Tapa by Prasanna Seshadri
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the composite Yajilin mode where left click marks cells, right click marks dots in cells or X’s on edges, left click+drag draws lines.)
Theme: Two Much Surrounding
Author/Opus: This is the 234th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.
Rules: Standard Tapa rules.
Difficulty: 3.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:30, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00
Solution: PDF and solving video.
Note: Follow this link for classic Tapa and this link for Tapa variations. 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, in Tapa and Variations 1 and 2, and in our beginner-friendly books Intro to GMPuzzles and Starter Pack 2: Tapa, all by Serkan Yürekli.
One of the few times I bested the GM watermark. Hopefully it’s because I actually saw the proper logic quickly, and not because I made a gross error that just happened to lead to the right result.
21:23. Took me a long time to find the break-in, but the way everything fell together at the end was very satisfying.
Expert time but only because I guessed and was lucky 😀