Clues by Sam Jun 10, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨⚖️
judge
B1
👮♂️
cop
C1
😬
eagle
D1
👨🎨
painter
A2
😬
bug
B2
👨🌾
farmer
C2
👷♂️
builder
D2
👨🌾
farmer
A3
👷♀️
builder
B3
😬
tortoise
C3
👷♂️
builder
D3
😬
snail
A4
👩🍳
cook
B4
👩✈️
pilot
C4
👩✈️
pilot
D4
😬
cheetah
A5
💂♀️
guard
B5
👮♀️
cop
C5
👩✈️
pilot
D5
😬
sloth
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 — 9 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jun 10, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 15 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 9 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Achilles (A1), Flash (D1), Ghani (A2), Klay (D2), Lisa (A3), Noah (C3), Paula (D3), Vicky (A5) and Zeno (D5); the remaining 11 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C3 · Noah → CRIMINAL, D3 · Paula → CRIMINAL
Hank's clue says Usain has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminals are in row 3. Among Usain's neighbors, the only people in row 3 are Noah and Paula. Since those 2 row 3 criminals still have to be found there, Noah and Paula must fill both of those spots. So Noah and Paula must be criminal.
02.A5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL, C5 · Xena → INNOCENT
Usain’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminals are already the row 3 neighbors Noah and Paula. So among Usain’s other neighbors, only one of Tina, Xena, and Zeno can be a criminal. Row 5 also has exactly 2 innocents, and those two innocents must be connected. If Vicky were innocent and Xena were criminal, then Tina, Wanda, and Zeno would have to satisfy both of those clues at the same time, and that cannot be done. So that opposite assignment is impossible. This leaves Vicky as criminal and Xena as innocent.
03.D1 · Flash → CRIMINAL
The people below Flash and the whole of column D are almost the same group: the only extra person in column D is Flash. Vicky’s clue says the people below Flash contain exactly one innocent, and Xena’s clue says column D also contains exactly one innocent. So that one innocent required in column D must already be among Klay, Paula, Usain, and Zeno. There is no room for an additional innocent in the only remaining spot, which is Flash. So Flash must be criminal.
04.D2 · Klay → CRIMINAL
The people in column D who are neighboring Tina are D3 Paula, D4 Usain, and D5 Zeno, and that group contains exactly 1 innocent. The people below Flash are D2 Klay, D3 Paula, D4 Usain, and D5 Zeno, and that larger group also contains exactly 1 innocent. The only person below Flash who is not in the Tina-neighbor group is D2 Klay, so the one innocent allowed below Flash must already be among D3, D4, and D5, and Klay cannot be innocent. So Klay must be criminal.
05.A3 · Lisa → CRIMINAL
Maria’s neighbors include exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Ghani. In the overlap between Maria’s neighbors and Ghani’s neighbors, Hank is innocent and the only other person there is Lisa. So that overlap still needs 1 criminal, and Lisa is the only person who can fill it. So Lisa must be criminal.
06.B4 · Ruth → INNOCENT
Maria has exactly 3 criminal neighbors. Lisa and Noah are already two of them, so among Ghani, John, Quita, Ruth, and Tina there is exactly 1 more criminal. Klay's clue says exactly 1 of Maria's 3 criminal neighbors is also Ghani's neighbor. Among Maria's neighbors, the only people who are also Ghani's neighbors are Hank and Lisa, and Hank is innocent, so Lisa is that one criminal. That means the extra criminal among Ghani, John, Quita, Ruth, and Tina cannot be someone who is also Ghani's neighbor, so it must come from Ghani, John, Quita, and Tina, not Ruth. So B4 Ruth must be innocent.
07.C2 · John → INNOCENT
Ruth’s clue directly says that John is one of Buzz’s 3 innocent neighbors. Since John is explicitly included among the innocent neighbors in that clue, John at C2 must be innocent.
08.B1 · Buzz → INNOCENT, B3 · Maria → INNOCENT
Ruth's clue gives Buzz exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and Hank and John are already 2 of them, so among Achilles, Erwin, and Ghani there is exactly 1 more innocent. John's clue says Hank has exactly 4 innocent neighbors. In Hank's neighbor list, besides John, the only people that are not in that Achilles-Erwin-Ghani group are Buzz and Maria, while Lisa and Noah are already criminals. So Buzz and Maria have to provide the other 2 innocents Hank needs. That makes Buzz and Maria innocent.
09.A1 · Achilles → CRIMINAL
Buzz says Hank and Ghani have exactly 2 criminal neighbors in common. Their shared neighbors are Achilles, Buzz, Lisa, and Maria. In that shared group, Lisa is already a criminal, Buzz and Maria are innocent, and Achilles is the only unknown person left, so the shared group still needs Achilles to supply the second criminal. So Achilles must be criminal.
10.A4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Achilles's clue says the people between Ghani and Vicky contain exactly one innocent. In that group, there are currently no known innocents, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Quita. So the one innocent required by the clue has to be Quita. That makes Quita innocent.
11.D4 · Usain → INNOCENT, C1 · Erwin → INNOCENT
Row 5 must contain exactly two innocents, and those two innocents have to be connected. The board also has exactly 11 innocents in total; with 7 already known, the remaining innocent spots have to come from C1 Erwin, A2 Ghani, C4 Tina, D4 Usain, B5 Wanda, and D5 Zeno. If Usain and Erwin were both criminals, then A2 Ghani, C4 Tina, B5 Wanda, and D5 Zeno would be the people left to satisfy these clue requirements, but they cannot do so all at once. That makes the assumption impossible. So Usain and Erwin must both be innocent.
12.A2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL
Ruth's clue says John is one of Buzz's exactly 3 innocent neighbors. Buzz's neighbors are Achilles, Erwin, Ghani, Hank, and John, and among them Erwin, Hank, and John are already the 3 known innocents. If Ghani were innocent too, Buzz would have more than 3 innocent neighbors, which clashes with the clue. So Ghani must be criminal.
13.C4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Maria’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total. Among those criminals, exactly 1 is a neighbor of Ghani, and in the overlap the only criminal is Lisa. That leaves the non-overlapping part of Maria’s neighbors as Ghani, John, Noah, Quita, Ruth, and Tina, and that group already contains 2 known criminals: Ghani and Noah. So Tina cannot be a criminal. This leaves Tina innocent.
14.D5 · Zeno → CRIMINAL
Vicky's clue says the people below Flash contain exactly one innocent. That group already includes one known innocent, Usain. Since Zeno is the only unknown person left below Flash, Zeno cannot also be innocent. So Zeno must be criminal.
15.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Noah’s clue says that the two innocents in row 5 are connected. In row 5, Vicky is criminal, Xena is innocent, Zeno is criminal, and Wanda is the only person not yet identified. If Wanda were criminal, then row 5 would have only one innocent there, Xena, which conflicts with the clue that there are both innocents in row 5 and that they are connected. So Wanda cannot be criminal. That makes Wanda innocent.