Clues by Sam Oct 26, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
👮♂️
cop
B1
💀
skeleton
C1
👩🍳
cook
D1
💀
skeleton
A2
💀
skeleton
B2
💀
skeleton
C2
👨🎨
painter
D2
👨🎨
painter
A3
👮♀️
cop
B3
👮♂️
cop
C3
👩⚕️
doctor
D3
👨⚕️
doctor
A4
👩🌾
farmer
B4
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C4
👨🎨
painter
D4
👨🍳
cook
A5
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B5
🕵️♀️
sleuth
C5
👩⚕️
doctor
D5
👩🌾
farmer
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 26, 2026 — a Easy solved in 17 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Easy and resolves with 11 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Clyde (B1), Evie (C1), Freya (D1), Gary (A2), Jose (D2), Larry (B3), Maria (C3), Ryan (C4), Scott (D4), Tom (A5) and Vicky (B5); the remaining 9 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.D4 · Scott → CRIMINAL
Nick’s clue says there is exactly 1 innocent who is both above Zoe and neighboring Ryan. That shared group is only Nick and Scott. Nick is already known to be innocent, so the one innocent required by the clue is already accounted for. Scott therefore cannot also be innocent. So Scott must be criminal.
02.C2 · Isaac → INNOCENT
Scott’s clue says Isaac is one of Clyde’s 3 innocent neighbors. That directly places Isaac among the innocent people in Clyde’s neighboring group. So Isaac must be innocent.
03.B4 · Paula → INNOCENT
Isaac's clue says Ryan has exactly 4 innocent neighbors, and exactly 1 of those innocent neighbors is in row 4. Among Ryan's neighbors who are in row 4, Scott is already known to be criminal, so the row-4 part of the clue still needs 1 innocent there. The only unknown person left in that row-4 neighbor group is Paula. So Paula must be innocent.
04.B3 · Larry → CRIMINAL
Paula’s clue says directly that Larry is a criminal. So Larry at B3 must be criminal.
05.B5 · Vicky → CRIMINAL
Larry’s clue says no sleuth has an innocent directly below them. Paula is a sleuth, and Vicky is directly below Paula. Since the number of sleuths with an innocent directly below is already none, Vicky cannot be innocent, because that would make Paula a sleuth with an innocent directly below her. So Vicky must be criminal.
06.A5 · Tom → CRIMINAL
Vicky’s clue says the sleuths contain exactly one innocent. Paula is already that one known innocent sleuth, and the only sleuth left without a known identity is Tom. Since the sleuth group already has its full innocent count, Tom cannot be innocent. So Tom must be criminal.
07.D5 · Zoe → INNOCENT
Ryan’s clue says his neighbors contain exactly 4 innocents, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 4. In Ryan’s row-4 neighboring spots, Paula is already the one innocent there, so if Zoe were criminal, the other two unknown neighbors that can supply the remaining innocents would have to be Maria and Wanda. That would make Wanda innocent. But then row 5 would be Tom criminal, Vicky criminal, Wanda innocent, and Zoe criminal. That breaks Tom’s clue that all criminals in row 5 are connected, because Zoe would be separated from Tom and Vicky by innocent Wanda. So Zoe at D5 must be innocent.
08.D2 · Jose → CRIMINAL
Zoe's clue says an odd number of the people who are both in column D and neighbors of Maria are innocent. That shared group is exactly Jose, Nick, and Scott. Nick is already innocent and Scott is already criminal, so the only way for that group to contain an odd number of innocents is for Jose not to be innocent. So Jose must be criminal.
09.C4 · Ryan → CRIMINAL
Jose’s clue says the two criminals below Evie must be connected. Below Evie are Isaac, Maria, Ryan, and Wanda, and Isaac is innocent. If Ryan were innocent, then the only way to get the required two criminals below Evie would be Maria and Wanda. But with Ryan innocent between them, Maria at C3 and Wanda at C5 would not be connected. So the assumption fails, and Ryan must be criminal.
10.C1 · Evie → CRIMINAL
Ryan’s clue says Freya has more criminal than innocent neighbors. Among Freya’s neighbors, that means there must be at least 2 criminals and at most 1 innocent. Freya’s neighbors already include Isaac as a known innocent, and Evie is the only neighbor there whose identity is not yet fixed. So Evie cannot be innocent and must be criminal.
11.A4 · Olive → INNOCENT
Freya’s neighbors must include more criminals than Tom’s neighbors. Freya’s neighbor count is already fixed at 2 criminals, while Tom’s neighbors currently have 1 criminal and only one unknown person left, Olive. If Olive were criminal, Tom’s neighbors would also have 2 criminals, so Freya would not have more than Tom. That makes Olive innocent.
12.A3 · Katie → INNOCENT
Ryan’s clue fixes his neighbors at exactly 4 innocents, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 4. In row 4 among Ryan’s neighbors, Paula is innocent and Scott is criminal, so that one row-4 innocent is already Paula. Paula’s clue says her neighbors contain an odd number of innocents. Right now Paula’s neighbors have 1 known innocent, and the only unknown neighbors involved here are Katie, Maria, and Wanda. If Katie were criminal, then Maria and Wanda would have to satisfy these clue requirements by themselves, but they cannot. So Katie must be innocent.
13.A1 · Bruce → INNOCENT
If Bruce were criminal, then Clyde’s neighbors would already contain Bruce and Evie as criminals, with Isaac fixed as one of Clyde’s 3 innocent neighbors. That means Gary and Helen have to supply the other two innocents there, so Gary and Helen must both be innocent. Katie and Scott must have the same number of criminal neighbors, and each currently has 1 known criminal neighbor. With Gary and Helen innocent, Katie’s unknown neighbors add no criminals, so Scott’s unknown neighbors Maria and Wanda also cannot add any criminals. Therefore Maria and Wanda must both be innocent. Ryan’s neighbors must contain exactly 4 innocents in total, and exactly 1 of those innocents is in row 4. But Paula is already an innocent neighbor of Ryan in row 4, while Scott is criminal, so Paula is that one row-4 innocent. Then Nick, Zoe, Maria, and Wanda would all be innocent neighbors of Ryan outside row 4, giving Ryan 5 innocent neighbors altogether, which is impossible. So Bruce must be innocent.
14.B1 · Clyde → CRIMINAL, C5 · Wanda → INNOCENT, D1 · Freya → CRIMINAL
Bruce’s clue says row 1 has more criminals than any other row. Row 4 already has 2 known criminals, so row 1 cannot stay at just 1 criminal; Clyde has to be a criminal to raise row 1 to 2. But row 1 must have more criminals than row 4, not merely match it, so Freya also has to be a criminal, making 3 criminals in row 1. Then row 5 cannot also have 3 criminals, so Wanda cannot be a criminal. So Clyde and Freya must be criminals, and Wanda must be innocent.
15.C3 · Maria → CRIMINAL
Ryan’s neighbors must contain exactly 4 innocents in total, and exactly 1 of those innocent neighbors is in row 4. Among Ryan’s row 4 neighbors, Paula is innocent and Scott is criminal, so that one row 4 innocent is already Paula. That means the neighbors not in row 4 can contain only 3 innocent people, and those people already include Nick, Wanda, and Zoe. So Maria must be criminal.
16.B2 · Helen → INNOCENT
Maria’s clue says Tom and Evie have the same number of innocent neighbors. Tom’s neighbors already include 2 innocents, while Evie’s neighbors currently include only 1 innocent. The only unknown among Evie’s neighbors is Helen, so she has to supply the missing innocent neighbor to make the counts equal. So Helen must be innocent.
17.A2 · Gary → CRIMINAL
Scott’s clue says Isaac is one of Clyde’s exactly 3 innocent neighbors. Among Clyde’s neighbors, Bruce, Helen, and Isaac are already innocent, while Evie is criminal and Gary is the only one not yet identified. That already fills all 3 innocent-neighbor spots around Clyde, so Gary cannot be innocent. So Gary must be criminal.