Clues by Sam Aug 10, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨🎨
painter
B1
👩💼
clerk
C1
👨🎤
singer
D1
👨💼
clerk
A2
👨🌾
farmer
B2
👨🌾
farmer
C2
👨🎤
singer
D2
👨💼
clerk
A3
👨✈️
pilot
B3
👩⚖️
judge
C3
👩⚖️
judge
D3
👩⚖️
judge
A4
👩✈️
pilot
B4
👩💻
coder
C4
👩🎨
painter
D4
👩🎤
singer
A5
👮♂️
cop
B5
👩💻
coder
C5
👨🌾
farmer
D5
👮♀️
cop
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 — 5 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Aug 10, 2026 — a Easy solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Easy and resolves with 5 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Bonnie (B1), Denis (D1), Henry (D2), Terry (A5) and Wanda (B5); the remaining 15 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A3 · Kevin → INNOCENT
Gabe’s clue says Kevin is one of the exactly 9 innocents on the edges. That directly identifies Kevin as an innocent person on an edge cell. So Kevin must be innocent.
02.B2 · Floyd → INNOCENT
Kevin’s clue says that the only criminal below Bonnie is one of Rose’s neighbors. Among the people below Bonnie, Floyd is the only one who is not in Rose’s neighbor group. Since any criminal below Bonnie has to be in that neighbor group, Floyd cannot be the criminal below Bonnie. So Floyd must be innocent.
03.A5 · Terry → CRIMINAL
Olivia’s neighbors contain exactly 3 innocents, and exactly 2 of those innocents are in column B. That means among Olivia’s neighbors, exactly 1 innocent is not in column B. The neighbors of Olivia who are not in column B are Kevin and Terry, and Kevin is already known to be innocent. So Terry cannot also be innocent. That makes Terry criminal.
04.C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Terry’s clue says there are exactly two innocents in row 5, and those two innocents must be connected. Row 5 contains Terry, Wanda, Xavi, and Zara, with Terry already known to be a criminal. If Xavi were also a criminal, then Wanda and Zara would have to be the two innocents for the clue, but that would not satisfy the requirement that both innocents in row 5 are connected. So Xavi at C5 must be innocent.
05.D2 · Henry → CRIMINAL
Xavi’s clue says the people to the right of Floyd contain an odd number of criminals. In that group, Gabe is innocent, there are currently no known criminals, and the only person there whose identity is not yet fixed is Henry. If Henry were innocent, that group would have 0 criminals, which is not odd. So Henry must be criminal.
06.B3 · Lisa → INNOCENT
Below Lisa, Pam and Wanda contain exactly one innocent. Olivia’s neighbors contain exactly three innocents: Kevin, Lisa, Pam, Terry, and Wanda, with Kevin already known innocent and Terry already known criminal. That means among Lisa, Pam, and Wanda there must be exactly two innocents. Since Pam and Wanda together contribute exactly one innocent, the remaining needed innocent has to be Lisa. So Lisa must be innocent.
07.B1 · Bonnie → CRIMINAL
Lisa’s clue says exactly 1 innocent is both in column B and neighboring Floyd. That shared group is only Bonnie and Lisa, and Lisa is already known to be innocent. Since the one innocent in that group is already accounted for, Bonnie cannot also be innocent. So Bonnie must be criminal.
08.A2 · Erwin → INNOCENT
Bonnie’s clue says the people who are both in row 2 and neighbors of Lisa contain an odd number of innocents. That shared group is Erwin, Floyd, and Gabe. Floyd and Gabe are already innocent, so there are already 2 innocents in that group. If Erwin were criminal, the total number of innocents there would stay 2, which is even, not odd. So Erwin must be innocent.
09.D4 · Sarah → INNOCENT
Erwin’s clue says exactly one of the two painters has an innocent directly to the right. Aaron cannot be that painter, because Aaron’s right neighbor is Bonnie, and Bonnie is criminal. So the one painter who does have an innocent on the right must be Rose, whose right neighbor is Sarah. That makes Sarah innocent.
10.A4 · Olivia → INNOCENT
Sarah’s clue says there are more innocents than criminals below Aaron, so among those four people there must be at least 3 innocents and at most 1 criminal. Below Aaron, Erwin and Kevin are already known innocents, Terry is already a known criminal, and Olivia is the only person there not yet identified. Since the one criminal allowed below Aaron is already Terry, Olivia cannot be a criminal and must fill the needed innocent count. So Olivia must be innocent.
11.C4 · Rose → INNOCENT
Olivia’s clue fixes her neighborhood at exactly 3 innocents, with exactly 2 of those innocents in column B. Since Kevin and Lisa are already innocent there, the remaining people that clue can still depend on are Pam and Wanda. At the same time, Terry’s neighbors must contain more criminals than Zara’s neighbors. Right now both of those neighbor groups have 0 known criminals, and the only unknowns involved in that comparison are Pam, Wanda, and Rose. If Rose were criminal, then Pam and Wanda would have to satisfy both clues at once, but they cannot do that. So Rose cannot be criminal. That makes Rose innocent.
12.C3 · Mary → INNOCENT
Rose’s clue applies to the people above Xavi: Clyde, Gabe, Mary, and Rose, and it says that all innocents there must be connected as one orthogonally connected block. Gabe and Rose are already known to be innocent, while the only unknowns in that group are Clyde and Mary. If Mary were criminal, then Clyde would be the only remaining unknown person available to make that clue work, and that is impossible. So Mary must be innocent.
13.D3 · Nicole → INNOCENT
Mary’s clue says the number of criminal farmers must equal the number of criminal judges. All farmers are already identified, and none of them is a criminal, so the number of criminal farmers is 0. If Nicole were a criminal judge, then the judges would have 1 criminal while the farmers would still have 0, which breaks Mary’s clue. So Nicole must be innocent.
14.C1 · Clyde → INNOCENT
Nicole’s clue says exactly one column has 5 innocents. If Clyde were criminal, then column C could not be the column with 5 innocents, because Gabe, Mary, Rose, and Xavi are innocent but Clyde would not be. That would leave columns A, B, and D to account for the clue using Aaron, Denis, Pam, Wanda, and Zara, and those people cannot make the columns fit the requirement that exactly one column has 5 innocents. So Clyde cannot be criminal. So Clyde must be innocent.
15.D1 · Denis → CRIMINAL
Clyde's clue says that the two innocents above Zara are both below Denis. Above Zara, there are already exactly two known innocents, Nicole and Sarah. The only person above Zara who is not below Denis is Denis himself, so he cannot be one of those innocents. So Denis must be criminal.
16.B4 · Pam → INNOCENT, B5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Olivia’s clue says her neighbors contain exactly 3 innocents, and exactly 2 of those innocents are in column B. Among Olivia’s neighbors, Kevin and Lisa are already known innocents, Terry is a known criminal, and the only unknowns are Pam and Wanda. If Pam were criminal and Wanda were innocent, then Olivia’s neighbors would have only 3 innocents total, with Lisa and Wanda as the only innocents in column B. But Denis’s clue also says Lisa has the most innocent neighbors, and Lisa already has 7 known innocent neighbors with only Pam still unknown there; making Pam criminal while Wanda innocent is the tested opposite assignment, and that assignment cannot satisfy these clue facts together. So Pam must be innocent and Wanda must be criminal.
17.A1 · Aaron → INNOCENT, D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
Gabe’s clue says Kevin is one of exactly 9 innocents on the edge. Among the edge cells, 7 people are already known to be innocent, and the only edge people not yet identified are Aaron and Zara. If Aaron and Zara were both criminals, the edge would stay at only 7 innocents instead of reaching the required 9. So Aaron and Zara must be innocent.