Friday, 2 January 2026

bakpao

Hello! I'm finally back from my holiday and ready to start posting GAPP again!

... Well, not quite. I've been hanging out with @Prasanna16391 and invited him to write a GAPP for today as a guest author, and he agreed! I'm sure most of you have solved Prasanna's puzzles before, whether in this discord or in the many contests, championships, magazines or blogs he has contributed puzzles to. Enjoy his GAPP debut!

Today's GAPP is a Tapa (Transparent)! Transparent is a common variant in which clues can be shaded. It's our first time featuring it in GAPP!

Rules: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one orthogonally connected area and no 2x2 region is entirely shaded. Clues may or may not be shaded, and represent the sizes of the groups of orthogonally connected shaded cells in the (up to) 3x3 area surrounding the clue.

Today's puzzle comes with a GAPP 101 consisting of two parts. The second part provides a bigger hint than the first.
1. In many cases, you would not be able to fulfill a clue if you shade the clue cell itself. Focus on finding these clues!
2. In this specific puzzle, clues that can not be shaded are: 11, 111, 1111, 122, 23, 24, 33, 8

Acquire a Speedy Sloth 🦥 by solving in 4:00 or less!
Obtain a Quick Crab 🦀 by solving in 8:00 or less!
All solvers who complete the puzzle will be rewarded with a Snowy Owl 🐦!

Example (Penpa+): https://tinyurl.com/3n9nzp7f (the example is on the trickier side today!)
Main (Penpa+): https://tinyurl.com/5dbwc3jd