Clues by Sam Apr 24, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
Tricky·Solved
A1
💂♀️
Cheryl
guard
B1
👷♀️
Debra
builder
C1
👷♂️
Erwin
builder
D1
👩✈️
Freya
pilot
A2
🕵️♂️
Henry
sleuth
B2
💂♂️
Isaac
guard
C2
💂♀️
Joy
guard
D2
👨💻
Logan
coder
A3
👮♀️
Max
cop
B3
🕵️♂️
Noah
sleuth
C3
👨💻
Ollie
coder
D3
👩💻
Penny
coder
A4
👩✈️
Quita
pilot
B4
🕵️♂️
Raul
sleuth
C4
👮♀️
Sue
cop
D4
👮♀️
Tina
cop
A5
👩🌾
Uma
farmer
B5
👨✈️
Vince
pilot
C5
👨🌾
Wally
farmer
D5
👨🌾
Xavi
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 12Criminal 8Unknown 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 · 12
[ B1 ] [ C1 ] [ A2 ] [ D2 ] [ B3 ] [ C3 ] [ D3 ] [ A4 ] [ B4 ] [ A5 ] [ C5 ] [ D5 ]
Criminal · 8
[ A1 ] [ D1 ] [ B2 ] [ C2 ] [ A3 ] [ C4 ] [ D4 ] [ 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 · Cheryl
"Have you looked up to the sky recently?"
B1 · Debra
"Tina is one of 5 criminals on the edges"
C1 · Erwin
"There's an odd number of criminals below Freya"
D1 · Freya
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns C and D"
A2 · Henry
"Quita has exactly 3 innocent neighbors"
B2 · Isaac
"Wally and Uma have only one criminal neighbor in common"
C2 · Joy
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Henry is in row 3"
D2 · Logan
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Raul"
A3 · Max
"Wait... this isn't the reaction we expected!"
B3 · Noah
"Did you give it to someone special?"
C3 · Ollie
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Isaac is below Erwin"
D3 · Penny
"Each column has at least 2 criminals"
A4 · Quita
"I wish someone would steal the moon for me as well!"
B4 · Raul
"Oh, how romantic!"
C4 · Sue
"There's an odd number of criminals in row 3"
D4 · Tina
"See anything missing?"
A5 · Uma
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Wally is in column D"
B5 · Vince
"We stole the moon from the sky! Ha ha ha!"
C5 · Wally
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Henry"
D5 · Xavi
"Hey... Where's the moon!"
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 (17 steps)
C2 · Joy → CRIMINAL
Because: Ollie’s clue says Isaac has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminal neighbors is below Erwin. Among Isaac’s neighbors who are below Erwin, the only people are Joy and Ollie. Ollie is already innocent, so the one criminal required in that below-Erwin group has to be Joy. So Joy must be criminal.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Isaac is below Erwin" — Ollie (C3)
C1 · Erwin → INNOCENT, A2 · Henry → INNOCENT, B2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Because: Isaac’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals below Erwin, and Henry’s neighbors must also contain exactly 3 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals in row 3. If Erwin were criminal, Henry were criminal, and Isaac were innocent, then the same four people involved in both clues, Cheryl, Debra, Max, and Noah, would have to make both of those exact counts work at the same time. They cannot satisfy both clues under that assignment, so that opposite assignment is impossible. So Erwin must be innocent, Henry must be innocent, and Isaac must be criminal.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Isaac is below Erwin" — Ollie (C3)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Henry is in row 3" — Joy (C2)
A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Because: Henry says Quita has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, so Quita’s five neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals. In this step, those 2 criminals are accounted for among Max, Noah, Raul, and Vince. That leaves Uma unable to be one of Quita’s 2 criminal neighbors. So Uma must be innocent.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Henry is in row 3" — Joy (C2)
"Quita has exactly 3 innocent neighbors" — Henry (A2)
"Wally and Uma have only one criminal neighbor in common" — Isaac (B2)
C4 · Sue → CRIMINAL
Because: Wally has 3 criminal neighbors in total, and only 1 of them is in column D, so 2 of Wally's neighbors who are not in column D must be criminals. Those non-column-D neighbors are Raul, Sue, and Vince. Raul and Vince are also the only shared neighbors of Wally and Uma, and that shared group contains exactly 1 criminal. So among Raul, Sue, and Vince, only one of Raul or Vince is criminal. That means the other criminal needed among Wally's non-column-D neighbors has to be Sue. So Sue must be criminal.
Clue:
"Wally and Uma have only one criminal neighbor in common" — Isaac (B2)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Wally is in column D" — Uma (A5)
D3 · Penny → INNOCENT
Because: Henry’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in row 3. The only row 3 neighbors of Henry are Max and Noah, so among Max and Noah there must be exactly 1 criminal. Sue’s clue says row 3 has an odd number of criminals. Row 3 currently has no known criminals, Ollie is innocent, and the only unknown people there are Max, Noah, and Penny. But if Penny were criminal, then row 3 would need Max and Noah together to contribute an even number of criminals, while Henry’s clue requires Max and Noah to contribute exactly 1 criminal, which is odd. That clashes, so Penny cannot be criminal. So Penny must be innocent.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Henry is in row 3" — Joy (C2)
"There's an odd number of criminals in row 3" — Sue (C4)
D2 · Logan → INNOCENT
Because: Below Freya, the criminals must total an odd number, and the only unknown people there are Logan, Tina, and Xavi. Wally’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals in column D, and the column D neighbors in that group are Tina and Xavi. If Logan were a criminal, then Logan, Tina, and Xavi would still have to fit Freya’s odd-count clue while Raul, Tina, Vince, and Xavi also fit Wally’s exact 3-criminal clue and its “exactly 1 in column D” condition. Those same people cannot satisfy all of that at once. So Logan must be innocent.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of criminals below Freya" — Erwin (C1)
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Wally is in column D" — Uma (A5)
D1 · Freya → CRIMINAL
Because: Erwin says the people below Freya contain an odd number of criminals, and among those people Logan and Penny are already innocent, leaving only Tina and Xavi to supply that odd count. Penny also says each column has at least 2 criminals. If Freya were innocent, then the remaining unknown people named here would have to satisfy both of those requirements at once, and that cannot be done. So Freya at D1 must be criminal.
Clue:
"There's an odd number of criminals below Freya" — Erwin (C1)
"Each column has at least 2 criminals" — Penny (D3)
C5 · Wally → INNOCENT
Because: Freya's clue says columns C and D have the same number of innocents. Column C already has 2 known innocents, and the only unresolved person left in that column is Wally. Uma's clue fixes Wally's neighboring criminals so that among Wally's neighbors in column D, exactly 1 person is innocent, meaning D4 Tina and D5 Xavi contribute exactly 1 innocent to column D. So column D gains 1 more innocent beyond its 2 known innocents, and column C must gain 1 more innocent as well. Since Wally is the only unresolved person in column C, Wally at C5 must be innocent.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Wally is in column D" — Uma (A5)
"There's an equal number of innocents in columns C and D" — Freya (D1)
A1 · Cheryl → CRIMINAL
Because: Penny’s clue says every column has at least 2 criminals. Wally’s clue says the people below Henry contain exactly 2 innocents, and below Henry there is already 1 known innocent, Uma, with only Max and Quita still unknown there. If Cheryl were innocent, then Cheryl together with the other unknown people touched by these clues would have to satisfy both of those requirements at the same time, but that cannot be done. So Cheryl cannot be innocent. So Cheryl must be criminal.
Clue:
"Each column has at least 2 criminals" — Penny (D3)
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Henry" — Wally (C5)
B1 · Debra → INNOCENT
Because: Henry’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in row 3. The row 3 neighbors there are Max and Noah, so the people in Henry’s neighbors who are not in row 3 are Cheryl, Debra, and Isaac. Among that non-row-3 group, Cheryl and Isaac are already known criminals. Since exactly 1 of Henry’s 3 criminal neighbors must be in row 3, the other 2 criminal neighbors are already accounted for by Cheryl and Isaac, so Debra cannot be a criminal. So Debra must be innocent.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Henry is in row 3" — Joy (C2)
D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Because: Debra’s clue says Tina is one of the exactly 5 criminals on the edges. That directly identifies Tina as a criminal. So Tina must be criminal.
Clue:
"Tina is one of 5 criminals on the edges" — Debra (B1)
D5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Because: Uma's clue says that among Wally's three criminal neighbors, exactly one is in column D. The neighbors of Wally who are in column D are Tina and Xavi, and Tina is already known to be a criminal. So the one criminal neighbor of Wally in column D is already accounted for by Tina. That means Xavi cannot also be a criminal. So Xavi must be innocent.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Wally is in column D" — Uma (A5)
B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Because: Below Henry there must be exactly 2 innocents, and among Max, Quita, and Uma, Uma is already innocent. That means exactly one of Max or Quita is also innocent, so the people below Henry contribute exactly 2 edge-cell innocents in total. The edge cells must contain exactly 9 innocents overall. Outside that below-Henry group, the edge cells already have 7 known innocents, and the only other edge person there is Vince. Since the 2 innocents below Henry fill the remaining 2 innocent spots on the edge, Vince cannot be innocent. So Vince must be criminal.
Clue:
"There are exactly 2 innocents below Henry" — Wally (C5)
"Tina is one of 5 criminals on the edges" — Debra (B1)
B4 · Raul → INNOCENT
Because: Isaac’s clue says the people who are neighbors of both Wally and Uma contain exactly one criminal. That shared group is just Raul and Vince. Vince is already a known criminal, so the one criminal allowed in that shared group is already accounted for. Raul therefore cannot also be a criminal. So Raul must be innocent.
Clue:
"Wally and Uma have only one criminal neighbor in common" — Isaac (B2)
A4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Because: Isaac’s clue fixes his neighbors at exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is below Erwin. Among Isaac’s neighbors, Joy is already that 1 criminal below Erwin, while Cheryl and Joy are the 2 known criminals, so the last criminal among Isaac’s neighbors has to come from Max or Noah, and it cannot be below Erwin. Raul’s clue says his neighbors contain an odd number of criminals. Raul already has 2 known criminals among his neighbors, so among Max, Noah, and Quita, an odd number must be criminals. If Quita were criminal, then Max, Noah, and Quita would have to make Raul’s criminal total odd while also letting Isaac’s clue be satisfied through Max and Noah, and those requirements clash. So Quita cannot be criminal. That makes Quita innocent.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Isaac is below Erwin" — Ollie (C3)
"There's an odd number of criminals neighboring Raul" — Logan (D2)
A3 · Max → CRIMINAL
Because: Penny’s clue says every column has at least 2 criminals. In column A, that means there can be at most 3 innocents. But column A already has 3 known innocents there: Henry, Quita, and Uma. So the only unfixed person left in column A cannot be innocent. That makes Max criminal.
Clue:
"Each column has at least 2 criminals" — Penny (D3)
B3 · Noah → INNOCENT
Because: Isaac’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total, and exactly 1 of those criminals is below Erwin. Among Isaac’s neighbors who are below Erwin, Joy is the one criminal there. That means the other 2 criminals among Isaac’s neighbors must come from the neighbors who are not below Erwin. In that remaining group, Cheryl and Max are already criminals. Since those 2 criminal spots are already filled, Noah cannot also be a criminal. So Noah must be innocent.
Clue:
"Only 1 of the 3 criminals neighboring Isaac is below Erwin" — Ollie (C3)