Clues by Sam Apr 14, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Medium·Solved
A1
👩🔧
Amy
mech
B1
👨🔧
Bobby
mech
C1
👩🌾
Chloe
farmer
D1
😬
David
alien
A2
🕵️♂️
Eli
sleuth
B2
👨🔧
Frank
mech
C2
👨🌾
Gabe
farmer
D2
👻
Henry
ghost
A3
💂♀️
Katie
guard
B3
👮♀️
Lisa
cop
C3
🕵️♂️
Martin
sleuth
D3
👩🍳
Nancy
cook
A4
🕵️♀️
Pam
sleuth
B4
👮♀️
Ruth
cop
C4
👮♂️
Salil
cop
D4
👩🍳
Tina
cook
A5
💂♀️
Vicky
guard
B5
💂♂️
Wally
guard
C5
👩⚕️
Xia
doctor
D5
👨⚕️
Zed
doctor
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
[ A2 ] [ A3 ] [ C3 ] [ A4 ] [ D4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 12
[ A1 ] [ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ D1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ D2 ] [ B3 ] [ D3 ] [ B4 ] [ C4 ] [ 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 · Amy
"There are 12 criminals in total"
B1 · Bobby
"Exactly 1 of us 3 mechs has an innocent directly below them"
C1 · Chloe
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Xia"
D1 · David
"Can I call home now?"
A2 · Eli
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B"
B2 · Frank
"An odd number of innocents below Bobby neighbor Pam"
C2 · Gabe
"Did someone call a criminal? No?"
D2 · Henry
"So, who you gonna call?"
A3 · Katie
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns B and C"
B3 · Lisa
"Pam has exactly 3 innocent neighbors"
C3 · Martin
"There are as many innocent guards as there are us innocent sleuths"
D3 · Nancy
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Vicky"
A4 · Pam
"Who's next? It's your call."
B4 · Ruth
"Only one mech has exactly 5 criminal neighbors"
C4 · Salil
"There are exactly 2 innocents below David"
D4 · Tina
"Sorry, Zed. I might have been pocket dialing."
A5 · Vicky
"Exactly 1 innocent in column C is neighboring Frank"
B5 · Wally
"Good call!"
C5 · Xia
"Zed is one of Salil's 4 innocent neighbors"
D5 · Zed
"Did someone call a doctor?"
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)
B2 · Frank → CRIMINAL
Because: Eli’s clue says that Frank is one of the four criminals in column B, which directly includes Frank among the criminals. Therefore, we can determine that B2 Frank is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
B1 · Bobby → CRIMINAL
Because: Look at column B: Bobby (B1), Frank (B2), Lisa (B3), Ruth (B4), and Wally (B5). Eli’s clue says Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B, so there is exactly 1 innocent in that whole column. Frank’s clue talks about the people below Bobby who are also neighbors of Pam (A4); those are Lisa (B3), Ruth (B4), and Wally (B5), and it says an odd number of them are innocent. If Bobby were the one innocent in column B, then Lisa, Ruth, and Wally would all have to be criminals, making 0 innocents among them, which is not odd, so Bobby cannot be the column’s innocent. Therefore, we can determine that Bobby is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
"An odd number of innocents below Bobby neighbor Pam" — Frank (B2)
B3 · Lisa → CRIMINAL
Because: The three mechs are Amy at A1, Bobby at B1, and Frank at B2. Bobby’s clue says that among these three mechs, exactly one of them has an innocent directly below them. Amy has Eli directly below her at A2, and Eli is already known to be innocent, so Amy is already that one mech who has an innocent directly below. That means Frank cannot also have an innocent directly below him, so Lisa at B3 cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that B3 Lisa is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 of us 3 mechs has an innocent directly below them" — Bobby (B1)
A5 · Vicky → INNOCENT, A3 · Katie → INNOCENT
Because: Pam is at A4, so her neighbors are Katie at A3, Vicky at A5, Lisa at B3, Ruth at B4, and Wally at B5. Lisa is already known to be a criminal, and the clue says Pam has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, so among the other four neighbors (A3, A5, B4, B5) there must be exactly 3 innocents and exactly 1 criminal. Eli’s clue says column B contains exactly 4 criminals, and since Bobby at B1, Frank at B2, and Lisa at B3 are already criminals, exactly one of Ruth at B4 or Wally at B5 must be the fourth criminal. That means the single criminal among Pam’s remaining four neighbors must be in B4 or B5, leaving Katie at A3 and Vicky at A5 forced to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that A5 Vicky is INNOCENT and A3 Katie is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
"Pam has exactly 3 innocent neighbors" — Lisa (B3)
C4 · Salil → CRIMINAL, C5 · Xia → CRIMINAL
Because: In column B we already know Bobby, Frank, and Lisa are criminals, and Eli’s clue says Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B, so column B has exactly 4 criminals and therefore exactly 1 innocent. Katie’s clue says columns B and C have an equal number of innocents, so column C also has exactly 1 innocent (meaning 4 criminals in column C). Vicky’s clue says exactly 1 innocent in column C is neighboring Frank, and the only column C neighbors of Frank at B2 are C1, C2, and C3, so the single innocent in column C must be among C1–C3. That forces the remaining column C people, C4 (Salil) and C5 (Xia), to be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that C4 Salil is CRIMINAL and C5 Xia is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
"Exactly 1 innocent in column C is neighboring Frank" — Vicky (A5)
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns B and C" — Katie (A3)
D5 · Zed → INNOCENT
Because: Xia’s clue says that Zed is one of Salil’s 4 innocent neighbors, which directly states that Zed is innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D5 Zed is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Zed is one of Salil's 4 innocent neighbors" — Xia (C5)
C3 · Martin → INNOCENT
Because: Salil is at C4, and his neighbors include Martin at C3, Nancy at D3, Tina at D4, Ruth at B4, Wally at B5, and Zed at D5. Xia’s clue says Zed is one of Salil’s 4 innocent neighbors, so besides Zed there must be exactly 3 innocents among Martin, Nancy, Tina, Ruth, and Wally. Eli’s clue says there are exactly 4 criminals in column B, and since Bobby, Frank, and Lisa are already criminals, exactly one of Ruth or Wally is innocent, so Martin, Nancy, and Tina together must contain exactly 2 innocents. Salil’s clue about David says there are exactly 2 innocents below David in column D, and since Zed is already one of them, only one of Henry, Nancy, or Tina can be innocent, so Nancy and Tina together cannot provide 2 innocents; that forces Martin to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C3 · Martin is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
"There are exactly 2 innocents below David" — Salil (C4)
"Zed is one of Salil's 4 innocent neighbors" — Xia (C5)
C1 · Chloe → CRIMINAL, C2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue talks about people in column C who are neighbors of Frank at B2. The only column C neighbors of Frank are Chloe at C1, Gabe at C2, and Martin at C3. The clue says exactly one of those column C neighbors is innocent, and we already know Martin at C3 is innocent. That uses up the single allowed innocent among them, so Chloe and Gabe cannot be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that C1 Chloe is CRIMINAL and C2 Gabe is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 1 innocent in column C is neighboring Frank" — Vicky (A5)
D4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Because: Xia is at C5, so her neighbors are Ruth at B4, Salil at C4, Tina at D4, Wally at B5, and Zed at D5. Chloe’s clue says the number of innocents among those five neighbors is odd; since Zed is already innocent and Salil is already a criminal, that means the remaining three people (Ruth, Wally, and Tina) must contain an even number of innocents. Eli’s clue says there are exactly 4 criminals in column B, and since Bobby, Frank, and Lisa are already criminals there, exactly one of Ruth and Wally must be innocent. That gives Ruth and Wally as 1 innocent total, so to make the number of innocents among Ruth, Wally, and Tina even, Tina must also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D4 Tina is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
"There's an odd number of innocents neighboring Xia" — Chloe (C1)
D3 · Nancy → CRIMINAL, D2 · Henry → CRIMINAL
Because: David is at D1, so the people below him in column D are Henry at D2, Nancy at D3, Tina at D4, and Zed at D5. Salil’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents below David, meaning exactly two of those four people are innocents. We already know Tina is INNOCENT and Zed is INNOCENT, which already makes the total of innocents below David equal to 2. That leaves no room for Henry or Nancy to be innocent, so both must be criminals. Therefore, we can determine that D3 Nancy is CRIMINAL and D2 Henry is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents below David" — Salil (C4)
A4 · Pam → INNOCENT
Because: Vicky is at A5, so her only neighbors are Pam at A4, Ruth at B4, and Wally at B5. Eli’s clue says there are exactly 4 criminals in column B; since Bobby (B1), Frank (B2), and Lisa (B3) are already criminals, exactly one of Ruth (B4) and Wally (B5) is a criminal. Nancy’s clue says Vicky has an odd number of criminal neighbors, so among Pam, Ruth, and Wally the number of criminals must be odd; with exactly one criminal already forced to be in {Ruth, Wally}, Pam cannot also be a criminal or the total would become 2. Therefore, we can determine that A4 Pam is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Vicky" — Nancy (D3)
B5 · Wally → INNOCENT
Because: The innocent sleuths are Eli at A2, Martin at C3, and Pam at A4, so “us innocent sleuths” means there are 3 innocent sleuths. Martin’s clue says the number of innocent guards is exactly the same, so there must also be 3 innocent guards. The guards are Katie at A3, Vicky at A5, and Wally at B5, and Katie and Vicky are already known to be innocent, so Wally must be the third innocent guard. Therefore, we can determine that B5 Wally is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are as many innocent guards as there are us innocent sleuths" — Martin (C3)
B4 · Ruth → CRIMINAL
Because: The clue from Eli says that Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B, so column B contains exactly 4 criminals in total. In column B, Bobby at B1, Frank at B2, and Lisa at B3 are already known criminals, while Wally at B5 is known innocent. That means the only remaining spot in column B that can make the total reach 4 criminals is Ruth at B4. Therefore, we can determine that B4 Ruth is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Frank is one of 4 criminals in column B" — Eli (A2)
A1 · Amy → CRIMINAL
Because: The mechs on the board are Amy at A1, Bobby at B1, and Frank at B2, and Ruth’s clue says that exactly one of these mechs has exactly 5 criminal neighbors. Amy is in the corner at A1 and only has three neighbors total, so she cannot be the mech with 5 criminal neighbors, and Bobby at B1 has only five neighbors total with A2 being innocent, so Bobby also cannot reach 5 criminal neighbors. That leaves Frank at B2 as the only mech who could have exactly 5 criminal neighbors, and Frank already has four criminal neighbors (B1, C1, C2, and B3), so his fifth criminal neighbor must be A1. Therefore, we can determine that A1 Amy is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only one mech has exactly 5 criminal neighbors" — Ruth (B4)
D1 · David → CRIMINAL
Because: Amy at A1 says, “There are 12 criminals in total.” Right now, we already have 11 people marked as criminals: Amy, Bobby, Chloe, Frank, Gabe, Henry, Lisa, Nancy, Ruth, Salil, and Xia. Since the clue fixes the total number of criminals at exactly 12, the only remaining spot to supply the 12th criminal is D1, David, who is the only person still Unknown. Therefore, we can determine that D1 David is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are 12 criminals in total" — Amy (A1)