Clues by Sam Sep 01, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨🎤
singer
B1
👩🎤
singer
C1
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D1
👩🎤
singer
A2
👨🍳
cook
B2
👨🍳
cook
C2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
D2
👨💻
coder
A3
👩🔧
mech
B3
👩🍳
cook
C3
👩🔧
mech
D3
👨🔧
mech
A4
👩💻
coder
B4
👩💻
coder
C4
👩🎨
painter
D4
👨✈️
pilot
A5
👨💻
coder
B5
👨✈️
pilot
C5
👩🎨
painter
D5
👨✈️
pilot
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 Sep 01, 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 Adam (A1), Celia (C1), Ethan (A2), Gus (B2), Henry (C2), Isaac (D2), Julie (A3), Lucy (C3), Mark (D3), Olive (B4) and Vince (B5); the remaining 9 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D3 · Mark → CRIMINAL
Terry’s clue says Mark is one of the exactly 3 criminals in row 3. Since Mark is explicitly included among those criminals, his identity is given directly by the clue. So Mark must be criminal.
02.A3 · Julie → CRIMINAL
If Julie were innocent, then Terry's clue that row 3 has exactly 3 criminals, with Mark as one of them, would make Karen and Lucy the other two criminals in row 3. Mark also says there is an odd number of innocents among the people who are both Henry's neighbors and in row 3. That shared group is Karen, Lucy, and Mark, but with Karen and Lucy criminal and Mark already criminal, there would be 0 innocents there, and 0 is not odd. So Julie at A3 must be criminal.
03.C4 · Paula → INNOCENT
Julie’s clue says that both criminals neighboring Scott are also neighbors of Paula. Among Scott’s neighbors, the only person who is not a neighbor of Paula is Paula herself. Since every criminal in Scott’s neighborhood has to be in Paula’s neighborhood, anyone outside Paula’s neighborhood there cannot be criminal. That makes Paula innocent.
04.D1 · Diane → INNOCENT, D5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Paula’s clue says the two criminals in column D must be connected. In column D, Mark is already a known criminal, while Diane, Isaac, Scott, and Xavi are the only other people there. If Diane and Xavi were criminals, then Isaac and Scott would have to make that clue work at the same time, but that is impossible. So Diane and Xavi cannot be criminals. That makes Diane and Xavi innocent.
05.B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Wanda’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Lucy. That means the other 1 criminal among Wanda’s neighbors must be someone who is not a neighbor of Lucy. Among Wanda’s neighbors who are not neighbors of Lucy, the only people are Vince and Xavi, and Xavi is innocent. So that group still needs 1 criminal, and Vince is the only person who can fill it. So Vince must be criminal.
06.A4 · Nicole → INNOCENT
Xavi’s clue makes the row-4 people who are also both Wanda’s neighbors and Lucy’s neighbors into an exact-count group with exactly 1 criminal: Olive, Paula, and Scott. Vince’s clue says row 4 has an odd number of criminals in total, and Paula is already innocent, so that exact-count group already contributes an odd count. Nicole is the only person in row 4 outside that group, so if Nicole were criminal the row would have an even number instead. So Nicole must be innocent.
07.C2 · Henry → CRIMINAL
Paula's clue says the two criminals in column D must be connected, and Nicole's clue says Lucy and Mark have exactly 2 innocent neighbors in common. Their shared neighbors are C2 Henry, D2 Isaac, C4 Paula, and D4 Scott. If Henry were innocent, then with Paula already innocent, the shared-neighbor clue would use up both innocent spots on Henry and Paula. That makes Isaac and Scott criminal. Then column D would have Mark, Isaac, and Scott as criminals, but Paula's clue says there are both criminals in column D, meaning exactly two. That conflict shows Henry cannot be innocent. So Henry at C2 must be criminal.
08.C1 · Celia → CRIMINAL
Henry’s clue says all innocents in column C must be connected in one orthogonally continuous group. In column C, Paula at C4 is already innocent, and Henry at C2 is criminal. If Celia at C1 were innocent, then the innocents in column C would include Celia at C1 and Paula at C4 with Henry’s criminal spot between them, so they could not be one connected block. That contradicts the clue. So Celia must be criminal.
09.A1 · Adam → CRIMINAL
Celia’s clue says that no singer can have an innocent directly to the left. Barb is a singer, and Adam is directly to her left. Since the clue allows zero such singers, Adam cannot be innocent, because that would make Barb a singer with an innocent directly to the left. So Adam must be criminal.
10.A2 · Ethan → CRIMINAL
If Ethan were innocent, then column A would have 3 innocents. Adam’s clue says column D has more innocents than any other column, so column D would have to reach at least 4 innocents. Column D already has Diane and Xavi as innocents, so that would make Isaac and Scott innocent too. But then column D would be Diane innocent, Isaac innocent, Mark criminal, Scott innocent, and Xavi innocent, leaving only one criminal there. Paula’s clue says both criminals in column D are connected, so column D must have exactly 2 criminals, not 1. That contradiction means Ethan cannot be innocent. So Ethan must be criminal.
11.B1 · Barb → INNOCENT
Ethan's clue says there are exactly 2 innocent singers. Among the singers, Diane is already known to be innocent, so the singers still need exactly 1 more innocent. The only singer whose identity is still unknown is Barb, so she has to be that remaining innocent singer. So Barb must be innocent.
12.B2 · Gus → CRIMINAL
Barb’s clue says that the only innocent person above Vince is also below Gus. Among the people above Vince, the people not below Gus are Barb and Gus. There is already one known innocent above Vince, and anyone above Vince who is innocent has to be below Gus, so nobody outside that below-Gus group can be innocent. That makes Gus criminal.
13.C3 · Lucy → CRIMINAL
Gus says there are more criminals than innocents in between Celia and Wanda. In that group, that means there must be at least 2 criminals and at most 1 innocent. But the people strictly between Celia and Wanda already include 1 known innocent, Paula, and the only person there whose status is not fixed yet is Lucy. So Lucy cannot be innocent and must be criminal.
14.B3 · Karen → INNOCENT
Terry’s clue says Mark is one of exactly 3 criminals in row 3. In row 3, Julie, Lucy, and Mark are already the 3 known criminals, and Karen is the only other person there. That leaves no room for Karen to also be a criminal. So Karen must be innocent.
15.C5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Scott’s neighbors already have exactly two known criminals: Lucy and Mark. Julie’s clue says both criminals neighboring Scott are Paula’s neighbors, and Lucy and Mark are exactly those two criminals. The only unknown among Scott’s neighbors is Wanda, so she cannot also be a criminal neighbor of Scott. So Wanda must be innocent.
16.B4 · Olive → CRIMINAL
Barb’s clue says the only innocent above Vince is below Gus. Among the people above Vince, Barb and Karen are already known innocents, and Olive is the only unknown there. If Olive were innocent too, there would be more than one innocent above Vince, which clashes with “the only innocent above Vince.” So Olive at B4 must be criminal.
17.D4 · Scott → INNOCENT
Wanda’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals in total, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Lucy. Among the people who are neighbors of both Wanda and Lucy, Olive is already a known criminal, while Paula is innocent and Scott is the only unknown. Since that shared group already has its 1 criminal, Scott cannot be criminal. So Scott must be innocent.
18.D2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Paula’s clue says the two criminals in column D are connected. In column D, Mark is already a criminal, while Diane, Scott, and Xavi are innocent, so the only other person in that column who can be the second criminal is Isaac. That also puts the two criminals together in the column. So Isaac must be criminal.