Cross the Streams

Logic Level 5

Shade some of the cells black so that all black cells are connected and no 2 × 2 2\times2 square is entirely shaded black. The clues outside the grid gives the contents of the corresponding row/column, reading from left to right and from top to bottom. A number means a group of consecutive black cells; two different groups in the same row/column must be separated by at least one white cell. A question mark indicates a single group of unknown size; an asterisk indicates an unknown number of groups (which may differ in size, and there might be no group at all).

Consider the following example (puzzle on the left, solution on the right):

  • The first and second columns both say 1 2 ; that means there are two blocks of black cells; the first has length 1, the second has length 2.
  • The first and second rows both say ? ? ; that means there are two blocks of black cells, but now both of unknown length.
  • The third row says 1 * ; that means there is at least one block of black cells; the first block in this row has length 1.
  • The third and fourth columns both say * 1 * ; that means there is at least one block of black cells, one of which has length 1. Which of them is the 1 isn't known (and may even be ambiguous, as in the fourth column).
  • The remaining three lines (fourth row, fifth row, fifth column) have a single asterisk * , meaning there is absolutely no information.

You can also see this page for another example.

Your task is to solve the following Cross the Streams puzzle.

Enter your answer as the lengths of black cells in the marked row and column. For example, in the example above, the marked row has black cells of length 1 followed by length 3, and the marked column has black cells of length 5, so your answer would be 135 135 .


The answer is 12341.

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2 solutions

Ivan Koswara
Dec 14, 2015

This is Puzzle 94 on my blog.

A complete solution will need some time to write up. However, if you need a nudge in the right direction, look at R5 and C5. This divides the puzzle into four quadrants. How many can you connect? This puzzle is not intended to be an easy puzzle, after all.

Yep! Figuring out that one quadrant had to be empty was the crucial part of it. Fun puzzle!

Brett Donaldson - 5 years, 5 months ago
Jason Carrier
Aug 30, 2018

As Ivan Koswara said, an entire solution is pretty long, so I’m going to provide more of an outline. Several of these steps are given without justification, so try to work out the why on your own.

(Note: column 1= c1, row 1 = r1)

First, notice that r5 and c5 are just ones, so the mass of black only crosses at one point for each. This sects the board into quadrants, but only two bridges means only 3 conected quadrants. Which can be roped off? The key lies in the ??? clues in c3, r3, and r7. Even if all the ?’s are 1, this clue requires a minimum of 5. Fiddling a little, these ?’s tell us that the top-left (quadrant II) is empty. This is the crucial step, and from here, things are easier.

Next, fill in the two ???’s that are solved. Then, consider r5 and r6. You should see that the 4 must stretch from c3 to c6. This solves r5 and c5, leaving three quadrants. Since we need contiguity, you can also fill in (4,7), (4,8), (6,7), and (6,3).

The 2 in c6 must go at the bottom. The 2 in c10 demands (10,1) be white. We can get two squares of the 3 in r1. For contiguity, (7,7) and (7,9) are black, and c7 requires (7,8) be black as well. The rest of c7 is white, forcing the rest of c6 to be black. Finally, (10,4) cannot be black, to avoid isolation. Simply connect the blocks, and quadrant I is finished.

Although there is a block of 2 in r9, it cannot be the one in the clue, so that (3,10) is connected. It is far left, so c2 forces (2,7) to be black. Connecting this space back to the main body solves quadrant 3.

There is a section left of Q IV, but it can be solved quite easily by noting the 3 in r8.

To get the answer, read r8, which has 1 2 3, then c8, with 4 1.

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