# 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:** 4
**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, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/61 "2026-07-16T12:26:50Z")
More or less what I do, except that I often have multiple pairs. I use red and yellow in the top corner for the first pair, and then green and magenta in the bottom corner. And once I’ve used a clue to do the marking, if that’s the sum total of information I can wring from the clue, I gray it out then. I, too, don’t have any good way of marking “one of these four is innocent”, or the like. ---
**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 16, 2026, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/62 "2026-07-16T12:52:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I made one mistake today, by mistaking “above (guy in the bottom row)” with “the whole column”. But other than that, pretty quick. Same. #CluesBySam - Jul 16th 2026 (Tricky) 03:55 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/63 "2026-07-17T16:40:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > More or less what I do, except that I often have multiple pairs. I use red and yellow in the top corner for the first pair, and then green and magenta in the bottom corner. And once I’ve used a clue to do the marking, if that’s the sum total of information I can wring from the clue, I gray it out then. Also similar here, but I just use one color for the pair. If I don’t know which is which, no need to color the two differently. I actually go further and typically just use yellow for every pair that arises since each pair’s spatial relationship is usually salient enough to remember during the solve, but that’s just laziness and not best practice. (On the iPad at least, I’d rather just tap for yellow twice than tap-hold-select some other color twice.) In reference to your comment above about sometimes having to count “cops” or whatever, I make use of the name/occupation font changes when a clue is revealed or grayed out. So if it says, “There are more criminal cops than criminal guards”, I toggle the clue on/off (live/gray) a bunch of time making the “cops” and “guards” labels sort of flash, making it easy to find them all. ---
**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 17, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/64 "2026-07-17T20:40:53Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > Also similar here, but I just use one color for the pair. The problem with that is that they’re sometimes chained: Alice is opposite of Bob, but Bob is also opposite of Carol, so Alice and Carol must be the same. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/65 "2026-07-17T22:13:50Z")
True. Yeah, that’s where I rely on the spatial pattern memory for that, as it’s almost always alternating in a line or around a corner. Indeed, laziness with the color picker interface rather than best practice. ---
**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 18, 2026, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/66 "2026-07-18T05:03:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Pasta](#): > > > > Also similar here, but I just use one color for the pair. > > The problem with that is that they’re sometimes chained: Alice is opposite of Bob, but Bob is also opposite of Carol, so Alice and Carol must be the same. Yes, this is what i used to do, but after my son suggested the other way, i tried it, and find it much more helpful. You can often chain several people. ---
**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 18, 2026, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/67 "2026-07-18T12:59:22Z")
I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Jul 18th 2026 (Hard), in less than 16 minutes 🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 Grumph. I confused left and right. ---
**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 21, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/68 "2026-07-21T01:02:24Z")
I solved the daily #CluesBySam, Jul 20th 2026 (Easy), in 05:03 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 At least i do okay on the easy ones. 😀 ---
**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 23, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/69 "2026-07-23T13:00:34Z")
Today’s was another one with a riddle. I’d have thought a coin, except it was “something off a wall”. ---
**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 23, 2026, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/70 "2026-07-23T13:46:03Z")
A key ring? ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/71 "2026-07-24T13:10:16Z")
#CluesBySam - Jul 24th 2026 (Tricky) 02:35 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 Not sure I can claim this is a good time though because I didn’t use one of the clues so either there was a bug or I got lucky with a guess that I didn’t think was a guess. A2 is the clue if anyone wants to confirm. I suppose it can be that the puzzle answer is 100% determined without all the clues. ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/72 "2026-07-24T13:16:00Z")
Now that you mention it, I don’t think I ever used that clue, either. ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/73 "2026-07-24T13:20:50Z")
Reddit says there can be redundant clues. Huh, good to know. ---
**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 24, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/74 "2026-07-24T13:23:50Z")
I wasted a lot of time trying to use that clue too early, when there wasn’t enough info to go with it. ---
**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 26, 2026, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/75 "2026-07-26T18:05:47Z")
Interesting… I started the puzzle this morning before I went to church and various other places, and didn’t see a pause button anywhere. I came back about 5 hours later, but it said that I solved in in 33 minutes. Apparently it automatically pauses the timer after some amount of inactivity? ---
**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 26, 2026, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/76 "2026-07-26T19:15:20Z")
I think if your screen goes off it stop counting. I’ve had a bunch of times when i interrupted playing to do something else, and it’s never counted all the time i was away. ---
**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 27, 2026, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/77 "2026-07-27T16:04:44Z")
#CluesBySam - Jul 27th 2026 (Easy) 05:00 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**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:** [August 3, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/78 "2026-08-03T20:39:26Z")
#CluesBySam - Aug 3rd 2026 (Easy) 04:07 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 Ugh, i miscounted on my last person. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/79 "2026-08-28T12:30:59Z")
My wife just got me doing this, so I’m still kinda figuring it out. This one looks like I know what I’m doing, but I had to go at it very slowly. #CluesBySam - Aug 28th 2026 (Tricky) Less than 34 minutes 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350/80 "2026-08-28T21:12:16Z")
I went back and did yesterday’s, with one yellow square, but it won’t let me copy the results. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clues-by-sam/1030350.md?page=5)