Clues by Sam Jul 08, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
😬
cat
B1
👨💻
coder
C1
👩🔧
mech
D1
👩💻
coder
A2
👩🍳
cook
B2
👨🎤
singer
C2
👨🔧
mech
D2
👨💻
coder
A3
👮♀️
cop
B3
👩🎤
singer
C3
👩🔧
mech
D3
😬
dog
A4
😬
snail
B4
👩✈️
pilot
C4
👩🏫
teacher
D4
👨🍳
cook
A5
👨🏫
teacher
B5
👨✈️
pilot
C5
👷♂️
builder
D5
👮♀️
cop
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 08, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 13 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Alex (A1), Chloe (C1), Debra (D1), Floyd (B2), Gary (C2), Isaac (D2), Joyce (A3), Nicole (C3), Ollie (D3), Penny (A4), Quita (B4), Umar (A5) and Vince (B5); the remaining 7 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.B4 · Quita → CRIMINAL, B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Will’s clue says there are no innocents among the people who are both below Brian and neighbors of Will. That shared group is exactly Quita and Vince, and there are already 0 known innocents in it. So Quita and Vince cannot be innocent. Therefore Quita and Vince must be criminal.
02.B2 · Floyd → CRIMINAL
Quita’s clue says Floyd is one of Brian’s 4 criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Floyd as a criminal. So Floyd must be criminal.
03.C1 · Chloe → CRIMINAL
Floyd’s clue says column C has exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminals are Katie’s neighbors. That means exactly 1 criminal in column C is not a neighbor of Katie. The people in column C who are not neighbors of Katie are Chloe at C1 and Will at C5. Will is already innocent, so the one criminal required in that non-neighbor group has to be Chloe. So Chloe must be criminal.
04.D4 · Tom → INNOCENT
Chloe’s clue says the two criminals in row 4 are connected. Quita is already a known criminal in row 4, so the other criminal in that row has to be next to Quita in the row. That means the second criminal can only be Penny at A4 or Samira at C4, and Tom at D4 is not next to Quita in that line. So Tom must be innocent.
05.B3 · Katie → INNOCENT
Tom’s clue says the people strictly between Brian and Vince contain exactly one innocent. In that group, there are currently no known innocents, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Katie. So the one innocent required between Brian and Vince has to be Katie. That makes Katie innocent.
06.B1 · Brian → INNOCENT
Katie’s clue says exactly one corner person has a criminal directly to the right. That one case is already provided by Umar at A5. The only other direct-right neighbor that could still change this clue is Brian at B1, for Alex’s corner position. If Brian were criminal, there would be more than one such corner case, which breaks the clue. So Brian must be innocent.
07.A3 · Joyce → CRIMINAL
Brian’s clue says the people to the left of Nicole contain exactly one innocent. That group already has one known innocent, Katie. The only other person there whose identity was not yet known is Joyce, so Joyce cannot also be innocent. So Joyce must be criminal.
08.C3 · Nicole → CRIMINAL
Floyd’s clue says his neighbors contain an odd number of criminals. He already has 2 known criminal neighbors, so the unknown neighbors around Floyd must add an odd number of further criminals. Quita’s clue says Brian has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and among Brian’s neighbors the only unknowns are Alex, Eve, and Gary. Since Chloe and Floyd are already criminal there, Alex, Eve, and Gary must contain exactly 2 more criminals. Those same three people, Alex, Eve, and Gary, are also neighbors of Floyd, so they contribute 2 criminals to Floyd’s neighbor count, which is even. To keep Floyd’s total odd, the only other unknown neighbor there, Nicole, must be criminal. So Nicole must be criminal.
09.D3 · Ollie → CRIMINAL
Row 3 already has Joyce and Nicole as criminals, while row 4 currently has only Quita as a known criminal. Nicole’s clue says row 3 has more criminals than row 4. If Ollie were innocent, then row 3 would stay at 2 criminals, so row 4 could not reach 2 criminals. But Chloe’s clue says both criminals in row 4 are connected, which means row 4 must have exactly 2 criminals there. The only way to make row 4 reach 2 criminals would clash with keeping row 3 higher under these same facts. So Ollie must be criminal.
10.A1 · Alex → CRIMINAL, D1 · Debra → CRIMINAL
Joyce’s clue says row 1 and row 3 have the same number of criminals. Row 3 already has 3 criminals, while row 1 currently has only 1 known criminal, Chloe. The only unknown people left in row 1 are Alex and Debra, so if Alex and Debra were both innocent, row 1 would stay at just 1 criminal and could not match row 3’s 3. So Alex and Debra must be criminal.
11.A5 · Umar → CRIMINAL
Row 4 has Quita as a known criminal and Tom as a known innocent, and Chloe’s clue says the two criminals in row 4 must be connected. That means the second criminal in row 4 has to be either Penny or Samira. Debra’s clue says Vince’s neighbors contain an odd number of criminals. Among those neighbors, Quita is already one known criminal and Will is innocent, while the unknown neighbors are Penny, Samira, and Umar. If Umar were innocent, then Penny and Samira would be the only unknown neighbors left to make Vince’s criminal-neighbor total odd, but those same two people also have to fit the row 4 clue at the same time, and that combination does not work. So Umar at A5 must be criminal.
12.D2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Row 1 has 1 innocent, so Umar’s clue means row 2 must also have exactly 1 innocent. If Isaac were innocent, then row 2’s one innocent would already be used by Isaac, so Eve and Gary would both have to be criminals. But Brian’s neighbors contain exactly 4 criminals, and among those neighbors we already have Alex, Chloe, and Floyd as criminals. If Eve and Gary were both criminals too, Brian’s neighbors would contain 5 criminals, which breaks Quita’s clue. So Isaac cannot be innocent. That makes Isaac criminal.
13.D5 · Xia → INNOCENT
Isaac’s clue says column A is the only column with exactly 4 criminals. In column D, there are already 3 known criminals, and Xia is the only person there not yet identified. If Xia were a criminal, then column D would also have exactly 4 criminals, which would contradict the clue that only column A has that count. So Xia must be innocent.
14.C4 · Samira → INNOCENT
Xia’s clue says exactly one corner person has no criminal neighbors. Alex, Debra, and Umar already each have known criminal neighbors, while Xia currently has none. If Samira were criminal, then Xia would have a criminal neighbor. But then no corner would have zero criminal neighbors, because Alex, Debra, and Umar already do not qualify. So Samira at C4 must be innocent.
15.A4 · Penny → CRIMINAL
Chloe’s clue says that the two criminals in row 4 must be connected. In row 4, Quita is already a criminal, Samira and Tom are innocents, and Penny is the only person there not yet identified. If Penny were innocent, then row 4 would have only one criminal, Quita, which cannot fit a clue about both criminals in that row being connected. So Penny cannot be innocent. So Penny must be criminal.
16.C2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
Column C must contain exactly 3 criminals. In that column, the people who are neighbors of Katie are Gary, Nicole, and Samira, and exactly 2 of the column C criminals must be in that neighbor group. Nicole is already one of those criminals, while Samira is innocent, so that neighbor group still needs 1 more criminal. The only unknown person left in that group is Gary. So Gary must be criminal.
17.A2 · Eve → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says Floyd is one of Brian’s exactly 4 criminal neighbors. Brian’s neighbors are Alex, Chloe, Eve, Floyd, and Gary, and among them Alex, Chloe, Floyd, and Gary are already criminals. If Eve were also a criminal, Brian would have 5 criminal neighbors, which clashes with the clue saying there are exactly 4. So Eve must be innocent.