Clues by Sam Jul 14, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨⚕️
doctor
B1
👨💼
clerk
C1
👨⚕️
doctor
D1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A2
👩💼
clerk
B2
👷♂️
builder
C2
👮♂️
cop
D2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A3
👩💻
coder
B3
👨💻
coder
C3
👩🌾
farmer
D3
👩🌾
farmer
A4
👨💻
coder
B4
👩🎤
singer
C4
👩🌾
farmer
D4
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A5
👮♀️
cop
B5
👩🎤
singer
C5
👷♀️
builder
D5
👩🌾
farmer
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 — 8 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jul 14, 2026 — a Medium solved in 18 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Medium and resolves with 8 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Bobby (B1), David (D1), Katie (A3), Logan (B3), Nancy (D3), Rose (C4), Vicky (A5) and Wanda (B5); the remaining 12 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A3 · Katie → CRIMINAL
Mary’s clue says Logan has exactly 2 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is to the left of Nancy. Among Logan’s neighbors who are to the left of Nancy, the only people are Katie and Mary. Mary is already innocent, so that group still needs 1 criminal and Katie is the only unknown person left there. So Katie must be criminal.
02.C5 · Xia → INNOCENT
Katie’s clue says there are exactly two innocents to the right of Vicky, and those two innocents must be connected. The people to the right of Vicky are Wanda, Xia, and Zara. If Xia were criminal, then Wanda and Zara would have to be the two innocents required by the clue. But then those two would have to satisfy the clue’s connected condition, and that does not work here. So Xia must be innocent.
03.A1 · Aaron → INNOCENT, A2 · Emma → INNOCENT
Xia’s clue says that both criminals in column A are neighbors of Pam. In column A, the people who are not neighbors of Pam are Aaron and Emma. That means Aaron and Emma cannot be the criminals from column A. So Aaron and Emma must be innocent.
04.A4 · Oscar → INNOCENT
Emma's clue says that the only criminal in row 4 is Mary's neighbor. In row 4, Oscar is the one person who is not in Mary's neighbor group, while Pam, Rose, and Tom are. So any criminal in row 4 would have to be one of those neighbors, not Oscar. That makes Oscar innocent.
05.A5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Xia’s clue says the two criminals in column A are both neighbors of Pam. In column A, the people who are not Pam’s neighbors, Aaron and Emma, are already innocent, so any criminal in column A has to be among Katie, Oscar, and Vicky. Among those three, Katie is already a criminal and Oscar is already innocent. Column A still needs one more criminal, and the only unknown person left in that group is Vicky. So Vicky must be criminal.
06.B2 · Floyd → INNOCENT
Vicky’s clue says Floyd is one of the exactly 2 innocents below Bobby. That directly identifies Floyd as innocent. So Floyd must be innocent.
07.B1 · Bobby → CRIMINAL
If Bobby were innocent, then the people below him would be Floyd, Logan, Pam, and Wanda, and Vicky’s clue says exactly 2 of those 4 are innocent. Floyd is already one of those innocents, so among Logan, Pam, and Wanda there can be only 1 more innocent. Aaron’s clue says column B has more criminals than any other column, and column A already has 2 criminals. So column B must have at least 3 criminals. With Bobby assumed innocent and Floyd already innocent, the only way for column B to reach 3 criminals is for Logan, Pam, and Wanda all to be criminals. But then below Bobby there would be Floyd as the only innocent, not 2 innocents. So Bobby cannot be innocent. That makes Bobby criminal.
08.D1 · David → CRIMINAL
Bobby’s clue says exactly two of Mary’s neighbors in column D are innocent, and those people are only Isaac, Nancy, and Tom. Floyd’s clue says the four people above Zara, David, Isaac, Nancy, and Tom, must split evenly into two criminals and two innocents. If David were innocent, then Isaac, Nancy, and Tom would have to satisfy both clues at once, but that cannot be done. So David cannot be innocent. That makes David criminal.
09.D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
Aaron’s clue says column B must have more criminals than every other column. Vicky’s clue fixes Floyd as one of exactly two innocents below Bobby, so among B3 Logan, B4 Pam, and B5 Wanda there is only one more innocent. Bobby’s clue also requires exactly two innocents among D2 Isaac, D3 Nancy, and D4 Tom. If Zara were a criminal, then Chad, Gary, Isaac, Logan, Nancy, Pam, Rose, Tom, and Wanda would have to satisfy all three of those restrictions at the same time, and they cannot. So Zara cannot be a criminal. That makes Zara innocent.
10.B5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Katie’s clue says there are exactly two innocents to the right of Vicky, and those two innocents are connected. To the right of Vicky are Wanda, Xia, and Zara, with Xia and Zara already innocent. If Wanda were also innocent, then there would be three innocents there, which conflicts with the clue saying both innocents to the right of Vicky are connected. So Wanda must be criminal.
11.D2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
David's clue says exactly one cop has an innocent directly to the right. The two cops are Gary at C2 and Vicky at A5. Vicky's right-hand neighbor is Wanda, and Wanda is criminal, so Vicky cannot be that one cop. That leaves only Gary, whose right-hand neighbor is Isaac, so Isaac has to be innocent. So Isaac must be innocent.
12.C1 · Chad → INNOCENT
Isaac's clue says rows 1 and 5 must contain the same number of criminals. Row 5 already has 2 criminals, and row 1 also already has 2 known criminals. If Chad were a criminal, row 1 would rise to 3 criminals while row 5 would stay at 2, which breaks the clue. So Chad must be innocent.
13.B4 · Pam → INNOCENT
Chad’s clue says the singers contain an odd number of criminals. Among the singers, Wanda is already a known criminal, and Pam is the only singer whose identity is not yet known. If Pam were also a criminal, that would conflict with the clue’s requirement for the singers in this step. So Pam must be innocent.
14.B3 · Logan → CRIMINAL
Aaron’s clue says column B has more criminals than any other column. Column B already has 2 known criminals, and Logan is the only unknown person left in that column. Column A already has 2 criminals, so for column B to have more criminals than every other column, column B cannot stay at 2. That means Logan at B3 must be criminal.
15.D3 · Nancy → CRIMINAL
Pam's clue says there is exactly one innocent to the right of Logan. To the right of Logan, there is already one known innocent there: Mary. The only person there whose identity is still unknown is Nancy, so the one innocent in that group is already accounted for and Nancy cannot be innocent. So Nancy must be criminal.
16.D4 · Tom → INNOCENT
Aaron’s clue says column B has more criminals than any other column. Column B is fully known and has 3 criminals. Column D is one of the other columns, and it already has 2 known criminals, so it cannot be allowed to reach 3 as well. That makes Tom innocent.
17.C4 · Rose → CRIMINAL
Emma’s clue says that the only criminal in row 4 is one of Mary’s neighbors. In row 4, the people who are also Mary’s neighbors are Pam, Rose, and Tom, and Pam and Tom are already innocent. Row 4 still needs its one criminal, and Rose is the only unknown person left in that shared group. So Rose must be criminal.
18.C2 · Gary → INNOCENT
Mary says that among Logan's two criminal neighbors, exactly one is to the left of Nancy. In Logan's neighbors, the people to the left of Nancy are Katie and Mary, and among them only Katie is a criminal, so that one required criminal is already accounted for. That means the other criminal neighbor of Logan must come from the neighbors who are not to the left of Nancy. In that remaining group, Rose is already a known criminal, so the criminal spot there is already filled. Gary therefore cannot be a criminal. So Gary must be innocent.