Clues by Sam Jul 02, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👮♂️
cop
B1
👮♂️
cop
C1
👷♀️
builder
D1
👩🌾
farmer
A2
👮♂️
cop
B2
👨⚕️
doctor
C2
👨🌾
farmer
D2
👨🌾
farmer
A3
💂♀️
guard
B3
💂♀️
guard
C3
👨⚕️
doctor
D3
👩💻
coder
A4
💂♀️
guard
B4
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C4
👩⚕️
doctor
D4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
A5
👩💻
coder
B5
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D5
👷♂️
builder
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 — 9 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jul 02, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 9 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Austin (A1), Bruce (B1), Chloe (C1), Frank (A2), Ghani (B2), Phil (B4), Tina (D4), Vince (B5) and Wanda (C5); the remaining 11 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.B3 · Kay → INNOCENT
Igor’s clue says Kay is one of Frank’s 2 innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Kay as innocent. So Kay must be innocent.
02.A2 · Frank → CRIMINAL
Kay’s clue says there are exactly 7 criminals on the edge, and exactly 1 of those edge criminals is in row 2. Among the edge people in row 2, Igor is already innocent, so the only person there who could fill that one required criminal spot is Frank. That makes Frank criminal.
03.B1 · Bruce → CRIMINAL, B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Frank’s clue says exactly 2 corner people have a criminal directly to the right. There still need to be 2 such cases, and the only direct-right neighbors that can still make those corner cases work are B1 Bruce and B5 Vince. Since those are the only remaining people who can satisfy the clue’s required total, both of them have to be criminals. So Bruce and Vince must be criminal.
04.B4 · Phil → CRIMINAL, B2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL
Bruce’s clue says column B is the only column with exactly 4 criminals, so column B itself must have exactly 4 criminals. In column B, Bruce and Vince are already criminals and Kay is already innocent, leaving only Ghani and Phil to fill the remaining places in that count. If Phil and Ghani were both innocent, the people in columns A, C, and D would have to satisfy Bruce’s “only column” condition instead, but that cannot be done. So Phil and Ghani must be criminals.
05.D5 · Ziad → INNOCENT
Ghani’s clue says the two criminals in row 5 are connected. Vince is already a known criminal in row 5, so the other criminal in that row has to be next to Vince. In row 5, that means the second criminal can only be Uma or Wanda, and Ziad is not next to Vince in that line. So Ziad cannot be the other criminal, and Ziad must be innocent.
06.A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Bruce’s clue fixes column B as the only column with exactly 4 criminals, and Igor’s clue fixes Kay as one of Frank’s 2 innocent neighbors. In column A, Frank is already a criminal, and Ziad’s clue says all criminals in column A have to be connected in one orthogonally connected block. If Uma were a criminal, then column A would have criminals at least at Frank and Uma, so the remaining unknown people touched by these clues would have to be arranged to satisfy Bruce’s column restriction, Kay’s neighbor count, and the connectedness rule in column A all at once. That cannot be done. So Uma must be innocent.
07.C5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Ghani’s clue says that the two criminals in row 5 are connected. In row 5, Uma is innocent, Vince is criminal, Wanda is the only person not yet identified, and Ziad is innocent. If Wanda were innocent, then row 5 would not have the required two connected criminals. So Wanda at C5 must be criminal.
08.A4 · Olive → INNOCENT
Uma’s clue says exactly one corner person has no innocent neighbors. Austin already has no innocent neighbors and no unknown neighbors, so Austin is one such corner for sure. Donna already has an innocent neighbor, so Donna cannot be that corner. If Olive were criminal, then Uma would still have no innocent neighbors, because Uma’s only unknown neighbor is Olive. That would make both Austin and Uma corners with no innocent neighbors, which clashes with the clue that there is exactly one. So Olive cannot be criminal. That makes Olive innocent.
09.C2 · Hal → INNOCENT
Uma’s clue says exactly one corner person has no innocent neighbors. Austin already has no innocent neighbors, while Uma already has an innocent neighbor, and Donna already has one innocent neighbor unless Chloe or Hal adds more. If Hal were criminal, then row 2 would stay at 1 innocent. Vince’s clue says rows 2 and 4 must have the same number of innocents, so row 4 would also have to stay at 1 innocent, which forces both Sarah and Tina to be criminal. But then Ziad would also have no innocent neighbors, since his only unknown neighbors are Sarah and Tina. That would give two corner people with no innocent neighbors, Austin and Ziad, which breaks Uma’s clue. So Hal must be innocent.
10.C1 · Chloe → CRIMINAL
Igor’s clue fixes Kay as one of Frank’s exactly 2 innocent neighbors, and among Frank’s neighbors the only unknowns are Austin and Joy. Hal’s clue says an odd number of the people who are both edge cells and neighbors of Ghani are innocent, and that group is Austin, Bruce, Chloe, Frank, and Joy. If Chloe were innocent, then Austin and Joy would have to make both of those clue requirements true at the same time, but they cannot. So Chloe cannot be innocent. That makes Chloe criminal.
11.D1 · Donna → INNOCENT
The edge clue says there are exactly 7 criminals on the edge. Five edge criminals are already known, so the remaining 2 edge criminals have to come from the unknown edge people. But the row 2 part of that same clue says only 1 edge criminal is in row 2, and that spot is already Frank. So the 2 remaining edge criminals cannot be in row 2. Among the unknown edge people, that leaves A1 Austin, A3 Joy, D3 Mary, and D4 Tina as the only places those 2 criminals can be, which excludes Donna at D1. So Donna must be innocent.
12.A3 · Joy → INNOCENT
Donna's clue says the people strictly between Austin and Uma contain exactly 2 innocents. In that group, there is already 1 known innocent. The only person there whose identity is still unknown is Joy, so the group needs Joy to supply the second innocent. So Joy must be innocent.
13.A1 · Austin → CRIMINAL
Igor’s clue says Kay is one of Frank’s exactly 2 innocent neighbors. Frank’s neighbors are Austin, Bruce, Ghani, Joy, and Kay, and among them Joy and Kay are already the 2 known innocents. If Austin were innocent too, that would conflict with the clue’s requirement that Frank have exactly 2 innocent neighbors. So Austin must be criminal.
14.C4 · Sarah → INNOCENT
Kay’s clue fixes the edge total at exactly 7 criminals, with exactly 1 of those edge criminals in row 2, and Joy’s clue says Luigi’s neighbors contain an odd number of innocents. Around Luigi there are already 3 known innocents, and the unknown neighbors are Mary, Sarah, and Tina. If Sarah were a criminal, then Mary and Tina would be the only unknown people left to satisfy both clues at once, and that cannot be done. So Sarah must be innocent.
15.D4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Vince’s clue says rows 2 and 4 have the same number of innocents. Row 2 already has exactly 2 innocents, and row 4 also already has 2 innocents: Olive and Sarah. If Tina were innocent, row 4 would have 3 innocents, which would no longer match row 2. So Tina must be criminal.
16.D3 · Mary → INNOCENT
Kay's clue says there are exactly 7 criminals on the edge, and exactly 1 of those edge criminals is in row 2. Among the edge people in row 2, Frank is already that 1 criminal and Igor is innocent. So among the edge people not in row 2, there must be exactly 6 criminals. That group already contains 6 known criminals: Austin, Bruce, Chloe, Tina, Vince, and Wanda. Since Mary is the only unknown person left in that edge group, she cannot also be a criminal. So Mary must be innocent.
17.C3 · Luigi → INNOCENT
Mary’s clue says exactly one innocent in column B has an innocent directly to the right. In column B, Bruce, Ghani, Phil, and Vince are criminals, and Kay is the only innocent there. So Kay has to be that one innocent from the clue, which means the person directly to Kay’s right must be innocent. That makes Luigi innocent.