Clues by Sam Aug 13, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨⚖️
judge
B1
👩⚖️
judge
C1
👨💼
clerk
D1
👩💼
clerk
A2
💂♂️
guard
B2
👷♂️
builder
C2
👨💼
clerk
D2
👨🍳
cook
A3
💂♀️
guard
B3
👷♂️
builder
C3
👨⚕️
doctor
D3
👩🍳
cook
A4
💂♀️
guard
B4
👩🌾
farmer
C4
👩⚕️
doctor
D4
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A5
👩🌾
farmer
B5
👩🌾
farmer
C5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D5
🕵️♂️
sleuth
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 13, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 13 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 5 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Bunty (B1), Floyd (A2), Kiran (A3), Nicole (D3) and Vera (A5); the remaining 15 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A2 · Floyd → CRIMINAL
Olga’s clue says that among the people above Vera, exactly two criminals must be connected. Those people are Andre, Floyd, Kiran, and Olga, and Olga is already innocent. If Floyd were innocent, then only Andre and Kiran could be the two criminals above Vera. But that would not satisfy the clue’s requirement for the two criminals above Vera. So Floyd must be criminal.
02.A5 · Vera → CRIMINAL
Floyd says column A has exactly 2 innocents. In column A, Olga is already one known innocent, so there is room for exactly 1 more innocent among Andre, Kiran, and Vera. Olga also says both criminals above Vera are connected. Since Floyd is already a criminal above Vera, making Vera innocent would force the remaining extra innocent in column A to be placed among the people above Vera, which conflicts with that clue’s requirement about the criminals above Vera. So Vera must be criminal.
03.A1 · Andre → INNOCENT, D5 · Zach → INNOCENT, D1 · Esha → INNOCENT
Vera’s clue says there are exactly 3 innocents in the corner cells. Right now the corners have 0 known innocents, and the only unknown corner people left are Andre at A1, Esha at D1, and Zach at D5. Since the corners still need exactly 3 innocents and those are the only 3 people available there, all three have to fill those innocent spots. So Andre, Zach, and Esha must be innocent.
04.A3 · Kiran → CRIMINAL
Olga’s clue says that the people above Vera contain exactly two criminals, and those two criminals must be connected. Above Vera, Andre and Olga are innocent, Floyd is already a criminal, and Kiran is the only person there not yet identified. If Kiran were innocent, then among the people above Vera there would not be the required pair of connected criminals. So Kiran must be criminal.
05.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT, C5 · Xola → INNOCENT
To the right of Vera there must be at least 2 innocents. In that group, Zach is already known to be innocent, so Wanda and Xola cannot both be criminals, because then there would be only 1 innocent there instead of the required at least 2. That makes Wanda and Xola innocent.
06.B4 · Ruth → INNOCENT, B3 · Luigi → INNOCENT
In column B, Wanda is already innocent, and Andre’s clue says all innocents in that column must form one connected block. Zach’s clue also fixes Ivan’s neighborhood at exactly two criminals, with exactly one of those criminals also being a neighbor of Gary. If Ruth were criminal and Luigi were criminal, then the remaining people involved here, namely Bunty, Chad, Gary, Jason, Martin, and Nicole, would have to satisfy both of those clue requirements at the same time, and they cannot. So Ruth and Luigi cannot be criminal. That makes Ruth and Luigi innocent.
07.D4 · Umar → INNOCENT
Tina’s neighbors must contain an odd number of criminals, and among those neighbors there are currently no known criminals, so the unknown neighbors must contribute an odd number of criminals. In row 3, there is already 1 known criminal, and row 3 must contain exactly 2 criminals, so Martin and Nicole contribute exactly 1 criminal between them. That already makes the unknown neighbors’ criminal count odd, so Umar cannot add another criminal without changing it to even. So Umar must be innocent.
08.C3 · Martin → INNOCENT, B2 · Gary → INNOCENT
Ivan’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals. The edge cells also contribute exactly 2 criminals among the people who are Ivan’s neighbors: Bunty, Chad, Jason, and Nicole. Gary and Martin are in Ivan’s neighbor group but not in that edge-cell subset. So those 2 criminal spots in Ivan’s neighbor group are already fully used by Bunty, Chad, Jason, and Nicole. There is no room left for Gary or Martin to be criminals. That makes Martin and Gary innocent.
09.D3 · Nicole → CRIMINAL
Esha’s clue says row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals. In row 3, Kiran is already a criminal, Luigi and Martin are innocent, and Nicole is the only person there not yet identified. If Nicole were innocent, then row 3 would have only 1 criminal, so it would fail to be the row with exactly 2 criminals that the clue requires. That would conflict with Esha’s clue. So Nicole must be criminal.
10.C1 · Chad → INNOCENT
The clue says there are exactly 5 criminals on the edge, and exactly 1 of those edge criminals is a neighbor of Chad. Among Chad's edge neighbors, only Bunty and Jason could still be that 1, because Esha is innocent. That leaves the rest of the edge cells, including Chad, as the part that must contain the other 4 edge criminals. But in that remainder, Floyd, Kiran, Nicole, and Vera are already 4 known criminals. So no other unknown person in that remainder can be a criminal. That makes Chad innocent.
11.B1 · Bunty → CRIMINAL, D2 · Jason → INNOCENT
Ivan’s neighbors must contain exactly 2 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Gary. Nicole is already a criminal among Ivan’s neighbors, so the other criminal has to be one of the two unknown neighbors, Bunty or Jason. But if Bunty were innocent and Jason were criminal, then Ivan’s two criminals would be Nicole and Jason, and neither of them is in the group of Ivan-neighbors who are also Gary-neighbors, where the clue requires exactly 1 criminal. So Bunty must be criminal and Jason must be innocent.
12.C2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Esha’s clue says row 3 is the only row with exactly 2 criminals. Row 2 already has 1 known criminal, and Ivan is the only person in that row whose identity is not yet known. If Ivan were a criminal, then row 2 would also have exactly 2 criminals, which the clue does not allow. So Ivan must be innocent.
13.C4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Martin’s clue says the number of innocent builders equals the number of innocent doctors. The builders already have 2 innocents, Gary and Luigi, while the doctors currently have only 1 known innocent, Martin, with Tina as the only doctor not yet identified. If Tina were criminal, the doctors would stay at 1 innocent, which would not match the builders’ 2 innocents. So Tina must be innocent.