Tapa by Prasanna Seshadri [Bonus]
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Theme: 1&4
Author/Opus: This is the 159th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.
Rules: Standard Tapa rules.
Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the shaded segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30
Note: Follow this link for other Tapa variations and this link for classic Tapa. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on. More Tapa puzzles can be found in The Art of Puzzles and in Tapa and Variations, both by Serkan Yürekli.
For fun I tested our obfuscation tools by solving the “nonpatron” variation of this puzzle. It appears we succeeded, in that, given this week’s theme, the subtitle, the nonpatron image, and the knowledge that the clues must yield a unique solution, despite the narrowness of the intended solving path it is still not logically possible to determine the correct solution as a nonpatron.
OTOH, this variation is a fun puzzle, in that all but two clues can be determined (all but three without assuming uniqueness). Given that, there are only two solution strings that could work, and the nonpatron can submit both and “illogically” find the solution by trial and error. All might be interested in working out the other solution string, which happens to be gur fnzr guveq ebj fgevat cerprqrq ol bar pbzzn fvk gjb pbzzn.
Thanks Prasanna 🙂