possible people who can fit that description. So both Rose and Wally must be the two innocents mentioned. Therefore, we can determine that B4 · Rose is INNOCENT and B5 · Wally is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 innocents below Betty are neighboring Xola" — John (D2)
B1 · Betty → INNOCENT, D1 · Frida → INNOCENT
Because: Esha is at C1, and the only neighbors she has in row 1 are the two people directly beside her there: Betty at B1 and Frida at D1. Rose’s clue says that 2 of Esha’s neighbors in row 1 are innocent. Since there are exactly two such neighbors, both Betty and Frida must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Betty is INNOCENT and D1 Frida is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"2 of Esha's neighbors in row 1 are innocent" — Rose (B4)
D5 · Ziad → CRIMINAL
Because: Xola is at C5, so her neighbors are Rose at B4, Samira at C4, Uma at D4, Wally at B5, and Ziad at D5. Betty’s clue says that Xola has exactly two criminal neighbors, and exactly one of those two is in row 4. Since Rose and Wally are already known to be innocent, the only possible neighbor not in row 4 who could be one of those two criminals is Ziad at D5. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Ziad is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4" — Betty (B1)
A3 · Keith → CRIMINAL
Because: Logan is at B3, and Ziad’s clue talks about the three criminals in Logan’s neighboring squares. The only people who are neighbors of both Logan (B3) and Penny (A4) are Keith (A3) and Rose (B4). The clue says exactly one of the three criminals neighboring Logan is also a neighbor of Penny, and Rose is already confirmed INNOCENT, so Rose cannot be that one. That forces Keith to be the only criminal neighbor of Logan who is also Penny’s neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Keith is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Logan is Penny's neighbor" — Ziad (D5)
A4 · Penny → INNOCENT
Because: P
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4" — Betty (B1)
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 4" — Wally (B5)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Logan is Penny's neighbor" — Ziad (D5)
A1 · Alex → INNOCENT, C1 · Esha → INNOCENT
Because: Xola is at C5, and her neighbors are Rose at B4, Samira at C4, Uma at D4, Wally at B5, and Ziad at D5. Betty’s clue says Xola has exactly two criminal neighbors, and exactly one of those two is in row 4; since Ziad at D5 is already a criminal neighbor and is not in row 4, the other criminal neighbor must be in row 4, meaning exactly one of Samira (C4) and Uma (D4) is criminal and the other is innocent. That makes the number of innocents in row 4 equal to 3 (Penny, Rose, and the one innocent among Samira and Uma), so by Wally’s clue row 2 must also have exactly 3 innocents. Keith’s clue says row 1 has more innocents than row 2, so row 1 must have 4 innocents, which forces both Alex at A1 and Esha at C1 to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Alex is INNOCENT and C1 Esha is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4" — Betty (B1)
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 4" — Wally (B5)
"There are more innocents in row 1 than row 2" — Keith (A3)
C5 · Xola → CRIMINAL
Because: Xola at C5 neighbors Rose at B4, Samira at C4, Uma at D4, Wally at B5, and Ziad at D5. Betty’s clue says Xola has exactly two criminal neighbors, and exactly one of those two is in row 4; since Wally is innocent and Ziad is in row 5 and already a criminal, the other criminal neighbor must be in row 4, meaning exactly one of Samira or Uma is a criminal (Rose is already innocent). Alex’s clue says Ziad has an odd number of innocent neighbors, and Ziad’s only neighbors are Samira, Uma, and Xola; because exactly one of Samira or Uma is innocent, Xola cannot also be innocent or Ziad would have exactly two innocent neighbors, which is even. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Xola is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4" — Betty (B1)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Ziad" — Alex (A1)
B3 · Logan → INNOCENT
Because: The three painters are Nala at C3, Olof at D3, and Uma at D4, and the people directly to their left are Logan (left of Nala), Nala (left of Olof), and Samira (left of Uma). Penny’s clue says exactly two of those three painters have an innocent directly to the left, which means exactly two of Logan, Nala, and Samira are innocent, so exactly one of them is a criminal. Ziad’s clue says Logan has exactly three criminal neighbors; since Keith is already a criminal neighbor of Logan and Penny and Rose are already innocent neighbors of Logan, that forces exactly two criminals among the remaining neighbors A2, B2, C2, Nala, and Samira. If both of those criminals were in A2, B2, and C2, then row 2 would have only two innocents in total, so Wally’s clue would make row 4 also have only two innocents, which forces Samira to be a criminal; otherwise, at least one of those two criminals is already Nala or Samira. In every case, at least one of Nala or Samira is a criminal, so the single criminal among Logan, Nala, and Samira cannot be Logan. Therefore, we can determine that B3 · Logan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 4" — Wally (B5)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Logan is Penny's neighbor" — Ziad (D5)
"2 of the 3 painters have an innocent directly to the left of them" — Penny (A4)
A5 · Vince → INNOCENT
Because: The three painters are Nala at C3, Olof at D3, and Uma at D4, and Penny’s clue says that exactly two of these painters have an innocent directly to their left. Nala already has Logan at B3 directly to her left, and Logan is innocent, so exactly one of the other two painters must also have an innocent directly to the left, which means exactly one of Nala (left of Olof) and Samira at C4 (left of Uma) is innocent and the other is criminal. The two guards are Keith at A3 and Rose at B4, and Logan’s clue says only one guard has exactly three criminal neighbors; Keith cannot, because Keith only has five neighbors and at most two of them could even possibly be criminals, so Rose must be the one with exactly three criminal neighbors. Rose already has two known criminal neighbors (Keith at A3 and Xola at C5), so among Rose’s three unknown neighbors Nala (C3), Samira (C4), and Vince (A5), exactly one must be criminal; since we already know exactly one of Nala and Samira is criminal, Vince cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Vince is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"2 of the 3 painters have an innocent directly to the left of them" — Penny (A4)
"Only one of the 2 guards has exactly 3 criminal neighbors" — Logan (B3)
D3 · Olof → INNOCENT
Because: Xola is at C5, and the clue from Betty says Xola has exactly two criminal neighbors, with exactly one of those criminals in row 4. Since D5 Ziad is already a criminal neighbor of Xola and is not in row 4, the other criminal neighbor must be in row 4, meaning exactly one of C4 Samira and D4 Uma is a criminal and the other is innocent; this also fixes that Ziad has exactly one innocent neighbor (the innocent one of C4 or D4). Penny’s painter clue means Nala at C3 definitely counts as one painter with an innocent directly to the left (Logan at B3), so exactly one of the other two painters (Olof at D3 or Uma at D4) has an innocent directly to the left. That makes exactly one of C3 Nala and C4 Samira innocent, because Olof needs C3 innocent to have an innocent on his left, while Uma needs C4 innocent to have an innocent on her left. Now look at Uma at D4: her neighbors are C3, C4, C5 (Xola), D3 (Olof), and D5 (Ziad). We already know C5 and D5 are criminals, and we just established that exactly one of C3 and C4 is innocent, so Uma has exactly one innocent neighbor unless Olof at D3 is also innocent. Vince’s clue says only one person in the whole grid has exactly one innocent neighbor, and we already fixed that Ziad has exactly one innocent neighbor, so Uma cannot also have exactly one innocent neighbor; this forces Olof to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Olof is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4" — Betty (B1)
"2 of the 3 painters have an innocent directly to the left of them" — Penny (A4)
"Only one person has only one innocent neighbor" — Vince (A5)
C2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Because: The three painters are Nala at C3, Olof at D3, and Uma at D4, and Penny says exactly 2 of these painters have an innocent directly to the left. Nala already has Logan at B3 directly to her left, and Logan is innocent, so Nala is definitely one of the two painters that satisfy the clue. That means exactly one of the other two painters, Olof or Uma, also has an innocent directly to the left, so exactly one of the people to their left, Nala at C3 and Samira at C4, is innocent; in other words, between C3 and C4 there is exactly one criminal. Olof also says there is an odd number of criminals above Xola at C5, and above C5 are Esha at C1 (innocent), Ivan at C2, Nala at C3, and Samira at C4. Since C3 and C4 contain exactly one criminal total, Ivan at C2 cannot also be a criminal or the number of criminals above Xola would become even. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Ivan is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"2 of the 3 painters have an innocent directly to the left of them" — Penny (A4)
"There's an odd number of criminals above Xola" — Olof (D3)
C3 · Nala → INNOCENT
Because: Xola is at C5, and her neighbors include C4 Samira and D4 Uma in row 4, plus D5 Ziad in row 5. Betty’s clue says Xola has exactly two criminal neighbors, and exactly one of those two is in row 4, so Ziad must be one criminal neighbor and exactly one of Samira or Uma must be the other criminal neighbor. Olof is at D3, and his only possible criminal neighbors are C3 Nala, C4 Samira, and D4 Uma because C2 Ivan and D2 John are already innocent; Ivan’s clue says the number of criminals among those three is odd. Since Samira and Uma contribute exactly one criminal between them, adding Nala would make the total even if Nala were criminal, so Nala must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Nala is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4" — Betty (B1)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Olof" — Ivan (C2)
C4 · Samira → CRIMINAL
Because: The three painters are Nala at C3, Olof at D3, and Uma at D4. Penny’s clue says that exactly 2 of these 3 painters have an innocent directly to their left. Nala’s left neighbor is Logan at B3, who is innocent, and Olof’s left neighbor is Nala at C3, who is also innocent, so those are already the 2 painters that satisfy the clue. That means Uma cannot also have an innocent directly to her left, so Samira at C4 (directly left of Uma) cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Samira is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"2 of the 3 painters have an innocent directly to the left of them" — Penny (A4)
D4 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Xola is at C5, and her neighbors are Rose at B4, Samira at C4, Uma at D4, Wally at B5, and Ziad at D5. Betty’s clue says that among the two criminals neighboring Xola, exactly one of them is in row 4. Samira is a known criminal in row 4 and Ziad is a known criminal in row 5, so those two already account for the “2 criminals neighboring Xola” with exactly one in row 4. That means Uma cannot be an additional criminal neighbor of Xola, so she must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Uma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Xola is in row 4" — Betty (B1)
B2 · Habiba → INNOCENT
Because: Ghani is at A2, so his neighbors are A1, B1, B2, A3, and B3. Uma’s clue says Ghani has exactly 4 innocent neighbors. We already know A1, B1, and B3 are innocent, and A3 is criminal, so among those four known neighbors Ghani has exactly 3 innocents. To reach exactly 4 innocent neighbors in total, the only remaining neighbor, B2 Habiba, must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Habiba is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Ghani has exactly 4 innocent neighbors" — Uma (D4)
A2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at row 4: Penny at A4 is innocent, Rose at B4 is innocent, Samira at C4 is criminal, and Uma at D4 is innocent, so row 4 has exactly three innocents. Wally’s clue says rows 2 and 4 have an equal number of innocents, so row 2 must also have exactly three innocents. In row 2, Habiba at B2, Ivan at C2, and John at D2 are already all innocent, so those are the three innocents for that row. That leaves Ghani at A2 as not innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Ghani is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There's an equal number of innocents in rows 2 and 4" — Wally (B5)