Ask HN: Can you solve “Challenger” puzzles?

2 points

4 years ago

They appear in daily newspapers (including the San Francisco Chronicle). Here's an example.

http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2021/12/08/when-a-newspaper-publishes-an-unsolvable-puzzle/

But there's dozens of solutions. I understand a computer could eventually calculate them all. My question is how everyday newspaper readers can solve them with just a pen and paper.

The totals for the rows still leave many, many possibilities. Is the idea to just start trying numbers, and then backtracking again and again, until eventually you stumble on a winning path?

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