Clues by Sam Apr 22, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Medium·Solved
A1
👨🌾
Andre
farmer
B1
💂♂️
Barnie
guard
C1
🕵️♀️
Diane
sleuth
D1
👮♀️
Evie
cop
A2
💂♀️
Frida
guard
B2
💂♂️
Ghani
guard
C2
🕵️♂️
Henry
sleuth
D2
👮♀️
Karen
cop
A3
👨🎨
Larry
painter
B3
👩🎨
Mary
painter
C3
🕵️♂️
Noah
sleuth
D3
👮♀️
Paula
cop
A4
👷♀️
Quita
builder
B4
👩🎨
Rose
painter
C4
👨🌾
Terry
farmer
D4
👩💻
Uma
coder
A5
👨💻
Vince
coder
B5
👩🌾
Wanda
farmer
C5
👷♀️
Xola
builder
D5
👷♂️
Zach
builder
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 6Criminal 14Unknown 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 · 6
[ A1 ] [ C1 ] [ C2 ] [ C4 ] [ C5 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 14
[ B1 ] [ D1 ] [ A2 ] [ B2 ] [ D2 ] [ A3 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ D4 ] [ 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
"After all this, I hope it's bigger than stealing our socks again."
B1 · Barnie
"Tomorrow might not be big enough for our plans. We'll see."
C1 · Diane
"Xola has exactly 2 innocent neighbors"
D1 · Evie
"There are more criminals in column B than column D"
A2 · Frida
"Oh, you have no idea! It's going to be SO big!"
B2 · Ghani
"Mary is one of Rose's 6 criminal neighbors"
C2 · Henry
"I heard the criminals have some big plans this week..."
D2 · Karen
"There's an equal number of criminals in rows 2 and 4"
A3 · Larry
"Both innocents in row 5 are connected"
B3 · Mary
"We're stronger than ever!"
C3 · Noah
"There are more criminals in row 4 than row 5"
D3 · Paula
"Our plans are so big they make Big Ben look like Small Ben"
A4 · Quita
"Frida has only one innocent neighbor"
B4 · Rose
"Diane and Evie have only one innocent neighbor in common"
C4 · Terry
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals in row 2 are Barnie's neighbors"
D4 · Uma
"All criminals in row 5 are connected"
A5 · Vince
"Our plans make the Big Bad Wolf blush!"
B5 · Wanda
"Evie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors"
C5 · Xola
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are in row 3"
D5 · Zach
"An odd number of innocents on the edges neighbor Rose"
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)
D2 · Karen → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 2 has exactly 3 criminals in total, and exactly 2 of those criminals are Barnie’s neighbors among A2 Frida, B2 Ghani, and C2 Henry. That means exactly 1 criminal in row 2 must be someone who is not Barnie’s neighbor. The only person in row 2 who is not Barnie’s neighbor is D2 Karen, and there are no known criminals already in that non-neighbor group. So D2 Karen must be CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals in row 2 are Barnie's neighbors" — Terry (C4)
A4 · Quita → CRIMINAL, B4 · Rose → CRIMINAL, D4 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 2 must contain exactly 3 criminals, and Karen is already one of them. Terry’s clue says exactly 2 of row 2’s criminals are Barnie’s neighbors, and the row 2 neighbors of Barnie are Frida, Ghani, and Henry, so the other 2 criminals in row 2 have to come from those three people. That means row 2 has 3 criminals in total. Karen’s clue says rows 2 and 4 contain the same number of criminals. Since row 2 therefore has 3 criminals, row 4 must also have 3 criminals. In row 4, Terry is already innocent, so the only way for row 4 to have 3 criminals is for Quita, Rose, and Uma all to be criminals. So Quita, Rose, and Uma must be criminal.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals in row 2 are Barnie's neighbors" — Terry (C4)
"There's an equal number of criminals in rows 2 and 4" — Karen (D2)
C2 · Henry → INNOCENT
Because: Rose’s clue says Diane and Evie have exactly one innocent neighbor in common. Their shared neighbors are Henry and Karen, and Karen is already criminal. That means the one innocent in that shared group has to be Henry. So Henry must be innocent.
Clue:
"Diane and Evie have only one innocent neighbor in common" — Rose (B4)
A2 · Frida → CRIMINAL, B2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL
Because: Row 2 has exactly 3 criminals in total, and exactly 2 of those row 2 criminals are neighbors of Barnie. Among the row 2 neighbors of Barnie, Henry is already innocent, so that group still needs 2 criminals. The only unknown people left in that group are Frida and Ghani. So Frida and Ghani must be criminal.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 3 criminals in row 2 are Barnie's neighbors" — Terry (C4)
B3 · Mary → CRIMINAL
Because: Ghani’s clue explicitly says that Mary is one of Rose’s exactly 6 criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Mary as a criminal. So Mary must be CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Mary is one of Rose's 6 criminal neighbors" — Ghani (B2)
B5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Because: Rose’s still-unknown neighbors contain exactly 1 innocent person: Larry, Noah, Vince, Wanda, and Xola. In that group, the only people who can still be that innocent person are Larry, Noah, Vince, and Xola. That means Wanda cannot be the innocent one there, so Wanda must be criminal.
Clue:
"All criminals in row 5 are connected" — Uma (D4)
"Mary is one of Rose's 6 criminal neighbors" — Ghani (B2)
C1 · Diane → INNOCENT
Because: Wanda’s clue says Evie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors. Evie’s neighbors already include 1 known innocent, and the only unknown neighbor left there is Diane. That means the one remaining innocent neighbor must be Diane, so Diane must be INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Evie has exactly 2 innocent neighbors" — Wanda (B5)
D5 · Zach → INNOCENT
Because: Diane’s clue says Xola has exactly 2 innocent neighbors. Among Xola’s neighbors, 1 is already known to be innocent, and the only unknown neighbor left is Zach. So Zach must be the second innocent neighbor, which makes Zach INNOCENT.
Clue:
"Xola has exactly 2 innocent neighbors" — Diane (C1)
C3 · Noah → CRIMINAL
Because: Rose’s still-unknown neighbors are A3 Larry, C3 Noah, A5 Vince, and C5 Xola, and exactly 1 of those 4 must be innocent. From the clues and the current board, the only ones in that group who can still be that innocent person are Larry, Vince, and Xola. That means Noah cannot be the innocent one there. So C3 Noah must be criminal.
Clue:
"Mary is one of Rose's 6 criminal neighbors" — Ghani (B2)
"An odd number of innocents on the edges neighbor Rose" — Zach (D5)
A3 · Larry → CRIMINAL
Because: Rose’s clue says she has exactly 6 criminal neighbors. Among her neighbors, 4 are already known criminals, 1 is already known innocent, and the 3 unknown neighbors are Larry, Vince, and Xola, so exactly 1 of those 3 unknown neighbors must be innocent. From the row clue, the only people in that unknown-neighbor group who can still be innocent are Vince and Xola. That means Larry cannot be the innocent one there, so Larry must be CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Mary is one of Rose's 6 criminal neighbors" — Ghani (B2)
"There are more criminals in row 4 than row 5" — Noah (C3)
A5 · Vince → CRIMINAL, C5 · Xola → INNOCENT
Clue:
"Both innocents in row 5 are connected" — Larry (A3)
D3 · Paula → CRIMINAL
Because: Xola’s clue says exactly 2 of the edge criminals are in row 3, and in that overlap the only people are A3 Larry and D3 Paula. Larry is already known to be a criminal, so that group still needs 1 more criminal. The only unknown person left there is Paula. So Paula must be CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are in row 3" — Xola (C5)
D1 · Evie → CRIMINAL
Because: Frida’s clue says her neighbors contain exactly 1 innocent, and among her still-unknown neighbors that means exactly one of Andre and Barnie is innocent. Xola’s clue fixes the edge cells at exactly 4 innocents total. On the edge, the only still-unknown person outside that Andre-Barnie pair is Evie, while Diane, Xola, and Zach are already known innocents. So Andre and Barnie already account for the last innocent edge spot, and Evie cannot be innocent. That makes Evie criminal.
Clue:
"Frida has only one innocent neighbor" — Quita (A4)
"Exactly 2 of the 10 criminals on the edges are in row 3" — Xola (C5)
B1 · Barnie → CRIMINAL
Because: Evie’s clue says column B has more criminals than column D. Right now both columns already have 4 known criminals, and the only still-unknown person involved here is Barnie in column B. So column B can only end up with more criminals than column D if Barnie is also a criminal. That makes Barnie CRIMINAL.
Clue:
"There are more criminals in column B than column D" — Evie (D1)
A1 · Andre → INNOCENT
Because: Quita’s clue says Frida’s neighbors contain exactly 1 innocent person. Right now, Frida’s neighbors have 0 known innocents, and the only unknown neighbor left is Andre. So Andre has to be the one innocent neighbor, which makes Andre innocent.
Clue:
"Frida has only one innocent neighbor" — Quita (A4)