Clues by Sam May 06, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨💼
clerk
B1
👩🚀
astronaut
C1
👨🔧
mech
D1
👨🔧
mech
A2
👨💻
coder
B2
👮♂️
cop
C2
💂♀️
guard
D2
👮♂️
cop
A3
👩✈️
pilot
B3
👩✈️
pilot
C3
👨✈️
pilot
D3
🧙
witch
A4
👩🎤
singer
B4
👩💻
coder
C4
💂♀️
guard
D4
🥷
ninja
A5
🧙♀️
witch
B5
👨🎤
singer
C5
👨🎨
painter
D5
🧙♀️
witch
Final Board State
This puzzle is fully solved.
All characters have been identified as innocent or criminal based on today's clues.
See how each clue leads to the final result
Skip the reasoning — 8 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for May 06, 2026 — a Medium solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Medium and resolves with 8 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Betsy (B1), Helen (C2), Joyce (A3), Karen (B3), Logan (C3), Quita (C4), Tina (D4) and Xavi (C5); the remaining 12 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Vince’s clue says that Isaac is one of the exactly three innocents above Zoe. That identifies Isaac directly as an innocent. So Isaac must be innocent.
02.C4 · Quita → CRIMINAL, C2 · Helen → CRIMINAL
Among Logan's neighbors, exactly 4 are criminals, and only 1 of those criminals is in column B. That means among Logan's neighbors who are not in column B, there is exactly 1 innocent. In that not-in-column-B group, the people are Helen, Isaac, Nick, Quita, and Tina, and Isaac is already innocent. So the single innocent in the remaining part of that group has to be Nick or Tina. That means Helen and Quita cannot be that innocent person. So Quita and Helen must be criminal.
03.D1 · Ethan → INNOCENT
Above Zoe, there is exactly 1 criminal among Ethan, Isaac, Nick, and Tina. Among the ones there who are also Logan's neighbors, Nick and Tina account for that exactly 1 criminal, while Isaac is already innocent. That means the only person above Zoe who is not in that smaller group, Ethan, cannot be the criminal counted for the larger group. So Ethan must be innocent.
04.A4 · Olga → INNOCENT, A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Ethan says there are exactly 2 innocents below Joyce. Below Joyce there are currently 0 known innocents, and the only people there not yet identified are Olga and Uma. Since that group still needs exactly 2 innocents and only those 2 people are left to fill them, both of them have to be innocents. So Olga and Uma must be innocent.
05.D5 · Zoe → INNOCENT
Vince’s clue says there are exactly 3 innocents above Zoe, and Isaac is one of them. Above Zoe, Ethan and Isaac are already innocent, so that group must end up with exactly one more innocent among Nick and Tina. Olga’s clue says column B is the only column with exactly 3 innocents, so column D cannot also have exactly 3 innocents. But if Zoe were criminal, then column D would be made up of Ethan and Isaac as innocents, exactly one of Nick or Tina as innocent, and Zoe as criminal, which is exactly 3 innocents in column D. That would clash with column B being the only column with exactly 3 innocents. So Zoe must be innocent.
06.C5 · Xavi → CRIMINAL
Helen’s clue says every row has at least one criminal. In row 5, Uma, Vince, and Zoe are already known innocents, so that row already has the maximum three innocents it can have and the only person there whose status is still unknown is Xavi. That means Xavi cannot be innocent, because then row 5 would have no criminal at all. So Xavi must be criminal.
07.B4 · Pam → INNOCENT
Xavi's clue says exactly 2 of Karen's neighbors in row 4 are innocent. That shared group is A4 Olga, B4 Pam, and C4 Quita. Olga is already innocent and Quita is criminal, so the group still needs 1 more innocent, and the only unknown person left there is Pam. So Pam must be innocent.
08.B1 · Betsy → CRIMINAL
Column B must contain exactly 3 innocents, and Pam and Vince are already two of them, so there is room for exactly one more innocent in that column. Among Logan's neighbors in column B, the group B2 Gabe and B3 Karen contains exactly 1 innocent. Betsy is also in column B, but she is not part of that exact-count group, so the one remaining innocent for column B is already accounted for by Gabe or Karen. That makes Betsy criminal.
09.A2 · Floyd → INNOCENT
Joyce’s clue says her neighbors contain an odd number of criminals, and among Joyce’s neighbors the unknown people are Floyd, Gabe, and Karen. Logan’s clue also fixes his neighborhood very tightly: Logan has exactly 4 criminal neighbors in total, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in column B, which for these clues means Gabe or Karen, since Pam is innocent. If Floyd were criminal, then Floyd, Gabe, Karen, Nick, and Tina would have to satisfy both clues at once, but that combination cannot be made to fit Logan’s exact count and Joyce’s odd-count requirement together. So Floyd cannot be criminal. That makes Floyd innocent.
10.C1 · Chase → INNOCENT
The clue says exactly one corner person has an innocent directly to the left. There must therefore be one more such case beyond the ones already known, and the only direct-left neighbor still affecting this clue is C1 Chase. So Chase has to be innocent to supply that remaining case. That makes Chase innocent.
11.A1 · Alex → INNOCENT
Chase’s clue says rows 1 and 5 must have the same number of criminals. Row 5 already has 1 criminal, and row 1 also already has 1 known criminal. If Alex were a criminal, row 1 would rise to 2 criminals while row 5 would stay at 1, so the clue would be false. So Alex must be innocent.
12.D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Alex’s clue says row 1 has more innocents than row 4. Row 1 already has 3 innocents, and row 4 currently has 2 innocents with only Tina not yet identified there. If Tina were innocent, then row 4 would also have 3 innocents, so row 1 would not have more innocents than row 4. That makes Tina criminal.
13.D3 · Nick → INNOCENT
Vince’s clue says Isaac is one of exactly 3 innocents above Zoe. Above Zoe are Ethan, Isaac, Nick, and Tina, and among them Ethan and Isaac are already innocent while Tina is criminal. If Nick were criminal too, then the people above Zoe would contain only 2 innocents, Ethan and Isaac, which contradicts the clue that there are exactly 3 innocents there. So Nick must be innocent.
14.B2 · Gabe → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says only one row has exactly 2 criminals. Row 4 already is that row, because Olga and Pam are innocent while Quita and Tina are criminals, so row 4 has exactly 2 criminals. In row 2, Helen is already a criminal, Isaac and Floyd are innocent, and Gabe is the only person there not yet identified. If Gabe were a criminal, row 2 would also have exactly 2 criminals, which the clue does not allow. So Gabe must be innocent.
15.B3 · Karen → CRIMINAL
Isaac’s clue says Logan has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminal neighbors is in column B. Among Logan’s neighbors in column B, Gabe and Pam are innocent, so the only possible person there who could be that 1 criminal is Karen. That makes Karen criminal.
16.C3 · Logan → CRIMINAL, A3 · Joyce → CRIMINAL
Gabe’s clue says there are exactly 12 innocents in the whole board. But there are already 12 known innocents, and the only people not yet identified are Joyce and Logan. If Joyce were innocent and Logan were innocent, that would add more innocents beyond those 12, which cannot fit Gabe’s exact total. So Logan and Joyce must be criminal.