Clues by Sam Sep 09, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨⚕️
doctor
B1
👩⚖️
judge
C1
👨🍳
cook
D1
👩🍳
cook
A2
👨⚕️
doctor
B2
👨🏫
teacher
C2
👷♂️
builder
D2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A3
👩🏫
teacher
B3
👨🌾
farmer
C3
👩🌾
farmer
D3
👩🎤
singer
A4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B4
👨🎤
singer
C4
👨💻
coder
D4
👩💻
coder
A5
👩⚖️
judge
B5
👨🎤
singer
C5
👩💻
coder
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 — 10 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Sep 09, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 18 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 10 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Chad (C1), Frank (A2), Gus (B2), Isaac (D2), Keith (B3), Laura (C3), Maria (D3), Oscar (B4), Terry (B5) and Wanda (D5); the remaining 10 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.B2 · Gus → CRIMINAL, C3 · Laura → CRIMINAL
Adam’s clue says there are no innocents among the people who are neighbors of both Henry and Keith. That shared group is just Gus and Laura, and there are already 0 known innocents in it. So Gus and Laura cannot be innocent. That makes Gus and Laura criminal.
02.B3 · Keith → CRIMINAL
If Keith were innocent, then Jane would already have her one innocent neighbor, because Jane's neighbors must contain exactly one innocent. That would force Frank, Nancy, and then Oscar to be criminals, since each of them is still among Jane's unknown neighbors and no second innocent neighbor is allowed. But then the people below Barb would include Gus as a criminal, Keith as innocent, and Oscar as a criminal. Laura's clue says all criminals below Barb are connected, and Gus at B2 and Oscar at B4 would be separated by innocent Keith at B3, so they would not form one connected block. So Keith at B3 must be criminal.
03.A3 · Jane → INNOCENT
Keith’s clue says Nancy has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 3. Among Nancy’s neighbors who are in row 3, the only people are Jane and Keith. Keith is already a criminal, so that row-3 part still needs 1 innocent and Jane is the only possible person left to fill it. So Jane must be innocent.
04.C5 · Vicky → INNOCENT
Jane’s clue says that Vicky is one of the exactly 2 innocents in row 5. That directly identifies Vicky’s status from the clue itself, without needing any other people in the row. So Vicky must be innocent.
05.B4 · Oscar → CRIMINAL
Nancy has exactly two innocent neighbors, and exactly one of those innocents is in row 3. Since Jane is already an innocent neighbor of Nancy in row 3, if Oscar were innocent, then the second innocent neighbor could not be B5 Terry, so Sue would have to be criminal and Terry would also have to be criminal. But then the people below Barb would include Gus and Keith as criminals, Oscar as innocent, and Terry as criminal. That breaks Laura's clue that all criminals below Barb are connected, because Oscar would split the criminals in that column. So Oscar at B4 must be criminal.
06.D5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Keith’s clue means Nancy’s neighbors contain exactly two innocents, and exactly one of those is in row 3. Jane is already the one innocent neighbor in row 3, so the other innocent neighbor must come from Sue or Terry. That gives row 5 exactly one innocent among Sue and Terry. Jane’s clue says row 5 has exactly two innocents in total, and Vicky is one of them. So the second row 5 innocent is already accounted for by Sue or Terry, alongside Vicky. That leaves Wanda unable to be innocent, so Wanda must be criminal.
07.C4 · Phil → INNOCENT
Vicky’s clue says her neighbors contain an odd number of criminals. Right now those neighbors already include 2 known criminals, and the unknown neighbors are Phil, Ruby, and Terry. If Phil were criminal, then Ruby and Terry would still have to fit both Vicky’s odd-neighbor clue and Wanda’s singer clue at the same time, together with Maria above Ruby and Oscar above Terry. That combination cannot be made to work. So Phil cannot be criminal. That makes Phil innocent.
08.B1 · Barb → INNOCENT
If Barb were criminal, then Frank would already have 3 criminal neighbors: Barb, Gus, and Keith. Phil says Vicky has more criminal neighbors than Frank, so Vicky would need more than 3 criminal neighbors. Vicky already has 2 known criminal neighbors, Oscar and Wanda. To get above 3, Ruby would have to be criminal, and then Terry would also have to be criminal, leaving Vicky with 4 criminal neighbors in total. But Vicky says she has an odd number of criminal neighbors, and 4 is even. So Barb at B1 must be innocent.
09.A4 · Nancy → INNOCENT
Nancy’s clue fixes her neighbor group at exactly 2 innocents total, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 3. Jane is already that one innocent in row 3, so the remaining innocent among Nancy’s neighbors has to come from Sue or Terry. Oscar’s clue says his neighbors contain an odd number of innocents. He already has 3 known innocents there, and the unknown neighbors involved here are Nancy, Sue, and Terry. If Nancy were criminal, then Sue and Terry would be the people left to satisfy both clues at once, but that cannot be done. So Nancy cannot be criminal. So Nancy must be innocent.
10.A2 · Frank → CRIMINAL
Gus says Jane has exactly one innocent neighbor. Jane’s neighbors already include one known innocent, Nancy, and the only neighbor of Jane whose identity is still unknown is Frank. Since that one innocent spot is already used, Frank cannot be innocent. So Frank must be criminal.
11.D2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Frank’s clue says Evie’s neighbors and Adam’s neighbors have the same number of criminals. Adam’s neighbors already have 2 criminals, while Evie’s neighbors have none known, so if Isaac were innocent, Chad and Henry would both have to be criminals to bring Evie’s side up to 2. Nancy’s clue says her neighbors and Barb’s neighbors have the same number of innocents, and each side currently has 1 known innocent. With Chad and Henry then criminal, Barb’s neighbor total would stay at 1 innocent, so Nancy’s neighbors would also have to stay at 1 innocent. But Keith’s clue says Nancy’s neighbors contain exactly 2 innocents in total, with exactly 1 of those innocents in row 3. Jane is already that one row-3 innocent, so one of Sue or Terry would also have to be innocent, giving Nancy’s neighbors a second innocent. That clashes with Nancy’s clue, so Isaac cannot be innocent. So Isaac must be criminal.
12.D3 · Maria → CRIMINAL
Wanda’s clue says exactly one of the three singers has a criminal directly below them. Among those singers, Maria has Ruby directly below and Oscar has Terry directly below, while Terry has nobody below, so the criminal-below condition can only be decided through Ruby and Terry. At the same time, Frank’s clue fixes Evie’s neighbor count of criminal neighbors to match Adam’s, and Isaac’s clue fixes Phil’s innocent-neighbor count to match Barb’s. If Maria were innocent, then Chad, Henry, Ruby, and Terry would have to satisfy those two equal-count clues and Wanda’s singer clue all at once, and they cannot. So Maria must be criminal.
13.B5 · Terry → CRIMINAL
Oscar’s clue says Ruby has more innocent neighbors than Sue. Ruby’s neighbors already have 2 innocents, while Sue’s neighbors currently have 1 innocent, and the only unknown among Sue’s neighbors is Terry. If Terry were innocent, Sue would also have 2 innocent neighbors, so Ruby would not have more than Sue. So Terry must be criminal.
14.A5 · Sue → INNOCENT
Keith’s clue says Nancy has exactly 2 innocent neighbors, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 3. Among Nancy’s neighbors in row 3, Jane is innocent and Keith is criminal, so the one innocent in row 3 is already Jane. That means Nancy’s neighbors outside row 3 must contain exactly 1 innocent. Outside row 3, Nancy’s neighbors are Oscar, Sue, and Terry; Oscar and Terry are criminal, so the only person who can fill that innocent spot is Sue. So Sue must be innocent.
15.D4 · Ruby → INNOCENT
Vicky says her neighbors contain an odd number of criminals. Among those neighbors, there are already 3 known criminals: Oscar, Terry, and Wanda, and the only neighbor not yet identified is Ruby. Since 3 is already odd, making Ruby a criminal would raise that total to 4, which would not fit Vicky's clue. So Ruby must be innocent.
16.C2 · Henry → INNOCENT
Ruby says exactly one cook has an innocent directly below them. Evie cannot be that cook, because the person directly below Evie is Isaac, and Isaac is criminal. Chad is the only other cook mentioned here, and the person directly below Chad is Henry, so for there to be that one cook case, Henry has to be innocent. So Henry must be innocent.
17.C1 · Chad → CRIMINAL
Nancy says she and Barb have the same number of innocent neighbors. Nancy’s neighbors already contain exactly 2 innocents, and Barb’s neighbors also already contain 2 known innocents. Since Chad is the only unknown among Barb’s neighbors, making Chad innocent would give Barb 3 innocent neighbors, which would no longer match Nancy. So Chad must be criminal.
18.D1 · Evie → INNOCENT
Maria’s clue says Isaac and Nancy have the same number of innocent neighbors. Nancy’s neighbors already contain 2 innocents, while Isaac’s neighbors currently contain only 1 known innocent. The only unknown among Isaac’s neighbors is Evie, so she has to supply that second innocent neighbor for Isaac. So Evie must be innocent.