Clues by Sam Oct 08, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👩💻
coder
B1
👮♂️
cop
C1
👨🎤
singer
D1
😬
duck
A2
😬
duck
B2
👩🍳
cook
C2
😬
duck
D2
😬
duck
A3
😬
duck
B3
😬
duck
C3
👷♂️
builder
D3
😬
duck
A4
👩🔧
mech
B4
👩💼
clerk
C4
👨💼
clerk
D4
👨🔧
mech
A5
😬
duck
B5
👩💼
clerk
C5
😬
duck
D5
👨⚕️
doctor
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 — 15 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Oct 08, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 15 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Amy (A1), Brian (B1), Emily (D1), Gary (A2), Hilda (B2), Julie (D2), Kay (A3), Noah (C3), Peter (D3), Quita (A4), Rose (B4), Salil (C4), Terry (D4), Vera (B5) and Wally (C5); the remaining 5 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.B5 · Vera → CRIMINAL
Zach’s clue says that the two criminals in row 5 must be connected. If Vera were innocent, then with Zach already innocent, the two criminals in row 5 would have to be Uma and Wally. But then the two criminals in row 5 would be separated by Vera, so they would not be connected. That contradiction means Vera cannot be innocent, so Vera must be criminal.
02.C4 · Salil → CRIMINAL
Vera's clue says Salil is one of Peter's 4 criminal neighbors. That directly places Salil among the neighbors of Peter who are criminal. So Salil must be criminal.
03.C3 · Noah → CRIMINAL
Peter has exactly four criminal neighbors, and Salil is one of them. If Noah were innocent, then among Peter's neighbors only Ike, Julie, and Terry could join Salil to make those four criminals, so Ike, Julie, and Terry would all have to be criminals. But then column C would have Ike at C2 and Salil at C4 as criminals with Noah at C3 innocent between them. That breaks the clue that all criminals in column C are connected. So Noah at C3 must be criminal.
04.A4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Zach’s clue says row 5 has exactly two criminals, and they must be connected. In row 5, Vera is already a criminal and Zach is innocent, so the only possible second criminal in that row is either Uma or Wally. Noah’s clue says an odd number of the edge-cell neighbors of Vera are innocent, and those people are exactly Quita, Uma, and Wally. If Quita were innocent, then Quita, Uma, and Wally would all have to satisfy that odd-innocent requirement at the same time as the row 5 connected-criminal requirement, but Uma and Wally cannot do both in any way that fits. So Quita at A4 must be criminal.
05.C1 · Donald → INNOCENT
If Donald at C1 were criminal, then column C would have criminals at C1, C3, and C4. Salil’s clue says all criminals in column C must be connected, so Ike at C2 would also have to be criminal to join Donald to Noah and Salil in one continuous block. That clashes with the requirement that column C has exactly 2 innocents. So Donald at C1 must be innocent.
06.B2 · Hilda → CRIMINAL
Donald’s clue says that Hilda is one of Ike’s six criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Hilda as one of the criminals in that neighbor group. So Hilda must be criminal.
07.B1 · Brian → CRIMINAL
Hilda's clue says Brian is one of Gary's exactly four criminal neighbors. That identifies Brian directly as a criminal, not just as one of Gary's neighbors. So Brian must be criminal.
08.A1 · Amy → CRIMINAL
The clue says there are exactly 2 criminals in the corners, and exactly 1 of those corner criminals is Gary's neighbor. Among the corner cells, the only person who is also Gary's neighbor is Amy at A1. That means the one corner criminal who is Gary's neighbor has to be Amy. So Amy must be criminal.
09.B4 · Rose → CRIMINAL
Row 5 has to contain exactly two criminals, and they must be connected. Since Vera is already the known criminal in row 5, the only possible connected pairs are Uma with Vera or Vera with Wally, so exactly one of Uma and Wally must be innocent. Vera’s neighbors must contain an odd number of innocents. Among those neighbors, Quita and Salil are already known criminals, so in the overlap with row 5 the innocent count is exactly the one innocent forced among Uma and Wally. That already makes the number of innocents neighboring Vera odd, so Rose cannot also be innocent. So Rose must be criminal.
10.B3 · Linda → INNOCENT
Hilda has exactly 3 innocent neighbors, and among her neighbors Amy, Brian, and Noah are already criminals while Donald is already innocent. That means the four unknown neighbors A2 Gary, C2 Ike, A3 Kay, and B3 Linda must contain exactly 3 innocents, so exactly 1 of them is criminal. From the identified group in this step, the criminal places among those neighbors are accounted for by Gary, Ike, and Kay, so Linda cannot be one of the criminal neighbors. So Linda must be innocent.
11.A3 · Kay → CRIMINAL
Hilda’s clue says Brian is one of Gary’s exactly 4 criminal neighbors. Gary’s neighbors are Amy, Brian, Hilda, Kay, and Linda, and among them Amy, Brian, and Hilda are already criminals while Linda is innocent. That gives Gary only 3 known criminal neighbors so far, so the only remaining neighbor, Kay, has to supply the fourth. So Kay must be criminal.
12.D3 · Peter → CRIMINAL, D1 · Emily → CRIMINAL, D2 · Julie → CRIMINAL
Donald’s clue says Hilda is one of Ike’s exactly 6 criminal neighbors. Among Ike’s neighbors, Brian, Hilda, and Noah are already known criminals, while Donald and Linda are known innocents, so the only neighbors not yet identified there are Emily, Julie, and Peter. Since Ike must have 6 criminal neighbors in total and 3 of them are already accounted for, those three remaining neighbors have to supply the other 3 criminals. So Emily, Julie, and Peter must be criminal.
13.A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
The corner cells contain exactly two criminals in total. Of those two criminals, exactly one is Gary's neighbor, and that one is Amy. That means the other corner criminal is already Emily, since she is in a corner and is not Gary's neighbor, while Zach is already innocent. So among the remaining corner people who are not Gary's neighbor, there is no criminal spot left for Uma. So Uma must be innocent.
14.C5 · Wally → CRIMINAL
Zach’s clue says the two criminals in row 5 are connected. In row 5, Uma is innocent, Vera is criminal, Zach is innocent, and only Wally is not yet identified. Since there must be exactly two criminals there, and Vera is already one of them, Wally has to be the second criminal so the two criminals in that row are Vera and Wally. So Wally must be criminal.
15.C2 · Ike → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says column C is the only column with exactly 2 innocents. In column C, Donald is already innocent, Noah, Salil, and Wally are already criminals, and the only person left there is Ike. So the second innocent required in column C has to be Ike. That makes Ike innocent.
16.D4 · Terry → CRIMINAL
Vera’s clue says that Salil is one of Peter’s 4 criminal neighbors, so Peter’s neighbors must contain exactly 4 criminals. Among Peter’s neighbors, Ike is innocent, Julie, Noah, and Salil are already criminal, and Terry is the only one there whose identity is not yet known. That means Terry has to be the fourth criminal neighbor. So Terry must be criminal.
17.A2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
Quita’s clue says column C is the only column with exactly 2 innocents. Column A already has 1 known innocent, and Gary at A2 is the only person in that column not yet identified. If Gary were innocent, then column A would also have exactly 2 innocents, which the clue forbids. So Gary must be criminal.