We don't like taking this 'brute force' approach to solving any type of puzzle, but sometimes it is the only We always start with a solver. We try to make our solver so that it solves puzzles in the same way as a human solver computation time (by a long way) is the final step. This means it's not as wasteful as it might seem at first glance. These puzzles are not as popular as some other types of puzzles, (Sudoku in particular), but they appear on a daily

this our exit. If our path hits a dead-end and can't move forward any further, we start again from a blank Look for completed rows and columns. If we find a completed row/column, we will insert a 'X' for all other We insert a '?' for any cells implied by the clues. For each row/column we will count the number of

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needing to use any particular solving technique. With this in mind, we only apply this technique when there empty cells, and subtract that from the length of that row/column. If this number matches the clue for that For example, let's take the puzzle width as 8, and let's suppose the clue for a particular row is 3. is a limited number of cells left to fill. This makes sure our puzzles are satisfying to solve, and somebody at a cell on the puzzle boundary. We have a minimum target 'coverage', i.e. the minimum number of cells we

of a puzzle. In this situation somebody solving a puzzle will be able to just 'see' the solution, without want to be in our path. If we have reached the target coverage, and are on the puzzle boundary, we will call The solver is always the starting point for any type of puzzle - without a solver you won't be able to write aThis process gives us our puzzle! It might seem that steps 1 and 2 are quite wasteful in that we will end up