Clues by Sam Apr 21, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Easy·Solved
A1
👮♂️
Andre
cop
B1
👷♀️
Carol
builder
C1
👩🌾
Diane
farmer
D1
🕵️♀️
Evie
sleuth
A2
👮♀️
Flora
cop
B2
👮♂️
Gary
cop
C2
🕵️♂️
Hal
sleuth
D2
💂♂️
Ike
guard
A3
👨🍳
Larry
cook
B3
👩🍳
Mary
cook
C3
👨🍳
Noah
cook
D3
👩💻
Olga
coder
A4
💂♀️
Penny
guard
B4
🕵️♂️
Rohan
sleuth
C4
👩🌾
Saga
farmer
D4
👩💻
Tina
coder
A5
👷♀️
Uma
builder
B5
👷♂️
Vince
builder
C5
💂♂️
Wally
guard
D5
👨🌾
Ziad
farmer
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
[ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ C2 ] [ A4 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ C5 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 12
[ A1 ] [ C1 ] [ A2 ] [ B2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ B4 ] [ A5 ] [ B5 ]
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 · Andre
"Cheer up, Noah! Yesterday didn't stop us, and neither will today!"
B1 · Carol
"Uh, oh..."
C1 · Diane
"Noah is one of 2 criminals above Wally"
D1 · Evie
"There are exactly 3 innocents in row 4"
A2 · Flora
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column A are Mary's neighbors"
B2 · Gary
"There's an odd number of innocents in column D"
C2 · Hal
"There are at least 2 innocents in column D"
D2 · Ike
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Mary are in row 2"
A3 · Larry
"Criminals, roll out! If you're still free, that is."
B3 · Mary
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Ike"
C3 · Noah
"You're after us again? Oh, bummer."
D3 · Olga
"One for all, all for one!"
A4 · Penny
"This'll be a rough week..."
B4 · Rohan
"I like this new attitude! Together we're strong!"
C4 · Saga
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Evie is in row 2"
D4 · Tina
"There's an equal number of criminals in columns A and B"
A5 · Uma
"All criminals in column D are connected"
B5 · Vince
"We shall rise like a Phoenix! Day after day!"
C5 · Wally
"What have we done?"
D5 · Ziad
"Only 1 of the 8 criminals on the edges is Wally'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)
C1 · Diane → CRIMINAL
Because: Evie is at D1, so her neighbors are C1, C2, and D2. The clue says Evie has exactly 2 criminal neighbors, and only 1 of those 2 is in row 2. Among Evie’s neighbors, the row 2 people are C2 and D2, so exactly 1 of C2 and D2 is criminal; that means the other criminal neighbor must be the only neighbor not in row 2, which is C1. Therefore, we can determine that C1 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Evie is in row 2" — Saga (C4)
C3 · Noah → CRIMINAL
Because: Wally is at C5, so the people above him in column C are Diane at C1, Hal at C2, Noah at C3, and Saga at C4. Diane’s clue says that Noah is one of the 2 criminals above Wally, so it directly tells us that Noah is criminal. Therefore, we can determine that C3 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Noah is one of 2 criminals above Wally" — Diane (C1)
C2 · Hal → INNOCENT
Because: Wally is at C5, so the people above Wally in column C are Diane at C1, Hal at C2, Noah at C3, and Saga at C4. Diane’s clue says that exactly 2 of those people are criminals, and Noah is one of them. We already know Diane at C1 is a criminal and Noah at C3 is a criminal, while Saga at C4 is innocent, so the two criminals above Wally are already accounted for by Diane and Noah. Therefore, we can determine that C2, Hal, is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Noah is one of 2 criminals above Wally" — Diane (C1)
D2 · Ike → CRIMINAL
Because: Evie is at D1, so her neighbors are C1 Diane, C2 Hal, and D2 Ike. We already know Diane is a criminal and Hal is innocent, so the clue’s “2 criminals neighboring Evie” must be Diane and Ike. The clue also says only 1 of those 2 criminals is in row 2; Diane is in row 1, so the one in row 2 has to be Ike at D2. Therefore, we can determine that D2 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 2 criminals neighboring Evie is in row 2" — Saga (C4)
A2 · Flora → CRIMINAL, B2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
Because: Mary is at B3, so her neighbors are A2, B2, C2, A3, C3, A4, B4, and C4. Among these, the people in row 2 are A2 Flora, B2 Gary, and C2 Hal. We already know Hal is innocent, while Noah at C3 is criminal, and Ike’s clue says exactly 2 of Mary’s neighboring criminals are in row 2. That means the two criminals in row 2 must be Flora and Gary. Therefore, we can determine that A2 is CRIMINAL and B2 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Mary are in row 2" — Ike (D2)
A1 · Andre → CRIMINAL, A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: Column A contains Andre at A1, Flora at A2, Larry at A3, Penny at A4, and Uma at A5, and Flora’s clue says exactly 4 of them are criminals. Mary is at B3, so her neighbors in column A are only Flora at A2, Larry at A3, and Penny at A4; Andre at A1 and Uma at A5 are not her neighbors. Since Flora is already known to be a criminal, the four criminals in column A must include Flora and three others, but exactly 2 of those 4 criminals are Mary’s neighbors. That means the other 2 criminals in column A must be the two people there who are not Mary’s neighbors, namely Andre and Uma. Therefore, we can determine that A1 is CRIMINAL and A5 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column A are Mary's neighbors" — Flora (A2)
D5 · Ziad → INNOCENT
Because: In column D, we already know D2 is criminal, while D1, D3, D4, and D5 are the other spaces in that column. Hal says there are at least 2 innocents in column D, so besides D2 there must be at least two non-criminal spots in that column. Uma says all criminals in column D are connected, and since connection in a column must be a single uninterrupted vertical block including D2, any criminal at D5 would force D3 and D4 to be criminals too. That would leave only D1 as innocent in column D, which is not enough, so D5 cannot be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D5 is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are at least 2 innocents in column D" — Hal (C2)
"All criminals in column D are connected" — Uma (A5)
B4 · Rohan → CRIMINAL
Because: Mary is at B3. Flora says that exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column A are Mary's neighbors, and the criminals in column A are A1, A2, and A5, with exactly one of A3 or A4 also criminal. Among those, Mary's neighbors can only be A2, A3, and A4, so to reach exactly 2 neighboring criminals there, exactly one of A3 and A4 must be criminal. Ike says exactly 2 of Mary's neighboring criminals are in row 2. Mary's row-2 neighbors are A2, B2, C2, and D2, and among them A2, B2, and D2 are already criminal while C2 is innocent, so Mary already has 3 criminal neighbors in row 2. That means Mary cannot be criminal, because if she were, Ike's clue would be counting 5 neighboring criminals and row 2 would still contain 3 of them instead of exactly 2. So Mary is innocent. Then Flora's clue still requires exactly one of A3 and A4 to be criminal, and since an innocent Mary does not count as her own neighbor, the only way for Ike's clue to have exactly 2 neighboring criminals in row 2 is for one non-row-2 neighbor to be criminal as well. Among Mary's non-row-2 neighboring undecided spots, A4 and B4 are the relevant remaining possibilities, and with exactly one of A3 and A4 criminal, that forces B4 to be the extra criminal neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that B4 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Mary are in row 2" — Ike (D2)
"Exactly 2 of the 4 criminals in column A are Mary's neighbors" — Flora (A2)
D4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Because: Column D currently has Ike at D2 as a criminal and Ziad at D5 as an innocent, while D1, D3, and D4 are still unknown. Hal says there are at least 2 innocents in column D, and Gary says the number of innocents there is odd, so column D must contain either 3 innocents or 5 innocents. Uma also says all criminals in column D are connected, so any criminals in that column must form one unbroken vertical group; since D2 is already a criminal, D4 cannot also be criminal unless D3 is criminal too, and that would leave only D5 as innocent between them, which cannot fit the required odd innocent count together with Hal's minimum. The only value that works is for D4 to be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D4 is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are at least 2 innocents in column D" — Hal (C2)
"All criminals in column D are connected" — Uma (A5)
"There's an odd number of innocents in column D" — Gary (B2)
B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Because: Wally is at C5, so his neighbors are B4, C4, D4, B5, and D5. Among the edge people already known to be criminals, B4 is criminal while C4, D4, and D5 are innocent, so the clue’s “only 1 of the 8 criminals on the edges is Wally’s neighbor” means Wally can have no other criminal neighbor on the edge. The only remaining neighbor of Wally that lies on the edge is B5, so Vince cannot be innocent and must be the one additional edge criminal neighbor ruled out by the clue. Therefore, we can determine that B5 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 8 criminals on the edges is Wally's neighbor" — Ziad (D5)
B1 · Carol → INNOCENT, C5 · Wally → INNOCENT
Because: Mary’s neighbors are A2, B2, C2, A3, C3, A4, B4, and C4. Among those, the known criminals are A2, B2, C3, and B4, and Ike’s clue says exactly 2 of Mary’s 5 criminal neighbors are in row 2; since A2 and B2 are already the 2 row-2 criminals, the fifth criminal neighbor must be A3, so the other unknown neighbor A4 is innocent. Now look at the edge criminals: A1, C1, A2, D2, A5, and B5 are already criminal, so Ziad’s clue that exactly 1 of the 8 edge criminals is Wally’s neighbor means Wally can have only one criminal neighbor among B4, B5, C4, D4, and D5. B5 is already a criminal neighbor of Wally, while B4 is known criminal and the others there are innocent, so Wally cannot also be criminal, because then B4 would give him a second criminal neighbor. Therefore, we can determine that C5 is INNOCENT. Finally, column D contains D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5, with D2 criminal and D4 and D5 innocent. Gary’s clue says the number of innocents in column D is odd, so among D1 and D3 exactly one is innocent. Since Wally is innocent, Ziad’s clue leaves only one criminal neighbor next to him, so D3 must be innocent and D1 must be criminal; then on the top edge, the only unknown edge cards are B1 and D1, and because there are exactly 8 edge criminals total, B1 cannot also be criminal. Therefore, we can determine that B1 is INNOCENT and C5 is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Mary are in row 2" — Ike (D2)
"Only 1 of the 8 criminals on the edges is Wally's neighbor" — Ziad (D5)
"There's an odd number of innocents in column D" — Gary (B2)
B3 · Mary → CRIMINAL
Because: Mary’s neighbors are A2, B2, C2, A3, C3, A4, B4, and C4. Among those, the row 2 neighbors are A2, B2, and C2, and we already know A2 and B2 are criminal while C2 is innocent, so exactly 2 of Mary’s neighboring criminals are in row 2. Ike’s clue says exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Mary are in row 2, so Mary must have exactly 5 criminal neighbors in total. Outside row 2, Mary already has two known criminal neighbors, C3 and B4, so among A3, A4, and C4 exactly one is criminal; since C4 is already innocent, that means exactly one of A3 and A4 is criminal. Column A already has criminals at A1, A2, and A5, while column B already has criminals at B2, B4, and B5, and Tina’s clue says columns A and B contain equal numbers of criminals, so B3 must be criminal exactly when one of A3 and A4 is criminal. Since we already know exactly one of A3 and A4 is criminal, B3 has to be criminal too. Therefore, we can determine that B3 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Mary are in row 2" — Ike (D2)
"There's an equal number of criminals in columns A and B" — Tina (D4)
D3 · Olga → CRIMINAL
Because: Ike is at D2, so the people below him are Olga at D3, Tina at D4, and Ziad at D5. Mary’s clue says exactly 2 of those 3 are innocents. Tina and Ziad are already known to be innocent, so those are the 2 innocents below Ike, leaving Olga as the criminal. Therefore, we can determine that D3 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Ike" — Mary (B3)
D1 · Evie → INNOCENT
Because: In column D, we already know D2 is criminal, D3 is criminal, D4 is innocent, and D5 is innocent. That means there are currently exactly two known innocents in column D, which is an even number. Gary says the total number of innocents in column D is odd, so the only way for that to be true is for the one unknown person in that column, D1, to also be innocent. Therefore, we can determine that D1 is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of innocents in column D" — Gary (B2)
A4 · Penny → INNOCENT
Because: Row 4 contains Penny at A4, Rohan at B4, Saga at C4, and Tina at D4. Evie’s clue says there are exactly 3 innocents in that row, and we already know B4 is criminal while C4 and D4 are innocent. That means the only way for row 4 to have exactly 3 innocents is for A4 to be innocent as well. Therefore, we can determine that A4 is INNOCENT.
Clue:
"There are exactly 3 innocents in row 4" — Evie (D1)
A3 · Larry → CRIMINAL
Because: Mary is at B3, so her neighboring criminals are among A2, B2, C2, A3, C3, A4, B4, and C4. From the board, the criminals among those are A2, B2, C3, and B4, while A4 and C4 are innocent, so the only unknown neighbor is A3, Larry. Of Mary’s neighboring criminals, exactly two are in row 2, and we already have exactly two there: A2 and B2. That means Larry must also be one of Mary’s five criminal neighbors, but not an extra row 2 criminal, so he has to be the remaining criminal at A3. Therefore, we can determine that A3 is CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 5 criminals neighboring Mary are in row 2" — Ike (D2)