Clues by Sam Jul 17, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨🔧
mech
B1
👨🏫
teacher
C1
👩💻
coder
D1
👩🍳
cook
A2
👨🏫
teacher
B2
👨🏫
teacher
C2
👨🔧
mech
D2
👩🎤
singer
A3
👨🎨
painter
B3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C3
👮♂️
cop
D3
👮♀️
cop
A4
👨🎤
singer
B4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C4
👩💻
coder
D4
💂♀️
guard
A5
👩🍳
cook
B5
💂♂️
guard
C5
👩🎨
painter
D5
👨🍳
cook
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 17, 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 Austin (A1), Gabe (B2), John (C2), Katie (D2), Luigi (A3), Mary (B3), Oscar (C3), Pam (D3), Ryan (A4), Susan (B4), Tina (C4), Xia (C5) and Zach (D5); the remaining 7 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C1 · Donna → INNOCENT
Row 1 has exactly 3 innocents, and exactly 1 of those innocents is a neighbor of Frank. That means the other 2 innocents in row 1 must be people who are not neighbors of Frank. In row 1, the people who are not neighbors of Frank are Donna and Evie. Evie is already known to be innocent, so that non-neighbor group still needs 1 more innocent, and Donna is the only person who can fill it. So Donna must be innocent.
02.B5 · Wally → INNOCENT, B1 · Carl → INNOCENT
Donna’s clue says that among the edge cells, exactly 2 innocents are in column B. The only edge-cell people in column B are Carl at B1 and Wally at B5, and there are no known innocents there yet. So those 2 needed innocents in that group have to be Carl and Wally. That makes Wally and Carl innocent.
03.A1 · Austin → CRIMINAL
Row 1 has exactly 3 innocents in total, and those 3 innocents are already Carl, Donna, and Evie. Evie's clue also says exactly 1 of those row 1 innocents is Frank's neighbor. Among the row 1 people who are Frank's neighbors, Carl is already that 1 known innocent, and the only other such person is Austin. So Austin cannot be innocent. That makes Austin criminal.
04.A2 · Frank → INNOCENT
Austin’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents below him. It also says exactly 1 of those innocents is Susan’s neighbor, so the other 1 innocent below Austin must be someone below Austin who is not Susan’s neighbor. Among the people below Austin, the ones who are not Susan’s neighbors are just Frank at A2, and there are no known innocents there yet. That means the one innocent required in that non-neighbor group has to be Frank. So Frank must be innocent.
05.D3 · Pam → CRIMINAL
Donna says there are exactly 7 innocents on the edge, and 5 edge people are already known innocent: Carl, Donna, Evie, Frank, and Wally. That means exactly 2 more edge people can be innocent. The 2 edge innocents in column B are already Carl and Wally, so the 2 remaining edge innocents have to come from the edge people not in column B: Katie, Luigi, Ryan, Uma, Vicky, Xia, and Zach. Pam is an edge person but not in that group, so she cannot be one of those 2 innocents. So Pam must be criminal.
06.C2 · John → CRIMINAL
Pam’s clue directly says that John is one of her 4 criminal neighbors. Since John is explicitly included among those criminal neighbors, John at C2 must be criminal.
07.C3 · Oscar → CRIMINAL
Below Donna, the criminals are required to be connected, and John is already one of those criminals. Pam also says John is one of her four criminal neighbors, so among Pam's neighbors there is exactly one innocent person. That one innocent neighbor cannot be Oscar, because the innocent spot has to come from Katie, Tina, or Uma instead. So Oscar cannot be innocent. So Oscar must be criminal.
08.C5 · Xia → CRIMINAL
On the edge, there are exactly 7 innocents in total. Five edge innocents are already known: Carl, Donna, Evie, Frank, and Wally, so only 2 more edge innocents are left to place. Donna's clue also says exactly 2 of those edge innocents are in column B, and Carl and Wally already fill those 2 spots. That means the remaining 2 edge innocents must come from the edge people not in column B: Katie, Luigi, Ryan, Uma, Vicky, and Zach. Xia is an edge person but is not in that allowed group, so Xia cannot be one of the 2 remaining edge innocents. So Xia must be criminal.
09.C4 · Tina → CRIMINAL
Carl’s clue says that all criminals below Donna must be connected as one orthogonally linked group. The people below Donna are John at C2, Oscar at C3, Tina at C4, and Xia at C5, and John, Oscar, and Xia are already criminals. If Tina were innocent, then the criminals below Donna would be John, Oscar, and Xia with a gap at C4, so they would not form one connected block. That conflicts with Carl’s clue. So Tina must be criminal.
10.A3 · Luigi → CRIMINAL
Austin’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents below him. Frank is already one of them, so among Luigi, Ryan, and Vicky there is exactly 1 innocent. That same clue also says only 1 of the 2 innocents below Austin is Susan’s neighbor. Luigi, Ryan, and Vicky are all Susan’s neighbors, so the one innocent among those three has to be one of Ryan or Vicky, not Luigi. So Luigi must be criminal.
11.D5 · Zach → CRIMINAL
Austin’s clue fixes the people below him at exactly two innocents total, and exactly one of those innocents is Susan’s neighbor. Among the people below Austin, Frank is already the one known innocent, so A4 Ryan and A5 Vicky still have to fit that two-innocent requirement and the “exactly one Susan-neighbor” requirement. Pam’s clue also says her neighbors contain exactly four criminals, with John, Oscar, and Tina already accounting for three of them, so D2 Katie and D4 Uma must fit that count as well. Oscar’s clue keeps the innocent totals in columns A and D equal, and those columns already each have one known innocent. If Zach were innocent, then D2 Katie, A4 Ryan, D4 Uma, and A5 Vicky would have to satisfy all of those requirements at the same time, and they cannot. So Zach at D5 must be criminal.
12.A5 · Vicky → INNOCENT
Luigi’s clue says row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents. In row 5, Wally is already innocent, Xia and Zach are already criminals, and Vicky is the only person there not yet identified. If Vicky were criminal, then row 5 would have only 1 innocent instead of exactly 2, which conflicts with Luigi’s clue about row 5. So Vicky at A5 must be innocent.
13.A4 · Ryan → CRIMINAL
Below Austin there are exactly two innocents in total, and those two are already Frank and Vicky. Austin’s clue also says exactly one of the innocents below him is Susan’s neighbor. Among the people below Austin who are Susan’s neighbors, Vicky is already that one known innocent. Ryan is the only unknown left in that shared group, so Ryan cannot be innocent. So Ryan must be criminal.
14.B2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL, B3 · Mary → CRIMINAL
Ryan’s clue says Frank’s neighbors and Pam’s neighbors must contain the same number of criminals. Right now Frank’s neighbors have 2 known criminals, while Pam’s neighbors already have 3 known criminals. If Gabe and Mary were both innocent, then the only other people left to affect these clues would be Katie and Uma. That would leave Frank’s side without any way to catch up to Pam’s side, so the two groups could not have equal numbers of criminals. So Gabe and Mary cannot both be innocent. Gabe and Mary must be criminal.
15.B4 · Susan → CRIMINAL
Frank says he and Wally have the same number of criminal neighbors. Frank’s neighbors are already fixed at 4 criminals, while Wally’s neighbors currently have only 3 known criminals, and the only unknown among Wally’s neighbors is Susan. If Susan were innocent, Wally would stay at 3 criminal neighbors, which would not match Frank’s 4. So Susan must be criminal.
16.D2 · Katie → CRIMINAL
Luigi’s clue says row 5 is the only row with exactly 2 innocents. Row 2 currently has 1 known innocent, and Katie is the only person in that row whose identity is not yet known. If Katie were innocent, then row 2 would also have exactly 2 innocents, which the clue does not allow. So Katie must be criminal.
17.D4 · Uma → INNOCENT
Donna’s clue says there are exactly 7 innocents on the edge, and exactly 2 of those edge innocents are in column B. Those 2 are already Carl and Wally, so the edge people not in column B must contain exactly 5 innocents. Among those edge people not in column B, Donna, Evie, Frank, and Vicky are already known innocents, so that group still needs 1 more innocent. The only unknown person left in that group is Uma, so Uma must be innocent.