Happy December!

It's almost the end of the year. I can't wait to make some kind of recap of everyting that's happened, but we're not quite there yet. Anything could still happen. Like for example, apparently the game was mentioned in "The Athletic" over the weekend, inviting some fresh detectives to join the crime hunt! I wish it didn't happen on a weekend when the puzzles are the hardest, and specifically this weekend when the puzzles were much harder than usual!

So, if you found the game over the weekend, and you're still here despite the rough introduction: Well done! And welcome! You came right on time, since today I'll be sharing the November archive, so you can play some older puzzles as well.

I also received some requests for some easier puzzles over the weekend. This is very understandable. Usually I'm sharing more evil puzzles in the newsletter, since those you rarely see in the daily ones, but today I'll include two easy ones as well. Please share them with your friends and family as a gentler introduction to the game (in addition to today's Easy puzzle)!

And before spammin you with the links, one more thing: Puzzle Pack #2 is done! Almost! I will still tweak the order of the puzzles a bit based on some feedback I'm getting from early testers. The pack should be available later this week. This pack will be notably harder than the previous one, with 10 "Evil" puzzles, and only 5 "Easy" ones, which are also not maybe as easy as the daily easy ones. I'm also working on a smaller free "practice pack" with mainly easy ones to balance this out, and will hopefully have that available soon as well.

Until then, here are the bonus puzzles!
#1 Easy - https://cluesbysam.com/archive/9dae11716597
#2 Easy - https://cluesbysam.com/archive/48ecc00f9450
#3 Tricky - https://cluesbysam.com/archive/dc97c0bd14de
#4 Hard - https://cluesbysam.com/archive/d92e09721334

And then the archive. Again, we have the times for top 1% / 10% / 50% solve times. Also we have the % of players who completed the puzzle with no hints or mistakes, and % of players who completed the puzzle without any hints. (Still amazed by how few need hints!)

Sat 2025-11-01 Hard: 3m 33s / 6m 58s / 14m 18s / 14% / 48%
Sun 2025-11-02 Evil: 3m 48s / 7m 43s / 16m 2s / 18% / 52%
Mon 2025-11-03 Easy: 1m 56s / 2m 51s / 4m 58s / 35% / 83%
Tue 2025-11-04 Medium: 2m 9s / 3m 23s / 5m 59s / 19% / 71%
Wed 2025-11-05 Tricky: 3m 11s / 5m 8s / 9m 17s / 21% / 62%
Thu 2025-11-06 Tricky: 2m 37s / 4m 25s / 8m 30s / 35% / 69%
Fri 2025-11-07 Hard: 3m 9s / 5m 28s / 10m 20s / 29% / 66%
Sat 2025-11-08 Hard: 3m 7s / 5m 42s / 11m 30s / 17% / 52%
Sun 2025-11-09 Evil: 4m 1s / 7m 50s / 16m 12s / 13% / 48%
Mon 2025-11-10 Easy: 2m 11s / 3m 28s / 6m 31s / 40% / 68%
Tue 2025-11-11 Medium: 1m 44s / 2m 33s / 4m 34s / 39% / 80%
Wed 2025-11-12 Tricky: 2m 23s / 3m 40s / 6m 41s / 40% / 79%
Thu 2025-11-13 Tricky: 3m 23s / 5m 15s / 9m 15s / 14% / 68%
Fri 2025-11-14 Hard: 3m 48s / 6m 30s / 12m 24s / 20% / 55%
Sat 2025-11-15 Hard: 3m 5s / 4m 48s / 8m 58s / 26% / 69%
Sun 2025-11-16 Hard: 3m 28s / 6m 3s / 11m 50s / 14% / 47%
Mon 2025-11-17 Easy: 1m 40s / 2m 25s / 4m 15s / 37% / 86%
Tue 2025-11-18 Medium: 1m 53s / 2m 53s / 5m 18s / 36% / 74%
Wed 2025-11-19 Medium: 2m 25s / 3m 45s / 6m 46s / 20% / 72%
Thu 2025-11-20 Tricky: 3m 6s / 5m 0s / 9m 20s / 40% / 71%
Fri 2025-11-21 Hard: 3m 9s / 5m 15s / 9m 54s / 26% / 69%
Sat 2025-11-22 Hard: 3m 16s / 5m 27s / 10m 40s / 25% / 65%
Sun 2025-11-23 Hard: 3m 32s / 6m 17s / 12m 36s / 14% / 52%
Mon 2025-11-24 Easy: 1m 27s / 2m 7s / 3m 38s / 41% / 86%
Tue 2025-11-25 Easy: 1m 48s / 2m 47s / 5m 8s / 37% / 75%
Wed 2025-11-26 Medium: 2m 33s / 4m 4s / 7m 35s / 27% / 75%
Thu 2025-11-27 Tricky: 2m 39s / 4m 5s / 7m 26s / 39% / 72%
Fri 2025-11-28 Tricky: 2m 55s / 4m 39s / 8m 48s / 21% / 69%
Sat 2025-11-29 Hard: 3m 51s / 7m 15s / 15m 3s / 10% / 44%
Sun 2025-11-30 Evil: 2m 54s / 5m 42s / 13m 43s / 12% / 47%

Based on the data, it seems like Saturday was harder than Sunday. But is this just because of so many newjoiners on Saturady? Also, it might just be that Saturday was more tedious, while Sunday went pretty quickly once you got into it. Well, at least there were way more questions on r/CluesBySamHelp on Sunday, which is also an interesting data point.

Talking of r/CluesBySamHelp, there was a fair "Quality of Life" request posted there over the weekend: Making referenced names and professions easier to spot. The referenced professions and names are currently highlighted, but very vaguely. Unfortunately, in my attempts, making the highlight more obvious doesn't help much when the grid is filled with people referenced by multiple clues. Perhaps using multiple colours could help? I will think about it. But until then, there's actually a somewhat hidden trick that should help you a lot: Next time you're looking for a person or for example all builders, try tapping on the clue referencing them a few times. You'll notice the referenced job titles and names bounce. This should help significantly in detecting them!

Also, don't forget to use the corner tags. This is old news for most of you, but: In the top right corner of each card, you can click on the tag to cycle through some colors. Feel free to use them in any way you want. Additionally, if you long-press on the top part of the card, a color palette appears, and you can drag through more color options. Same works for the lower part of the card, which will color the bottom right corner. Note that you can long-press anywhere on the top or bottom part of the cards. This trick can help a lot if you're playing on a small screen and have a hard time hitting that small corner.

Alright! That's it! I hope you'll have a cozy December!

-Sam