Clues by Sam Aug 30, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
💂♂️
guard
B1
💂♀️
guard
C1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
D1
👨🌾
farmer
A2
👨🍳
cook
B2
👩🍳
cook
C2
👮♂️
cop
D2
👨💼
clerk
A3
👮♀️
cop
B3
👩🍳
cook
C3
👩💼
clerk
D3
👮♀️
cop
A4
👩🌾
farmer
B4
👷♀️
builder
C4
👨🔧
mech
D4
👨🔧
mech
A5
👷♀️
builder
B5
👷♂️
builder
C5
👨🔧
mech
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 — 13 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Aug 30, 2026 — a Hard solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 13 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Cheryl (B1), Gabe (A2), Hazel (B2), Ivan (C2), Jerry (D2), Nicole (B3), Olivia (C3), Petra (D3), Quita (A4), Samira (B4), Vicky (A5), Wally (B5) and Zara (D5); the remaining 7 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.B4 · Samira → CRIMINAL, B3 · Nicole → CRIMINAL
Franco’s clue says Quita has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminal neighbors are above Wally. Among Quita’s neighbors, the only people who are above Wally are Nicole and Samira. Since those 2 criminal spots above Wally still have to be filled, Nicole and Samira have to be the ones occupying them. So Samira and Nicole must be criminal.
02.B2 · Hazel → CRIMINAL, C2 · Ivan → CRIMINAL
Samira’s clue says Cheryl and Denis have no innocent neighbors in common, so the shared-neighbor group must contain exactly 0 innocents. That shared group is only Hazel and Ivan, and there are already 0 known innocents in it. So Hazel and Ivan cannot be innocent. That makes Hazel and Ivan criminal.
03.A5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Franco's clue says Quita has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, so among Quita's five neighbors there is exactly 1 innocent. Nicole and Samira are already known criminals, which leaves the single innocent to be among Katie, Vicky, and Wally. But the two criminals neighboring Quita who are above Wally are already Nicole and Samira, so the one innocent among those three remaining neighbors has to come from Katie or Wally, not Vicky. That makes Vicky criminal.
04.B5 · Wally → CRIMINAL
The two clues are both about column A. They require exactly 2 criminals in column A with an innocent directly above, and exactly 3 criminals in column A with a criminal directly to the right. In column A, the people involved here are Andre, Gabe, Katie, Quita, and Vicky, and Vicky is already known to be a criminal. If Wally were innocent, then Andre, Cheryl, Gabe, Katie, and Quita would have to make both of those exact column A counts come out correctly at the same time, and they cannot. So Wally must be criminal.
05.A3 · Katie → INNOCENT
Quita’s neighbors contain exactly 4 criminals in total. The clue also says exactly 2 of those criminals are above Wally, and those two are already Nicole and Samira. That leaves the not-above-Wally neighbors as Katie, Vicky, and Wally, and Vicky and Wally already account for the other 2 criminals among Quita’s neighbors. So Katie must be innocent.
06.A1 · Andre → INNOCENT, A2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Ivan’s clue says exactly 2 criminals in column A have an innocent directly above them. In column A, Vicky is already a known criminal, and the other people involved here are Andre, Gabe, and Quita. If Andre were criminal and Gabe were innocent, then Quita would have to make the rest of that clue work, but column A cannot satisfy Ivan’s exact total of 2 that way. So Andre and Gabe cannot have those opposite identities. That makes Andre innocent and Gabe criminal.
07.D4 · Umar → INNOCENT
Gabe's clue says that Umar is one of Thor's two innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Umar as innocent. So Umar must be innocent.
08.A4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Hazel's clue says exactly 3 criminals in column A have a criminal directly to the right. In column A, Andre and Katie are already innocent, while Gabe and Vicky are already criminals, so Quita is the only person in that column whose identity is still undecided. If Quita were innocent, the remaining people involved in this clue would not be able to make Hazel's exact count work. So Quita cannot be innocent. That makes Quita criminal.
09.C3 · Olivia → CRIMINAL
If Olivia were innocent, then Umar and Olivia would already be Thor's two innocent neighbors, since Umar is one of exactly two innocents among Thor's neighbors. That leaves Petra, Xavi, and Zara as criminals. But then column C would contain Ivan as a criminal, Olivia as innocent, and Xavi as a criminal, so the criminals in column C would not form one connected block. That clash means Olivia cannot be innocent. So Olivia must be criminal.
10.D2 · Jerry → CRIMINAL
Olivia's clue says there are exactly 6 criminals among her neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Umar. That means 5 of Olivia's neighboring criminals are not neighbors of Umar. Among Olivia's neighbors who are not neighbors of Umar, Hazel, Ivan, Nicole, and Samira are already known criminals, while Umar is innocent. The only unknown person left in that non-Umar-neighbor group is Jerry, so Jerry has to be the fifth criminal there. So Jerry must be criminal.
11.D5 · Zara → CRIMINAL
If Zara were innocent, then Umar and Zara would already be the two innocents among Thor's neighbors. That would make Petra a criminal, because Olivia has exactly 6 criminal neighbors in total, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also Umar's neighbor; among Petra and Thor, only Petra could fill that criminal spot. Then column C would have Ivan and Olivia as criminals, Xavi would also have to be criminal so that all criminals in column C stay connected, and Thor would have to be innocent. But that leaves the criminals in column C split by Thor instead of forming one connected block, which clashes with the clue. So Zara at D5 must be criminal.
12.C1 · Denis → INNOCENT
Column C has to contain an odd number of innocents. Right now there are no known innocents in that column, and the only unknown people there are Denis, Thor, and Xavi. If Denis were criminal, then Denis would not contribute any innocent to column C, so Petra, Thor, and Xavi would have to satisfy the remaining requirements from Thor's neighbor clue, Olivia's 6-criminal clue, and the odd-innocents-in-column-C clue all at once. That cannot be done without a conflict. So Denis must be innocent.
13.C4 · Thor → INNOCENT
Umar is one of exactly two innocent neighbors of Thor, and among Thor's neighbors the only unknown people besides Thor are Petra and Xavi. Umar's own clue says his neighbors contain an odd number of criminals, and he already has 2 known criminal neighbors, with only Petra, Thor, and Xavi left unknown there. If Thor were criminal, then Petra and Xavi would have to satisfy both clues at the same time, but that cannot be done. So Thor cannot be criminal. That makes Thor innocent.
14.D3 · Petra → CRIMINAL
Olivia says she has exactly 6 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Umar. Among the people who are both Olivia's neighbors and Umar's neighbors, Thor is already innocent, so that group still needs 1 criminal. The only unknown person left in that shared group is Petra. So Petra must be criminal.
15.C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Vicky's clue says that all criminals in column C must be connected as one orthogonally connected block. In column C, Ivan and Olivia are criminal, Denis and Thor are innocent, and the only unknown is Xavi. If Xavi were criminal, then column C would have criminals at C2, C3, and C5, with Thor at C4 innocent. That would break the criminals in column C into separate parts instead of one connected block, so it cannot happen. So Xavi must be innocent.
16.B1 · Cheryl → CRIMINAL
Petra’s clue says exactly 3 innocents in row 1 have a criminal directly below them. In row 1, Andre, Denis, and Franco are already known to be innocent, and Cheryl is the only person there whose identity is not yet known. If Cheryl were also innocent, that would conflict with the requirement that exactly 3 row 1 people fit the clue. So Cheryl at B1 must be criminal.