Saturday, 10 June 2023

Menderbug

Here's bakpao's walkthrough of yesterday's Patchwork puzzle: https://youtu.be/xjF7nbezn9A

It's my first Supersized Saturday, and today you get to grow a supersized Coral. The genre was first covered by Freddie not too long ago. Have a look at his puzzle if you want a regular-sized one to warm up: Archive: Sunday, 9 April 2023

Going forward, we'll try to include portrait orientation versions with our big rectangular puzzles, which might be more convenient on mobile.

Rules: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one orthogonally connected area and the unshaded cells are all connected orthogonally by other unshaded cells to the edge of the grid. No 2x2 region may be entirely shaded. Clues outside the grid represent the lengths of each of the blocks of consecutive shaded cells in the corresponding row or column, not necessarily in order. (The thick borders have no significance and are only there to help you count the cells.)

This genre has a very important and not entirely obvious property that's going to help a lot with this puzzle, so check out the GAPP 101 if you're unsure or stuck: Much like with Cave or Yin-Yang, there can never be a 2x2 checkerboard of shaded and unshaded cells. This is because to connect the shaded cells, you have to 'wrap around' one of the unshaded cells, preventing it from connecting to the edge of the grid.

You can solve the example puzzle here (puzz.link): https://tinyurl.com/7ccv3p3p (Source: puzz.link rules page)

Score a Speedy Sloth 🦥 by solving the puzzle in 5:00 or less!
Collect a Quick Crab 🦀 by completing the puzzle in 10:00 or less!
Finish the puzzle in your own time to become the proud owner of a Coral-Billed Scimitar Babbler 🐦!

Solve today's puzzle here (puzz.link).
Landscape: https://tinyurl.com/5n8shwxx
Portrait: https://tinyurl.com/2adj2363