Clues by Sam Oct 22, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👨🔧
mech
B1
💂♂️
guard
C1
👩🔧
mech
D1
👨🎨
painter
A2
👩🔧
mech
B2
💂♂️
guard
C2
👨🔬
scientist
D2
👨🎨
painter
A3
👮♀️
cop
B3
💂♀️
guard
C3
👩✈️
pilot
D3
👩🎨
painter
A4
👮♀️
cop
B4
👩🔬
scientist
C4
👩✈️
pilot
D4
👨💼
clerk
A5
👨🍳
cook
B5
👩🍳
cook
C5
👨💼
clerk
D5
👨💼
clerk
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 — 8 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Oct 22, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 8 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Alex (A1), Janet (A3), Lisa (B3), Olive (D3), Penny (A4), Terry (D4), Winnie (B5) and Xavi (C5); the remaining 12 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.B3 · Lisa → CRIMINAL
Eric’s clue says Freya has exactly 3 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminal neighbors is to the right of Janet. Among Freya’s neighbors, the only person who is to the right of Janet is Lisa. So the one criminal neighbor of Freya who is to the right of Janet has to be Lisa. That makes Lisa criminal.
02.C1 · Donna → INNOCENT
Lisa’s clue directly says that Donna is one of the four innocents in column C. That identifies Donna’s status immediately. So Donna must be innocent.
03.C2 · Hal → INNOCENT
Below Hal, Nicole, Sue, and Xavi contain exactly 2 innocents. In all of column C, Donna, Hal, Nicole, Sue, and Xavi contain exactly 4 innocents. The only person who is in column C but not below Hal is Hal, since Donna is already the known innocent at the top. So the step from 2 innocents below Hal to 4 innocents in the whole column has to be supplied by the people outside that lower group, and that makes Hal innocent. So Hal must be innocent.
04.D3 · Olive → CRIMINAL
Hal’s clue says that both criminals above Zane are connected. Above Zane, Eric is innocent, and if Olive were innocent too, then the two criminals in that group would have to be Isaac and Terry. But with Eric innocent, Olive innocent, Isaac criminal, and Terry criminal, those two criminals are separated and not connected. So Olive at D3 must be criminal.
05.D5 · Zane → INNOCENT
Above Zane are Eric, Isaac, Olive, and Terry, and Hal’s clue says the two criminals in that group must be connected. Olive is already one of those criminals, while Eric is innocent. Olive’s clue also says column A is the only column with exactly 2 innocents, so columns B, C, and D must avoid ending with exactly 2 innocents. If Zane were criminal, the remaining unknown people named here would have to satisfy that column condition at the same time as Hal’s condition about the people above Zane, and they cannot do both at once. So Zane cannot be criminal. That makes Zane innocent.
06.C5 · Xavi → CRIMINAL
Olive’s clue says column A is the only column with exactly 2 innocents, so no other column can finish with exactly 2 innocents. Column C already has 2 known innocents, Donna and Hal, so column C must contain at least one more innocent. If Xavi were innocent, then column C would already have that extra innocent. But with Zane’s edge clue, the remaining people named here cannot be assigned in a way that also keeps the edge total at exactly 3 people who have a criminal directly to their right. That makes Xavi impossible as innocent. So Xavi must be criminal.
07.C3 · Nicole → INNOCENT, C4 · Sue → INNOCENT
Lisa’s clue says Donna is one of exactly 4 innocents in column C. In column C, Donna and Hal are already innocent, Xavi is criminal, and the only people not yet identified there are Nicole and Sue. Since the column must contain 4 innocents total, those two remaining spots have to be innocent ones. So Nicole and Sue must be innocent.
08.A3 · Janet → CRIMINAL
Sue’s clue says row 3 is the only row with fewer than 2 innocents, so row 3 can have at most 1 innocent. Row 3 already has 1 known innocent, Nicole. That means the only unknown person left in row 3 cannot also be innocent, or row 3 would have 2 innocents and would no longer fit the clue. So Janet must be criminal.
09.A5 · Vic → INNOCENT
Column A must contain exactly 2 innocents in total. The people above Vic are Alex, Freya, Janet, and Penny, and that group must contain an odd number of innocents, so it can only be 1 or 3. It cannot be 3, because then those three people above Vic would already give column A more innocents than it can have while still ending at exactly 2 total. So the group above Vic has 1 innocent, and the other innocent required in column A must be the only person in column A who is not above Vic. So Vic must be innocent.
10.B2 · Gary → INNOCENT
Vic’s clue says row 1 has exactly one criminal, and in row 1 the only unknown people are Alex and Bobby. So among Alex and Bobby together, exactly one is criminal. Eric’s clue says Freya’s neighbors contain exactly three criminals. In Freya’s neighbors, Janet and Lisa are already criminals, so only one more criminal can appear among Alex, Bobby, and Gary. Since Alex and Bobby already account for that one remaining criminal, there is no room for Gary to be criminal. So Gary must be innocent.
11.B5 · Winnie → CRIMINAL
Gary’s clue says exactly one row has exactly 3 innocents. If Winnie were innocent, the remaining unidentified people named here would have to fit that row-count condition while also fitting Eric’s clue about Freya’s neighborhood having exactly 3 criminals, with exactly 1 of those criminals to the right of Janet, namely Lisa. Those requirements clash, so Winnie cannot be innocent. So Winnie must be criminal.
12.B1 · Bobby → INNOCENT, B4 · Quita → INNOCENT
Zane’s clue says exactly 3 edge people have a criminal directly to their right. That total is already filled by Janet at A3, Vic at A5, and Winnie at B5. The only other direct-right cases that could still add to this clue are Bobby at B1 and Quita at B4, so if either of them were criminal, the count would go above 3. So Bobby and Quita must be innocent.
13.A1 · Alex → CRIMINAL
Freya's neighbors must contain exactly 3 criminals, and exactly 1 of those criminals is to the right of Janet. That one criminal is Lisa, so the neighbors of Freya who are not to the right of Janet must contain exactly 2 criminals. Among those people not to the right of Janet, Bobby and Gary are innocent and Janet is already a criminal. That group therefore still needs 1 more criminal, and the only unknown person left there is Alex. So Alex must be criminal.
14.A4 · Penny → CRIMINAL
Bobby’s clue says exactly one person in column B has exactly 4 innocent neighbors. If Penny were innocent, then Gary would have exactly 4 innocent neighbors, Quita would have exactly 4 innocent neighbors, and Winnie would also have exactly 4 innocent neighbors. That gives more than one person in column B with exactly 4 innocent neighbors, which contradicts the clue. So Penny must be criminal.
15.A2 · Freya → INNOCENT
Olive’s clue says column A is the only column with exactly 2 innocents, so column A itself has to contain exactly 2 innocents. In column A, there is currently 1 known innocent, and the only unknown person there is Freya. That means Freya has to supply the second innocent for column A. So Freya must be innocent.
16.D2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Gary says only one row has exactly 3 innocents. Row 1 already fits that exactly, because Bobby, Donna, and Eric are innocent while Alex is criminal. Row 2 already has three known innocents, Freya, Gary, and Hal, and Isaac is the only person there not yet identified. If Isaac were criminal, row 2 would also have exactly 3 innocents, which would clash with Gary's clue. So Isaac must be innocent.
17.D4 · Terry → CRIMINAL
Hal’s clue says the two criminals above Zane are connected. Above Zane, the people are Eric, Isaac, Olive, and Terry, and among them Olive is already a known criminal while Eric and Isaac are innocent. So the second criminal above Zane cannot be Eric or Isaac, and it has to be the only remaining person there. That makes Terry at D4 criminal.