Clues & Culprits › Clue types
Clue Types Field Manual
Every statement in Clues & Culprits belongs to one of 13 types. Learn what each one proves — and what it doesn’t — and you will never have to guess what a clue means.
Two rules apply to all of them: everyone tells the truth, and counts are exact. Words like neighbors, between and connected have fixed definitions, summarised in How to play. Inside the game, hover over or tap any name, row or profession in a clue and the cards it refers to light up.
Neighbor clues
Count criminals (or innocents) among the up-to-eight people touching a suspect, diagonals included.
Exactly two of my five neighbors are criminals.
Row and column clues
Exact counts for a whole row, a whole column, or the entire lineup.
Row 3 has exactly two criminals.
Profession clues
Counts across everyone who shares a job — the three cooks, the four guards — wherever they sit.
Exactly one of us three cooks is a criminal.
Above, below, left and right
Counts of everyone in a straight line from a suspect: above or below in their column, left or right in their row.
Everyone above me is innocent.
Between clues
Counts of the people strictly between two suspects in the same row or column — never including the two ends.
There are exactly two criminals between Bea and Ruth.
Corner and edge clues
Counts of the four corner seats, or of everyone on the outer ring of the grid.
Exactly two of the four people in the corners are criminals.
Same-verdict and exactly-one clues
Two named suspects either share a verdict, or exactly one of them is a criminal.
Hana and Liam are either both criminals or both innocent.
If–then clues
Conditionals like "If Gus is a criminal, then so is Hana". One-way only, but the contrapositive always holds.
If Gus is a criminal, then so is Hana.
Connected clues
All the criminals (or innocents) in a row or column form one unbroken run — and there is at least one.
All the criminals in Row 2 are connected.
More-than clues
Comparisons between two rows, two columns or two professions.
Row 2 has more criminals than Row 4.
Most-neighbors clues
One suspect has strictly more criminal (or innocent) neighbors than anyone else on the board.
I have more criminal neighbors than anyone else.
Odd and even clues
The number of criminals in a group is odd or even. Zero counts as even.
An odd number of my neighbors are criminals.
Common-neighbor clues
Counts of the people who neighbor both of two suspects.
Gus and I have exactly one criminal neighbor in common.
Questions
How many clue types are there?
13. Every Clues & Culprits clue is one of them, and each has exactly one meaning.
Which clue types are the hardest?
Odd/even, more-than, connected, common-neighbor and most-neighbors clues rarely settle anyone alone. They appear most in Hard and Evil cases, where they combine with counts.
Do clues ever mean “at least”?
Only when they say so. Counts are exact by default; “all” means every one of them, and at least one exists.