Clues by Sam Aug 12, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👩🏫
teacher
B1
👨🏫
teacher
C1
👩🎤
singer
D1
👩🍳
cook
A2
👨🎤
singer
B2
👨🏫
teacher
C2
👨🎤
singer
D2
👨🔧
mech
A3
👨⚖️
judge
B3
👩⚖️
judge
C3
👩🍳
cook
D3
👨🔧
mech
A4
👩✈️
pilot
B4
👨💼
clerk
C4
👷♀️
builder
D4
👨🔧
mech
A5
👩✈️
pilot
B5
👨💼
clerk
C5
👷♀️
builder
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 — 11 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Aug 12, 2026 — a Medium solved in 18 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 Gary (A2), Hal (B2), Isaac (C2), John (D2), Kyle (A3), Mary (C3), Paula (A4), Rob (B4), Susan (C4), Vicky (A5) and Xena (C5); the remaining 9 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D1 · Flora → INNOCENT, D3 · Olof → INNOCENT
Zoe’s clue says John has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and exactly 1 of those innocents is among the neighbors of John who are above Xena: Evie, Isaac, and Mary. That means the other 2 innocent neighbors of John must be neighbors who are not above Xena. The only neighbors of John who are not above Xena are Flora and Olof, and there are no known innocents there yet. So Flora and Olof must be innocent.
02.C2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Above Xena, all criminals have to be connected. Among John’s neighbors, the clue about John fixes the two criminals there as coming from Evie, Isaac, and Mary. So the criminal group above Xena has to fit one of the connected blocks Evie and Isaac, Isaac and Mary, or Isaac, Mary, and Susan. In every one of those connected blocks, Isaac is included. That makes Isaac criminal.
03.A3 · Kyle → CRIMINAL
Isaac’s clue says Kyle is one of the three criminals above Vicky. That directly identifies Kyle as a criminal. So Kyle must be criminal.
04.A4 · Paula → CRIMINAL
Flora’s clue makes A1 Betty and A2 Gary the only people who can satisfy “a teacher has an innocent directly to the left,” so among A1 Betty and A2 Gary there is exactly 1 innocent. Isaac’s clue says the people above Vicky contain exactly 1 innocent, and that group is A1 Betty, A2 Gary, A3 Kyle, and A4 Paula. Since A1 and A2 already account for the one innocent allowed in that larger group, the only extra person there, A4 Paula, cannot be innocent. So Paula must be criminal.
05.A2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
John’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 innocents, and exactly 1 of those innocents is above Xena. But among John’s neighbors, the two people not above Xena are Flora and Olof, and both are already innocent, so they are the 2 innocents that are not above Xena. That means the third innocent among John’s neighbors has to be one of the people above Xena, namely Evie or Mary. Now test Gary as innocent. Kyle’s clue says exactly 1 singer has a criminal directly to the left. Gary cannot be that singer because he has nobody directly to his left, so the only possible singers involved are Evie and Isaac. Isaac already has Hal directly to his left, and Evie has Daniel directly to her left, while Paula’s clue also requires John’s neighbors and Betty’s neighbors to contain the same number of criminals. With Gary counted as innocent, the remaining people Daniel, Evie, Hal, and Mary cannot satisfy all of those requirements together. So Gary must be criminal.
06.A1 · Betty → INNOCENT
Isaac’s clue says that above Vicky there are exactly 3 criminals, and Kyle is one of them. Above Vicky, the four people are Betty, Gary, Kyle, and Paula, and Gary, Kyle, and Paula are already known criminals. If Betty were also a criminal, that group would contain 4 criminals, which clashes with the clue’s total of exactly 3. So Betty must be innocent.
07.D2 · John → CRIMINAL
Paula’s neighbors must contain exactly 2 innocents, and exactly 1 of those 2 is in row 5. Paula’s neighbors also have to contain the same number of innocent neighbors as Evie’s neighbors. Evie’s neighbors already include 1 known innocent, Flora. If John were innocent too, then Evie’s neighbors would already have 2 known innocents before even deciding Daniel or Hal. But Paula’s neighboring group still has 0 known innocents, and the remaining people tied to these clues cannot make all of Kyle’s, Gary’s, and Betty’s facts hold at the same time under that choice. So John must be criminal.
08.B3 · Lucy → INNOCENT
John’s clue says Lucy is one of the exactly 3 innocents in column B. That directly places Lucy among the innocents in that column. So Lucy must be innocent.
09.B4 · Rob → CRIMINAL
Paula’s neighbors contain exactly 2 innocents, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 5. Among Paula’s neighbors who are not in row 5, the people are Kyle, Lucy, and Rob, and Lucy is already a known innocent there. That means the non-row-5 group cannot contain any other innocent, so Rob cannot be innocent. So Rob must be criminal.
10.B5 · Will → INNOCENT
Kyle’s clue picks out Daniel and Hal as the exactly two people in column B who can be the criminals counted there. John’s clue says column B contains exactly 3 innocents, so with 5 people in that column, column B must contain exactly 2 criminals in total. Those 2 criminals are already accounted for by Daniel and Hal. The only person in column B outside that pair is Will, so Will cannot be a criminal. That makes Will innocent.
11.A5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Paula’s neighbors contain exactly 2 innocents in total, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 5. Among Paula’s neighbors who are in row 5, Will is already a known innocent, and the only other person there is Vicky. Since the one row-5 innocent among Paula’s neighbors is already accounted for by Will, Vicky cannot be innocent. So Vicky must be criminal.
12.D4 · Tyler → INNOCENT
Will’s clue says column B has more criminals than column D. Right now each column has 1 known criminal, with Daniel and Hal still unknown in column B and Tyler the only unknown in column D. If Tyler were criminal, then column D would rise to 2 criminals. That would force column B to have more than 2 criminals, so both Daniel and Hal would have to be criminals. But Kyle’s clue says exactly 1 singer has a criminal directly to the left. Evie has Daniel directly to her left and Isaac has Hal directly to his left, so making both Daniel and Hal criminals would make both Evie and Isaac count, giving 2 such singers instead of exactly 1. So Tyler must be innocent.
13.C3 · Mary → CRIMINAL
Above Xena, the people are Evie, Isaac, Mary, and Susan, and all criminals there have to form one orthogonally connected block. Isaac is already a criminal in that group. The same clue set also has to keep exactly one singer with a criminal directly to the left, while Olof's neighbors must contain more criminals than Betty's neighbors. If Mary were innocent, then Daniel, Evie, Hal, and Susan would have to make all of those conditions true at the same time, and they cannot. So Mary cannot be innocent. So Mary must be criminal.
14.C1 · Evie → INNOCENT
John’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 innocents, and exactly 1 of those innocents is above Xena. Among John’s neighbors who are above Xena, Isaac and Mary are already criminals, so that group still needs 1 innocent and the only unknown person left there is Evie. So Evie must be innocent.
15.C4 · Susan → CRIMINAL
Mary’s clue says Olof’s neighbors and Betty’s neighbors must contain the same number of innocents. Olof’s neighbors already contain 1 known innocent, and the only person there not yet identified is Susan. Betty’s neighbors do not gain any additional innocents from Daniel and Hal, so Betty’s side stays below Olof’s if Susan were innocent. Therefore Susan cannot be innocent, and Susan must be criminal.
16.C5 · Xena → CRIMINAL
Susan’s clue says Betty has more innocent neighbors than Will. Right now both of those neighbor groups have 0 known innocents, so if Xena were innocent, Will would already have 1 innocent neighbor. Then Betty’s side would have to beat that total, so Daniel or Hal would need to be innocent. But Kyle’s clue says exactly 1 singer has a criminal directly to the left, and the singers that matter for that are Evie with Daniel directly left of her and Isaac with Hal directly left of him. Making Daniel or Hal innocent would clash with that exact count. So Xena cannot be innocent. That makes Xena criminal.
17.B1 · Daniel → INNOCENT
Xena’s clue says Hal and Isaac have exactly 3 innocent neighbors in common. Their shared neighbors are Daniel, Evie, Lucy, and Mary, and among those, Evie and Lucy are already innocent while Mary is criminal. That means the shared group still needs 1 more innocent, and Daniel is the only unknown person left in that group. So Daniel must be innocent.
18.B2 · Hal → CRIMINAL
Kyle’s clue says exactly 1 singer has a criminal directly to the left. Evie is a singer, and the person directly to her left is Daniel, who is innocent, so Evie is not that singer case. Isaac is the other singer in play here, and the person directly to his left is Hal. Since the clue needs exactly 1 such singer case, Hal has to be criminal to make Isaac the one singer with a criminal directly to the left. So Hal must be criminal.