Hi!

Last week there was a fun question on Reddit: How are the puzzles made? The assumption was that there must be some kind of AI making these, since, who else would have time to make these every day?

Well, there's no "AI" doing these. It's me and my algorithms. The same algorithms that ensure that all puzzles are solvable, and that all valid deductions are allowed (which has, by the way, worked flawlessly for over a year) does also help me with making the puzzles. Those who have used the community editor know how helpful it is to have the algorithm tell who can be identified based on the given clues. I have additional tools I use myself where the algorithm helps even more. But there's no LLM or such making the puzzles!

Some also wonder how this can be worth anyone's time. There aren't even any ads! That's right, there are no ads. Instead I'm getting wonderful support from subscriptions and pack purchases. Thank you everyone! I used to work on mobile games which rely heavily on ads, and got a bit allergic to them. I like this model a lot better, and I hope you do too!

This isn't actually my first time making something without ads. In case you didn't know, I also have free, no-ads versions of some popular mobile games. For example, if you like Hexa Sort, check out Bee Sort by Sam (available on iOS and Android). Word Search by Sam is my personal favourite (only available on iOS). I wanted to see if there're many people actively looking for these type of games, and perhaps with enough support I could grow it into a business. Currently they're nowhere near the required level of popularity to make something sustainable out of them, but they're still there, free for you to enjoy!

So all I want to say is that I'm extremely happy to be working on Clues by Sam every day (and I do work on it basically every day, since I'm terrible at creating a buffer of puzzles). This is something I was striving for for a long time, and thanks to you it's now reality. Thank you for being part of it, you're amazing!

And since you're so nice, I feel bad for some of the harder puzzles. I don't want to torture you with painful logic! That's how I felt when publishing Sunday's puzzle. But turns out it wasn't that bad. The median time was less than last Sunday, only slightly higher than Saturday. You did well!

Mon 2026-08-10 (Easy): 1m 38s / 2m 26s / 4m 31s / 51% / 86%
Tue 2026-08-11 (Medium): 1m 36s / 2m 22s / 4m 24s / 57% / 83%
Wed 2026-08-12 (Medium): 2m 23s / 3m 39s / 7m 4s / 32% / 73%
Thu 2026-08-13 (Tricky): 2m 22s / 3m 43s / 6m 51s / 40% / 75%
Fri 2026-08-14 (Tricky): 2m 48s / 4m 34s / 8m 35s / 35% / 62%
Sat 2026-08-15 (Hard): 3m 52s / 6m 10s / 11m 21s / 21% / 56%
Sun 2026-08-16 (Hard): 3m 16s / 5m 47s / 11m 53s / 17% / 50%

And here are some of the most recommended community puzzles from last week. I especially enjoyed the last one!
#1 Medium - https://cluesbysam.com/s/share/?puzzleId=a8611a-483ec7fcdb04a2bc
#2 Medium - https://cluesbysam.com/s/share/?puzzleId=ed0c6c-7335f01b118715a3
#3 Tricky - https://cluesbysam.com/s/share/?puzzleId=5270ff-8165d6419ae3b06d

If you're looking for more, check out the home page (creating an account is free).

And of course, if you haven't played the daily puzzle: https://cluesbysam.com

That's it for today! Have a nice week!

-Sam