Clues by Sam May 19, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨⚖️
judge
B1
👷♂️
builder
C1
👷♂️
builder
D1
👷♀️
builder
A2
💂♂️
guard
B2
💂♂️
guard
C2
💂♂️
guard
D2
👨🌾
farmer
A3
👨⚖️
judge
B3
👨🎤
singer
C3
👨🏫
teacher
D3
👩🌾
farmer
A4
👩✈️
pilot
B4
👩🎤
singer
C4
👩💼
clerk
D4
👩✈️
pilot
A5
👩⚖️
judge
B5
👩🎤
singer
C5
👩💼
clerk
D5
👩🏫
teacher
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 — 10 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for May 19, 2026 — a Medium solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Medium and resolves with 10 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Keith (A3), Larry (B3), Mark (C3), Nancy (D3), Petra (A4), Quita (B4), Tina (C4), Uma (D4), Xia (C5) and Zara (D5); the remaining 10 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C3 · Mark → CRIMINAL
Donald’s clue says column C has exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is Hal’s neighbor. Among the people who are both in column C and neighbors of Hal, Donald is innocent and the only other person there is Mark. So that group still needs 1 criminal, and Mark is the only person who can fill it. That makes Mark criminal.
02.C2 · Hal → INNOCENT
Mark's clue says there is exactly 1 innocent who is both in column C and a guard. The only person in that shared group is Hal at C2, and there are no known innocents there yet. So the one innocent required by the clue has to be Hal. That makes Hal innocent.
03.C4 · Tina → CRIMINAL, C5 · Xia → CRIMINAL
Donald’s clue says column C contains exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is a neighbor of Hal. In column C, the only person already known to be a criminal neighbor of Hal is Mark, so the other 2 criminals in column C must be people there who are not Hal’s neighbors. Those people are Hal, Tina, and Xia, but Hal is already innocent. That leaves Tina and Xia to fill the 2 criminal spots, so Tina and Xia must be criminal.
04.D4 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Hal’s clue says that Uma is one of the exactly 2 criminals among the people strictly between Emma and Zara. That directly identifies Uma as one of those criminals. So Uma must be criminal.
05.D2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Xia’s clue says there are exactly two innocents above Zara, and those two must be connected. Above Zara are Emma, Isaac, Nancy, and Uma, with Uma already known to be criminal. If Isaac were criminal, then the only people left above Zara who could be the two innocents would be Emma and Nancy. But Emma and Nancy are not connected to each other, so they cannot be the two innocents required by the clue. So Isaac must be innocent.
06.D3 · Nancy → CRIMINAL
Hal’s clue says Uma is one of exactly 2 criminals strictly between Emma and Zara. The people between Emma and Zara are Isaac, Nancy, and Uma, and among them Isaac is innocent and Uma is already one criminal. If Nancy were innocent too, then between Emma and Zara there would be only one criminal, Uma, which contradicts the clue that there are exactly 2 criminals there. So Nancy must be criminal.
07.D1 · Emma → INNOCENT
Xia’s clue says there are exactly two innocents above Zara, and those two innocents are connected. Above Zara are Emma, Isaac, Nancy, and Uma, with Isaac already innocent and Nancy and Uma already criminals. If Emma were criminal too, then above Zara there would be only one innocent, Isaac, which contradicts the clue’s requirement of both innocents above Zara. So Emma must be innocent.
08.A5 · Vera → INNOCENT, B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Nancy’s clue says the people to the left of Zara contain exactly 2 innocents. In that group, there are currently 0 known innocents, and the only people there whose identities are still unknown are Vera and Wanda. Since those two spots must supply all 2 innocents required by the clue, both of them have to be innocent. So Vera and Wanda must be innocent.
09.D5 · Zara → CRIMINAL
Tina's clue says there are exactly 2 innocents in row 5. Row 5 already has those 2 innocents: Vera and Wanda. The only person there whose status is still unknown is Zara, so Zara cannot also be innocent. So Zara must be criminal.
10.A4 · Petra → CRIMINAL
Zara’s clue says Petra is one of the exactly 6 criminals on the edges. That directly identifies Petra as a criminal. So Petra must be criminal.
11.B1 · Chris → INNOCENT
Zara's clue says there are exactly 6 criminals on the edge. On the edge, 5 criminals are already known, so among the four unknown edge people, exactly 1 of them is criminal. Uma's clue says each column has at least 2 criminals. In column A, Petra is already a criminal, so the needed second criminal in that column must be one of Bruce, Franco, or Keith. That uses up the one remaining edge criminal, so it cannot be Chris. So Chris must be innocent.
12.B4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Chris’s clue says exactly one person in column B who neighbors Hal is a criminal, and that shared group is only Chris, Gary, and Larry. Since Chris is innocent, that single criminal has to be among Gary and Larry. Uma’s clue also says every column must have at least 2 criminals. In column B, Chris and Wanda are already innocent, so the criminals in that column have to come from Gary, Larry, and Quita. If Quita were innocent, then Gary and Larry would both have to be criminals to give column B its required two criminals, but that would make two criminals among Hal’s column-B neighbors instead of exactly one. So Quita must be criminal.
13.A2 · Franco → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says there is exactly one innocent in column A who has an innocent directly below them. In column A, Vera is the only person there already known to be innocent, and if Franco were criminal, the only people left to make that clue work would be Bruce and Keith. But Bruce and Keith cannot satisfy that requirement on their own, so Franco cannot be criminal. So Franco must be innocent.
14.B2 · Gary → INNOCENT, B3 · Larry → CRIMINAL
Franco’s clue says exactly one innocent in column B has an innocent directly above them. In column B, the known innocents are Chris at B1 and Wanda at B5, while Gary and Larry are the two undecided people there. If Gary were criminal and Larry were innocent, then Chris, Gary, Larry, Quita, and Wanda in column B could not satisfy that “exactly one” condition. So that opposite assignment is impossible. Gary must be innocent and Larry must be criminal.
15.A1 · Bruce → INNOCENT
Larry's clue says there are exactly 4 innocents in row 1 who have an innocent directly below them. Row 1 contains Bruce, Chris, Donald, and Emma, and Chris, Donald, and Emma are already known to be innocent. If Bruce were criminal, then row 1 would contain only those 3 innocents, so it could not satisfy a clue requiring exactly 4 such innocents there. So Bruce must be innocent.
16.A3 · Keith → CRIMINAL
Uma's clue says each 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: Bruce at A1, Franco at A2, and Vera at A5. That leaves Keith at A3 unable to be innocent, so Keith must be criminal.