Clues by Sam Oct 19, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👷♂️
builder
B1
👩✈️
pilot
C1
👨✈️
pilot
D1
👨✈️
pilot
A2
👷♂️
builder
B2
👩🔧
mech
C2
👨🔧
mech
D2
👩🎤
singer
A3
👷♀️
builder
B3
👩💼
clerk
C3
👩🔧
mech
D3
👩⚖️
judge
A4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
B4
👩💼
clerk
C4
💂♂️
guard
D4
👨⚖️
judge
A5
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B5
👩🎤
singer
C5
💂♂️
guard
D5
💂♂️
guard
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 — 4 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Oct 19, 2026 — a Easy solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Easy and resolves with 4 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Eric (C1), Nala (C3), Vlad (A5) and Zach (D5); the remaining 16 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D1 · Finch → INNOCENT
Andre’s clue directly says that Finch is one of the four innocents in column D. Since Finch is explicitly included among those innocents, Finch at D1 must be innocent.
02.C1 · Eric → CRIMINAL
Finch’s clue says exactly one pilot has a criminal directly to the right. Among the pilots, Donna has Eric directly to the right, and Eric has Finch directly to the right. Since Finch is innocent, Eric cannot be the pilot who has a criminal directly to the right, so the one required case has to be Donna with Eric on her right. That makes Eric criminal.
03.B5 · Xia → INNOCENT
Eric’s clue says there is exactly 1 innocent among the people who are both to the left of Yusef and neighboring Thor. That shared group contains only Xia. Since that group still needs 1 innocent, the only person there has to be the innocent one. So Xia must be innocent.
04.B1 · Donna → INNOCENT
Xia’s clue says the people strictly between Andre and Finch contain exactly one innocent. Among those people, there are currently no known innocents, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Donna. So the one innocent that this clue requires has to be Donna. That makes Donna innocent.
05.D3 · Olivia → INNOCENT
Donna’s clue says exactly one singer has an innocent directly below them. Among the singers, Xia is already innocent but has no direct-below person involved here, so the clue still needs one singer with an innocent directly below. The only remaining direct-below person that can affect this singer clue is Olivia below Karen. So Olivia must be innocent.
06.C3 · Nala → CRIMINAL
Olivia’s clue says Umar has exactly two criminal neighbors, and exactly one of those two is also a neighbor of Ivan. Among the people who are both Umar’s neighbors and Ivan’s neighbors, only C3 Nala and D3 Olivia fit that description. Olivia is innocent, so that one criminal in the overlap still has to be supplied by the only unknown person left there, Nala. So Nala must be criminal.
07.C4 · Thor → INNOCENT, A5 · Vlad → CRIMINAL
Umar’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is also Ivan’s neighbor. Among the people who are both Umar’s neighbors and Ivan’s neighbors, the only criminal already there is Nala, while Olivia is innocent, so the second criminal among Umar’s neighbors must be someone not neighboring Ivan. Row 5 must contain exactly 2 innocents, and Xia is already one of them. If Thor were criminal and Vlad were innocent, then Thor would be that second criminal around Umar, leaving Yusef and Zach not criminal. But then row 5 would have Xia, Vlad, Yusef, and Zach with Xia already innocent and both Yusef and Zach forced away from being criminals, which cannot fit the row 5 clue. So Thor cannot be criminal and Vlad cannot be innocent. So Thor must be innocent, and Vlad must be criminal.
08.A4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Thor’s clue says the number of criminal pilots must equal the number of criminal sleuths. Among the pilots, there is already exactly 1 criminal, and there are no unknown pilots left. Among the sleuths, there is already exactly 1 criminal as well, namely Vlad. If Quita were criminal too, the sleuths would have more criminal people than the pilots, which would break the clue. So Quita must be innocent.
09.A3 · Lisa → INNOCENT, B3 · Maria → INNOCENT
Quita’s clue says row 3 has more innocents than row 5. Right now each row has 1 known innocent, so if Lisa and Maria were both criminals, row 3 would stay at just that 1 innocent. Then the only people left to affect row 5 would be Yusef and Zach, and that cannot make row 3 end with more innocents than row 5. So Lisa and Maria cannot both be criminals, and this leaves Lisa and Maria innocent.
10.A2 · Gary → INNOCENT, C2 · Ivan → INNOCENT
Lisa’s clue says Hazel’s neighbors contain exactly 6 innocents. Among Hazel’s neighbors, 4 are already known to be innocent, and the only unknown neighbors left are Gary and Ivan. That means the remaining 2 innocent spots in Hazel’s neighborhood have to be filled by those 2 people. So Gary and Ivan must be innocent.
11.B4 · Rose → INNOCENT
Gary’s clue says every person in column A can have at most one criminal neighbor. Quita is in column A, and she already has one known criminal neighbor: Vlad. Rose is also one of Quita’s neighbors, so if Rose were criminal, Quita would have two criminal neighbors, which breaks Gary’s clue. So Rose must be innocent.
12.B2 · Hazel → INNOCENT
Andre’s clue says column D has exactly four innocents, and in that column Finch and Olivia are already innocent, leaving Karen, Umar, and Zach to supply the rest of that requirement. Rose’s clue also says only one column has no criminals, considering columns A through D. If Hazel were criminal, then the remaining unknown people tied into these same clues would be Karen, Umar, Yusef, and Zach, and they could not satisfy both of those facts at the same time. So Hazel cannot be criminal. That makes Hazel innocent.
13.D2 · Karen → INNOCENT
Hazel’s clue says Finch has exactly 2 innocent neighbors. Among Finch’s neighbors, 1 is already known to be innocent, and the only neighbor there whose identity is still unknown is Karen. So the missing innocent neighbor has to be Karen. That makes Karen innocent.
14.D4 · Umar → INNOCENT
Umar is on the edge, and the edge clue says the total number of innocents on the edges is odd. There are already 9 known innocents on the edge, with only Umar, Yusef, and Zach still undecided there. At the same time, Umar’s clue fixes his neighboring group at exactly 2 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals also being Ivan’s neighbor. If Umar were criminal, then Umar, Yusef, and Zach would have to meet both that neighbor requirement and the odd-edge-innocents requirement together, but they cannot. So Umar must be innocent.
15.D5 · Zach → CRIMINAL
Andre’s clue says Finch is one of exactly 4 innocents in column D. In that column, Finch, Karen, Olivia, and Umar are already the 4 identified innocents, and the only other person there is Zach. Since the full set of 4 innocents in column D is already accounted for, Zach cannot be innocent. So Zach must be criminal.
16.C5 · Yusef → INNOCENT
Umar’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals in total. Olivia’s clue says exactly 1 of those criminals is also Ivan’s neighbor, and among the people who are both Umar’s neighbors and Ivan’s neighbors, the only criminal is Nala. That means the other criminal among Umar’s neighbors has to come from the people there who are not Ivan’s neighbors: Thor, Yusef, and Zach. Thor is innocent and Zach is already a criminal, so that one criminal is already accounted for. Therefore Yusef cannot be a criminal, so Yusef must be innocent.