Clues by Sam Jul 28, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👩⚕️
doctor
B1
👩⚕️
doctor
C1
👨🌾
farmer
D1
👩🌾
farmer
A2
👨🍳
cook
B2
👩🎨
painter
C2
💂♂️
guard
D2
👨🔧
mech
A3
👨🍳
cook
B3
👨🎨
painter
C3
👩🔧
mech
D3
👨🔧
mech
A4
👩🍳
cook
B4
👷♀️
builder
C4
👷♂️
builder
D4
💂♀️
guard
A5
👨💻
coder
B5
👩💻
coder
C5
👩💻
coder
D5
💂♂️
guard
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 — 11 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Jul 28, 2026 — a Medium solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Medium and resolves with 11 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Amy (A1), Hal (C2), Keith (A3), Martin (B3), Nancy (C3), Oscar (D3), Penny (A4), Quita (B4), Shaun (C4), Umar (A5) and Xia (C5); the remaining 9 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C4 · Shaun → CRIMINAL
Tina’s clue leaves no innocents in the group that is both to the right of Quita and a neighbor of Tina. That shared group is just Shaun, and it already has the full allowed count of 0 innocents. So Shaun cannot be innocent. That makes Shaun criminal.
02.C5 · Xia → CRIMINAL
Shaun's clue says Xia is one of the exactly 2 criminals in row 5. Since Xia is explicitly named as one of those criminals, no further deduction is needed. So Xia must be criminal.
03.A4 · Penny → CRIMINAL
Umar’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals. Of those two, exactly 1 is a neighbor of Penny, and the people in Umar’s neighborhood who are neighbors of Penny are Quita and Wanda. So the other criminal in Umar’s neighborhood must be someone there who is not a neighbor of Penny. In that part of Umar’s neighborhood, the only person available is Penny, so Penny must be criminal.
04.B4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Penny’s clue says row 4 is the only row with exactly one innocent. In row 4, Tina is already the one known innocent, and Quita is the only unknown person left in that row. If Quita were innocent too, row 4 would no longer have exactly one innocent, so Penny’s clue would be broken. So Quita must be criminal.
05.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Umar’s neighbors contain exactly two criminals in total. The clue also says exactly one of those criminals is also a neighbor of Penny, and among the people who are both Umar’s neighbors and Penny’s neighbors, Quita is already a known criminal. That means the other person in that shared group, Wanda, cannot also be a criminal. So Wanda must be innocent.
06.B2 · Frida → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says there are exactly two innocents above Wanda, and those two innocents must be connected. The people above Wanda are Bunty, Frida, Martin, and Quita, and Quita is already a criminal. If Frida were a criminal, then only Bunty and Martin could be the two innocents above Wanda. But that does not fit the clue’s requirement for the two innocents above Wanda. So Frida must be innocent.
07.C2 · Hal → CRIMINAL
Frida’s clue says directly that Hal is a criminal. So Hal must be criminal.
08.D3 · Oscar → CRIMINAL
Hal’s clue says exactly 2 mechs have a criminal directly below them. There must be 1 more such case beyond the ones already accounted for, and the only remaining direct-below relationship that can still satisfy this clue is at D3 with Oscar. So Oscar has to be the needed criminal case. That makes Oscar criminal.
09.D2 · Igor → INNOCENT
Oscar’s clue says there are exactly 2 innocents to the right of Erwin. Among those people, there is already 1 known innocent. The only person there whose status is still unknown is Igor, so the second innocent has to be Igor. So Igor must be innocent.
10.A2 · Erwin → INNOCENT
Igor says only one row has exactly 2 criminals, and Shaun says row 5 is a row with exactly 2 criminals because Xia is one of the 2 criminals there. Row 5 contains Umar, Wanda, Xia, and Zed, with Wanda already innocent and Xia already criminal, so that clue fixes row 5 as the special 2-criminal row. If Erwin were criminal, the remaining people named here would have to satisfy both of those row-count facts at the same time, but they cannot. So Erwin cannot be criminal. That makes Erwin innocent.
11.A5 · Umar → CRIMINAL
Erwin’s clue says the number of criminal builders and criminal coders is the same. The builders already have 2 criminals, while the coders currently have only 1 criminal. If Umar were innocent, the coders would stay at 1 criminal, which would not match the builders’ 2. So Umar must be criminal.
12.D5 · Zed → INNOCENT
Shaun's clue says that Xia is one of exactly 2 criminals in row 5. In row 5, Umar is already criminal and Xia is already criminal, while Wanda is innocent and Zed is the only person there not yet identified. If Zed were criminal too, row 5 would have 3 criminals, which conflicts with the clue that there are exactly 2. So Zed must be innocent.
13.A1 · Amy → CRIMINAL
Zed's clue says the people above Keith contain exactly one innocent. Among those people, Erwin is already that one known innocent, and the only other person there is Amy. Since the single innocent in that group is already accounted for, Amy cannot be innocent. So Amy must be criminal.
14.C3 · Nancy → CRIMINAL, A3 · Keith → CRIMINAL, B3 · Martin → CRIMINAL
Amy’s clue says Quita has an odd number of innocent neighbors. Around Quita, Wanda is the only known innocent neighbor so far, and the only neighbors not yet identified are Keith, Martin, and Nancy. If Nancy, Keith, and Martin were all innocent, then Quita’s neighbors would contain 4 innocents in total: Wanda plus those three. That is even, which conflicts with Amy’s clue. So Nancy, Keith, and Martin cannot be innocent. Nancy, Keith, and Martin must be criminal.
15.B1 · Bunty → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says there are exactly two innocents above Wanda, and those two innocents must be connected. Above Wanda are Bunty, Frida, Martin, and Quita, with Frida already innocent and Martin and Quita already criminal. If Bunty were criminal, then Frida would be the only innocent above Wanda, which clashes with the clue that says both innocents above Wanda are connected. So Bunty must be innocent.
16.C1 · Chris → INNOCENT, D1 · Donna → INNOCENT
Penny’s clue says row 4 is the only row with exactly one innocent. Row 1 already has one known innocent, Bunty, so it cannot end with exactly one innocent as well. If Chris and Donna were both criminals, then row 1 would stay at exactly one innocent, which clashes with Penny’s clue. So Chris and Donna must both be innocent.