Clues by Sam Oct 15, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👩🎨
painter
B1
👩💻
coder
C1
👮♂️
cop
D1
👨💼
clerk
A2
👨🎨
painter
B2
👨🏫
teacher
C2
👮♂️
cop
D2
👨🔧
mech
A3
👩🎤
singer
B3
👨🎤
singer
C3
👨🍳
cook
D3
👨🎨
painter
A4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B4
👨💻
coder
C4
👨💼
clerk
D4
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A5
👩🔧
mech
B5
👩🏫
teacher
C5
👩🍳
cook
D5
👩🍳
cook
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 — 11 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Oct 15, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 14 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 11 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Anna (A1), Don (D1), Erwin (A2), Floyd (B2), Joy (A3), Judas (B3), Martin (C3), Noah (D3), Peter (B4), Uma (B5) and Zara (D5); the remaining 9 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A2 · Erwin → CRIMINAL, B2 · Floyd → CRIMINAL, D2 · Hank → INNOCENT
Gus says both criminals in row 2 are connected, so row 2 must contain exactly two criminals that touch through an orthogonal chain. The people in row 2 are Erwin, Floyd, Gus, and Hank, and Gus is already innocent. If Erwin were innocent, Floyd were innocent, and Hank were criminal, then row 2 would not satisfy Gus's clue. So those opposite identities cannot be right. Erwin and Floyd must be criminals, and Hank must be innocent.
02.C1 · Carl → INNOCENT
Floyd’s clue says that Carl is one of the exactly 7 innocents on the edge. Since Carl is explicitly included in that innocent edge group, Carl must be innocent. So Carl is innocent.
03.A3 · Joy → CRIMINAL
Carl’s clue says Joy is one of Erwin’s four criminal neighbors. That identifies Joy directly as belonging to that criminal group. So Joy must be criminal.
04.C5 · Wanda → INNOCENT
Joy’s clue says that Wanda is one of Ronald’s 2 innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Wanda’s status, regardless of who Ronald’s other innocent neighbor is. So Wanda must be innocent.
05.B4 · Peter → CRIMINAL
Wanda’s clue says that Peter is one of Judas’s five criminal neighbors. That directly identifies Peter as a criminal. So Peter must be criminal.
06.B3 · Judas → CRIMINAL
If Judas were innocent, then Erwin's neighbors would be Anna, Barb, Floyd, Joy, and Judas, with Floyd and Joy already criminal and exactly 4 criminals required there. That forces Anna and Barb to be criminal too. Judas is also one of Ronald's neighbors, and Wanda is one of exactly 2 innocents there. So with Judas innocent and Wanda innocent, the other Ronald neighbors there must be criminal: Martin, Noah, Salil, Uma, and Zara. But then the edge cells would have Carl, Hank, and Wanda as the only innocents shown, while Carl's clue says there are exactly 7 innocents on the edges. That cannot be right, so Judas cannot be innocent. So Judas must be criminal.
07.D1 · Don → CRIMINAL
If Don were innocent, then row 1 would have 2 innocents, matching row 2's 2 innocents. That leaves Anna and Barb as the remaining people in row 1 who are not innocent. Carl's clue says Erwin has exactly 4 criminal neighbors, and among Erwin's neighbors the known criminals are Floyd, Joy, and Judas. So the only way to reach 4 criminal neighbors is for both Anna and Barb to be criminals. But then Erwin's neighbors would be Anna, Barb, Floyd, Joy, and Judas, which is 5 criminals, not 4. So Don must be criminal.
08.C3 · Martin → CRIMINAL, A4 · Olive → INNOCENT, A5 · Tina → INNOCENT
Ronald’s neighbors must contain exactly 2 innocents, and Wanda is one of them. The edge cells must contain exactly 7 innocents, with Carl among them. If Martin were innocent while Olive and Tina were criminal, then Anna, Barb, Noah, Salil, Uma, and Zara would have to make both of those clues come out right at the same time, but they cannot. That combination conflicts with the required innocent totals for Ronald’s neighbors and for the edge cells. So Martin must be criminal, and Olive and Tina must be innocent.
09.C4 · Ronald → INNOCENT
Wanda’s clue says Peter is one of Judas’s exactly 5 criminal neighbors. Among Judas’s neighbors, the five already known criminals are Erwin, Floyd, Joy, Martin, and Peter, while Gus and Olive are innocent and Ronald is the only neighbor not yet identified. Since all 5 criminal-neighbor spots are already filled, Ronald cannot be a criminal. So Ronald must be innocent.
10.A1 · Anna → CRIMINAL, D3 · Noah → CRIMINAL
Wanda is one of Ronald's exactly two innocent neighbors, and among Ronald's neighbors Wanda is the only innocent already identified. So if Noah were innocent, Ronald's two innocent neighbors would be Wanda and Noah. Ronald also says Wanda and Barb have the same number of criminal neighbors. Right now Wanda's neighbors have 1 known criminal while Barb's neighbors already have 2 known criminals, so the remaining unknown people involved would have to make up that balance. But if Anna were innocent while Noah were innocent, then Anna would add no criminal to Barb's side, and those same remaining people, Salil, Uma, and Zara, cannot satisfy everything at once. So Anna and Noah cannot both be innocent, and this step rules out exactly that opposite assignment. That makes Anna and Noah criminal.
11.B1 · Barb → INNOCENT
Carl’s clue says Joy is one of the exactly 4 criminal neighbors of Erwin. Erwin’s neighbors are Anna, Barb, Floyd, Joy, and Judas. Among those five, Anna, Floyd, Joy, and Judas are already criminal, which fills all 4 criminal spots named by the clue. That leaves Barb as innocent, so Barb must be innocent.
12.B5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Wanda is one of exactly Ronald's two innocent neighbors. If Uma were also innocent, then those two innocent-neighbor spots would already be filled by Wanda and Uma, so Salil cannot be innocent and must be criminal. Column A has 2 innocents, and column D has to have the same number. Column D currently has only 1 known innocent, Hank, so with Salil criminal, Zara would have to be the second innocent in column D. But Zara is also one of Ronald's neighbors, which would give Ronald a third innocent neighbor alongside Wanda and Uma, contradicting the clue that he has exactly 2. So Uma must be criminal.
13.D5 · Zara → CRIMINAL
Uma’s clue says rows 1 and 5 have the same number of criminals. Row 1 has 2 criminals, while row 5 currently has only 1. The only unknown person left in row 5 is Zara, so row 5 can reach 2 criminals only if Zara is a criminal. So Zara must be criminal.
14.D4 · Salil → INNOCENT
Ronald’s clue says Wanda and Barb have the same number of criminal neighbors. Barb’s neighbors already have 3 criminals, and Wanda’s neighbors also already have 3 known criminals. Since Salil is the only unknown among Wanda’s neighbors, Salil cannot be a criminal without giving Wanda more criminal neighbors than Barb. So Salil must be innocent.