Clues by Sam Apr 10, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Tricky·Solved
A1
🕵️♀️
Anna
sleuth
B1
👩💻
Chloe
coder
C1
👨💻
Derek
coder
D1
👩🎨
Emma
painter
A2
🕵️♀️
Flora
sleuth
B2
👨💻
Gabe
coder
C2
👨🌾
Ike
farmer
D2
👨🌾
Jose
farmer
A3
🕵️♂️
Keith
sleuth
B3
👷♀️
Lisa
builder
C3
👮♂️
Nick
cop
D3
👮♂️
Oscar
cop
A4
💂♂️
Pip
guard
B4
👷♂️
Rohan
builder
C4
👩🌾
Stella
farmer
D4
👮♀️
Tina
cop
A5
👩🎨
Uma
painter
B5
👷♂️
Vince
builder
C5
💂♀️
Wanda
guard
D5
💂♀️
Zara
guard
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 8Criminal 12Unknown 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 · 8
[ A1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ C2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C4 ] [ B5 ]
Criminal · 12
[ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ B2 ] [ D2 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ 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 · Anna
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Jose"
B1 · Chloe
"It's not great to get caught but... Could be worse."
C1 · Derek
"Only 1 of the 9 criminals on the edges is in column B"
D1 · Emma
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring me"
A2 · Flora
"Am I imagining or are the criminals more flegmatic than usual?"
B2 · Gabe
"There are exactly 3 innocents in column A"
C2 · Ike
"Each row has at least one innocent"
D2 · Jose
"An odd number of innocents on the edges neighbor Gabe"
A3 · Keith
"There are exactly 2 innocents in column C"
B3 · Lisa
"Both criminals in row 3 are connected"
C3 · Nick
"Oh, you caught me? Oh, well."
D3 · Oscar
"There are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda"
A4 · Pip
"There's an odd number of criminals in column B"
B4 · Rohan
"There are more innocents in row 2 than row 5"
C4 · Stella
"Anna has exactly 2 criminal neighbors"
D4 · Tina
"Too bad. I guess I didn't try hard enough."
A5 · Uma
"After getting caught hundreds of times, you get used to it."
B5 · Vince
"Something's definitely off. Long week?"
C5 · Wanda
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Gabe is Emma's neighbor"
D5 · Zara
"It happens."
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)
C3 · Nick → CRIMINAL, D3 · Oscar → CRIMINAL, A3 · Keith → INNOCENT
Because: Row 3 contains A3 Keith, B3 Lisa, C3 Nick, and D3 Oscar, and Lisa’s clue says there are exactly two criminals in that row and those two criminals are connected. With only two criminals in a single row, being connected means they must be directly next to each other horizontally. Since Lisa at B3 is already INNOCENT, the connected pair of two criminals cannot include B3, so the only possible adjacent pair is C3 and D3. That forces Nick at C3 and Oscar at D3 to be the two criminals, and it also forces Keith at A3 to be INNOCENT because the clue allows only two criminals in the row. Therefore, we can determine that C3 Nick is CRIMINAL, D3 Oscar is CRIMINAL, and A3 Keith is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Both criminals in row 3 are connected" — Lisa (B3)
C5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Because: The people above Wanda are C1 Derek, C2 Ike, C3 Nick, and C4 Stella. Oscar’s clue says exactly 2 of those four people are innocents, and we already know Nick at C3 is a criminal, so the 2 innocents above Wanda must be among Derek, Ike, and Stella. Keith’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents in all of column C, meaning the total across Derek, Ike, Nick, Stella, and Wanda is 2 innocents. Since we already need 2 innocents among Derek, Ike, and Stella, there is no room left for Wanda to be an innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C5 Wanda is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda" — Oscar (D3)
"There are exactly 2 innocents in column C" — Keith (A3)
C4 · Stella → INNOCENT
Because: Look at column C above Wanda at C5: the people there are Derek at C1, Ike at C2, Nick at C3, and Stella at C4. Oscar’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda, and since Nick is already a criminal, that means exactly 2 of Derek, Ike, and Stella must be innocents. Wanda’s clue says Gabe has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and only 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Emma; among Gabe’s neighbors, the only people who are also Emma’s neighbors are Derek and Ike, so exactly one of Derek or Ike is a criminal and the other is an innocent. Since only one of Derek and Ike can be an innocent, Stella must be the second innocent needed among Derek, Ike, and Stella. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Stella is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda" — Oscar (D3)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Gabe is Emma's neighbor" — Wanda (C5)
A1 · Anna → INNOCENT
Because: Gabe is at B2, and Wanda says Gabe has 3 neighboring criminals, with only 1 of those 3 also being a neighbor of Emma at D1. Nick at C3 is already a criminal neighbor of Gabe and is not a neighbor of Emma, and the only neighbors that Gabe shares with Emma are Derek at C1 and Ike at C2, so exactly one of Derek or Ike must be a criminal neighbor of Gabe. That means the other remaining criminal neighbor of Gabe must come from Anna at A1, Chloe at B1, and Flora at A2, so exactly one of Anna, Chloe, and Flora is a criminal. Stella says Anna has exactly 2 criminal neighbors, and Anna’s only neighbors are Chloe, Flora, and Gabe, so at least one of Chloe or Flora must be criminal (otherwise Anna could not reach 2 criminal neighbors). Since exactly one of Anna, Chloe, and Flora is criminal, and at least one of Chloe or Flora is criminal, Anna cannot be the criminal among the three. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Anna is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Gabe is Emma's neighbor" — Wanda (C5)
"Anna has exactly 2 criminal neighbors" — Stella (C4)
D1 · Emma → INNOCENT
Because: Wanda is at C5, so the people above her are Derek at C1, Ike at C2, Nick at C3, and Stella at C4. Oscar’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda; since Stella is already INNOCENT and Nick is already CRIMINAL, exactly one of Derek and Ike must be INNOCENT and the other must be CRIMINAL. Jose is at D2, and his neighbors are Derek (C1), Emma (D1), Ike (C2), Nick (C3), and Oscar (D3); Anna’s clue says an odd number of these neighbors are CRIMINAL, and Nick and Oscar already contribute 2 criminals, so the remaining three (Derek, Emma, Ike) must contain an odd number of criminals. Because Derek and Ike contain exactly one criminal between them, Emma cannot also be a criminal or that remaining count would be even, so Emma must be INNOCENT. Therefore, we can determine that D1 Emma is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda" — Oscar (D3)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Jose" — Anna (A1)
D2 · Jose → CRIMINAL
Because: Consider the people neighboring Emma at D1: Derek at C1, Ike at C2, and Jose at D2. Oscar’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda at C5, and the people above Wanda are Derek (C1), Ike (C2), Nick (C3), and Stella (C4); since Stella is already INNOCENT and Nick is already CRIMINAL, Derek and Ike must include exactly one INNOCENT between them. Emma’s clue requires an odd number of innocents among her neighbors (Derek, Ike, and Jose), so adding Jose as an INNOCENT would make the total number of innocents 2, which is even, and cannot satisfy the clue. Therefore, we can determine that D2 Jose is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda" — Oscar (D3)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring me" — Emma (D1)
C2 · Ike → INNOCENT
Because: Gabe is at B2, and Nick at C3 is already a known criminal neighbor of Gabe. Wanda’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminal neighbors of Gabe, and exactly 1 of those 3 is also a neighbor of Emma at D1; among Gabe’s neighbors, the only people who are also neighbors of Emma are C1 (Derek) and C2 (Ike), so exactly one of C1 or C2 is criminal. Since Nick is already one of the three criminals, the two remaining criminal neighbors of Gabe must be split between “one of C1/C2” and “one of the remaining unknown neighbors,” which forces exactly one of B1 (Chloe) and A2 (Flora) to be criminal. Jose’s clue says an odd number of edge-position neighbors of Gabe are innocent; A1 and A3 are edge neighbors and already both innocent, so B1, C1, and A2 together must contain an odd number of innocents, and since exactly one of B1 and A2 is innocent, C1 must be criminal to make the total odd. That makes C1 the criminal among {C1, C2}, so C2 (Ike) is innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C2 Ike is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Gabe is Emma's neighbor" — Wanda (C5)
"An odd number of innocents on the edges neighbor Gabe" — Jose (D2)
C1 · Derek → CRIMINAL
Because: Wanda is at C5, so “above Wanda” means the four people in column C at C1, C2, C3, and C4: Derek, Ike, Nick, and Stella. Oscar’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents among those four people. Ike at C2 is already INNOCENT, and Stella at C4 is already INNOCENT, which already makes 2 innocents above Wanda. Since the clue allows exactly 2 and no more, Derek at C1 cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Derek is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents above Wanda" — Oscar (D3)
B2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Because: Gabe at B2 has eight neighbors: Anna at A1, Chloe at B1, Derek at C1, Flora at A2, Ike at C2, Keith at A3, Lisa at B3, and Nick at C3. Wanda’s clue says there are exactly three criminals neighboring Gabe, and among Gabe’s neighbors the only already-known criminals are Derek and Nick while Anna, Ike, Keith, and Lisa are confirmed innocents, so the third criminal neighbor must be either Chloe or Flora, meaning exactly one of Chloe and Flora is a criminal. Stella’s clue says Anna has exactly two criminal neighbors, and Anna’s neighbors are exactly Chloe, Flora, and Gabe, so among those three people there must be two criminals; since only one of Chloe and Flora can be a criminal, Gabe must be the other criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Gabe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Gabe is Emma's neighbor" — Wanda (C5)
"Anna has exactly 2 criminal neighbors" — Stella (C4)
D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL, D5 · Zara → CRIMINAL
Because: The edge positions that are still unknown are B1 Chloe, A2 Flora, A4 Pip, D4 Tina, A5 Uma, B5 Vince, and D5 Zara. Derek’s clue says there are 9 criminals on the edges in total, and only 1 of those edge criminals is in column B, which means exactly one of B1 and B5 is a criminal; since we already have 4 known edge criminals (C1, D2, D3, and C5), the remaining 5 edge criminals must be among those 7 unknown edge people, so besides the single criminal in column B, the other 4 edge criminals must come from A2, A4, D4, A5, and D5. Gabe’s clue says column A has exactly 3 innocents, and since A1 and A3 are already innocent, exactly one of A2, A4, and A5 is innocent, so exactly two of them are criminals. That uses up only 2 of the 4 criminals that must be in the set A2, A4, D4, A5, and D5, leaving D4 and D5 forced to be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tina is CRIMINAL and D5 Zara is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 3 innocents in column A" — Gabe (B2)
"Only 1 of the 9 criminals on the edges is in column B" — Derek (C1)
A4 · Pip → CRIMINAL
Because: From Derek’s clue, there are exactly 9 criminals on the edge, and exactly 1 of those edge-criminals is in column B (so exactly one of B1 and B5 is a criminal). We already know 6 edge criminals for sure: Derek at C1, Jose at D2, Oscar at D3, Tina at D4, Wanda at C5, and Zara at D5, so the remaining five edge unknowns (B1, A2, A4, A5, B5) must contain exactly 3 more criminals; since only 1 of those 3 can be in column B, the three edge spots in column A (A2, A4, A5) must contain exactly 2 criminals. From Wanda’s clue about Gabe, Gabe has exactly 3 criminal neighbors; we already see Derek (C1) and Nick (C3) are two of them, so exactly one of Chloe at B1 and Flora at A2 must be the third criminal neighbor, meaning exactly one of B1 and A2 is criminal. If A2 is the criminal, then B1 is innocent, so the single edge-criminal in column B must be B5; that would make row 5 have criminals at B5, C5, and D5, so Ike’s clue (each row has at least one innocent) forces A5 to be innocent, leaving A4 as the second required criminal in column A’s edge spots. If A2 is innocent, then to still have exactly two criminals among A2, A4, and A5, both A4 and A5 must be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that A4 (Pip) is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Gabe is Emma's neighbor" — Wanda (C5)
"Only 1 of the 9 criminals on the edges is in column B" — Derek (C1)
"Each row has at least one innocent" — Ike (C2)
B4 · Rohan → CRIMINAL
Because: The first clue says that among the 9 criminals on the edge of the board, exactly one of them is in column B; the only edge spaces in column B are B1 and B5, so exactly one of B1 and B5 is a criminal. The second clue says there is an odd number of criminals in column B, and we already know B2 is a criminal while B3 is innocent, so the total number of criminals among B1, B4, and B5 must be even. Since B1 and B5 contribute exactly one criminal in total, B4 must also be a criminal to make the number among B1, B4, and B5 equal to two. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Rohan is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 9 criminals on the edges is in column B" — Derek (C1)
"There's an odd number of criminals in column B" — Pip (A4)
A2 · Flora → INNOCENT
Because: Row 2 currently has Ike at C2 as INNOCENT, while B2 and D2 are CRIMINAL, so the only way for row 2 to have more than one innocent is if Flora at A2 is also INNOCENT. Row 5 has Wanda at C5 and Zara at D5 as CRIMINAL, so the only places an innocent could be in row 5 are A5 and B5. Ike’s clue says every row has at least one innocent, so row 5 must contain at least one innocent in A5 or B5, meaning row 5 has at least 1 innocent. Rohan’s clue says row 2 has more innocents than row 5, so row 2 must have at least 2 innocents, which forces Flora at A2 to be INNOCENT. Therefore, we can determine that A2 Flora is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Each row has at least one innocent" — Ike (C2)
"There are more innocents in row 2 than row 5" — Rohan (B4)
B1 · Chloe → CRIMINAL
Because: Gabe is at B2, so his neighbors are A1 Anna, B1 Chloe, C1 Derek, A2 Flora, C2 Ike, A3 Keith, B3 Lisa, and C3 Nick. The clue says there are three criminals neighboring Gabe, and right now we already know Derek and Nick are criminals among those neighbors, while everyone else there is innocent except Chloe who is still unknown. That means Chloe must be the third criminal neighbor of Gabe. This also matches the rest of the clue because Emma at D1 neighbors Derek (C1) but does not neighbor Chloe (B1) or Nick (C3), so exactly one of Gabe’s three criminal neighbors is also Emma’s neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that B1 Chloe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Gabe is Emma's neighbor" — Wanda (C5)
A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: Column A contains Anna at A1, Flora at A2, Keith at A3, Pip at A4, and Uma at A5. Gabe’s clue says there are exactly 3 innocents in column A. We already have three confirmed innocents in that column: A1 Anna, A2 Flora, and A3 Keith, so no other spot in column A can be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Uma is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 3 innocents in column A" — Gabe (B2)
B5 · Vince → INNOCENT
Because: The clue from Derek says that among the 9 criminals who are on the edge of the board, only 1 of them is in column B. The only edge squares in column B are B1 and B5, because B2, B3, and B4 are not on the edge. We already have Chloe at B1 as a criminal on the edge, so that uses up the single allowed edge-criminal in column B. That means Vince at B5 cannot be a criminal on the edge, so he must be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Vince is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 9 criminals on the edges is in column B" — Derek (C1)