Araf by Murat Can Tonta
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools with a composite mode for line/edge drawing.)
Theme: How Many Squares?
Author/Opus: This is the 173rd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Murat Can Tonta.
Rules: Standard Araf rules.
Difficulty: 3.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 3:45, Expert = 7:30
Solution: PDF; a solution video is also available here.
Note: Follow this link for more Araf puzzles on this website. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Araf Puzzles to get started on. More Araf puzzles can be found in the ebook Araf by Serkan Yürekli.
This might be the first time I’ve beaten the Grandmaster time on any of these puzzles, which is all the more surprising to me because I’ve not done many Araf puzzles.
I feel like that might have been at least partially due to luck, though…
My solution path was definitely along the lines of “hey, this looks plausible let’s see what happens … yup, that worked!”
Kind of with the other commenters. Solved this faster than I expected, but it felt very intuitive, rather than logical. I’m kind of hoping this will be one of the featured solves, because I would love to know what sort of logical steps I should take when approaching this. Araf is still a newish puzzle type to me.
The logic here is mostly rudimentary. Like in many of these puzzles, lbh jnag gb ybbx ng ubj 6f, naq 7f va ebjf 5 naq 8 sbepr gur arrq sbe rabhtu ahzoref gb pbzovar jvgu. Nf n pbafrdhrapr, vg urycf gb ryvzvangr bcgvbaf sbe gur ybar 4, anzryl 8, 9 naq 10 ba gur gbc naq gur 6 orfvqr vg. Vg vf rnfl gb frr jul gur 8 vf ehyrq bhg. Vs gur 4 jrer gb wbva jvgu 20, gur 8 va gur sbhegu ebj jbhyq or hfrq hc, abg yrnivat rabhtu ahzoref sbe 7 va E1 naq 7 va E4. Yvxrjvfr, vs 4 naq 9 wbva, gurer jba’g or rabhtu fcnpr sbe nyy gur ahzoref ba gur yrsg gb znxr jnl guebhtu gur yrsg unys bs gur tevq naq cnve hc jvgu cbgragvny ahzoref. Pbafrdhragyl, jr trg nyy gur cnvef, rkprcg sbe E4P5, E5P5, E5P8, naq E4P8. E4P4 naq E4P8 jbhyq or gur svefg ertvba lbh jbhyq qenj. Gur erfg sbyybj.
6:48.