Clues by Sam Jun 27, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👮♂️
cop
B1
👮♂️
cop
C1
👨🍳
cook
D1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A2
👩🔧
mech
B2
👨🔧
mech
C2
👩🍳
cook
D2
👨🔧
mech
A3
👷♂️
builder
B3
👩💻
coder
C3
👩🍳
cook
D3
👨💻
coder
A4
👷♀️
builder
B4
👩💻
coder
C4
👩🎤
singer
D4
👨🎤
singer
A5
👩⚖️
judge
B5
👩⚖️
judge
C5
👩⚖️
judge
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 — 4 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jun 27, 2026 — a Hard solved in 15 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 4 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Erwin (D1), Gus (B2), Martin (D3) and Rose (C4); the remaining 16 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D3 · Martin → CRIMINAL
Umar’s clue directly says that Martin is one of the two criminals above Zed. Since Martin is explicitly included among those criminals, Martin must be criminal.
02.D5 · Zed → INNOCENT
Umar’s clue says there are exactly 2 criminals above Zed, and Martin is one of them. Above Zed are Erwin, Isaac, Martin, and Umar, with Martin already criminal and Umar already innocent. If Zed were criminal, column D would then have Martin and Zed as criminals, leaving only Erwin, Isaac, and Umar in that column to be innocent. Martin’s clue says each column has at least 3 innocents, so column D would have to use all three of those as innocents, but that conflicts with Umar’s clue that there must still be a second criminal above Zed besides Martin. So Zed at D5 must be innocent.
03.A3 · Jason → INNOCENT
Martin says every column has at least 3 innocents, and Zed says all innocents in column A must form one connected block. Column A consists of Akira, Frida, Jason, Olivia, and Vicky. If Jason were a criminal, the people left to satisfy both of those facts in column A would create an impossible situation, because column A would still need at least 3 innocents while all of its innocents had to stay in one connected block. So Jason at A3 must be innocent.
04.A4 · Olivia → INNOCENT, A2 · Frida → INNOCENT
Column A has Akira, Frida, Jason, Olivia, and Vicky, and Jason is already known to be innocent. Every column must have at least 3 innocents, and column D is the only column allowed to have exactly 3 innocents. In column A, the innocents also have to form one connected block. If Frida and Olivia were both criminals, then the remaining people would have to satisfy those column counts and the connected block requirement for column A at the same time, but they cannot. So those two cannot both be criminals. That makes Olivia and Frida innocent.
05.C3 · Layla → INNOCENT, C5 · Xia → INNOCENT, C1 · Donald → INNOCENT
Martin’s clue says every column has at least 3 innocents, and Jason’s clue says column D is the only column with exactly 3 innocents. If Donald, Layla, and Xia were criminals, then the remaining people involved here, namely Akira, Carl, Erwin, Gus, Helen, Isaac, Kiran, Quita, Rose, Vicky, and Wanda, would have to satisfy those column requirements and Olivia’s clue about Layla’s three criminal neighbors at the same time, but they cannot. So Donald, Layla, and Xia cannot be criminals. Therefore Donald, Layla, and Xia must be innocent.
06.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Wanda is in column B, and the people above her are Carl, Gus, Kiran, and Quita. The clues in this step require column D to be the only column with exactly 3 innocents, require every column to have at least 3 innocents, and require the people above Wanda to contain an odd number of innocents. If Wanda were criminal, the remaining unknown people named here would have to satisfy all of those requirements at the same time, but they cannot. That makes the criminal option for Wanda impossible. So Wanda must be innocent.
07.A5 · Vicky → INNOCENT
Wanda’s clue says exactly 3 innocents in row 5 have an innocent directly to the right. In row 5, the known innocents are Wanda, Xia, and Zed, and Vicky is the only person there not yet identified. If Vicky were a criminal, then row 5 would have only those three innocents: Wanda, Xia, and Zed. But that makes the clue impossible to satisfy, so Vicky cannot be a criminal. So Vicky must be innocent.
08.B3 · Kiran → INNOCENT
Layla has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and only 1 of those 3 is in column C. Since Martin is already a criminal neighbor of Layla and is not in column C, the neighbors not in column C must account for the required criminals outside column C. In that non-column-C group, the one criminal still to place is among Gus, Isaac, and Quita. That leaves no room for Kiran to be that criminal. So Kiran must be innocent.
09.A1 · Akira → INNOCENT
Column A already has 4 known innocents, while column C has 3. Kiran’s clue says column A has more innocents than column C, so if Akira were criminal, column A would stay at 4 and the remaining unknowns in column C could not all be kept from conflicting with the other clue at the same time. Jason’s clue says column D is the only column with exactly 3 innocents, so the other columns cannot finish with exactly 3 innocents. With Akira set to criminal, the remaining unknown people named here would have to make both clues true at once, and that cannot be done. So Akira at A1 must be innocent.
10.D1 · Erwin → CRIMINAL, D2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Column D has to be the only column with exactly 3 innocents. It already contains Umar and Zed as known innocents, and the tested alternative here is Erwin innocent and Isaac criminal. At the same time, the edge clue says exactly 2 edge people have a criminal directly to their right, and that same alternative would leave Carl, Gus, Helen, Quita, and Rose having to make both clues work together. They cannot do that while keeping column D as the only column with exactly 3 innocents and keeping the edge total at exactly 2. So that tested pairing is impossible. That makes Erwin criminal and Isaac innocent.
11.B1 · Carl → INNOCENT
Column D already has exactly 3 innocents, and it is the only column allowed to have exactly 3 innocents. Column C already has 3 known innocents as well, so among the people touched by these clues, at least one of Helen or Rose must also be innocent so column C does not finish with exactly 3. Layla’s clue also says her neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total, with exactly 1 of those criminals in column C, so Helen and Rose cannot both be innocent and cannot both be criminals. Along with Gus and Quita, those same unknown people have to satisfy both restrictions at once. If Carl were criminal, those requirements on Gus, Helen, Quita, and Rose would clash, so Carl cannot be criminal. So Carl must be innocent.
12.B2 · Gus → CRIMINAL
Erwin’s clue says the people above Quita contain exactly 2 innocents. Above Quita, there are already 2 known innocents: Carl and Kiran. The only person there whose identity was still unknown is Gus, so there is no innocent spot left for him in that group. So Gus must be criminal.
13.B4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Layla’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in column C. That means among Layla’s neighbors who are not in column C, there must be exactly 2 criminals. Those non-column-C neighbors are Gus, Isaac, Kiran, Martin, Quita, and Umar, and Gus and Martin are already the 2 known criminals there. So the only unknown person in that non-column-C group, Quita, cannot also be a criminal. So Quita must be innocent.
14.C4 · Rose → CRIMINAL
Frida’s clue says exactly one row has no criminals. Row 5 is already that row, because Vicky, Wanda, Xia, and Zed are all innocent. Row 4 has no known criminal yet, and Rose is the only person there whose identity is not settled. If Rose were innocent, then row 4 would also have no criminals, giving two such rows instead of one. So Rose must be criminal.
15.C2 · Helen → INNOCENT
Layla’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total, and Olivia’s clue says exactly 1 of those criminals is in column C. Among Layla’s neighbors who are in column C, Rose is already a known criminal, and the only other person there is Helen. Since the one column C criminal is already accounted for by Rose, Helen cannot also be a criminal. So Helen must be innocent.