Clues by Sam May 25, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👮♀️
cop
B1
💂♂️
guard
C1
👨✈️
pilot
D1
👩🔧
mech
A2
👷♀️
builder
B2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C2
👷♂️
builder
D2
💂♀️
guard
A3
👷♂️
builder
B3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C3
👨🎤
singer
D3
👩🔧
mech
A4
👩✈️
pilot
B4
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C4
👮♂️
cop
D4
👩🎤
singer
A5
👩🍳
cook
B5
👨🍳
cook
C5
👨🎤
singer
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 — 10 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for May 25, 2026 — a Easy solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Easy and resolves with 10 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Bobby (B1), Derek (C1), Emma (D1), Ghani (B2), Igor (C2), Kay (D2), Nancy (B3), Ollie (C3), Quita (A4) and Scott (B4); the remaining 10 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C4 · Thor → INNOCENT, D4 · Uma → INNOCENT
Zara’s clue says that Xavi and Zara have exactly 2 innocent neighbors in common. The shared neighbors are only Thor and Uma. Since those 2 common-neighbor spots must all be innocent, both of them have to fill the clue. So Thor and Uma must be innocent.
02.A4 · Quita → CRIMINAL, B4 · Scott → CRIMINAL
Thor’s clue says row 4 has exactly 2 innocents. Row 4 already has those 2 innocents: Thor and Uma. That means the only other people in that row, Quita and Scott, cannot also be innocent. So Quita and Scott must be criminal.
03.B1 · Bobby → CRIMINAL
Scott’s clue says that Bobby is one of Ghani’s exactly 5 criminal neighbors. That directly places Bobby among the criminal neighbors named by the clue. So Bobby must be criminal.
04.C1 · Derek → CRIMINAL, D1 · Emma → CRIMINAL
Bobby’s clue says Kay has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminal neighbors are in row 1. Among Kay’s neighbors, the only people who are in row 1 are Derek and Emma. That row-1 part of the clue still needs 2 criminals, and Derek and Emma are the only available people there. So Derek and Emma must be criminal.
05.A1 · Anna → INNOCENT
Derek’s clue says every row has at least one innocent. In row 1, Bobby, Derek, and Emma are already known criminals, so row 1 already has 3 criminals. That means row 1 cannot have any more criminals, and the only person there whose status was not fixed yet is Anna. So Anna must be innocent.
06.C2 · Igor → CRIMINAL
Anna’s clue says there are no innocents above Ollie, so the people above Ollie must contain exactly 0 innocents. That group already has 0 known innocents, and the only person there whose status is still unknown is Igor. Since no innocents are allowed in that group, Igor cannot be innocent. So Igor must be criminal.
07.A2 · Freya → INNOCENT
Scott says Ghani has exactly 5 criminal neighbors, and among Ghani's neighbors there are already 3 known criminals: Bobby, Derek, and Igor. So the remaining 2 criminals in Ghani's neighbor list have to come from the four unknown neighbors A2 Freya, A3 Martin, B3 Nancy, and C3 Ollie. From there, those 2 criminal spots are taken by A3 Martin, B3 Nancy, and C3 Ollie rather than A2 Freya, so Freya cannot be one of Ghani's criminal neighbors. So Freya must be innocent.
08.D3 · Paula → INNOCENT
Freya's clue says rows 3 and 4 have the same number of innocents. Row 4 already has exactly 2 innocents, while row 3 currently has none, so row 3 must supply 2 innocents. Scott's clue says Ghani has exactly 5 criminal neighbors, and among Ghani's neighbors there are already 3 known criminals, with only Martin, Nancy, and Ollie left there to fill the remaining criminal spots. If Paula were criminal, then Martin, Nancy, and Ollie would also have to satisfy that neighbor count at the same time as row 3 reaches its 2 innocents, and those requirements clash. So Paula at D3 must be innocent.
09.C3 · Ollie → CRIMINAL
Bobby's clue says Kay has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminals are in row 1. Those 2 row 1 criminal neighbors are Derek and Emma, so Kay's neighbors not in row 1 must contain exactly 2 criminals. In that non-row-1 group, Igor is already a criminal and Paula is innocent, so one more criminal is still needed there. The only unknown person left in that group is Ollie, so Ollie must be criminal.
10.C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Ollie’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals in column C. Column C already has those 3 criminals: Derek, Igor, and Ollie. The only person in that column whose identity was still unknown is Xavi, so Xavi cannot also be a criminal. So Xavi must be innocent.
11.B2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL
Freya’s clue says her neighbors contain an odd number of criminals. Since Bobby is the only known criminal among Freya’s neighbors, the unknown neighbors there must add an even number of criminals. Scott’s clue says Ghani has exactly 5 criminal neighbors. Ghani already has 4 known criminal neighbors, so among Martin and Nancy there is exactly 1 more criminal. Within Freya’s unknown neighbors, Martin and Nancy therefore contribute exactly 1 criminal, which is odd. So Ghani has to be the other criminal there to make the total added by Freya’s unknown neighbors even. So Ghani must be criminal.
12.D2 · Kay → CRIMINAL
Ghani says there are more criminals in row 2 than in row 4. Row 4 already has 2 criminals, and row 2 currently also has 2 known criminals. If Kay were innocent, row 2 would stay at 2 criminals, so it would not have more criminals than row 4. So Kay must be criminal.
13.A5 · Vicky → INNOCENT
Kay says Wally has exactly 3 innocent neighbors. Among Wally's neighbors, 2 are already known to be innocent, and the only neighbor there whose identity is still unknown is Vicky. So the last needed innocent neighbor has to be Vicky. That makes Vicky innocent.
14.A3 · Martin → INNOCENT
Vicky’s clue says only one column has exactly 3 innocents. Column D already has exactly 3 innocents: Paula, Uma, and Zara. Column A also already has 3 known innocents, and Martin is the only person in that column not yet identified. If Martin were criminal, column A would also have exactly 3 innocents, which would clash with Vicky’s clue. So Martin must be innocent.
15.B3 · Nancy → CRIMINAL
Scott’s clue says Bobby is one of the exactly 5 criminal neighbors of Ghani. Among Ghani’s neighbors, Anna, Derek, Freya, Igor, Martin, and Ollie are already identified, and with Bobby included that gives 4 known criminals there: Bobby, Derek, Igor, and Ollie, plus 3 known innocents. The only neighbor not yet identified is Nancy, so if Nancy were innocent, Ghani’s neighbors would have only 4 criminals instead of 5. So Nancy must be criminal.
16.B5 · Wally → INNOCENT
Nancy’s clue says there are exactly 10 innocents in total. Right now 9 people are already known to be innocent, and Wally is the only person whose identity is not yet known. If Wally were criminal, the board would stay at only 9 innocents, which conflicts with Nancy’s clue. So Wally must be innocent.