Clues by Sam Jun 24, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
D1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A2
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C2
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A3
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
A4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B4
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C4
👨💼
clerk
D4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
A5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C5
🕵️♂️
sleuth
D5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
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 Jun 24, 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 Alex (A1), Berat (B1), Chuck (C1), Emily (A2), Kyle (A3), Mary (C3), Nala (D3), Raul (B4), Steve (C4) and Tina (D4); the remaining 10 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C3 · Mary → CRIMINAL
Xavi’s clue says there are exactly two criminals below Chuck, and those two have to be connected. Below Chuck are Hilda, Mary, Steve, and Xavi, and Xavi is innocent. If Mary were innocent, then the only remaining people there who could be the two criminals would be Hilda and Steve, but that does not fit the clue’s requirement for the two criminals below Chuck. So Mary must be criminal.
02.A1 · Alex → CRIMINAL, B1 · Berat → CRIMINAL
Mary’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals in row 1, and exactly 2 of those row 1 criminals neighbor Emily. In row 1, the only people who neighbor Emily are Alex and Berat. Since those 2 neighboring spots in row 1 still have to supply both of the clue’s neighboring criminals, both of them have to be criminals. So Alex and Berat must be criminal.
03.D3 · Nala → CRIMINAL
Mary’s clue fixes row 1 at exactly 3 criminals, and the 2 row 1 criminals who neighbor Emily are already Alex and Berat. So the third criminal in row 1 must be one of Chuck or Donald, which means Chuck and Donald cannot both be innocent. Alex’s clue says an odd number of the edge neighbors of Ike are innocent, and that group is exactly Chuck, Donald, and Nala. If Nala were innocent, then Chuck and Donald would have to contribute an even number of innocents to keep the total odd, so Chuck and Donald would have to be either both innocent or both not innocent. But they cannot both be innocent, because one of them has to be the third criminal in row 1. So Nala must be criminal.
04.D2 · Ike → INNOCENT
Nala’s clue says Ike is one of her 2 innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Ike as innocent. So Ike must be innocent.
05.D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Nala says Ike is one of her exactly 2 innocent neighbors. Among Nala's neighbors, Ike is already the one known innocent, so there is room for exactly 1 more innocent among the unknown neighbors. The only neighbors of Nala below Chuck are Hilda and Steve as unknowns, while Tina is not in that below-Chuck group. That means the remaining innocent neighbor has to be Hilda or Steve, not Tina. So Tina must be criminal.
06.A3 · Kyle → CRIMINAL
Row 4 has exactly one innocent among Pam, Raul, and Steve. Lucy's neighbors that are not in row 2 are Kyle, Mary, Pam, Raul, and Steve, and that whole group also has exactly one innocent. Since Pam, Raul, and Steve already account for the full one innocent allowed in that larger group, the only person left outside that row 4 subset, Kyle, cannot be innocent. So Kyle must be criminal.
07.B4 · Raul → CRIMINAL
Kyle’s clue says Raul is one of his 2 criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Raul as criminal. So Raul must be criminal.
08.B2 · Gus → INNOCENT, B3 · Lucy → INNOCENT
Mary’s clue makes row 1 contain exactly one criminal among Chuck and Donald, so within Hilda’s neighbors the row 1 people contribute exactly one criminal there. Raul’s clue says Hilda has exactly four innocent neighbors, which means her neighbors have exactly four criminals in total. Three of those criminals are already accounted for by Berat, Mary, and Nala, and the one criminal from Chuck or Donald is the fourth. That leaves no room for any other criminal among Hilda’s neighbors outside row 1, and the remaining such people here are Gus and Lucy. So Gus and Lucy must be innocent.
09.A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Column A must contain at least 2 innocents. In that column, Alex and Kyle are already criminals, so the people left to supply those innocents are Emily, Pam, and Uma. Kyle’s clue says Raul is one of exactly 2 criminal neighbors of Kyle. Among Kyle’s neighbors, Raul is already one known criminal, Gus and Lucy are innocent, and the only unknown neighbors are Emily and Pam, so only one of Emily and Pam can be a criminal. If Uma were a criminal, then column A would have only Emily and Pam available to be the 2 innocents required for that column, but Kyle’s clue does not allow both Emily and Pam to be innocent. So Uma must be innocent.
10.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT, D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
Uma’s clue says there are exactly 7 innocent sleuths on the edges. Among the edge cells, 3 are already known innocent, so the 6 unknown edge people contain exactly 2 criminals. Those 2 criminals therefore have to come from Chuck, Donald, Emily, and Pam, which leaves Wanda and Zara unable to be criminals. So Wanda and Zara must be innocent.
11.C2 · Hilda → INNOCENT
Row 1 must contain exactly one more criminal, and among Ike's neighbors the only row 1 people are Chuck and Donald. Ike's neighbors therefore can get their third criminal from that row 1 pair, while Mary and Nala are already the other two criminals there. That means the row 1 part of Ike's neighborhood already accounts for all the criminals Ike's clue allows from the unknowns shared with row 1. The only remaining person in Ike's neighborhood outside that row 1 pair is Hilda, so she cannot be a criminal. That makes Hilda innocent.
12.C4 · Steve → CRIMINAL
Nala says Ike is one of her exactly 2 innocent neighbors. Among Nala's neighbors, Hilda and Ike are already the 2 innocents, while Mary and Tina are criminals. If Steve were innocent too, Nala would have 3 innocent neighbors, which clashes with that clue. So Steve must be criminal.
13.A4 · Pam → INNOCENT
Berat’s clue says row 4 contains exactly one innocent. In row 4, there are currently no known innocents, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Pam. So the one innocent that row 4 still needs has to be Pam. That makes Pam innocent.
14.C1 · Chuck → CRIMINAL
Ike’s clue is about the people who are both in column C and neighboring Berat. That shared group is only Chuck and Hilda, and the clue says exactly 1 of them is innocent. Hilda is already known to be innocent, so the one innocent in that group is already accounted for. That means Chuck cannot also be innocent, so Chuck must be criminal.
15.D1 · Donald → INNOCENT
Mary’s clue says row 1 has exactly 3 criminals in total, and exactly 2 of those criminals neighbor Emily. Those 2 are already identified as Alex and Berat. That means the one remaining row 1 criminal who does not neighbor Emily is already Chuck. So Donald cannot also be a criminal, because then row 1 would have more than one criminal there who does not neighbor Emily. So Donald must be innocent.
16.A2 · Emily → CRIMINAL
Kyle’s clue says Raul is one of Kyle’s exactly 2 criminal neighbors. Among Kyle’s neighbors, Raul is the only known criminal, while Gus, Lucy, and Pam are innocent, and Emily is the only neighbor whose identity was still unknown. If Emily were innocent too, then Kyle would have only 1 criminal neighbor, Raul, which contradicts the clue that there are exactly 2. So Emily must be criminal.