Clues by Sam Apr 09, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Tricky·Solved
A1
🕵️♂️
Adam
sleuth
B1
🕵️♀️
Chloe
sleuth
C1
👨✈️
Eric
pilot
D1
💂♂️
Frank
guard
A2
🕵️♂️
Gary
sleuth
B2
👨🏫
Henry
teacher
C2
👨🏫
Jose
teacher
D2
💂♂️
Klay
guard
A3
👮♀️
Lucy
cop
B3
💂♂️
Martin
guard
C3
👩🍳
Nicole
cook
D3
👩🍳
Olivia
cook
A4
👮♀️
Ruth
cop
B4
👩💼
Saga
clerk
C4
👷♀️
Tina
builder
D4
👷♀️
Uma
builder
A5
👮♂️
Vince
cop
B5
👨🍳
Will
cook
C5
👷♀️
Xia
builder
D5
👩💼
Zara
clerk
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 11Criminal 9Unknown 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 · 11
[ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ C4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 9
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ C3 ] [ B4 ] [ D4 ] [ 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 · Adam
"Sorry. I just wanted to make a spectacle."
B1 · Chloe
"Exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them"
C1 · Eric
"I don't need glasses. Don't look at me!"
D1 · Frank
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 5"
A2 · Gary
"My magnifying glass is also gone!"
B2 · Henry
"Only 1 of the 4 criminals neighboring Tina is in column B"
C2 · Jose
"There are at least 2 innocents to the right of Vince"
D2 · Klay
"Frank is one of Eric's 2 innocent neighbors"
A3 · Lucy
"Where are my glasses? I can't see a thing!"
B3 · Martin
"Hey! Where did my eyeglasses go!"
C3 · Nicole
"There are as many criminal builders as there are criminal sleuths"
D3 · Olivia
"My fashion glasses are gone too!"
A4 · Ruth
"My monocle is gone as well! I'm glad I have two... No! It's gone too!"
B4 · Saga
"Ruth is one of 4 innocents in column A"
C4 · Tina
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Henry"
D4 · Uma
"There's an equal number of criminals in rows 3 and 5"
A5 · Vince
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Uma is a cook"
B5 · Will
"There are 11 innocents in total"
C5 · Xia
"I need glasses, but look stupid wearing them. I'd never steal them!"
D5 · Zara
"There are exactly 2 criminals in row 2"
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)
D1 · Frank → INNOCENT
Because: Klay’s clue says that Frank is one of Eric’s two innocent neighbors, which directly states that Frank is innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Frank is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Frank is one of Eric's 2 innocent neighbors" — Klay (D2)
B1 · Chloe → CRIMINAL, B2 · Henry → CRIMINAL, C2 · Jose → CRIMINAL
Because: Eric is at C1, so his neighbors are Chloe at B1, Henry at B2, Jose at C2, Frank at D1, and Klay at D2. Klay’s clue says that Eric has exactly two innocent neighbors, and Frank is one of those two. Since Frank is already known to be innocent and Klay (at D2) is also known to be innocent and is a neighbor of Eric, those must be Eric’s two innocent neighbors. That leaves Chloe, Henry, and Jose as Eric’s remaining neighbors, so they cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Chloe is CRIMINAL, B2 Henry is CRIMINAL, and C2 Jose is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Frank is one of Eric's 2 innocent neighbors" — Klay (D2)
B5 · Will → INNOCENT
Because: Vince is at A5, so the people to the right of Vince in row 5 are Will at B5, Xia at C5, and Zara at D5. Jose’s clue says there are at least 2 innocents among those three people. Chloe’s clue says exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them; the only builders who even have someone directly below are Tina at C4 (above Xia) and Uma at D4 (above Zara), so exactly one of Xia and Zara must be a criminal and the other must be innocent. That means among Will, Xia, and Zara, at most one of Xia and Zara can be innocent if Will were not innocent, which would not reach the required “at least 2 innocents.” Therefore, we can determine that B5 Will is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them" — Chloe (B1)
"There are at least 2 innocents to the right of Vince" — Jose (C2)
A5 · Vince → INNOCENT
Because: Look at row 5: A5 Vince, B5 Will, C5 Xia, and D5 Zara. Chloe’s clue says exactly one builder has a criminal directly below them, and the only builders who can have someone directly below are C4 Tina (above Xia) and D4 Uma (above Zara), so exactly one of Xia or Zara must be a criminal and the other must be an innocent. That means row 5 already contains at least two innocents: Will, plus whichever of Xia or Zara is innocent. Frank’s clue says row 5 has an odd number of innocents, so it cannot stop at two; Vince must also be innocent to make the total three. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Vince is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them" — Chloe (B1)
"There's an odd number of innocents in row 5" — Frank (D1)
C4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Because: The only builders who can possibly have someone directly below them are Tina at C4 (above Xia at C5) and Uma at D4 (above Zara at D5). Chloe’s clue says exactly one builder has a criminal directly below them, so at least one of Xia or Zara must be a criminal. Since both Xia and Zara are neighbors of Uma, that means Uma has at least one neighboring criminal who is not a cook. Vince’s clue says Uma has exactly two criminal neighbors in total, and exactly one of those two criminals is a cook, so Uma can have only one neighboring criminal who is not a cook. Because at least one of Xia or Zara already fills that single “not a cook” criminal neighbor slot, Tina (who is also a not-a-cook neighbor of Uma) cannot be a criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Tina is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them" — Chloe (B1)
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Uma is a cook" — Vince (A5)
D4 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: Uma at D4 is a neighbor of Tina at C4, and Uma’s other neighbors are C3 Nicole, D3 Olivia, C5 Xia, and D5 Zara (since Tina herself is innocent). Vince’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals neighboring Uma, and exactly 1 of those 2 is a cook, so those 2 criminals must be among Nicole, Olivia, Xia, and Zara, and they are also all neighbors of Tina. Henry’s clue says Tina has exactly 4 criminal neighbors in total, and only 1 of those 4 is in column B; among Tina’s column B neighbors (B3 Martin and B4 Saga, since B5 Will is innocent), that fixes exactly 1 criminal there. That already accounts for 3 of Tina’s 4 criminal neighbors (2 from {Nicole, Olivia, Xia, Zara} and 1 from {Martin, Saga}), so the remaining required criminal neighbor of Tina must be Uma. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Uma is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 4 criminals neighboring Tina is in column B" — Henry (B2)
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Uma is a cook" — Vince (A5)
A3 · Lucy → INNOCENT, B3 · Martin → INNOCENT
Because: Uma is at D4, and her neighbors are C3 (Nicole), D3 (Olivia), C5 (Xia), and D5 (Zara), since Tina at C4 is already known innocent. Vince’s clue says Uma has exactly two criminal neighbors, and exactly one of those two is a cook, so one criminal neighbor must be one of the cooks (C3 or D3) and the other criminal neighbor must be one of the non-cooks (C5 or D5). That means exactly one of C5 and D5 is criminal, so row 5 contains exactly one criminal in total. Uma’s own clue says rows 3 and 5 have the same number of criminals, so row 3 must also contain exactly one criminal in total. But row 3’s only possible criminal neighbor of Uma who can satisfy Vince’s “one cook criminal” condition is either C3 or D3, so the single criminal in row 3 must be at C3 or D3, leaving A3 and B3 unable to be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that A3 Lucy is INNOCENT and B3 Martin is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Uma is a cook" — Vince (A5)
"There's an equal number of criminals in rows 3 and 5" — Uma (D4)
B4 · Saga → CRIMINAL
Because: Tina is at C4, so her neighbors are B3, C3, D3, B4, D4, B5, C5, and D5, and the column B neighbors among those are B3, B4, and B5. Henry’s clue says that among Tina’s neighboring criminals, there are four in total, and exactly one of those four is in column B. Since B3 (Martin) and B5 (Will) are already INNOCENT, the only way for there to be exactly one criminal neighbor of Tina in column B is for B4 (Saga) to be that criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B4 (Saga) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 4 criminals neighboring Tina is in column B" — Henry (B2)
"There's an equal number of criminals in rows 3 and 5" — Uma (D4)
A4 · Ruth → INNOCENT
Because: Saga’s clue explicitly says that Ruth is one of the four innocents in column A, which directly states Ruth’s identity. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Ruth is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Ruth is one of 4 innocents in column A" — Saga (B4)
D3 · Olivia → INNOCENT
Because: Will says there are 11 innocents in total, so there must be 9 criminals on the 20-person board; since 5 criminals are already known, the 7 unknown people contain exactly 4 criminals. Chloe’s clue says exactly one builder has a criminal directly below them, and the only builders with someone below them are Tina at C4 (below is C5) and Uma at D4 (below is D5), so exactly one of C5 and D5 is criminal; that uses up exactly 1 of the 4 remaining criminals. Therefore the other five unknowns (A1, A2, C1, C3, and D3 Olivia) contain exactly 3 criminals. Tina’s clue says Henry’s neighbors include exactly an odd total number of criminals; Henry already neighbors two known criminals (Chloe and Jose), so among A1, A2, C1, and C3 there must be an odd number of criminals, and since Olivia at D3 can contribute at most one criminal to the needed total of 3 among those five, A1/A2/C1/C3 must supply 3 criminals, forcing Olivia to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Olivia is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them" — Chloe (B1)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Henry" — Tina (C4)
"There are 11 innocents in total" — Will (B5)
C3 · Nicole → CRIMINAL
Because: Uma is at D4, and her neighbors are C3 Nicole, D3 Olivia, C4 Tina, C5 Xia, and D5 Zara. Vince’s clue says that among Uma’s neighboring criminals there are exactly two of them, and exactly one of those two is a cook. The only neighboring cook who could possibly be one of those criminals is Nicole, because Olivia is a cook but already confirmed INNOCENT. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Nicole is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Uma is a cook" — Vince (A5)
C1 · Eric → CRIMINAL
Because: Henry is at B2, so his neighbors are A1 Adam, B1 Chloe, C1 Eric, A2 Gary, C2 Jose, A3 Lucy, B3 Martin, and C3 Nicole. Among these, Chloe, Jose, and Nicole are already criminals, while Lucy and Martin are innocents, so Henry currently has 3 criminal neighbors plus the three unknown neighbors Adam, Gary, and Eric. Saga says “Ruth is one of 4 innocents in column A,” and in column A we already know Lucy (A3), Ruth (A4), and Vince (A5) are innocents, so exactly one of Adam (A1) and Gary (A2) must be innocent and the other must be a criminal. That means Adam and Gary together contribute exactly 1 criminal neighbor to Henry, bringing Henry’s criminal-neighbor count to 4 before considering Eric. Tina says Henry has an odd number of criminal neighbors, so that total cannot stay at 4; Eric must add one more criminal neighbor to make it 5. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Eric is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Henry" — Tina (C4)
"Ruth is one of 4 innocents in column A" — Saga (B4)
C5 · Xia → CRIMINAL
Because: Henry is at B2, and his neighbors are A1 Adam, B1 Chloe, C1 Eric, A2 Gary, C2 Jose, A3 Lucy, B3 Martin, and C3 Nicole. Tina’s clue says the number of criminals neighboring Henry is odd; among those neighbors we already have four known criminals (Chloe, Eric, Jose, and Nicole), so to make the total odd, exactly one of the two unknown neighbors Adam or Gary must be a criminal. That means the number of criminal sleuths is exactly two: Chloe plus whichever one of Adam or Gary is criminal. Nicole’s clue says the number of criminal builders equals the number of criminal sleuths, so there must be exactly two criminal builders; since Uma is already a criminal builder and the only other undetermined builder is Xia, Xia must be the second criminal builder. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Xia is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Henry" — Tina (C4)
"There are as many criminal builders as there are criminal sleuths" — Nicole (C3)
D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
Because: The builders are Tina at C4, Uma at D4, and Xia at C5. Chloe’s clue says that exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them. Tina at C4 already satisfies this because the person directly below C4 is Xia at C5, and Xia is criminal, so the one allowed case is already used up. That means Uma at D4 cannot also have a criminal directly below her, so Zara at D5 cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zara is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 builder has a criminal directly below them" — Chloe (B1)
A2 · Gary → INNOCENT
Because: Row 2 contains Gary at A2, Henry at B2, Jose at C2, and Klay at D2. Zara’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals in row 2. Since Henry and Jose are already the two criminals in that row, no one else in row 2 can be a criminal, so Gary must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Gary is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 criminals in row 2" — Zara (D5)
A1 · Adam → CRIMINAL
Because: In column A, we have Adam at A1, Gary at A2, Lucy at A3, Ruth at A4, and Vince at A5. Saga’s clue says that Ruth is one of 4 innocents in column A, so there are exactly 4 innocents in that column in total. But Gary, Lucy, Ruth, and Vince are already all confirmed innocents, which already makes 4 innocents in column A. That means Adam at A1 cannot also be innocent, so he must be the criminal. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Adam is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Ruth is one of 4 innocents in column A" — Saga (B4)