Snake Pit by Carl Worth
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or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a composite mode for line/edge drawing and a number entry mode.)
Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic
Author/Opus: This is the 15th puzzle from our newest contributing puzzlemaster Carl Worth.
Rules: (Hybrid of Fillomino and Snake Puzzles.) Divide the grid along the boundary lines so that every cell belongs to a snake. A snake is a one-cell-wide path at least two cells long that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. Circled cells must be at one of the ends of a snake. A snake may contain one circled cell, two circled cells, or no circled cells at all. Numbered cells must be part of a snake with a length of exactly that number of cells. A snake may contain one number, multiple identical numbers, or no numbers at all. Two snakes of the same length cannot touch each other horizontally or vertically.
Also see this example:
Answer String: For each cell in the marked rows/columns, enter the length of the snake it belongs to. Enter just the last digit for any two-digit number. This example has the key “35522,44462”.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 6:15, Master = 8:45, Expert = 17:30
Solution: PDF
Note: Follow these link for other Fillomino or Snake puzzles.
Heh, once you stop making the same incorrect assumption over and over and over again, this one practically solves itself. Only took me like four days.