# Clues by Sam **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [May 24, 2026, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350 "2026-05-24T13:18:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2026, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/41 "2026-06-08T12:36:14Z")
I did it in under 7. I’m improving. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2026, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/42 "2026-06-11T00:12:41Z")
Hell yeah: #CluesBySam - Jun 10th 2026 (Tricky) 03:16 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2026, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/43 "2026-06-13T21:56:08Z")
Rob’s clue today gave more information than needed: Only 1 of the 5 criminals neighboring Ike is Claire’s neighbor. But it could have just said There are 5 criminals neighboring Ike, because that was enough to show that Both Claire and Hank (the only non-determined common neighbor) were criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/44 "2026-07-07T18:33:49Z")
Anybody else not getting new puzzles this week? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/45 "2026-07-07T20:30:45Z")
Not i. I’ve done Monday and Tuesday ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/46 "2026-07-07T20:47:13Z")
So did I. Today’s ended with a riddle about what was stolen. It’s a pen ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/47 "2026-07-07T21:04:05Z")
And i didn’t make any mistakes today I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Jul 7th 2026 (Medium), in 04:43 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 > **[Clues by Sam](https://cluesbysam.com)** > > A daily logic puzzle where you deduce who is a criminal! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/48 "2026-07-07T21:40:49Z")
Weird. It kept showing me last week’s puzzles, even if I tried to refresh the page or change days. I finally just closed that tab then hit @puzzlegal 's link and now it is showing this week. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2026, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/49 "2026-07-08T13:29:33Z")
#CluesBySam - Jul 8th 2026 (Tricky) 02:35 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 Nice ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2026, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/50 "2026-07-09T02:08:57Z")
I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Jul 8th 2026 (Tricky), in less than 9 minutes 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2026, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/51 "2026-07-12T21:28:11Z")
OK, so that’s what β€œBrutal” looks like. I kept on putting in lots of toil and effort, and finally being able to make one deduction and thinking β€œwhew, that’s over”, and then the clue I got from all that work was a non-clue. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/52 "2026-07-13T01:32:41Z")
Decided to take a look today on this effective recommendation. (I’ve played a few here and there since this thread introduced me to the game.) Yeah, a tougher one to be sure. I found it a little unsatisfying in that three separate results, if I recall correctly, leaned on the same clue’s schtick, namely finding that more than one column would end up with exactly two criminals – and I think it was always the same two columns. I guess there was some smidgen of elegance in recognizing that those two columns were most likely to run afoul of that constraint, which motivated useful paths to follow, but the solving still felt, well, inelegant. But elegance in such puzzles is certainly subjective. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/53 "2026-07-13T03:18:23Z")
I was not proud of my work today πŸ˜† I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Jul 12th 2026 (Brutal), in less than 51 minutes 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟠🟠🟩 🟨🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/54 "2026-07-13T12:46:00Z")
OK, today’s had a nice quality-of-life improvement that I hope is the new norm, not just an β€œEasy” thing: Instead of saying things like β€œOne of the painters…”, it said β€œone of the three painters…”. Counting the number of X profession to be sure you’ve found them all isn’t difficult nor an exercise in logic; it’s just grunt work, and it’s really annoying to make a mistake because you just missed seeing one. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/55 "2026-07-13T13:09:30Z")
I bought one of the β€œpacks” for sale, and discovered two unexpected things: 1. some of the clues are of the form β€œat least 2…”. I’ve never seen that in a daily puzzle. 2. when it emails you a link to your pack, it says > Thank you so much for your purchase! Here is your unique link to **Puzzle Pack #1**. Feel free to share them with your close ones, but please don’t share them with the rest of the world. So, i shared it with my son, who showed me the game. (And offered to share with my husband, who said, β€œno thanks, one a day is plenty”) But that makes the purchase potentially a much better deal. It also means you have explicit permission to work on them with friends. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/56 "2026-07-15T12:12:29Z")
This was Tricky? I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Jul 15th 2026 (Tricky), in 03:28 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 > **[Clues by Sam](https://cluesbysam.com)** > > A daily logic puzzle where you deduce who is a criminal! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/57 "2026-07-15T12:49:20Z")
It took me nearly 7 minutes. But i agree that it wasn’t a hard one. Also, I’ve realized that my dyslexia means I’m never going to get great scores on this. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/58 "2026-07-16T11:21:34Z")
Today’s took me some time, but I didn’t think it was very hard, either. I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Jul 16th 2026 (Tricky), in less than 11 minutes 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/59 "2026-07-16T12:05:28Z")
I made one mistake today, by mistaking β€œabove (guy in the bottom row)” with β€œthe whole column”. But other than that, pretty quick. I think that how difficult it was might depend on how, and how well, you use the marked corners. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/60 "2026-07-16T12:11:22Z")
I only marked a few today. Both my son and daughter suggesting using the pairs of colors to indicate opposites. So when i know exactly one of two people is a criminal, i mark one orange and the other yellow. Sometimes i later learn that another one must have the same status as the orange one, and mark it orange, too. This is highly effective (especially if you change the settings so the marks don’t disappear as you click) but it means not marking anyone if you know that 1 of 3 people is a criminal. Despite that issue, I’ve found this method very effective. Also, i dim the clues that are no longer adding value, so it’s easy to find the β€œlive” ones. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350.md?page=4)