Clues by Sam Jun 28, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👮♂️
cop
B1
👩💻
coder
C1
👨⚕️
doctor
D1
👮♀️
cop
A2
👷♀️
builder
B2
👨✈️
pilot
C2
👩🏫
teacher
D2
👨✈️
pilot
A3
👷♀️
builder
B3
👷♂️
builder
C3
👩🏫
teacher
D3
👨🏫
teacher
A4
👩💻
coder
B4
👩💻
coder
C4
👨💼
clerk
D4
👨⚕️
doctor
A5
👩🎨
painter
B5
👩🎨
painter
C5
👨🎨
painter
D5
🤡
clown
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 — 12 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jun 28, 2026 — a Hard solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 12 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Betty (B1), Habiba (C2), Julie (A3), Kyle (B3), Max (C3), Noah (D3), Olga (A4), Petra (B4), Sam (D4), Uma (A5), Vera (B5) and Will (C5); the remaining 8 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D4 · Sam → CRIMINAL
Austin's clue says Zach has exactly 2 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in column C. Among Zach's neighbors, the people in column C are Rob and Will, so the other criminal neighbor must be someone neighboring Zach who is not in column C. The only neighbor of Zach who is not in column C is Sam, and there are no known criminals there yet, so Sam has to fill that remaining criminal spot. So Sam must be criminal.
02.B4 · Petra → CRIMINAL
Sam’s clue says that Petra is one of Kyle’s 5 criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Petra as a criminal. So Petra must be criminal.
03.C3 · Max → CRIMINAL
Zach’s neighbors contain exactly two criminals, and exactly one of those two is in column C. Since Sam is already a criminal neighbor of Zach and is not in column C, that means among Rob and Will, exactly one is a criminal and the other is innocent. Sam’s clue looks at the people who are both in column C and neighboring Sam: Max, Rob, and Will. It says an odd number of those three are innocents. If Max were innocent, then Rob and Will would have to make that group fit the odd-innocent requirement, but Rob and Will already have to be one criminal and one innocent, and that combination makes the clues clash. So Max must be criminal.
04.C1 · Chola → INNOCENT
Max’s clue says Chola is one of the exactly 2 innocents in column C. Since that directly names Chola as an innocent in that column, her identity is fixed by the clue itself. So Chola must be innocent.
05.C2 · Habiba → CRIMINAL
Austin’s clue fixes Zach’s neighbors at exactly two criminals, and exactly one of those is in column C. Since Sam is already a criminal neighbor of Zach and Sam is not in column C, the one criminal neighbor in column C must be either Rob or Will, so among Rob and Will there is exactly one criminal. Max’s clue says column C has exactly two innocents. Chola is already one innocent there, so the other three people in column C besides Chola must contain three criminals in total counting Max, Rob, and Will. Max is already a criminal, and Rob and Will contribute exactly one more criminal, so the remaining person outside that neighbor overlap, Habiba, has to supply the last criminal. So Habiba must be criminal.
06.A2 · Flora → INNOCENT
Kyle’s neighbors must contain exactly 5 criminals, and 3 of them are already known: Habiba, Max, and Petra. That means the remaining 2 criminals among Kyle’s unknown neighbors have to come from Gabe, Julie, Olga, and Rob. Since Flora is not one of those two spots, she cannot be a criminal. So Flora must be innocent.
07.D2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Flora's clue says Ivan is one of Max's 3 innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Ivan's status, because being one of Max's innocent neighbors means Ivan is innocent. So Ivan must be innocent.
08.A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Column A already has Austin and Flora as innocents, and all innocents in column A have to form one connected block. If Uma were also innocent, then the innocents in that column would have to include a continuous chain reaching down to A5. At the same time, Ivan is one of exactly 3 innocent neighbors of Max, and the whole board has exactly 8 innocents in total. With those limits, the remaining people named here cannot be assigned in a way that also makes Uma innocent while keeping all these facts true. So Uma must be criminal.
09.C5 · Will → CRIMINAL
Uma’s clue says there are exactly 8 criminals on the edge, and exactly 1 of those edge criminals is below Habiba. Among edge cells below Habiba, the only person there is Will at C5, and there are currently no known criminals in that group. So that group still needs its 1 criminal, and the only available person to fill it is Will. That makes Will criminal.
10.C4 · Rob → INNOCENT
Austin's clue says Zach has exactly two criminal neighbors, and exactly one of those criminals is in column C. Among Zach's neighbors in column C, Will is already a known criminal. The only other neighbor of Zach in column C is Rob, so if Rob were criminal, then there would be two criminal neighbors of Zach in column C, which breaks the clue. So Rob must be innocent.
11.A4 · Olga → CRIMINAL
Kyle’s neighbors must contain exactly 5 criminals, and among those neighbors there are already 3 known criminals: Habiba, Max, and Petra. That means the 3 unknown neighbors B2 Gabe, A3 Julie, and A4 Olga must include exactly 1 innocent. In column A, Austin and Flora are already innocents and Uma is a criminal. Since all innocents in column A are connected, the remaining innocent in Kyle’s unknown-neighbor group has to be B2 Gabe or A3 Julie, not A4 Olga. So Olga must be criminal.
12.D3 · Noah → CRIMINAL
Flora says Max has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and two of them are already known: Ivan and Rob. That leaves exactly one more innocent among Max's unknown neighbors, which are Gabe, Kyle, and Noah. But the remaining innocent in that group must come from Gabe and Kyle, so Noah cannot be that last innocent neighbor. So Noah must be criminal.
13.B1 · Betty → CRIMINAL
Flora’s clue says Max has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and Ivan is one of them. Among Max’s neighbors, Ivan and Rob are already the only known innocents, so the remaining innocence in that group has to be settled by Gabe and Kyle. Ivan’s other clue says an odd number of the people who are both in column B and neighboring Flora are innocent. That shared group is exactly Betty, Gabe, and Kyle. If Betty were innocent, then Betty, Gabe, and Kyle would have to satisfy both clues at once, but they cannot. So Betty must be criminal.
14.B5 · Vera → CRIMINAL
Betty's clue says Vera is one of Rob's 7 criminal neighbors. Since that clue directly places Vera among Rob's criminal neighbors, Vera must be criminal. So Vera must be criminal.
15.B2 · Gabe → INNOCENT, A3 · Julie → CRIMINAL, B3 · Kyle → CRIMINAL
Flora’s clue says row 2 has more innocents than row 3. Right now row 2 already has 2 known innocents, while row 3 has 0 known innocents. If Gabe were criminal while Julie and Kyle were innocent, then the remaining row 2 and row 3 people would be Gabe in row 2, and Julie and Kyle in row 3. That would leave row 2 with 2 innocents and row 3 with 2 innocents, so row 2 would not have more innocents than row 3. So that combination is impossible, and the opposite identities are ruled out for those three people. That makes Gabe innocent, Julie criminal, and Kyle criminal.
16.D5 · Zach → INNOCENT
Betty says Vera is one of Rob's exactly 7 criminal neighbors. Rob's neighbors are Kyle, Max, Noah, Petra, Sam, Vera, Will, and Zach, and among them Kyle, Max, Noah, Petra, Sam, Vera, and Will are already criminal. That already fills all 7 criminal-neighbor spots named in the clue, so Zach cannot also be criminal. So Zach must be innocent.
17.D1 · Eve → INNOCENT
Chola says there are 8 innocents in total. Right now, 7 people are already known to be innocent, and Eve at D1 is the only person whose identity is still unknown. If Eve were criminal, the total number of innocents would stay at 7, which would conflict with Chola's clue. So Eve must be innocent.