Time
0:00
Best
-
Sew every pair of neighbouring regions together with exactly one stitch, matching the hole counts on every row and column.
The thick outlines cut the board into regions. Every two regions that touch must be sewn together with exactly one stitch.
A stitch is a short line joining two neighbouring cells that sit in different regions. It punches a hole in each of those two cells, and no cell may ever hold more than one hole.
The numbers down the left side and across the top count the holes in that row or column. You have to satisfy every seam and every number at the same time.
Tap on the border between two regions to lay a stitch, tap again to cross that border out, once more to clear it. A clue dims when its count is met and turns red if you go over. Every puzzle has exactly one solution and is checked to be reachable by pure deduction, so you never have to guess. Your time is your score, so lower is better.
Start with the zeros, because they are the only clues that tell you something for free. A row or column marked 0 can hold no holes at all, so every border that would put a hole in it is dead — cross them all out before you place a single stitch. That usually strips two or three candidates off some seam and hands you your first forced stitch.
After the zeros, hunt for seams with only one border left. Two regions often touch along a single cell boundary, or along a stretch that the zeros have just eaten into. Any seam with exactly one surviving border is forced, and because a stitch fills both of its cells, laying it immediately kills every other border touching those two cells. Alternating between "this seam is forced" and "this cell is now full" is the engine that drives the whole puzzle.
The row and column numbers do their best work near the end, from the other direction. Count how many cells in a line can still take a hole; when that number equals the clue, every one of those cells must be pierced, and any cell with only one surviving border gives you another free stitch. This counting argument is what resolves the last knot, when the seams alone no longer decide anything.
A habit worth building: after every stitch you lay, cross out the borders it kills rather than leaving them blank. Blank means "unknown" and unknown borders are what make you recount the same line five times. The puzzles here are generated so that this chain of deductions always reaches the end — there is no position where you have to guess and back up, so if you are stuck, the next step is a count you have not made yet.