Clues by Sam Sep 03, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
🤡
clown
B1
👨🎨
painter
C1
👩🎨
painter
D1
👨🎨
painter
A2
👨🔧
mech
B2
👨🔧
mech
C2
👮♂️
cop
D2
👨⚕️
doctor
A3
👨🔧
mech
B3
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C3
👮♂️
cop
D3
👩💻
coder
A4
👮♂️
cop
B4
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C4
👨💻
coder
D4
👩💻
coder
A5
👩⚕️
doctor
B5
👷♀️
builder
C5
👷♀️
builder
D5
👷♀️
builder
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 — 7 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Sep 03, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 7 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Amy (A1), Jason (C2), Klay (D2), Nick (C3), Paul (A4), Raul (B4) and Uma (A5); the remaining 13 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C5 · Xia → INNOCENT, C2 · Jason → CRIMINAL
Steve’s clue says that the two criminals in column C must be connected. In column C, the people involved are Emily, Jason, Nick, Steve, and Xia, and Steve is already innocent. If Xia were criminal while Jason were innocent, then Emily and Nick would be the remaining people who would have to make Steve’s clue work, and that cannot be done. So Xia and Jason cannot have those opposite identities. This leaves Xia as innocent and Jason as criminal.
02.A4 · Paul → CRIMINAL
Jason’s clue says that among the row 3 people who neighbor Maria, exactly 1 is innocent, and that group is Logan and Nick. Xia’s clue implies that among Raul’s neighbors who also neighbor Maria, exactly 2 are innocent, and that larger group is Logan, Nick, Paul, and Steve. Since Steve is already innocent, the one innocent among Logan and Nick plus Steve already makes the full 2 innocents allowed in that larger group. That leaves Paul unable to be innocent. So Paul must be criminal.
03.D3 · Olive → INNOCENT, D1 · Frank → INNOCENT
Klay’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 3 innocents, and among those neighbors there are currently no known innocents, only Emily, Frank, Nick, and Olive still unknown. If Emily and Nick were both innocent, then column C would be Emily innocent, Jason criminal, Nick innocent, Steve innocent, and Xia innocent. That would leave Jason as the only criminal in column C, which cannot fit Steve’s clue that both criminals in column C are connected. So Emily and Nick cannot both be innocent. Since Klay still needs exactly 3 innocent neighbors, the three innocents cannot come from Emily, Frank, Nick, and Olive by using both Emily and Nick, so Frank and Olive have to supply two of those innocent spots. That makes Olive and Frank innocent.
04.A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Column A and column C each currently have 1 known criminal, but column A must end up with more criminals than column C. Also, among the people above Uma, exactly 2 must be innocent, and those possible innocents are Amy, Hal, and Logan. If Uma were innocent, then Amy, Hal, Logan, Emily, and Nick would have to make all of those facts true at the same time, including the rule that the exactly 2 criminals in column C are connected. That combination cannot be satisfied. So Uma must be criminal.
05.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT, B3 · Maria → INNOCENT
Raul’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total, and exactly 2 of those criminals are neighbors of Maria. Among Raul’s neighbors who are not neighbors of Maria, the people are Maria, Uma, Wanda, and Xia, and that group already contains 1 known criminal: Uma. Since there must be exactly 1 criminal in that non-neighboring group, the other unknown people there cannot be criminals. So Wanda and Maria must be innocent.
06.B1 · Danny → INNOCENT
Ivan has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and one of them is already Jason, so among Amy, Danny, Emily, Hal, Logan, and Nick there must be exactly 2 more criminals. Those 2 must come from Amy, Emily, Hal, Logan, and Nick, which leaves no place for Danny to be one of them. So Danny must be innocent.
07.A2 · Hal → INNOCENT
Ivan has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and one of those is already Jason. That leaves exactly 2 more criminals among Ivan's remaining unknown neighbors. Uma says there are exactly 2 innocents to the left of Frank, and Danny is already one of them, so exactly one of Amy and Emily is innocent and the other is criminal. With Amy and Emily accounting for one criminal, the other needed criminal must come from Logan or Nick. That uses up the 2 extra criminal spots, so Hal cannot be one of them. So Hal must be innocent.
08.D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
If Zara were criminal, then row 5 would already have 2 criminals. Hal says row 2 has more criminals than row 5, so row 2 would have to reach more than 2 criminals; with Jason already criminal, that makes Ivan and Klay criminals too. But Maria says exactly 1 innocent in row 2 is neighboring Emily, and that shared group is Ivan, Jason, and Klay. If Ivan and Klay were both criminal as well, then Ivan, Jason, and Klay would all be criminals, leaving 0 innocents there instead of exactly 1. So the assumption fails, and Zara must be innocent.
09.B4 · Raul → CRIMINAL
Zara’s clue says Nick has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also a neighbor of Wanda. Among the people who are both Nick’s neighbors and Wanda’s neighbors, Steve is already innocent, so that shared group still needs 1 criminal. The only unknown person left in that shared group is Raul. So Raul must be criminal.
10.B2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Danny’s neighbors must contain an odd number of innocents. Since Hal is already a known innocent there, the remaining neighbors of Danny must add an even number of innocents. Uma’s clue says the people to the left of Frank contain exactly 2 innocents. Danny is already one of those, so among Amy and Emily there must be exactly 1 more innocent. Amy and Emily are also Danny’s neighboring unknowns, so they contribute exactly 1 innocent to Danny’s neighbors. To make the total number of innocents around Danny stay odd, Ivan has to be the other added innocent. So Ivan must be innocent.
11.D4 · Tina → INNOCENT
Row 2 has to contain more criminals than row 5. Right now both rows have 1 known criminal, and row 5 has no unknown people left, so the only way for row 2 to have more is for Klay to be a criminal. Nick’s neighbors must contain exactly 3 criminals in total. With Jason and Raul already criminal, Klay as criminal makes those 3 criminals Jason, Klay, and Raul. Among Nick’s neighboring criminals, exactly 1 is also Wanda’s neighbor, and the relevant people there are Raul and Steve; since Raul is criminal and Steve is innocent, that one criminal is already Raul. So Tina cannot also be a criminal neighbor of Nick. That makes Tina innocent.
12.D2 · Klay → CRIMINAL
Hal’s clue says row 2 has more criminals than row 5. Row 5 already has 1 criminal, and row 2 also currently has 1 known criminal. Since Klay is the only unknown person left in row 2, row 2 can have more criminals than row 5 only if Klay is another criminal. So Klay must be criminal.
13.A3 · Logan → INNOCENT
Klay’s clue says the people below Amy contain exactly 2 criminals. That group already has 2 known criminals in it, so the required criminal total is fully used up. The only person there whose identity was still unknown is Logan, so Logan cannot be a criminal. So Logan must be innocent.
14.C3 · Nick → CRIMINAL
Xia’s clue says Raul has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 2 of those criminals also neighbor Maria. In the group of Raul’s neighbors who also neighbor Maria, A4 Paul is already a known criminal, while A3 Logan and C4 Steve are innocent. That group therefore still needs 1 more criminal, and the only unknown person left in it is C3 Nick. So Nick must be criminal.
15.C1 · Emily → INNOCENT
Steve’s clue says the two criminals in column C are connected. In column C, Jason and Nick are already the two known criminals, while Steve and Xia are innocent and Emily is the only unknown person there. Since the clue is about both criminals in that column, Jason and Nick are the pair it refers to, so Emily cannot also be a criminal. So Emily must be innocent.
16.A1 · Amy → CRIMINAL
Olive’s clue says column A has more criminals than column C. Column C already has 2 criminals, and column A currently also has 2 known criminals, with Amy as the only unknown person in column A. So column A can be higher than column C only if Amy is a criminal. That makes Amy criminal.