Clues by Sam Jun 20, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained

01.C2 · Ivan → CRIMINAL

Stella’s clue says the two innocents below Diane are connected. Stella is already one of those innocents, so the other innocent below Diane has to be orthogonally next to Stella. In that column, that means the other innocent can only be Nick at C3 or Xola at C5, and Ivan at C2 is not next to Stella in that line. So Ivan must be criminal.

02.C1 · Diane → INNOCENT

Stella’s clue says there are exactly two innocents below Diane, and those two must be connected. Below Diane we already have Ivan as criminal, Stella as innocent, and only Nick and Xola left unknown. Ivan cannot be one of those two innocents, so the two innocents below Diane have to come from Stella together with Nick or Xola. Now combine that with Ivan’s clue that column C has exactly three innocents. If Diane were criminal, then column C would have to get all three of its innocents from Nick, Stella, and Xola, but that clashes with the requirement about the innocents below Diane. So Diane cannot be criminal. So Diane must be innocent.

03.D1 · Ellie → CRIMINAL

Ivan’s clue fixes column C as the only column with exactly 3 innocents, and Diane’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals among the people below Ellie, with those two connected. The people below Ellie are Jose, Olof, Tina, and Zed. If Ellie were innocent, then Amy, Bruce, Frida, Ghani, Jose, Lucy, Martin, Nick, Olof, Peter, Ryan, Tina, Uma, Wanda, Xola, and Zed would have to satisfy both of those clue requirements at the same time, but they cannot. So Ellie cannot be innocent. So Ellie must be criminal.

04.A3 · Lucy → CRIMINAL

Ellie’s clue says that Lucy is one of the exactly two criminals below Amy. That directly identifies Lucy’s status without needing anything else. So Lucy must be criminal.

05.A1 · Amy → CRIMINAL

Ivan’s clue says column C is the only column with exactly 3 innocents, and Ellie’s clue says that among the people below Amy, Lucy is one of exactly 2 criminals. The people below Amy are Frida, Lucy, Peter, and Uma. If Amy were innocent, then column A would be another column that could reach exactly 3 innocents while those same clue-related unknown people also still have to satisfy the requirement about exactly 2 criminals below Amy, and those requirements clash. So Amy cannot be innocent. So Amy must be criminal.

06.B2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL

Lucy is already one of the exactly two criminals below Amy, so among Frida, Peter, and Uma there can be only one more criminal in that whole group. At the same time, below Ellie there must be exactly two criminals, and those two have to be connected. Also, exactly four edge people have an innocent directly below them. If Ghani were innocent, then Bruce, Frida, Jose, Olof, Peter, Tina, Uma, Wanda, Xola, and Zed would have to make all three of those requirements true at once, and they cannot. So Ghani cannot be innocent. That makes Ghani criminal.

07.B1 · Bruce → CRIMINAL

If Bruce were innocent, the remaining people named here would have to satisfy both clues at once: column C would still have to be the only column with exactly 3 innocents, and Stella’s neighbors would still have to contain exactly 4 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals being one of Peter’s neighbors Martin, Ryan, or Wanda. But with Bruce as innocent, those same people cannot satisfy all of that together. So Bruce cannot be innocent. That makes Bruce criminal.

08.D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL, D2 · Jose → INNOCENT

Ivan’s clue fixes column C at exactly 3 innocents, Diane’s clue fixes the people below Ellie as exactly 2 criminals who are connected, and Ghani’s clue fixes Stella’s neighbors at exactly 4 criminals with exactly 1 of those being one of Peter’s neighbors, namely Martin, Ryan, or Wanda. Now test the opposite pair: Tina innocent and Jose criminal. Then the remaining people named in these same clue groups would have to fill all of those exact counts and conditions at once, but they cannot do so without breaking one of those three clues. Since that opposite assignment is impossible, Tina cannot be innocent and Jose cannot be criminal. So Tina must be criminal and Jose must be innocent.

09.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT, A2 · Frida → INNOCENT

Among the edge cells that are not Wanda's neighbors, there are already 5 known criminals, and Tina's clue says that total must reach exactly 6. So only 1 more criminal can be in the remaining unknown part of that group: Frida, Olof, Wanda, and Zed. But that 1 criminal has to come from Olof or Zed, not from Frida or Wanda. That means Frida and Wanda cannot be criminals. So Wanda and Frida must be innocent.

10.C5 · Xola → CRIMINAL

Below Amy, Lucy is already one criminal, so the clue about people below Amy leaves exactly one more criminal there, and that extra criminal has to be among Peter and Uma. Tina's clue says exactly two edge criminals are Wanda's neighbors, and those neighboring edge people are Peter, Uma, and Xola. Since Peter and Uma together account for exactly one criminal, the remaining neighboring edge person has to supply the other one. So Xola must be criminal.

11.C3 · Nick → INNOCENT

Ivan’s clue says column C is the only column with exactly 3 innocents. In column C, Diane and Stella are already innocent, and Nick is the only unknown person left in that column. If Nick were criminal, then column C would stay at only 2 innocents, so it would not be the column with exactly 3 innocents. That conflicts with Ivan’s clue. So Nick must be innocent.

12.B3 · Martin → INNOCENT

Ryan’s neighbors must contain an odd number of criminals. They already include 2 known criminals, so the unknown neighbors must add an odd number more. Below Amy there are exactly 2 criminals in total, and Lucy is already one of them, so Peter and Uma contain exactly 1 more criminal between them. Peter and Uma are both neighbors of Ryan, so those two already supply the needed odd extra criminal count among Ryan’s unknown neighbors. If Martin were also a criminal, Ryan’s unknown neighbors would contain 2 criminals instead of an odd number. So Martin must be innocent.

13.B4 · Ryan → CRIMINAL

Ghani's clue says Stella has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Peter. Among the people who are both Stella's neighbors and Peter's neighbors, Martin and Wanda are already innocent, leaving only Ryan unknown in that shared group. Since that shared group still needs 1 criminal, Ryan has to be the one. So Ryan must be criminal.

14.D5 · Zed → INNOCENT

15.D3 · Olof → CRIMINAL

Ivan’s clue says column C is the only column with exactly 3 innocents. Column D already has 2 known innocents, and Olof is the only person in that column whose identity is not yet known. If Olof were innocent, then column D would also have exactly 3 innocents, which cannot happen because then column C would not be the only such column. So Olof must be criminal.

16.A4 · Peter → CRIMINAL

Martin’s clue says row 3 has more innocents than row 4. Row 3 already has 2 innocents, while row 4 currently has 1 innocent and Peter is the only person there not yet identified. If Peter were innocent, row 4 would also have 2 innocents, so row 3 would not have more innocents than row 4. So Peter must be criminal.

17.A5 · Uma → INNOCENT

Ellie’s clue says Lucy is one of exactly 2 criminals below Amy. Below Amy are Frida, Lucy, Peter, and Uma, and among them Lucy and Peter are already the 2 known criminals while Frida is innocent. If Uma were also a criminal, that group would have more than 2 criminals, which clashes with the clue. So Uma must be innocent.