This is a Melon puzzle. (5 – Tapa)
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: Logical
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 = 3:45, Master = 7:30, Expert = 15:00
Note: This puzzle now has a walkthrough available.
Solution: PDF
Enjoyable Tapa treat. Frankly, I am not exactly sure what the path of the solve was supposed to be as I fell back on some uniqueness aspects in the bottom right that pushed me forward. May have missed a more direct solve that didnt “cheat” using such aspects of the layout. Came in under Expert (which I never consider for myself on TAPAs). Nice start to the weekend.
Thanks.
TheSubro
I saw a lot of interaction between the 33 clues that helped narrow it down to a couple possibilities. I still feel like I “saw” (hoped? intuited?) a path to the solution and then went for it and it worked, rather than really working it all out logically, but that interaction among so many clues avoiding blocks of shaded cells was pretty nifty. This one went back and forth between the global connection and that 2×2 block rule in very nice ways.
I am also not sure what the direct solve should be. I ended up bifurcating a bit to see that the lower center 3/3 is forced, which the gives the rest of the solve.
At the risk of spoiling, there’s some beautiful logic here with potential pairs of shaded squares on the 33,6,7 forcing others on their neighbours.
Dam the river; had I looked at the 122 clue near the bottom right, I would have gotten a Master rating instead of an Expert. I’m pretty sure the intended break-in was to realize {ubj gur guerr-guerr pyhrf nssrpgrq rnpu bgure, naq ubj gur fvk naq frira nssrpgrq gubfr}. I also appreciated the use of {pbaarpgvivgl sbepvat pregnva pryyf (nebhaq gur guerr-guerr pyhrf) gb or oynpx va gur obggbz yrsg naq gbc prager}.
–Edd.