Clues by Sam Oct 24, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👩⚕️
doctor
B1
👨⚕️
doctor
C1
👩🍳
cook
D1
👨🍳
cook
A2
💂♂️
guard
B2
👨⚕️
doctor
C2
👨🍳
cook
D2
👩🎤
singer
A3
💂♂️
guard
B3
👨🔧
mech
C3
👨🎤
singer
D3
👩🎨
painter
A4
👩🏫
teacher
B4
👩🔧
mech
C4
👩🎨
painter
D4
👨🎨
painter
A5
👩🏫
teacher
B5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C5
🕵️♂️
sleuth
D5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
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 — 12 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Oct 24, 2026 — a Hard solved in 18 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Hard and resolves with 12 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Donald (B1), Gabe (D1), John (C2), Kiran (D2), Martin (B3), Noah (C3), Olivia (D3), Quita (A4), Ruby (B4), Stella (C4), Tyler (D4) and Uma (A5); the remaining 8 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.A2 · Henry → INNOCENT
Amy’s clue says exactly 2 guards have an innocent directly above them. That clue still needs 1 more such guard beyond the cases already accounted for. The only remaining guard whose directly-above relationship can supply that missing case is Henry. So Henry must be innocent.
02.A4 · Quita → CRIMINAL
Henry’s clue says the two criminals in column A are connected. In column A, Amy and Henry are already innocent, so if Quita were innocent, the two criminals would have to be Larry and Uma. But then the two criminals in column A would be separated by Quita, so they would not be connected. So Quita must be criminal.
03.C2 · John → CRIMINAL
Quita’s clue says that the two criminals in row 2 must be connected. If John were innocent, then row 2 would have Henry innocent, John innocent, and only Isaac and Kiran available to be the two criminals. That would make Isaac and Kiran the two criminals in row 2, but with John between them they are not connected, so that cannot fit the clue. So John at C2 must be criminal.
04.B5 · Vera → INNOCENT
If Vera were criminal, then John’s clue would make Vera the one criminal on the edge who is Quita’s neighbor. That leaves Larry and Uma, the other edge neighbors of Quita in column A, as innocents. Henry’s clue says the two criminals in column A are connected. But with Amy and Henry already innocent, and with Larry and Uma now innocent too, column A would be Amy innocent, Henry innocent, Larry innocent, Quita criminal, and Uma innocent, leaving Quita as the only criminal there instead of two connected criminals. That clash means Vera cannot be criminal. So Vera must be innocent.
05.B1 · Donald → CRIMINAL, D1 · Gabe → CRIMINAL
Flora’s neighbors must contain exactly 4 criminals, and among those neighbors only John is already known to be criminal, leaving Donald, Gabe, Isaac, and Kiran to supply the other 3 criminal spots. But Isaac and Kiran cannot both be criminals, because then row 2 would have Henry innocent and Isaac, John, and Kiran criminal, which breaks the clue that both criminals in row 2 are connected. So among Isaac and Kiran, at most one can be criminal. That means the remaining criminal spots around Flora have to be filled by Donald and Gabe. So Donald and Gabe must be criminal.
06.B4 · Ruby → CRIMINAL
Above Vera are Donald, Isaac, Martin, and Ruby, while above Ruby are only Donald, Isaac, and Martin. The clue says there are more criminals above Vera than above Ruby, and right now each group has the same 1 known criminal, Donald. So the extra criminal count above Vera has to come from the one person who is in Vera’s group but not in Ruby’s group: Ruby. If Ruby were innocent, Isaac and Martin would be shared by both groups and could not make Vera’s total higher than Ruby’s total. So Ruby must be criminal.
07.A3 · Larry → INNOCENT
Henry's neighbors must contain an odd number of innocents. Since Amy is already a known innocent there, the remaining neighbors of Henry must add an even number of further innocents. Above Ruby, there must be exactly one innocent. In that group, Donald is already criminal, so among Isaac and Martin there is exactly one innocent. That means Isaac and Martin contribute 1 innocent among Henry's remaining neighbors. To keep Henry's total number of neighboring innocents odd, Larry has to add one more innocent. So Larry must be innocent.
08.A5 · Uma → CRIMINAL
Henry’s clue says the two criminals in column A are connected. In column A, Amy, Henry, and Larry are innocent, and Quita is already a criminal, leaving Uma as the only person in that column not yet identified. If Uma were not a criminal, then column A would not have the two connected criminals Henry describes. So Uma must be criminal.
09.C4 · Stella → CRIMINAL
Uma’s clue says Stella is one of the exactly three criminals above Will. That directly identifies Stella’s status. So Stella must be criminal.
10.C5 · Will → INNOCENT
Above Ruby there must be exactly one innocent, and at the moment the only candidates for that are Isaac and Martin. Above Will there must be exactly three criminals including Stella, and since John and Stella are already criminal, exactly one of Flora and Noah must also be criminal. Stella also says columns B and C have the same number of innocents; column B already has Vera as one innocent, while column C currently has none. If Will were criminal, then Flora and Noah would be the only other unknown people in column C who could supply the innocents needed there, while Isaac and Martin still have to provide the single innocent above Ruby, and those requirements cannot all be met together. So Will at C5 must be innocent.
11.D3 · Olivia → CRIMINAL
Above Will there must be exactly three criminals, and John and Stella already account for two of them. That means the only remaining criminal above Will is among Flora and Noah, so between those two there is exactly one criminal. Kiran’s neighbors must include exactly four criminals. Gabe and John are already criminals, and Flora and Noah contribute exactly one more criminal between them, so the only neighbor left who can supply the fourth criminal is Olivia. So Olivia must be criminal.
12.C3 · Noah → CRIMINAL
Donald’s clue says there is exactly one innocent above Ruby, and among the people above Ruby there are currently no known innocents, only Isaac and Martin still unknown. Olivia’s clue says exactly one person in row 3 has exactly one innocent neighbor; in that row, Larry already has 1 known innocent neighbor, Martin already has 2 known innocent neighbors, and both Noah and Olivia currently have 0 known innocent neighbors. If Noah were innocent, then Isaac, Kiran, Martin, and Tyler would have to make both of those clues true at the same time, but they cannot. So Noah cannot be innocent. That makes Noah criminal.
13.C1 · Flora → INNOCENT
Uma says Stella is one of the exactly 3 criminals above Will. The people above Will are Flora, John, Noah, and Stella, and John, Noah, and Stella are already the 3 criminals in that group. That leaves Flora as the one above Will who is not a criminal. So Flora must be innocent.
14.D4 · Tyler → CRIMINAL
If Tyler were innocent, then the edge would still need 7 criminals in total. On Quita's neighboring edge cells, Larry is innocent, Uma is criminal, and Vera is innocent, so the one edge criminal who is Quita's neighbor is already Uma. That means the remaining unknown edge cells, Kiran and Zara, must both be criminals to bring the edge total up to 7 without adding another edge criminal neighbor of Quita. Larry's clue says exactly one row has exactly one innocent, and Donald's clue says the people above Ruby contain exactly one innocent. With Kiran criminal, row 2 then has exactly one innocent only if Isaac is innocent, and among the people above Ruby that leaves Martin as criminal so there is still exactly one innocent there. But then row 3 also has exactly one innocent, namely Larry, giving more than one row with exactly one innocent. So Tyler at D4 must be criminal.
15.B3 · Martin → CRIMINAL
Quita’s clue says row 2 has exactly two criminals, and those two must be connected. In row 2, Henry is already innocent and John is already criminal, so Isaac and Kiran are the people who still have to make that row fit Quita’s clue. Larry’s clue says only one row has exactly one innocent. If Martin were innocent, then with Isaac, Kiran, and Zara still needing to satisfy both clues, that combination cannot be made to fit everything at once. So Martin cannot be innocent. That makes Martin criminal.
16.B2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Donald’s clue says the people above Ruby contain exactly one innocent. Among those people, there are currently no known innocents, and the only person there whose identity is still unknown is Isaac. Since that group still needs exactly one innocent, Isaac has to be that innocent. So Isaac must be innocent.
17.D2 · Kiran → CRIMINAL
Quita’s clue says that the two criminals in row 2 are connected. In row 2, Henry and Isaac are innocent and John is already known to be a criminal, so the only person who can be the second criminal there is Kiran. That makes Kiran at D2 criminal.
18.D5 · Zara → INNOCENT
John’s clue says there are exactly 7 criminals on the edge, and exactly 1 of those edge criminals is a neighbor of Quita. Among the edge neighbors of Quita, the shared group is A3 Larry, A5 Uma, and B5 Vera, and only Uma is criminal, so that one allowed edge criminal neighbor is already accounted for. That leaves the other edge people who are not neighbors of Quita: Amy, Donald, Flora, Gabe, Henry, Kiran, Olivia, Quita, Tyler, Will, and Zara. In that remaining edge group, there are already 6 known criminals: Donald, Gabe, Kiran, Olivia, Quita, and Tyler. Since the clue’s total of 7 edge criminals is already met together with Uma, Zara cannot be criminal. So Zara must be innocent.