Clues by Sam Oct 16, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👮♂️
cop
B1
💂♀️
guard
C1
👨🏫
teacher
D1
👨🏫
teacher
A2
👮♂️
cop
B2
💂♂️
guard
C2
👨🏫
teacher
D2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A3
👮♀️
cop
B3
💂♂️
guard
C3
👩✈️
pilot
D3
🕵️♂️
sleuth
A4
👷♀️
builder
B4
👨⚖️
judge
C4
👨✈️
pilot
D4
👩🎨
painter
A5
👷♀️
builder
B5
👩⚖️
judge
C5
👩⚖️
judge
D5
👩🎨
painter
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 — 7 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Oct 16, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 15 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 7 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Ben (A1), Donald (C1), Isaac (C2), Johnny (D2), Logan (B3), Quita (A4) and Travis (C4); the remaining 13 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A3 · Kiran → INNOCENT
Xia’s clue says that Kiran is one of the exactly 2 innocents below Gus. That identifies Kiran directly as part of that innocent group. So Kiran must be innocent.
02.A1 · Ben → CRIMINAL
Kiran’s clue says the two innocents above Vicky must be orthogonally connected. Kiran is already one of those innocents, so the other innocent above Vicky has to be next to Kiran, which limits that second innocent to Gus or Quita. Ben is above Vicky too, but he is not next to Kiran in that line, so he cannot be the other innocent in the connected pair. So Ben must be criminal.
03.A5 · Vicky → INNOCENT
Ben’s clue says that Vicky is one of Quita’s exactly four innocent neighbors. That places Vicky directly among the innocent people in Quita’s neighbor group. So Vicky must be innocent.
04.A4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Xia’s clue says Kiran is one of exactly two innocents below Gus. The people below Gus are Kiran, Quita, and Vicky. Kiran and Vicky are already the two innocents there, so Quita cannot be innocent. So Quita must be criminal.
05.A2 · Gus → INNOCENT
Above Vicky, the four people are Ben, Gus, Kiran, and Quita. Kiran’s clue says there are exactly two innocents in that group, and those two innocents must be connected. In that set, Ben and Quita are already criminals, and Kiran is already innocent. So the only person who can be the second innocent above Vicky is Gus, and that gives the needed pair of connected innocents there. So Gus must be innocent.
06.B4 · Raul → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue makes exactly 1 criminal among her neighbors. Ben’s clue already fixes Kiran and Vicky as innocents, so among Quita’s neighbors the only possible criminal spots are Logan, Raul, and Wanda. Raul’s clue says exactly 1 of Raul’s 3 criminal neighbors is in column B, and among Raul’s neighbors the column B people are Logan and Wanda. So Logan and Wanda together already account for the full allowance of 1 criminal in that column-B subset. That leaves no room for the only other person in Quita’s neighbor group outside that subset, which is Raul, to be a criminal. So Raul must be innocent.
07.B2 · Han → INNOCENT
Below Chloe there must be an odd number of innocents. Raul is already one known innocent there, so Han, Logan, and Wanda must add an even number of additional innocents. Quita’s neighbors contain exactly 4 innocents, and three of them are already known: Kiran, Raul, and Vicky. That means Logan and Wanda contain exactly one more innocent between them. So within the people below Chloe, Logan and Wanda contribute exactly one innocent, which is odd. To keep the full group below Chloe at an odd total, Han has to be the extra innocent. So Han must be innocent.
08.B1 · Chloe → INNOCENT
Ben’s clue fixes Quita’s neighbor group at exactly 4 innocents, and that group is A3 Kiran, B3 Logan, B4 Raul, A5 Vicky, and B5 Wanda, with Kiran, Raul, and Vicky already known innocent. Vicky’s clue also fixes column A as the only column with exactly 2 criminals. If Chloe were criminal, then the remaining unknown people named here would have to satisfy both of those facts at the same time, and they cannot. That contradiction rules out Chloe being criminal. So Chloe must be innocent.
09.C2 · Isaac → CRIMINAL
Raul's clue fixes the criminal count among Logan's shared nearby people so that, outside column B, only one of Maria and Travis is a criminal. That means among Logan's neighbors, the three criminals are already accounted for by Quita plus exactly one of Maria and Travis. The only Logan neighbor not in that smaller group is Isaac, so he has to supply the remaining criminal spot. So Isaac must be criminal.
10.D3 · Nick → INNOCENT
Isaac’s clue says Nick is one of Maria’s 4 innocent neighbors. That identifies Nick directly as one of the innocents in that neighbor group. So Nick must be innocent.
11.C1 · Donald → CRIMINAL
Raul’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in column B. Vicky’s clue says column A is the only column with exactly 2 criminals, so column B, column C, and column D cannot also have exactly 2 criminals. If Donald were innocent, then Forrest, Johnny, Logan, Maria, Travis, Uma, Wanda, and Zoe would have to satisfy both of those clues at the same time, but that cannot be done. So Donald cannot be innocent. That makes Donald criminal.
12.C3 · Maria → INNOCENT, C4 · Travis → CRIMINAL, B5 · Wanda → INNOCENT, B3 · Logan → CRIMINAL
Maria’s neighbors must contain exactly four innocents, and Nick is one of them. In that group, Han, Nick, and Raul are already innocent, while Isaac is criminal, so the remaining identities around Maria have to fit that exact innocent count as well as Raul’s neighbor clues. If you try the opposite identities here, with Maria criminal, Travis innocent, Wanda criminal, and Logan innocent, then the remaining people involved, Johnny and Uma, would have to make all of those clue requirements true at the same time, and they cannot. So that opposite assignment fails. Therefore Maria at C3 must be innocent, Travis at C4 must be criminal, Wanda at B5 must be innocent, and Logan at B3 must be criminal.
13.D5 · Zoe → INNOCENT, D1 · Forrest → INNOCENT
Maria’s neighbors must contain exactly 4 innocents, and among those neighbors Han, Nick, and Raul are already innocent, while Johnny and Uma are the only unknown neighbors left there. Also, column C is the only column with exactly 3 criminals, so no other column can end with exactly 3 criminals. If Forrest and Zoe were both criminals, then Johnny and Uma would have to fit these same facts along with them, but that cannot be done without breaking one of those clue requirements. So Forrest and Zoe cannot be criminals. That makes Forrest and Zoe innocent.
14.D2 · Johnny → CRIMINAL
Zoe’s clue says exactly one row has exactly one criminal. Row 3 already fits that, because Logan is the only criminal there. Row 2 currently also has one known criminal, Isaac, and Johnny is the only person there not yet identified. If Johnny were innocent, row 2 would also have exactly one criminal, which would conflict with Zoe’s clue. So Johnny must be criminal.
15.D4 · Uma → INNOCENT
Isaac says Nick is one of Maria's 4 innocent neighbors, so Maria's neighbors must contain exactly 4 innocents. Among Maria's neighbors, Han, Nick, and Raul are already innocent, while Uma is the only neighbor there whose identity is still unknown. That means the fourth innocent neighbor has to be Uma. So Uma must be innocent.