Puzzle Description:

One of the torchmen, the air defense system of the city of Mechanicsburg in the graphic novel Girl Genius. When dormant, the torchmen serve as the city's very decorative lamp posts. When activated, the lamp posts spread their wings, burst into flame, and rise in a swarm of hundreds to destroy any airborne threats near the city. They turn the posts they sat upon into giant spears with the light bulb end held in their hands. Old timer airmen of all the airship fleets of Europa remember "If you'd live to see the end of day, from Mechancsburg two leagues stay."

#1: Eric (kelalatir) on May 3, 2026 [SPOILER]

To see the torchmen transform and attack:
https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20080728

Initial line & color logic solves 3% with only black remaining.

R1: EL v. R3 marks C72-84 black. LL.

R35: EL marks C40-42 and C44-47 black. LL.

R34: EL v. R32 marks C1-6 and C81-85 white. LL.

C84: EL marks R5-7 white. LL.

R5: EL marks C79-83 white. No LL.

R5: If the 12 is located within C66-78, it places 11 of the 12 in R6, which puts the 4 in R6 within C79-83. Since at least one of R7 C77-78 would need to be white, this would make R7 invalid. Therefore the blacks in R5 C54-59 must be part of the 12. LL.

R6: If the blacks in C51-53 are one of the 3s, the 12 and 4 will both place blacks into R7 that would have to be part of the 16. Since this would be a minimum of 17 blacks in R7, it would make R7 invalid. Therefore R6C50 must be black. LL.

R6: If the blacks in C50-53 are the 4, the 16 in R7 would place blacks into R8 along its entirety, which would make R8 invalid. This makes the blacks in R6 C50-53 part of the 12, and R6 C48-49 are black. LL to 25%.

R9: EL v. R11 marks C42-46 white. No LL.

R34: EL on the 20 marks C68-70 black. No LL.

R33: EL marks C1-4 white. No LL.

R35: EL v. R33 marks C7-17 white. No LL.

R34: EL marks C7-9 white. No LL.

R33: EL marks C5-6 white. No LL.

R32: EL marks C1-6 white. No LL.

C2: If R28 is black, either C3 or C4 is invalid. EL marks R7 white. LL.

C3: If R28 is black, R27 is invalid. LL.

C4: EL c. C6 marks R30-31 white. No LL.

Stuck here at 27%.

At the point where Wombat stopped, there is still edge logic in R35 when compared to R30.

Wow, Wombat! 27% or not, that is very impressive!

Good puzzle. For me the key was to see where the pixels can go on the edges.

Goto next topic

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