Clues by Sam Jul 24, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained

01.C5 · Xia → CRIMINAL

Mark’s clue says there are exactly two innocents below Cheryl, and those two innocents are connected. Mark is already one of those innocents. That means the other innocent below Cheryl has to be orthogonally next to Mark, so it can only be Gabe or Tina. Xia is not next to Mark in that line, so Xia cannot be the second innocent. So Xia must be criminal.

02.C1 · Cheryl → INNOCENT

Below Cheryl are Gabe, Mark, Tina, and Xia. Mark’s clue says there are exactly two innocents in that group and those two must be connected, while Xia’s clue says every column must have at least 3 innocents. If Cheryl were criminal, then column C would have to get its innocents from Cheryl’s column while still matching Mark’s requirement about the people below Cheryl. But with Mark already innocent and Xia already criminal, making Cheryl criminal makes those requirements clash for column C. So Cheryl must be innocent.

03.D5 · Zoe → INNOCENT

Xia’s clue says every column has at least 3 innocents, and Cheryl’s clue says the two criminals above Zoe must be connected. The people above Zoe are David, Ike, Olof, and Uma, so Cheryl’s clue fixes that group as having exactly two criminals among those four, in one connected pair. If Zoe were a criminal, then these same people would have to satisfy both of those clues at the same time, but they cannot. So Zoe cannot be a criminal. That makes Zoe innocent.

04.A3 · John → INNOCENT

Xia says every column has at least 3 innocents, and Zoe says all innocents in column A must form one connected block. Column A is Aaron, Emily, John, Rose, and Vera. If John were criminal, the remaining people would have to make column A reach at least 3 innocents while also keeping all of column A's innocents in one connected block, and that cannot be done. So John cannot be criminal. So John must be innocent.

05.A2 · Emily → INNOCENT, A4 · Rose → INNOCENT

06.A5 · Vera → INNOCENT, A1 · Aaron → INNOCENT

07.D4 · Uma → INNOCENT

Aaron’s clue says that Uma is one of Mark’s five innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Uma as innocent. So Uma must be innocent.

08.D2 · Ike → CRIMINAL

Cheryl’s clue says that the two criminals above Zoe are connected. Above Zoe are David, Ike, Olof, and Uma, and Uma is already innocent, so the two criminals have to come from David, Ike, and Olof. If Ike were innocent, then the two criminals above Zoe would have to be David and Olof. But those would not satisfy Cheryl’s requirement that both criminals above Zoe are connected. So Ike must be criminal.

09.B1 · Bonnie → INNOCENT, B5 · Wally → INNOCENT

Rose’s clue says column B has more innocents than column C. Right now column C already has 2 known innocents, while column B has none. If Bonnie and Wally were both criminals, then only Freya, Laura, and Scott in column B could be innocents, so those same remaining people would also have to fit Mark’s clue about the two innocents below Cheryl being connected. That combination cannot be made to satisfy all of those facts at once, so Bonnie and Wally cannot both have the opposite identity. So Bonnie and Wally must be innocent.

10.B4 · Scott → INNOCENT

Rose’s clue says column B has more innocents than column C. Right now both columns already have 2 known innocents, so the remaining unknown people in those columns have to break that tie in column B’s favor. If Scott were criminal, then Freya, Laura, Gabe, and Tina would have to make all three clues true at once: Mark’s clue about the innocents below Cheryl, Rose’s clue about column B having more innocents than column C, and Wally’s clue that exactly 2 mechs have an innocent directly above them. Those same four people cannot satisfy all of that with Scott criminal. So Scott at B4 must be innocent.

11.C2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL

Scott’s clue says Gabe is one of Laura’s 2 criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Gabe as one of the criminals in Laura’s neighboring group. So Gabe must be criminal.

12.C4 · Tina → INNOCENT

Mark’s clue says there are exactly two innocents below Cheryl, and those two must be connected. Below Cheryl are Gabe, Mark, Tina, and Xia. Gabe and Xia are already criminals, and Mark is already innocent, so if Tina were also a criminal, there would be only one innocent below Cheryl instead of the required two. That makes Tina innocent.

13.B2 · Freya → CRIMINAL

Scott says Gabe is one of Laura's 2 criminal neighbors. Among Laura's neighbors, Gabe is already the only known criminal, and Emily, John, Mark, Rose, Scott, and Tina are all innocent. That leaves Freya as the only remaining neighbor who can supply Laura's second criminal neighbor, so Freya at B2 must be criminal.

14.B3 · Laura → INNOCENT

Rose’s clue says column B has more innocents than column C. Right now column C already has 3 innocents, and column B also currently has 3 known innocents, with Laura the only unknown person in column B. If Laura were criminal, column B would stay at 3 innocents, so it would not have more innocents than column C. So Laura must be innocent.

15.D1 · David → CRIMINAL

Emily’s clue says exactly one person in row 1 has exactly 2 innocent neighbors. Aaron already has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, while Bonnie has 3 and David has 1, so Aaron is currently the only person meeting that count. Cheryl has 1 known innocent neighbor, and her only unknown neighbor is David. If David were innocent, Cheryl would also have exactly 2 innocent neighbors, which would make two people in row 1 fit the clue instead of one. So David must be criminal.

16.D3 · Olof → INNOCENT

Xia’s clue says every column has at least 3 innocents, so any column can have at most 2 criminals. Column D already has 2 known criminals there. Olof is the only person in column D whose status was not yet fixed, so he cannot also be a criminal. So Olof must be innocent.