Puzzle Description:

(This puzzle was recovered from the 2016 database crash. Puzzle creators, please edit this puzzle and put the real description here!)

#1: Bill Eisenmann (Bullet) on Apr 12, 2022

Beautifully rendered! Tough start, then suddenly I broke through and got most of it, then one by one finish.

Agree with Bill. I couldn’t see a path to go forward and had to guess. Good detail for such a small puzzle.

Found to have a unique solution by wombatilim.

Found to be solvable with moderate lookahead by wombatilim.

Initial LL completes 24%.

R25: EL marks C1-3 white.
R20: IEL v.R22 marks C1-4 white.
R21: IEL v.R23 marks C1 white.
R40: EL marks R1-2 white.
C39: EL marks R1-2 white.
C38: EL marks R10 black. LL.

C17: At least one of R16 and R18 must be black. If R16 is black, R16C16 is white, and R18C17 is still black.

R15: If the 9 goes to C3, the black in R17C2 would need to be part of the 3 in C2, but this would make R18 invalid. Therefore R15C3 is white. LL.

C40: Whether R16 or R18 is black, R16 C34-37 will be black. LL marks R14C35 white.

C39: Whether the black in R17 joins with R15 or R18, R18C38 is black.

R18: The black in C30 is either part of the middle 3 or part of the 4. If it is part of the 3, R18C33 would be black and R18C27 would be white, which would make R19 invalid. Therefore it is part of the 4, and R18 C34-35 are white. LL.

R25 EL v.R22 marks C24-25 and C27-30 white. LL.

C28: If the 5 goes to R22, it marks R20 C29-30 white, and C30 will be invalid. R22C28 must be white instead. LL.

C30: If the 9 goes to R24, C31 is invalid, so R24C30 is white.

LL to finish.

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