Clues by Sam May 15, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨🌾
farmer
B1
👩🌾
farmer
C1
👨💼
clerk
D1
👨⚕️
doctor
A2
👩🌾
farmer
B2
👨🔧
mech
C2
👨🎨
painter
D2
👩🎨
painter
A3
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C3
👩⚕️
doctor
D3
👩🏫
teacher
A4
💂♀️
guard
B4
💂♂️
guard
C4
👨💻
coder
D4
👩🏫
teacher
A5
💂♂️
guard
B5
👨💻
coder
C5
👩💼
clerk
D5
👩🔧
mech
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 — 11 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for May 15, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 13 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 11 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Carl (C1), Ellie (A2), Franco (B2), Gus (C2), Ike (A3), Laura (C3), Thor (C4), Uma (D4), Will (B5), Xena (C5) and Zoe (D5); the remaining 9 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C4 · Thor → CRIMINAL
Betty’s clue says that Thor is one of Uma’s 4 criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Thor as a criminal. So Thor must be criminal.
02.C3 · Laura → CRIMINAL, C5 · Xena → CRIMINAL, D1 · Derek → INNOCENT
Betty’s clue says Uma has exactly four criminal neighbors, and Thor is one of them. Uma’s neighbors are Laura, Megan, Thor, Xena, and Zoe, so among those five people only one neighbor can be innocent. Now test the opposite of the target claims: Laura innocent, Xena innocent, and Derek criminal. Then the remaining people involved here, Megan and Zoe, would have to satisfy Betty’s clue about Uma’s neighbors and Thor’s clue that the two criminals in column D are connected, but those facts cannot all be true at once. So Laura and Xena cannot be innocent, and Derek cannot be criminal. That makes Laura criminal, Xena criminal, and Derek innocent.
03.A4 · Pam → INNOCENT
Below Adam, all innocents have to form one connected block. Below Ellie, exactly two of Ike, Pam, and Vince are innocents. So the innocent block below Adam can only be Ike and Pam, or Ellie, Ike, and Pam, or Pam and Vince. In every one of those connected possibilities, Pam is included. So Pam must be innocent.
04.B3 · Katie → INNOCENT
Pam’s clue says that Katie is one of Franco’s 3 innocent neighbors. That directly places Katie among the innocent people in Franco’s neighboring group, so Katie must be innocent.
05.A2 · Ellie → CRIMINAL
Pam says Franco has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and Betty and Katie are already two of them. So among Franco's unknown neighbors, there is room for exactly 1 more innocent. Derek says all innocents below Adam are connected. Below Adam, Pam is an innocent, and the only people there who could connect any other innocent below Adam to Pam are Ellie and Ike. That means the extra innocent among Franco's unknown neighbors has to come from Adam, Carl, Gus, or Ike, not Ellie. So Ellie must be criminal.
06.B2 · Franco → CRIMINAL
Ellie’s clue says Laura has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminal neighbors is above Steve. Among Laura’s neighbors who are above Steve, the only people are Franco and Katie. Katie is innocent, so that group still needs 1 criminal, and Franco is the only unknown left there. So Franco must be criminal.
07.B5 · Will → CRIMINAL
Below Ellie, there must be exactly 2 innocents, and right now Pam is the only known innocent there. That means Ike and Vince together must contribute exactly 1 more innocent, so among Ike and Vince the number of innocents is 1. Pam’s edge neighbors are Ike, Vince, and Will, and Franco’s clue says an odd number of those three are innocents. If Will were innocent, then Ike, Vince, and Will would contain 1 innocent from Ike and Vince plus Will, making 2 innocents total, which is even, not odd. So Will must be criminal.
08.A3 · Ike → CRIMINAL
Franco’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 innocents, and Betty and Franco have exactly 1 innocent neighbor in common. That shared group is A1 Adam, C1 Carl, A2 Ellie, and C2 Gus, so that group accounts for the single innocent that can be shared. In Franco’s full neighbor group, the only person added beyond that shared set on the side relevant here is A3 Ike, so the shared group already uses up the innocent allowance and Ike cannot be innocent. So Ike must be criminal.
09.A5 · Vince → INNOCENT
Xena's clue says there are exactly 2 innocents below Ellie. Among the people below Ellie, there is already 1 known innocent, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Vince. That means the group still needs exactly 1 more innocent, and Vince is the only person who can fill it. So Vince must be innocent.
10.C2 · Gus → CRIMINAL
Franco’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 innocents, and Betty and Katie are already two of them. That leaves exactly 1 more innocent among the three unknown neighbors A1 Adam, C1 Carl, and C2 Gus. From that group, the one remaining innocent has to come from Adam and Carl, so Gus cannot be that innocent. So Gus must be criminal.
11.D3 · Megan → INNOCENT, B4 · Steve → INNOCENT, D4 · Uma → CRIMINAL, D5 · Zoe → CRIMINAL, D2 · Habiba → INNOCENT
Laura’s neighbors contain exactly 4 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is above Steve. Among the people above Steve who are Laura’s neighbors, Franco is already a criminal and Katie is innocent, so that one criminal above Steve is already accounted for. If Megan were criminal, Steve were criminal, Uma were innocent, Zoe were innocent, and Habiba were criminal, then Laura’s neighboring criminals would include Franco, Gus, Thor, Megan, Steve, and Habiba. That gives too many criminals among Laura’s neighbors, and it also puts more than one criminal above Steve’s line already fixed by Franco. So that opposite assignment cannot be right. Megan must be innocent, Steve must be innocent, Uma must be criminal, Zoe must be criminal, and Habiba must be innocent.
12.C1 · Carl → CRIMINAL
Katie’s clue says Derek’s neighbors contain exactly one innocent person. Derek’s neighbors already include one known innocent, and the only unknown neighbor left there is Carl. Since that one innocent is already accounted for, Carl cannot be innocent. So Carl must be criminal.
13.A1 · Adam → INNOCENT
Vince's clue says there are exactly 7 criminals on the edges. The edge cells already contain 7 known criminals, and the only edge person whose identity is still unknown is Adam at A1. Since all 7 criminal spots on the edge are already filled, Adam cannot be a criminal. So Adam must be innocent.