Tapa (Double) by Serkan Yürekli
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: Prisoner
Author/Opus: This is the 285th puzzle from our managing editor Serkan Yürekli.
Rules: Standard Tapa rules. Additionally, shade two separate Tapa walls that do not overlap or cross each other. All digits in a clue cell refer to the shading of just one Tapa wall within the puzzle and provide no information on the shading of the other wall around that clue.
See also this example:
Difficulty: 4.5 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:45, Master = 11:45, Expert = 23:30
Solution: PDF
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, and in our beginner-friendly collection Intro to GMPuzzles, all by Serkan Yürekli.
Nice easy solve. I got the theme before starting to solve, but, something that reveals the nature of the solution can’t be a theme, especially for a layman who would keep looking for a prisoner in the clues and never find one.
I suspect solving times are going to vary greatly on this one. The break-ins are pretty straightforward, but getting the logic of how everything has to fit together and why is going to take some of us a while to really grok (speaking as someone for whom the penny didn’t fully drop until I’d played around for quite a while). That being said, once I got the logic, it was pretty quick work.
Wow, this was great! I was a little worried about notation at the start (“Am I going to need 10 colors to solve this?”) but fortunately it was manageable.
@Jack: agreed, especially because the logic is so different from normal tapa. This could have been a good one to make a video for, although the Tapa Skyscrapers was probably the better choice between the two.
@Anurag: I disagree, the theme can be about the initial setting of clues, the solution, or even the solving process.
Very helpful to have some experience solving “Black and White” puzzles on this one.