LITS by Freddie Hand
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Theme: Cornered Again
Author/Opus: This is the 3rd puzzle from guest contributor Freddie Hand.
Rules: Standard LITS 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 = 5:00, Master = 8:00, Expert = 16:00
Solution: PDF
Note: Follow this link for other classic LITS. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest LITS to get started on. More LITS puzzles can be found in LOTS O’ LITS by Grant Fikes and Prasanna Seshadri, in The Art of Puzzles 2, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles by Serkan Yürekli.
Very impressive pair of puzzles! With this kind of lits,I should just give up wanting to prove uniqueness, as solving intuitively is so much faster. I wonder if I missed a step-by-step path, but I think I’m simply not that good at “hmm this has to go approximately here to connect” logic.
There is a step-by-step path to this puzzle, with one tough step in particular:
Gurer vf n ovg bs fvzcyr ybtvp va gur gbc evtug: guvf nyybjf lbh gb cynpr gjb grgebzvabrf naq 3 pryyf bs nabgure.
Gur arkg fgrc vf xrl (naq engure qvssvphyg). Vs gur grgebzvab va gur obggbz evtug pbaarpgf ivn gur ertvba pbagnvavat E9P9, gur gbc yrsg cbegvba bs gung ertvba zhfg or hafunqrq (vapyhqvat, pehpvnyyl, E7P6). Jr gura qvfpbire gung gur obggbz yrsg ertvba vf gura hanoyr gb pbaarpg, fvapr vg jbhyq yrnq gb gjb Y grgebzvabrf be gjb V grgebzvabrf gbhpuvat rnpu bgure. Gurersber, gur obggbz evtug ertvba zhfg pbaarpg ivn gur ertvba pbagnvavat E10P7, naq gur chmmyr fubhyq abg or gbb uneq sebz gurer.
A note on how I constructed it: did you notice that the three largest regions can be combined into one big region containing 6 stars and the puzzle would still be solvable? This gave me a lot of leeway with these regions which meant I was able to tweak them until it led to a valid LITS puzzle.
Really nice.
I’m happy to see that by going intuitivly, I somewhat infered the hard logical step you describe.
I didn’t even understand the first step…