Clues by Sam Oct 09, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👩💻
coder
B1
👩💻
coder
C1
👨💻
coder
D1
👩🍳
cook
A2
😬
dancer
B2
👨💼
clerk
C2
👩💼
clerk
D2
👨🍳
cook
A3
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B3
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C3
💂♂️
guard
D3
👩🔬
scientist
A4
👩🎤
singer
B4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C4
💂♀️
guard
D4
👨🔬
scientist
A5
👩🎤
singer
B5
👩🎨
painter
C5
👨🎨
painter
D5
👨🔬
scientist
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 Oct 09, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 18 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 5 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Anna (A1), Carl (C1), Helen (C2), Olivia (B4) and Vicky (A5); the remaining 15 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Bunty’s clue says that Isaac is one of the exactly 11 innocents on the edges. That directly identifies Isaac as an innocent. So Isaac must be innocent.
02.A3 · Jason → INNOCENT
Isaac's clue directly says that Jason is one of the exactly 3 innocents in column A. Since Jason is explicitly included among those innocents, Jason at A3 must be innocent.
03.A1 · Anna → CRIMINAL
Column A has exactly 3 innocents, so the whole column must contain exactly 2 criminals. The people below Anna are Erwin, Jason, Nicole, and Vicky, and Jason says that group contains an odd number of criminals. An odd number there could only be 1 or 3. But it cannot be 3, because then those people below Anna would already use more criminals than column A is allowed to have in total. So the only criminal count below Anna is 1, which means the other criminal in column A has to be Anna. So Anna must be criminal.
04.D3 · Mary → INNOCENT
Bunty’s clue says there are exactly 11 innocents on the edge, so with 14 edge cells that means exactly 2 edge people are criminals. One of those edge criminals is already Anna, so the other 2 edge criminals must be chosen from Carl, Diane, Erwin, Nicole, Shaun, Vicky, Wanda, Xavi, and Zach. That leaves Mary out of the edge criminals entirely. So Mary must be innocent.
05.D4 · Shaun → INNOCENT
Bunty says there are exactly 11 innocents on the edge, so with 14 edge cells total there must be exactly 2 criminals on the edge. Anna is already one of those edge criminals, which means the other 2 edge criminals mentioned in this step must come from Carl, Diane, Erwin, Nicole, Vicky, Wanda, Xavi, and Zach. Shaun is not in that group, so he cannot be one of the edge criminals. That makes Shaun innocent.
06.C5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Shaun’s clue says that Xavi is one of Quita’s 7 innocent neighbors. Since the clue directly names Xavi as one of those innocent neighbors, Xavi must be innocent.
07.C3 · Logan → INNOCENT
Shaun says Quita has exactly 7 innocent neighbors, and among Quita's neighbors we already know Mary, Shaun, and Xavi are innocent. If Logan were criminal, then Quita's other five neighbors would all have to be innocent to reach 7, so Keith, Olivia, Wanda, and Zach would be innocent as well. That would make both painters innocent, since Xavi is already innocent and Wanda would also be innocent. But Mary's clue says the number of innocent guards equals the number of innocent painters, and with Logan criminal there would still be no known innocent guard while there would be 2 innocent painters. So Logan at C3 must be innocent.
08.A4 · Nicole → INNOCENT
Logan says row 2 has exactly one criminal, and in this step the row 2 people being considered are Erwin, Frank, and Helen. Xavi’s clue says that among Keith’s neighbors who are not to the right of Nicole, there is exactly one criminal; that group is Erwin, Frank, Helen, Jason, Logan, and Nicole. Since Jason and Logan are already innocent, that one criminal in the larger group has to be the same one coming from Erwin, Frank, and Helen. That leaves no room for Nicole to be a criminal. So Nicole must be innocent.
09.D5 · Zach → INNOCENT, B3 · Keith → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says her neighbors include exactly 7 innocents, and among her neighbors there are already 4 known innocents, so there is room for exactly 1 criminal among the 4 unknown neighbors: Keith, Olivia, Wanda, and Zach. From the other clue counts used here, that one criminal in Quita’s neighbor group must be either Olivia or Wanda. That means Keith and Zach cannot be the criminal in Quita’s neighbor group. So Keith and Zach must be innocent.
10.B2 · Frank → INNOCENT
If Frank were criminal, then Helen’s neighbors would still need exactly 7 innocents. Those neighbors already include 5 known innocents, so Carl and Diane would both have to be innocent to bring that total to 7. But then row 1 would have only Anna as a criminal, so row 1 would have 1 criminal. With Frank assumed criminal, row 2 would also have 1 criminal, and that clashes with Nicole’s clue that row 1 has more criminals than row 2. So Frank at B2 must be innocent.
11.C2 · Helen → CRIMINAL
Helen’s clue says her neighbors include exactly one more innocent among Carl and Diane. Isaac’s clue says his neighbors must include exactly three innocents total, and Logan and Mary already account for two of those three, so only one of Carl, Diane, and Helen can be innocent there. That one allowed innocent in Isaac’s group is already the same one that must come from Carl or Diane for Helen’s clue. Since Helen is the only extra person in Isaac’s group beyond Carl and Diane, she cannot be innocent. So Helen must be criminal.
12.A2 · Erwin → INNOCENT
Keith’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals in total. The clue also says exactly 1 of those criminals is to the right of Nicole, and the only Keith-neighbors there are Olivia and Quita. That means the other criminal among Keith’s neighbors must come from the people not to the right of Nicole, where Helen is already the 1 known criminal. So Erwin cannot be a criminal. That makes Erwin innocent.
13.A5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Isaac’s clue says Jason is one of exactly 3 innocents in column A. In column A, the three innocents are already Erwin, Jason, and Nicole, while Anna is criminal and Vicky is the only person there not yet identified. That means the full set of 3 innocents in column A is already accounted for, so Vicky cannot be innocent. So Vicky must be criminal.
14.D1 · Diane → INNOCENT
Helen’s clue says there are more innocent cooks than innocent singers. Right now there is 1 known innocent cook and 1 known innocent singer. Since there are no unknown singers, the singer total cannot go above 1, so the cooks can only have more innocent people if Diane is also innocent. So Diane must be innocent.
15.C1 · Carl → CRIMINAL
Isaac’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 3 innocents. Among Isaac’s neighbors, there are already 3 known innocents, and the only neighbor there whose identity is still unknown is Carl. Since all 3 innocent spots are already accounted for, Carl cannot be innocent. So Carl must be criminal.
16.B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Bunty’s clue says Isaac is one of exactly 11 innocents on the edge. Among the edge cells, 10 people are already known to be innocent, and the only edge person not yet identified is Wanda at B5. To reach the required total of 11 edge innocents, Wanda has to be the last innocent on the edge. So Wanda must be innocent.
17.C4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Mary’s clue says the number of innocent guards equals the number of innocent painters. The painters already have two innocents, Wanda and Xavi, while the guards currently have only one known innocent, Logan. The only guard not yet identified is Quita, so she has to supply the second innocent guard. So Quita must be innocent.
18.B4 · Olivia → CRIMINAL
Keith’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals in total, and exactly 1 of those criminals is to the right of Nicole. Among Keith’s neighbors who are to the right of Nicole, Quita is innocent, so that group still needs 1 criminal. The only unknown person left in that group is Olivia. So Olivia must be criminal.