Clues by Sam Jul 04, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
💂♂️
guard
B1
👨✈️
pilot
C1
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D1
👩✈️
pilot
A2
👩🏫
teacher
B2
💂♂️
guard
C2
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D2
👨✈️
pilot
A3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B3
👩💻
coder
C3
👩💻
coder
D3
👨🌾
farmer
A4
👩⚕️
doctor
B4
👩⚕️
doctor
C4
👩🎨
painter
D4
👨🎨
painter
A5
👨🏫
teacher
B5
👨⚕️
doctor
C5
👨🌾
farmer
D5
👨🎨
painter
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 — 13 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jul 04, 2026 — a Hard solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 13 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Chase (B1), Eve (D1), Ghani (B2), Hilda (C2), Julie (A3), Lucy (C3), Martin (D3), Olga (A4), Petra (B4), Quita (C4), Raul (D4), Sam (A5) and Zane (D5); the remaining 7 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A5 · Sam → CRIMINAL
Donna’s clue says Sam is one of the exactly 8 criminals on the edges. That directly identifies Sam’s status. So Sam must be criminal.
02.C2 · Hilda → CRIMINAL
Sam's clue says Lucy has exactly 6 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is above Quita. Among Lucy's neighbors, the only person who is above Quita is Hilda. So the one criminal neighbor of Lucy who is above Quita has to be Hilda. That makes Hilda criminal.
03.C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Hilda's clue says there are exactly two innocents in row 5, and those two innocents are connected. In row 5, Sam is already a criminal, so the only people left to fill those two innocent spots are Thor, Xavi, and Zane. If Xavi were a criminal, then the two innocents in that row would have to be Thor and Zane, and that cannot satisfy the clue. So Xavi at C5 must be innocent.
04.C3 · Lucy → CRIMINAL, C4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Xavi’s clue says every column has at least 3 criminals, so any column can have at most 2 innocents. Column C already has 2 known innocents there, Donna and Xavi. The only people in column C whose status was not yet fixed are Lucy and Quita, so neither of them can be innocent. So Lucy and Quita must be criminal.
05.B1 · Chase → CRIMINAL
Lucy’s clue says the people below Chase contain exactly 2 innocents, and right now those four people are Ghani, Katie, Petra, and Thor, with none of them already known innocent. Xavi’s clue also says every column must have at least 3 criminals. If Chase were innocent, then the people not yet identified would have to satisfy both of those facts at the same time, and they cannot. So Chase cannot be innocent. So Chase must be criminal.
06.D4 · Raul → CRIMINAL
Row 5 has exactly two innocents, and they must be connected. In row 5, Sam is already criminal and Xavi is already innocent, so the second innocent in that row has to be either Thor or Zane. Among the edge neighbors of Xavi, the number of innocents must be odd, and that group is Raul, Thor, and Zane. If Raul were innocent, then Thor and Zane would still have to fit both clues at once, but they cannot. So Raul at D4 must be criminal.
07.A4 · Olga → CRIMINAL
Raul’s clue fixes the edge-neighbors of Ghani: exactly three people in the shared group A1 Austin, B1 Chase, C1 Donna, A2 Flora, and A3 Julie are innocent. Since Donna is already innocent there, that requirement is tightly using that group. Now test Olga as innocent while also keeping Xavi’s rule that every column has at least three criminals. With Olga set to innocent, the remaining unknown people involved here would have to satisfy both that column requirement and the fixed innocent count around Ghani, and those requirements conflict. So Olga must be criminal.
08.B4 · Petra → CRIMINAL
Quita’s clue says row 3 is the only row with exactly 3 criminals. Row 4 already has 3 known criminals, and Petra is the only person in that row not yet identified. If Petra were innocent, then row 4 would remain at exactly 3 criminals, which the clue does not allow for any row other than row 3. So Petra must be criminal.
09.D3 · Martin → CRIMINAL
Row 3 must have exactly 3 criminals, and the only people to the left of Lucy, Julie and Katie, must contain exactly 1 innocent. So among Julie and Katie, one is innocent and the other is criminal. If Martin were innocent, then row 3 would already have Lucy as its only known criminal, with Julie and Katie contributing just one more criminal between them. That would leave row 3 short of the required 3 criminals. So Martin must be criminal.
10.B3 · Katie → INNOCENT
Row 5 has exactly two innocents, and they have to be connected. With Sam already a criminal and Xavi already innocent, the only connected innocent pair in row 5 is Thor with Xavi or Xavi with Zane, so among Thor, Xavi, and Zane there is exactly one criminal. Quita’s neighbors must contain an odd number of criminals. Among those neighbors, Lucy, Martin, Petra, and Raul are already four known criminals, and Thor, Xavi, and Zane contribute exactly one more criminal, bringing that total to five, which is already odd. If Katie were also a criminal, Quita’s neighboring criminals would become six, which would break Martin’s clue. So Katie must be innocent.
11.A3 · Julie → CRIMINAL
Quita’s clue says row 3 is the only row with exactly 3 criminals. In row 3, Lucy and Martin are already criminals and Katie is innocent, so Julie is the only person in that row who could supply the third criminal. If Julie were innocent, then row 3 would not have exactly 3 criminals, which clashes with Quita’s clue. So Julie must be criminal.
12.A1 · Austin → INNOCENT, A2 · Flora → INNOCENT
Raul's clue says exactly 3 of Ghani's neighbors who are on edge cells are innocent. That shared group is Austin, Chase, Donna, Flora, and Julie. In that group, Donna is already the only known innocent, while Chase and Julie are criminals, so the group still needs 2 more innocents. The only unknown people left in that group are Austin and Flora, so Austin and Flora must be innocent.
13.D1 · Eve → CRIMINAL
Donna’s clue says there are exactly 8 criminals on the edge, and 6 edge criminals are already known: Chase, Julie, Martin, Olga, Raul, and Sam. That means among the four unknown edge people, Eve, Ivan, Thor, and Zane, exactly 2 must be criminals and therefore exactly 2 must be innocents. Quita’s clue makes row 3 the only row with exactly 3 criminals. Row 3 already has exactly 3 criminals, so row 1 cannot also have 3 criminals. In row 1, Austin and Donna are innocent and Chase is criminal, so if Eve were innocent, that would not help place the 2 edge innocents among Ivan, Thor, and Zane as required; the 2 edge innocents must come from Ivan, Thor, and Zane instead. So Eve must be criminal.
14.D2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Donna’s clue says Sam is one of exactly 8 criminals on the edge. There are already 7 known criminals on edge cells, so among the three unknown edge people, D2 Ivan, B5 Thor, and D5 Zane, exactly one is still a criminal. Hilda’s clue says both innocents in row 5 are connected. In row 5, Sam is already criminal and Xavi is already innocent, so the second innocent in that row has to be next to Xavi. That means the one criminal in row 5 must be either B5 Thor or D5 Zane. So the single remaining edge criminal comes from Thor or Zane, not Ivan. That makes Ivan innocent.
15.B2 · Ghani → CRIMINAL
Julie’s clue says exactly one criminal in row 1 has a criminal directly below them. In row 1, the only criminals are Chase and Eve. If Ghani were innocent, then Chase would not have a criminal directly below him, while Eve already does. That conflicts with the clue’s requirement about which row 1 criminals have a criminal directly below them. So Ghani must be criminal.
16.B5 · Thor → INNOCENT
Lucy says there are exactly 2 innocents below Chase. Below Chase, there is already 1 known innocent, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Thor. That means the group below Chase still needs exactly 1 more innocent, so Thor has to be that innocent. So Thor must be innocent.
17.D5 · Zane → CRIMINAL
Hilda’s clue says the two innocents in row 5 must be connected. In row 5, Sam is criminal, Thor is innocent, Xavi is innocent, and Zane is the only unknown there. If Zane were innocent, row 5 would not fit that clue’s requirement about the innocents in that row. So Zane cannot be innocent. So Zane must be criminal.