Clues by Sam Oct 13, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👮♀️
cop
B1
👨🎤
singer
C1
👩🏫
teacher
D1
👩✈️
pilot
A2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B2
👮♂️
cop
C2
👮♂️
cop
D2
👩🎨
painter
A3
👨🎤
singer
B3
👨🎨
painter
C3
👩🎤
singer
D3
👨💻
coder
A4
👩🏫
teacher
B4
👩✈️
pilot
C4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
D4
👨💻
coder
A5
👨🎨
painter
B5
👨⚕️
doctor
C5
👩⚕️
doctor
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 13, 2026 — a Medium solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Medium and resolves with 15 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Berat (B1), Cheryl (C1), Diane (D1), Gabe (B2), Isaac (C2), Kay (D2), Mark (B3), Olof (D3), Pam (A4), Ruth (B4), Sofia (C4), Umar (A5), Vince (B5), Xena (C5) and Zoe (D5); the remaining 5 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D3 · Olof → CRIMINAL
Logan’s clue says that Olof is one of the exactly 3 criminals below Diane. That identifies Olof directly as belonging to that criminal group. So Olof must be criminal.
02.D5 · Zoe → CRIMINAL
Between Diane and Zoe, there is exactly 1 innocent, so among Kay, Olof, and Tom the total number of innocents is 1. The people below Diane are Kay, Olof, Tom, and Zoe, and that whole group also contains exactly 1 innocent. That means the one innocent below Diane is already among Kay, Olof, and Tom. Zoe is the only person below Diane who is not in that smaller between-group, so Zoe cannot be innocent. So Zoe must be criminal.
03.A5 · Umar → CRIMINAL
Zoe's clue says the two innocents below Anna are connected. Logan is already a known innocent below Anna, so the other innocent below Anna has to be orthogonally next to Logan. In that column, that means the other innocent can only be Eli or Pam, and Umar is not next to Logan there. So Umar must be criminal.
04.A1 · Anna → INNOCENT
Column A must contain exactly 3 innocents. If Anna were criminal, then with Logan already innocent and Umar already criminal, the only way to reach 3 innocents in column A would be for Eli and Pam to both be innocent. That would make the people below Anna be Eli innocent, Logan innocent, Pam innocent, and Umar criminal. But Zoe's clue says the innocents below Anna are exactly two people and they are connected, which clashes with having Eli, Logan, and Pam all innocent below Anna. So Anna cannot be criminal. Anna must be innocent.
05.D1 · Diane → CRIMINAL
Below Diane there must be exactly 3 criminals, and Olof and Zoe are already two of them. That means Kay and Tom cannot both be criminals. Above Zoe there must be an odd number of innocents, and right now none are known innocent there, so the innocents among Diane, Kay, and Tom must total 1 or 3. If Diane were innocent, then Kay and Tom would have to make both clues work at the same time, but that cannot be done. So Diane must be criminal.
06.B1 · Berat → CRIMINAL, B5 · Vince → CRIMINAL
Diane’s clue says exactly 2 corner people have a criminal directly to the right. Two such cases are still needed, and the only direct-right neighbors that matter for this clue are B1 Berat and B5 Vince. So those two right-hand neighbors have to be criminals to supply the required two cases. That makes Berat and Vince criminal.
07.C1 · Cheryl → CRIMINAL
Vince's clue says that exactly 1 of Berat's 3 criminal neighbors is to the left of Diane. Among the neighbors of Berat who are to the left of Diane, Anna is innocent and Cheryl is the only unknown person there. So that left-of-Diane group still needs 1 criminal, and Cheryl is the only person who can fill it. Therefore Cheryl must be criminal.
08.C5 · Xena → CRIMINAL
Cheryl’s clue says row 1 has more innocents than row 5. Row 1 already has 1 innocent, and row 5 currently has 0 known innocents. Since row 1 has no unknown people left, its innocent total stays at 1, so row 5 cannot gain an innocent without breaking the clue. So Xena must be criminal.
09.B2 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Berat has exactly three criminal neighbors, and Cheryl is already one of them, so among the row 2 neighbors A2 Eli, B2 Gabe, and C2 Isaac there must be exactly two criminals. Xena's clue says all criminals in row 2 form one connected block. With exactly two criminals among Eli, Gabe, and Isaac, the only connected choices are Eli with Gabe or Gabe with Isaac; and if row 2 has three criminals, the connected block is Gabe, Isaac, and Kay. In every connected row 2 block that fits these facts, Gabe is included. So Gabe must be criminal.
10.B3 · Mark → CRIMINAL
Gabe's clue says there is exactly 1 innocent among the people who are both to the left of Olof and neighboring Pam. That shared group is Logan and Mark. Logan is already known to be innocent, so the one innocent required by the clue is already accounted for. Mark cannot also be innocent, so Mark at B3 must be criminal.
11.C3 · Nancy → INNOCENT
Mark’s clue says exactly 2 of the 3 singers are innocent. Among the singers, Logan is already known to be innocent, and Nancy is the only singer whose identity is still unknown. So the singers still need exactly 1 more innocent, and that remaining innocent has to be Nancy. That makes Nancy innocent.
12.C4 · Sofia → CRIMINAL, C2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Nancy’s clue says exactly one column has more than 1 innocent, and every other column can have at most 1 innocent. Column A already has 2 known innocents, so column A is that one column. Column C already has 1 known innocent, Nancy, so if Isaac or Sofia were innocent then column C would also have more than 1 innocent. That would give a second column with more than 1 innocent, which the clue forbids. So Isaac and Sofia must be criminal.
13.A2 · Eli → INNOCENT
Berat’s neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals in total, and the clue says exactly 1 of those criminals is to the left of Diane. Among Berat’s neighbors who are to the left of Diane, Anna is innocent and Cheryl is criminal, so Cheryl is already that 1 criminal. That leaves the neighbors not to the left of Diane as Eli, Gabe, and Isaac, and Gabe and Isaac are already the other 2 criminals among Berat’s neighbors. So Eli at A2 must be innocent.
14.A4 · Pam → CRIMINAL
Zoe’s clue says the two innocents below Anna are connected. Below Anna, the people are Eli, Logan, Pam, and Umar, and Eli and Logan are already the two known innocents there. Since the clue is about both innocents below Anna, that pair is already accounted for by Eli and Logan, so Pam cannot also be innocent. So Pam must be criminal.
15.D2 · Kay → CRIMINAL
Isaac’s clue says exactly 3 criminals in row 2 have a criminal directly above them. In row 2, Eli is innocent, Gabe and Isaac are already known criminals, and Kay is the only person there not yet identified. If Kay were innocent, row 2 would contain only Gabe and Isaac as criminals, which cannot match a clue requiring exactly 3 such criminals in that row. So Kay at D2 must be criminal.
16.D4 · Tom → INNOCENT
Logan’s clue says Olof is one of exactly 3 criminals below Diane. Below Diane, the people are Kay, Olof, Tom, and Zoe, and Kay, Olof, and Zoe are already criminals. That already fills all 3 criminal spots from the clue, so Tom cannot also be a criminal. So Tom must be innocent.
17.B4 · Ruth → CRIMINAL
Tom’s clue says there are exactly 15 criminals in total. Right now 14 people are already known to be criminals, and the only person not yet identified is Ruth at B4. To reach the total of 15, Ruth has to be the remaining criminal. So Ruth must be criminal.