Clues by Sam Aug 17, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨🔧
mech
B1
👨⚕️
doctor
C1
👩⚕️
doctor
D1
👨⚖️
judge
A2
👨✈️
pilot
B2
👨🍳
cook
C2
👩🍳
cook
D2
👨⚖️
judge
A3
👩✈️
pilot
B3
👩🏫
teacher
C3
👨🍳
cook
D3
👩⚖️
judge
A4
👩✈️
pilot
B4
👩🏫
teacher
C4
👩💼
clerk
D4
👩🔧
mech
A5
👨🏫
teacher
B5
👨💼
clerk
C5
👩💼
clerk
D5
👨🔧
mech
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 — 4 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Aug 17, 2026 — a Easy solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Easy and resolves with 4 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Barnie (A1), Chuck (B1), Frank (D1) and Noah (C3); the remaining 16 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C3 · Noah → CRIMINAL
Xena's clue says there are no innocent cooks to the right of Laura. The only person who is both a cook and to the right of Laura is Noah. That shared group must contain exactly 0 innocents, and it currently has no known innocents, so Noah cannot be innocent. So Noah must be criminal.
02.C1 · Diane → INNOCENT
Noah's clue says there is exactly 1 innocent in the overlap between the people to the left of Frank and the people in column C. That shared group contains only Diane. Since that group still needs 1 innocent, the only person there has to fill it. So Diane must be innocent.
03.C4 · Sofia → INNOCENT, C2 · Janet → INNOCENT
Diane’s clue says every column has at least 4 innocents, so a column can have at most 1 criminal. In column C, Noah is already a known criminal, which uses up that one criminal for the column. That means the other unfixed people in column C cannot be criminals. So Sofia and Janet must be innocent.
04.B3 · Max → INNOCENT
Janet’s clue says exactly 2 cooks have an innocent directly below them. One such case is already accounted for, so there must be 1 more. The only remaining direct-below person that can still satisfy this clue is Max below Hal, so Max has to be innocent. So Max must be innocent.
05.A2 · Gus → INNOCENT, A3 · Laura → INNOCENT
Diane’s clue says every column has at least 4 innocents, and Max’s clue applies to the people above Umar: Barnie, Gus, Laura, and Petra. If Gus and Laura were both criminals, then the other people involved here would have to satisfy both of those clues at the same time, and that cannot be done. So Gus and Laura cannot be criminals. That makes Gus and Laura innocent.
06.D2 · Kumar → INNOCENT
Gus’s clue says that Kumar is one of the three innocents above Zane. Since Kumar is explicitly included in that innocent group, his identity is fixed by the clue itself. So Kumar must be innocent.
07.D5 · Zane → INNOCENT
Gus’s clue says Kumar is one of exactly three innocents above Zane, so the four people above Zane must contain exactly three innocents. Those four people are Frank, Kumar, Olivia, and Tina, with Kumar already known innocent. If Zane were criminal, the remaining unknown people named here would have to satisfy both that exact count above Zane and Diane’s rule that every column has at least four innocents, but they cannot do both at once. So Zane cannot be criminal. So Zane must be innocent.
08.A1 · Barnie → CRIMINAL
Zane’s clue says exactly 2 pilots have an innocent directly above them. Laura already counts because Gus is directly above her and innocent, and Petra already counts because Laura is directly above her and innocent. That fills both pilots allowed by the clue, so Gus cannot also have an innocent directly above him. Since Barnie is directly above Gus, Barnie cannot be innocent. So Barnie must be criminal.
09.A4 · Petra → INNOCENT, A5 · Umar → INNOCENT
Diane's clue says every column has at least 4 innocents, so in a 5-person column there can be at most 1 criminal. Column A already has that 1 criminal: Barnie at A1. The only people in column A whose identities were not fixed yet are Petra at A4 and Umar at A5, so neither of them can be the column's second criminal. So Petra and Umar must be innocent.
10.D3 · Olivia → INNOCENT
Umar’s clue says row 3 has exactly 3 innocents. In that row, Laura and Max are already known to be innocent, so row 3 currently has 2 known innocents. The only unknown person left in row 3 is Olivia, so the row needs its one remaining innocent to be Olivia. So Olivia must be innocent.
11.B2 · Hal → INNOCENT
Olivia's clue says row 2 has more innocents than row 3. Right now row 3 already has 3 innocents, and row 2 also currently has 3 known innocents, with Hal the only unknown person left in row 2. If Hal were criminal, row 2 would stay at 3 innocents, so it would not have more innocents than row 3. So Hal must be innocent.
12.B5 · Will → INNOCENT
Hal’s clue says rows 2 and 5 have the same number of criminals. Row 2 has no criminals at all, and there is nobody unknown left in that row, so row 2’s criminal count is fixed at 0. If Will were a criminal, then row 5 would have 1 criminal instead of 0, which would no longer match row 2. So Will must be innocent.
13.B4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Will’s clue says exactly one person in row 4 has exactly 4 innocent neighbors. In that row, Tina already has exactly 4 known innocent neighbors, with no unknown neighbors that could change that, so Tina is the one person who fits the clue. If Quita were criminal, Petra would also have exactly 4 innocent neighbors, because Petra already has 4 known innocent neighbors and Quita is Petra’s only unknown neighbor. That would make both Petra and Tina fit the clue, which conflicts with “only one person.” So Quita at B4 must be innocent.
14.B1 · Chuck → CRIMINAL
The edge cells must contain an odd number of innocents, and there are already 10 known innocents on the edge. So the unknown edge people together must add an odd number of innocents. Above Zane there must be exactly 3 innocents, and Kumar is one of them. Since Kumar and Olivia are already the 2 known innocents above Zane, the two unknown people there, Frank and Tina, must contain exactly 1 more innocent. Frank and Tina are both edge people, so that already contributes exactly 1 additional innocent among the unknown edge cells, which is the odd amount the edge clue needs. If Chuck were also innocent, the unknown edge cells would contribute 2 innocents instead, which would be even and would break the clue. So Chuck must be criminal.
15.D1 · Frank → CRIMINAL
Chuck’s clue says row 1 has exactly one innocent. In row 1, Diane is already that one known innocent, and Frank is the only person there whose identity is still unknown. Since row 1 already has all the innocents it is allowed to have, Frank cannot be innocent. So Frank must be criminal.
16.D4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Diane's clue says every column has at least 4 innocents, so in a 5-person column there can be at most 1 criminal. Column D already has that 1 known criminal: Frank at D1. Tina at D4 is the only person in column D whose identity was not fixed yet, so she cannot also be a criminal. So Tina must be innocent.