Math Path by JinHoo Ahn
This is a free “warm-up” puzzle; Season 4 subscribers will see today’s main puzzle in the same style posted at 9:05 AM PT.
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between a number entry mode, a number candidates mode, and a path drawing mode.)
Theme: Tiny Watch
Author/Opus: This is the 131st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster JinHoo Ahn.
Rules: Write a number from 1 to N (N is given for each puzzle) into each cell so that every number appears in the grid once. There must be a path using just adjacent cells to travel between consecutive numbers from 1 to N. Also, the number in the upper-left corner of each bold cage indicates the value of a mathematical operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) applied successively to all numbers in the cage, starting with the largest number for subtraction and division (e.g. 1,2,4 with subtraction is a 1- clue as 4-2-1 = 1). The operation may or may not be given in the cage, but at least one of the four operations must apply.
See also this example:
Difficulty: 1.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:15, Master = 1:30, Expert = 3:00
Solution: PDF and solving animation.
Note: Follow this link for other Math Path puzzles and this link for other Number Placement variations.
Note 2: Comments on the blog are great! For a more interactive discussion, please also consider using our Week 12 Discussion post on the GMPuzzles Discord.