Clues by Sam Jun 11, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨🍳
cook
B1
👨🍳
cook
C1
👩🎤
singer
D1
👩🎤
singer
A2
👮♂️
cop
B2
👮♂️
cop
C2
👩🎤
singer
D2
👨🔧
mech
A3
👩💼
clerk
B3
👷♀️
builder
C3
👷♂️
builder
D3
👩🔧
mech
A4
👩💼
clerk
B4
👩🏫
teacher
C4
💂♂️
guard
D4
👩🔧
mech
A5
👨💼
clerk
B5
👨🏫
teacher
C5
💂♀️
guard
D5
💂♂️
guard
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 — 16 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jun 11, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 18 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 16 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Adam (A1), Cheryl (C1), Frank (A2), Gabe (B2), Hazel (C2), Isaac (D2), Jane (A3), Martin (C3), Nala (D3), Quita (B4), Steve (C4), Uma (D4), Vince (A5), Will (B5), Xola (C5) and Zach (D5); the remaining 4 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C3 · Martin → CRIMINAL, C2 · Hazel → CRIMINAL
Katie’s clue says there are no innocents among the people who are both between Cheryl and Xola and neighbors of Gabe. That shared group is exactly Hazel and Martin, and there are already 0 known innocents in it. So Hazel and Martin cannot be innocent. Therefore Hazel and Martin must be criminal.
02.B2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Hazel's clue says Gabe is one of the exactly 2 criminals above Will. That directly identifies Gabe's status from the clue itself. So Gabe must be criminal.
03.B5 · Will → CRIMINAL
Above Will there are exactly 2 criminals, and those people are Bobby, Gabe, Katie, and Quita. In the whole of column B there are exactly 3 criminals, with the same four people plus Will. Since the only extra person in column B beyond the group above Will is Will, that extra criminal has to be Will. So Will must be criminal.
04.B4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Jane’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is below Adam. That means 2 of Jane’s neighboring criminals must be people who are not below Adam. Among Jane’s neighbors who are not below Adam, we have Gabe, Katie, and Quita. Gabe is already a known criminal and Katie is innocent, so that group still needs 1 more criminal. The only unknown person left there is Quita, so Quita must be criminal.
05.B1 · Bobby → INNOCENT
Hazel's clue says Gabe is one of exactly two criminals above Will. Above Will are Bobby, Gabe, Katie, and Quita, and Gabe and Quita are already the two known criminals there. If Bobby were also a criminal, that group would contain three criminals, which contradicts the clue's exact total of two. So Bobby must be innocent.
06.A3 · Jane → CRIMINAL
Jane’s clue says her neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in the below-Adam group made of Frank and Olive. Bobby’s clue says the people who are both below Adam and neighboring Katie, namely Frank, Jane, and Olive, contain an odd number of innocents. If Jane were innocent, then Frank and Olive would have to satisfy both clues by themselves: among Frank and Olive there would have to be exactly 1 criminal for Jane’s clue, while Frank, Jane, and Olive would also have to give the required odd number of innocents for Bobby’s clue. That combination cannot be made to fit at the same time. So Jane must be criminal.
07.C4 · Steve → CRIMINAL
Jane’s clue says her neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is below Adam. The only unknown people in Jane’s neighbors are Frank and Olive, and they are exactly the two people there who are below Adam. Katie’s clue says her neighbors contain an odd number of criminals. Katie already has 5 known criminal neighbors, and the only unknown neighbors involved here are Frank, Olive, and Steve. If Steve were innocent, then only Frank and Olive would be left to satisfy both clues at once, and that cannot be done. So Steve cannot be innocent. That makes Steve criminal.
08.A5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Jane’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is below Adam. The only Jane-neighbors who are below Adam are Frank and Olive, so among Frank and Olive, exactly 1 must be a criminal. Below Adam there must be an odd number of innocents, and right now the only unknown people there are Frank, Olive, and Vince. If Vince were innocent, then Frank and Olive would still have to make both clues work at once, but that cannot be done. So Vince cannot be innocent. That makes Vince criminal.
09.A1 · Adam → CRIMINAL
Jane’s clue fixes column B as the only column with exactly 2 innocents. If Adam were innocent, then the remaining people involved in these clues, including Frank and Olive from Jane’s neighborhood and the unknown people in columns A, C, and D, would have to satisfy that column condition at the same time as Will’s condition about Jane’s neighbors having exactly 3 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals below Adam. Those requirements cannot all be met if Adam is innocent. So Adam must be criminal.
10.D5 · Zach → CRIMINAL
Jane’s clue fixes column B as the only column with exactly 2 innocents, and Vince’s clue says the people above Zach contain exactly 1 innocent. The people above Zach are Donna, Isaac, Nala, and Uma, and none of them is yet known to be innocent. If Zach were innocent, then Cheryl, Donna, Frank, Isaac, Nala, Olive, Uma, and Xola would have to satisfy both of those clues at the same time, but they cannot. That rules out Zach being innocent. So Zach must be criminal.
11.D3 · Nala → CRIMINAL
Zach's clue says row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents. Row 3 already has 1 known innocent, Katie, and Nala is the only person in that row whose identity is not yet known. If Nala were innocent, then row 3 would also have exactly 2 innocents, which cannot happen because row 1 is supposed to be the only such row. So Nala must be criminal.
12.C5 · Xola → CRIMINAL
Zach’s clue says row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents, and Martin’s clue says exactly 1 criminal in a corner has a criminal directly to the left. The corner cells are Adam, Donna, Vince, and Zach, with Adam, Vince, and Zach already known to be criminals. If Xola were innocent, then Cheryl, Donna, Frank, Isaac, Olive, and Uma would have to satisfy both of those clues at the same time. But there is no way to assign those people so that row 1 is still the only row with exactly 2 innocents and the corner condition still has exactly 1 qualifying criminal. So Xola must be criminal.
13.D2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Hazel's neighbors must contain an odd number of criminals, and among those neighbors there are already 3 known criminals, with only Cheryl, Donna, and Isaac still unknown there. Row 1 also has to be the only row with exactly 2 innocents, so Cheryl and Donna are tied up with that requirement as part of row 1. If Isaac were innocent, then Cheryl, Donna, Frank, Olive, and Uma would have to satisfy both clues at once, and that cannot be done. So Isaac at D2 must be criminal.
14.D4 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Jane’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is below Adam. The only unknown people in that below-Adam part of Jane’s neighbors are Frank and Olive, so the remaining unknowns there, Frank and Olive, together have to fit that requirement while row 1 also has to be the only row with exactly 2 innocents. At the same time, the edge cells must contain an odd number of criminals. The edge already has 8 known criminals, and besides Uma the other unknown edge people are Cheryl, Donna, Frank, and Olive. If Uma were innocent, those same four people would have to satisfy all the other requirements and also make the edge total odd, but they cannot do that. So Uma must be criminal.
15.D1 · Donna → INNOCENT
Vince's clue says the people above Zach contain exactly one innocent. In that group, there are currently no known innocents, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Donna. So the one innocent required above Zach has to be Donna. That makes Donna innocent.
16.C1 · Cheryl → CRIMINAL
Zach’s clue says row 1 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents. Row 1 already has Bobby and Donna as innocents, so it already has those 2 innocents. If Cheryl were innocent too, then the remaining unknowns tied to this clue, Frank and Olive, could not make the rows fit that requirement all at once. So Cheryl cannot be innocent. That makes Cheryl criminal.
17.A2 · Frank → CRIMINAL
Uma’s clue says exactly one person has exactly 3 innocent neighbors. The only people here whose identities were still not fixed for checking that clue were Frank and Olive. If Frank were innocent, then with only Frank and Olive left to account for that clue, the required neighbor counts could not be made to fit the “exactly one person” condition. That makes Frank’s being innocent impossible. So Frank must be criminal.
18.A4 · Olive → INNOCENT
Jane’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total. Among Jane’s neighbors, the people below Adam are Frank and Olive, and the clue says exactly 1 of Jane’s criminal neighbors is below Adam. Frank is already a criminal, so that one below-Adam criminal is already accounted for. Olive therefore cannot be a criminal, so Olive must be innocent.