Clues by Sam Sep 05, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
💂♂️
guard
B1
👨🌾
farmer
C1
👨✈️
pilot
D1
🕵️♀️
sleuth
A2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B2
👩🍳
cook
C2
👨✈️
pilot
D2
👩🌾
farmer
A3
👨⚕️
doctor
B3
👩🍳
cook
C3
👨⚕️
doctor
D3
👩⚕️
doctor
A4
👩🏫
teacher
B4
👷♀️
builder
C4
👷♂️
builder
D4
💂♂️
guard
A5
👩🏫
teacher
B5
👩🍳
cook
C5
👷♂️
builder
D5
💂♀️
guard
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 — 5 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Sep 05, 2026 — a Hard solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 5 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Aaron (A1), Chris (C1), Donna (D1), Vera (A5) and Zara (D5); the remaining 15 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C4 · Steve → INNOCENT, B3 · Janet → INNOCENT
Flora's clue says that exactly 2 innocent people are common neighbors of Nick and Ruby. That shared group is only Janet and Steve. Since those 2 innocent spots in the shared group still have to be filled, and Janet and Steve are the only people there, both of them have to be innocent. So Janet and Steve must be innocent.
02.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT, D5 · Zara → CRIMINAL
Row 5 has exactly two innocents, and those two must be connected. Paula’s clue also says exactly two of these edge neighbors of Paula are innocent: Isaac, Vera, and Wanda. Now test the opposite of the target: suppose Wanda were criminal and Zara were innocent. Then the remaining people involved in these clues, Isaac, Vera, and Xavi, would have to satisfy both requirements at the same time, but they cannot do that. That opposite assignment makes the row 5 requirement and Paula’s neighbor requirement clash. So Wanda must be innocent and Zara must be criminal.
03.A4 · Paula → INNOCENT
If Paula were criminal, then Wanda’s clue would still need exactly two innocent neighbors on the edge, so the two row 5 neighbors of Wanda, Vera and Xavi, would have to supply those two innocents. Steve’s clue says both innocents in row 5 are connected, and with Wanda already innocent and Zara criminal, that makes Vera innocent and Xavi innocent in row 5. But then Wanda would have three innocent neighbors, not two: Steve, Vera, and Xavi. So Paula at A4 must be innocent.
04.A2 · Eric → INNOCENT
Janet’s clue says exactly 2 innocents are in the people who are both edge cells and Paula’s neighbors. That shared group is Isaac, Vera, and Wanda, and Wanda is already innocent, so Isaac and Vera have to account for the rest of that requirement. Paula’s clue says the people below Aaron contain an odd number of criminals. Below Aaron, the unknown people are Eric, Isaac, and Vera, with Paula already innocent. If Eric were criminal, then Isaac and Vera would still have to satisfy both clues at the same time, and that cannot be done. So Eric cannot be criminal. Eric at A2 must be innocent.
05.A1 · Aaron → CRIMINAL
Paula’s clue says exactly 2 innocents are in the overlap of edge cells and Paula’s neighbors. That group is Isaac, Vera, and Wanda, and Wanda is already innocent, so among Isaac and Vera there must be exactly 1 innocent. Eric’s clue says column A has an odd number of innocents. Column A already has 2 known innocents, Paula and Eric. If Aaron were innocent too, then Isaac and Vera would have to add an even number of innocents to keep the total in column A odd. But Isaac and Vera cannot add an even number here, because from Paula’s clue exactly 1 of Isaac and Vera is innocent. That clashes with Aaron being innocent, so Aaron cannot be innocent. So Aaron must be criminal.
06.C2 · Gus → INNOCENT
Aaron’s clue says that Gus is one of Hope’s three innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Gus as innocent. So Gus must be innocent.
07.A3 · Isaac → INNOCENT
If Isaac were criminal, then row 3 would need three innocents, and with Janet already innocent that makes Nick and Olivia innocent too. Hope’s clue says Gus is one of exactly three innocent neighbors of Hope, so with Gus, Nick, and Olivia as innocents among Hope’s neighbors, Chris cannot also be innocent; Chris must be criminal. That leaves Hope’s edge-neighbor set with Chris criminal, Gus innocent, Nick innocent, and Olivia innocent, so Donna must be criminal as well. But then Wanda’s edge clue conflicts with the edge counts it requires. So Isaac must be innocent.
08.A5 · Vera → CRIMINAL
Janet’s clue says exactly 2 of the people who are both edge cells and Paula’s neighbors are innocent. That shared group is Isaac, Vera, and Wanda. Isaac and Wanda are already known to be innocent, so the clue’s total of 2 innocents is already filled. That means Vera cannot also be innocent. So Vera must be criminal.
09.C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Steve’s clue says the two innocents in row 5 are connected. In row 5, Vera is criminal, Wanda is innocent, Xavi is unknown, and Zara is criminal. Since Wanda is already one of the two innocents, the only person who can be the second innocent in that row is Xavi, and that also lets the two innocents be connected. So Xavi must be innocent.
10.D4 · Tyler → INNOCENT
The edge cells must contain exactly 9 innocents, so with 14 edge cells total there are exactly 5 criminals on the edge. Three edge criminals are already known: Aaron, Vera, and Zara. That leaves exactly 2 more edge criminals to be found among Bruce, Chris, Donna, Hope, Olivia, and Tyler. Isaac's clue says an odd number of edge innocents neighbor Gus. The five edge people who neighbor Gus are Bruce, Chris, Donna, Hope, and Olivia, while Tyler is an edge person who does not neighbor Gus. So the two remaining edge criminals have to come from Bruce, Chris, Donna, Hope, and Olivia, not from Tyler. That makes Tyler innocent.
11.D3 · Olivia → INNOCENT
Wanda says there are exactly 9 innocents on the edge. Since 6 edge people are already known to be innocent, the 5 unknown edge people must contain exactly 3 innocents and therefore exactly 2 criminals. Tyler says all innocents in column D are connected. In column D, Tyler at D4 is innocent and Zara at D5 is criminal, so an innocent at D3 would connect upward innocents to Tyler, while a criminal at D3 would break that connection and leave any innocent above separated from Tyler. That means the 2 edge criminals must come from B1 Bruce, C1 Chris, D1 Donna, and D2 Hope, not from D3. So Olivia must be innocent.
12.C1 · Chris → CRIMINAL
Chris is the only edge-cell person who is not among Chris's neighbors. Chris's clue says his neighbors contain exactly 4 innocents, and with Flora and Gus already innocent, that means Bruce, Donna, and Hope must provide the other 2 innocents there. Wanda's clue says there are exactly 9 innocents on the edges, and the edge cells already have 7 known innocents, so only 2 more edge innocents can come from the unknown edge people. Those 2 are already accounted for by Bruce, Donna, and Hope, so Chris cannot be innocent. So Chris must be criminal.
13.D2 · Hope → INNOCENT
Wanda says there are exactly 9 innocents on the edge, and exactly 2 of those edge innocents are her neighbors. On the edge, 7 people are already known innocent, and among Wanda's edge neighbors the only innocents are Paula and Xavi, so if Hope were criminal then the remaining edge unknowns would have to be Bruce and Donna as innocents to bring the edge total up to 9 without adding another innocent neighbor of Wanda. That would make the innocents in column D be Donna, Olivia, and Tyler, with Hope and Zara criminal. But Tyler says all innocents in column D are connected, and Donna would be separated from Olivia and Tyler by Hope at D2. So Hope at D2 must be innocent.
14.B4 · Ruby → INNOCENT
Chris and Wanda must have the same number of innocent neighbors, and right now each of them has 3 known innocent neighbors. If Ruby were criminal, Wanda would stay at 3 innocent neighbors, so Chris would also have to stay at 3, which means neither Bruce nor Donna could be innocent. But the edge cells must contain exactly 9 innocents in total, and there are already 8 known edge innocents. So one of the two unknown edge people, Bruce or Donna, has to be innocent. That clashes with both of them being criminal, so Ruby cannot be criminal. Therefore Ruby must be innocent.
15.C3 · Nick → INNOCENT
Ruby’s clue says Tyler and Chris have the same number of innocent neighbors. Tyler’s neighbors already have 3 known innocents, and Chris’s neighbors also already have 3 known innocents. If Nick were criminal, Tyler’s neighbor total would stay at 3 innocents, so Chris’s neighbors would also have to stay at 3. Chris’s unknown neighbors are Bruce and Donna, so that would make both Bruce and Donna criminals. But Wanda’s clue says there are exactly 9 innocents on the edge, and there are already 8 known edge innocents. So among Bruce and Donna, one of them must be innocent, not both criminal. That contradiction means Nick cannot be criminal. So Nick must be innocent.
16.D1 · Donna → CRIMINAL
Aaron’s clue says Gus is one of Hope’s exactly 3 innocent neighbors. Hope’s neighbors are Chris, Donna, Gus, Nick, and Olivia, and among them Gus, Nick, and Olivia are already innocent. That fills all 3 innocent neighbor spots, so Donna cannot be innocent. So Donna must be criminal.
17.B1 · Bruce → INNOCENT
Vera's clue says Chris's neighbors contain exactly 4 innocents. Chris's neighbors already include 3 known innocents, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Bruce. That means the one remaining innocent in Chris's neighborhood has to be Bruce. So Bruce must be innocent.