Clues by Sam Jul 11, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👩🎨
painter
B1
👩🎤
singer
C1
👨🌾
farmer
D1
👷♂️
builder
A2
👨💻
coder
B2
👨🍳
cook
C2
👮♀️
cop
D2
👨🎤
singer
A3
👨🎤
singer
B3
👷♂️
builder
C3
👩💻
coder
D3
👨🎤
singer
A4
👮♀️
cop
B4
👩🎨
painter
C4
👩🔧
mech
D4
👩🍳
cook
A5
👨🎤
singer
B5
👨🎤
singer
C5
👨🔧
mech
D5
👩🔧
mech
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 Jul 11, 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 Amy (A1), Bonnie (B1), Carl (C1), Igor (B2), Ian (D2), John (A3), Lena (C3), Pam (A4), Quita (B4), Rose (C4), Shania (D4) and Xavi (C5); the remaining 8 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C3 · Lena → CRIMINAL, C5 · Xavi → CRIMINAL
Eric’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals below Carl, and exactly 2 of those criminals are Rose’s neighbors. Among the people below Carl, the ones who are neighbors of Rose are only Lena and Xavi. Since that neighbor group below Carl still has to supply the full 2 criminals, both of those people have to be criminals. So Lena and Xavi must be criminal.
02.C4 · Rose → CRIMINAL
Lena’s clue says exactly one cook has an innocent directly to the left. Igor is a cook, and Eric is directly to his left and is innocent, so that one qualifying cook is already Igor. Shania is the other cook, and Rose is directly to Shania’s left, so Rose cannot be innocent or Shania would also qualify and the total would become two. So Rose must be criminal.
03.C2 · Hazel → INNOCENT
Below Carl, there are exactly 3 criminals in total. Two of those criminals are specifically Rose’s neighbors, and those two are already Lena and Xavi. That leaves the people below Carl who are not Rose’s neighbors as Hazel and Rose, and that pair already contains one known criminal: Rose. Since the full set below Carl can only contain 3 criminals altogether, Hazel cannot be another criminal. So Hazel must be innocent.
04.B4 · Quita → CRIMINAL, B2 · Igor → CRIMINAL
Hazel’s clue says column B contains exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminals are Kirsty’s neighbors. In column B, the only people who are neighbors of Kirsty are Igor and Quita. Those two neighbor spots are exactly the 2 criminals the clue requires, so both of them have to be criminals. That makes Quita and Igor criminal.
05.A5 · Tom → INNOCENT
Quita says Tom is one of her 3 innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Tom as innocent. So Tom must be innocent.
06.B3 · Kirsty → INNOCENT
Hazel says column B has exactly 3 criminals, and Igor and Quita are already two criminals in that column. That leaves exactly one more criminal among Bonnie, Kirsty, and Will. But Xavi says row 3 has exactly 2 innocents, and Lena is already the criminal in row 3, so Kirsty has to be one of the two innocents there rather than the remaining criminal in column B. So Kirsty must be innocent.
07.A4 · Pam → CRIMINAL
Quita says Tom is one of her 3 innocent neighbors. Among Quita's neighbors, Kirsty and Tom are already known innocents, so there is room for exactly one more innocent, and that extra innocent must be among John, Pam, and Will. That remaining innocent spot is taken from John and Will, not Pam. So Pam at A4 must be criminal.
08.D5 · Zoe → INNOCENT
Among the people above Zoe who are neighbors of Rose, exactly 1 is criminal, and that group is just Madonna and Shania. The larger group of people below David who are neighbors of Rose has exactly 1 criminal in total, and that group is Madonna, Shania, and Zoe. So Madonna and Shania already account for the only criminal allowed in that larger group. That leaves Zoe unable to be criminal. So Zoe must be innocent.
09.C1 · Carl → CRIMINAL
Column B must contain exactly 3 criminals, and the two column B people who are already known to be Kirsty’s neighbors, Igor and Quita, are exactly the 2 criminals in column B who satisfy Hazel’s condition. Zoe’s clue also says column B has more innocents than column C, and right now each of those columns has 1 known innocent. If Carl were innocent, then column C would rise to 2 innocents. That would mean Bonnie and Will would have to make column B satisfy all of the column B requirements at the same time, but they cannot do that. So Carl cannot be innocent. So Carl must be criminal.
10.D2 · Ian → CRIMINAL
Row 3 must contain exactly 2 innocents. Kirsty is already one innocent there, so the two unknown people in that row, John and Madonna, have to account for the remaining row 3 requirement. Carl’s clue says rows 2 and 3 have the same number of criminals. Each row already has 1 known criminal, and Ian is the only unknown in row 2. If Ian were innocent, then John and Madonna would have to satisfy both row 3 clues by themselves, but they cannot do that. So Ian cannot be innocent. So Ian must be criminal.
11.D1 · David → INNOCENT
Above Zoe there are exactly two criminals. Of the people above Zoe, exactly one criminal is a neighbor of Rose, and the only people above Zoe who are Rose’s neighbors are Madonna and Shania. That means the other criminal above Zoe has to come from the people above Zoe who are not Rose’s neighbors, namely David and Ian. Ian is already known to be a criminal, so that uses up that non-neighbor criminal slot. David therefore cannot be a criminal. So David must be innocent.
12.A1 · Amy → CRIMINAL
Kirsty’s clue says the corner cells contain exactly 3 innocents. The corners already have 3 known innocents: David, Tom, and Zoe. Amy is the only corner person not yet identified, so she cannot also be innocent without making 4 innocents in the corners. So Amy must be criminal.
13.D4 · Shania → CRIMINAL
Hazel’s clue says column B has exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminals are Kirsty’s neighbors; those two are already Igor and Quita. Rose’s clue says only one cook has an innocent directly above, and the cooks are Igor and Shania. Amy’s clue also says exactly one mech has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, while Rose, Xavi, and Zoe all still depend on the unknown statuses of Madonna, Shania, and Will. If Shania were innocent, then Bonnie, Madonna, and Will would have to make all three of those clues true at the same time, but they cannot. So Shania cannot be innocent. That makes Shania criminal.
14.D3 · Madonna → INNOCENT
Above Zoe, there are exactly two criminals in total. Among the people above Zoe who are also Rose's neighbors, the only possibilities are Madonna and Shania, and the clue says exactly one of those criminals is Rose's neighbor. Shania is already a known criminal in that shared group, so that one criminal neighbor is already accounted for. That means the other person there, Madonna, cannot also be a criminal. So Madonna must be innocent.
15.A3 · John → CRIMINAL
Xavi’s clue says row 3 contains exactly 2 innocents. In row 3, Kirsty and Madonna are already the 2 known innocents. That means the remaining unknown person in that row cannot also be innocent. So John must be criminal.
16.B1 · Bonnie → CRIMINAL
This clue says exactly one cook has an innocent directly above them. That one case is already Shania at D4. The only other direct-above spot that could still change this clue is Bonnie above Igor, so if Bonnie were innocent then Igor would also count and there would be too many. So Bonnie must be criminal.
17.B5 · Will → INNOCENT
Hazel’s clue says column B has exactly 3 criminals in total, and exactly 2 of those criminals are Kirsty’s neighbors. Those 2 neighboring criminals are already identified as Igor and Quita. So among the people in column B who are not Kirsty’s neighbors, there can be only 1 criminal. That non-neighbor group is Bonnie, Kirsty, and Will, and Bonnie is already that 1 criminal. That leaves Will as innocent.