Clues by Sam Aug 27, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👷♂️
builder
B1
👩💼
clerk
C1
👨💼
clerk
D1
👩💻
coder
A2
👷♂️
builder
B2
👨💼
clerk
C2
👨💻
coder
D2
👩💻
coder
A3
👨✈️
pilot
B3
👨✈️
pilot
C3
👩✈️
pilot
D3
👮♀️
cop
A4
👩⚖️
judge
B4
💂♀️
guard
C4
💂♂️
guard
D4
👮♂️
cop
A5
👩⚖️
judge
B5
👩🔧
mech
C5
👨🔧
mech
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 — 11 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Aug 27, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 18 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 11 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Bruce (A1), Chloe (B1), Freya (D1), Gary (A2), Hank (B2), Kirsty (D2), Luigi (A3), Petra (D3), Ruby (B4), Terry (C4) and Umar (D4); the remaining 9 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
Wanda’s clue says there are exactly 3 criminals in column A, and exactly 1 of those column A criminals is to the left of Kirsty. In column A, the only person who is to the left of Kirsty is Gary at A2. So the 1 criminal in that overlap has to be Gary. That makes Gary criminal.
02.A5 · Vera → INNOCENT
Wanda's clue says column A contains exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is to the left of Kirsty. In column A, the only person who is to the left of Kirsty is Gary, and Gary is already a criminal, so Gary is that 1 criminal. That means the other 2 criminals in column A must be people in column A who are not to the left of Kirsty. From the people identified for that group, those 2 criminals must come from Bruce, Luigi, and Quita, so Vera cannot be one of them. So Vera must be innocent.
03.A1 · Bruce → CRIMINAL
Martin’s neighbors in column A must contain exactly 2 criminals, and those people are Gary, Luigi, and Quita. Since Gary is already a criminal, that uses 1 of those 2 column-A criminals among Martin’s neighbors, so Luigi and Quita account for the other one. Column A as a whole must contain exactly 3 criminals: Gary, Luigi, Quita, Bruce, and Vera, with Vera already innocent. That means the only person in column A outside Martin’s neighboring column-A group is Bruce, and he has to provide the remaining criminal needed to bring column A up to 3 criminals. So Bruce must be criminal.
04.B4 · Ruby → CRIMINAL, B2 · Hank → CRIMINAL
Erwin and Xavi have exactly two innocents between them, and those three people are Jason, Nancy, and Terry. Martin’s neighbors who are not in column A are Hank, Jason, Nancy, Ruby, and Terry, and that group also contains exactly two innocents. Since Jason, Nancy, and Terry already account for the only two innocents allowed in that larger group, the remaining people in it cannot be innocent. So Ruby and Hank must be criminals.
05.C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Ruby’s clue says that Xavi is one of the exactly 2 innocents below Jason. That identifies Xavi directly as an innocent, regardless of who the other innocent below Jason is. So Xavi must be innocent.
06.C2 · Jason → INNOCENT
Below Jason, Xavi is one of the 2 innocents, so among C3 Nancy and C4 Terry there is exactly 1 more innocent. Among Martin's neighbors that are not in column A, there are exactly 2 innocents total: C2 Jason, C3 Nancy, and C4 Terry, since Hank and Ruby are already criminals. That larger group has one more person than the Nancy-and-Terry group, and that extra person is Jason. So C2 Jason must be innocent.
07.D3 · Petra → CRIMINAL
Jason’s clue directly says that Petra is one of the exactly 8 criminals on the edge. Since Petra is explicitly included in that criminal group, Petra at D3 must be criminal.
08.C1 · Erwin → INNOCENT
Martin’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 5 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminals are in column A among Gary, Luigi, and Quita. Hank’s clue says exactly 1 person in column C is a criminal with an innocent directly below, and column C is Erwin, Jason, Nancy, Terry, and Xavi, with no known criminals there. If Erwin were a criminal, then Erwin, along with Luigi, Nancy, Quita, and Terry, would have to fit both of those exact requirements at the same time. But those same remaining people cannot satisfy both clues together if Erwin is criminal. So Erwin must be innocent.
09.D2 · Kirsty → CRIMINAL
Jason’s clue says there are exactly 8 criminals on the edge. Since the edge has 14 people total and 4 edge people are already known innocents, that leaves exactly 2 innocent edge people among the 7 unknown edge positions. Xavi’s row 1 clue means the two row 1 unknowns, Chloe and Freya, are the edge innocents that must account for that remaining pair, so the 2 innocent edge spots come from Chloe, Freya, Luigi, Quita, Umar, and Zara. That leaves Kirsty outside the possible innocent edge pair, so Kirsty at D2 must be criminal.
10.B1 · Chloe → CRIMINAL
Jason’s clue says there are exactly 8 criminals on the edge. The edge already has 4 known criminals and 4 known innocents, so among the 6 unknown edge people, exactly 2 must be innocent. Those 6 unknown edge people are Chloe, Freya, Luigi, Quita, Umar, and Zara. The 2 edge innocents have to come from Freya, Luigi, Quita, Umar, and Zara, so Chloe is not one of those 2 innocents. So Chloe must be criminal.
11.D1 · Freya → CRIMINAL
Jason’s clue says there are exactly 8 criminals on the edge. Since there are 14 edge cells, that means exactly 6 edge cells are innocent. On the edge, four innocents are already known: Erwin, Vera, Wanda, and Xavi. So the remaining two edge innocents have to come from the unknown edge people other than Freya: Luigi, Quita, Umar, and Zara. That leaves no edge-innocent place for Freya. So Freya must be criminal.
12.B3 · Martin → INNOCENT
Martin is the only person who is in Ruby's neighboring group but not in the smaller group of possible criminals shared with the other clue. That smaller group already accounts for the 2 criminals Ruby's clue allows among Ruby's neighbors. Since Ruby's neighboring group can contain only 2 criminals in total, there is no room left for Martin to be a criminal. So Martin must be innocent.
13.C3 · Nancy → INNOCENT
Terry's neighbors must contain an odd number of innocents, and they already include 3 known innocents: Martin, Wanda, and Xavi. So the unknown neighbors of Terry must add an even number of further innocents. Below Kirsty there must be exactly 1 innocent, and among the unknown people there that means exactly one of Umar and Zara is innocent. Since Umar and Zara are both also neighbors of Terry, those two contribute exactly 1 innocent within Terry's unknown neighbors. That leaves Nancy as the one outside that D-column pair, so she has to be the extra innocent that keeps Terry's total number of neighboring innocents odd. So Nancy must be innocent.
14.C4 · Terry → CRIMINAL
Martin’s neighbors contain exactly 5 criminals, and exactly 2 of those criminals are in column A. That means exactly 3 of Martin’s neighboring criminals must be not in column A. Among Martin’s neighbors who are not in column A, Hank and Ruby are already known criminals, while Jason and Nancy are innocent. So that group still needs 1 more criminal, and the only unknown person left there is Terry. So Terry must be criminal.
15.A4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Ruby has exactly 2 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in row 3. Among Ruby's neighbors in row 3, only Luigi is still unknown, so the one row 3 criminal neighbor must come from that row 3 group. That leaves the neighbors not in row 3 with exactly 1 criminal, and that group already contains Terry as a known criminal. So Quita must be innocent.
16.A3 · Luigi → CRIMINAL
Martin has exactly 5 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminals are in column A. Among Martin's neighbors in column A, Gary is already a criminal and Quita is innocent, so that group still needs 1 more criminal. The only unknown person left there is Luigi. So Luigi must be criminal.
17.D4 · Umar → CRIMINAL
Terry’s clue says there is only one row with exactly 2 criminals. Row 3 already fits that exactly, since Luigi and Petra are criminals while Martin and Nancy are innocent. Row 4 already has 2 known criminals, Ruby and Terry, and Umar is the only person there not yet identified. If Umar were innocent, row 4 would also have exactly 2 criminals, which would clash with Terry’s clue. So Umar must be criminal.
18.D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
Jason’s clue says Petra is one of exactly 8 criminals on the edge. On the edge, there are already 8 known criminals: Bruce, Chloe, Freya, Gary, Kirsty, Luigi, Petra, and Umar. Since Zara is the only edge person whose identity was still unknown, she cannot also be a criminal without making more than 8 edge criminals. So Zara must be innocent.