Solution: Four Loops Answer: SWIRLY
Four loops can be found using the names of four "loop puzzles", each loop repeating the name of the puzzle: MASYU, TRAINSTATIONS, MYOPIA and TAPALIKELOOP. The bottom row of the grid spells out the web page containing all the loop puzzles.
The four symbols at the bottom uniquely correspond to the rules of the four puzzle types. Letters can be identified based on where these symbols would have appeared in relation to the loops.
- MASYU: The black circles are located in the cells where the loop makes a turn, and extends at least 2 squares on each side.
- TRAINSTATIONS: The plus signs are located in the cells where the loop crosses itself.
- MYOPIA: The arrowed plus signs are located outside the loop, and are in cells where the loop is equidistant to the cell in all 4 directions. (There is a W that is easily missed.)
- TAPALIKELOOP: The symbols with four 2's are located outside the loop, and are in cells where the loop visits their neighbouring 8 cells exactly 4 times, each time using 2 cells.
Read the highlighted letters from top to bottom to get ANSWER IS SWIRLY. The answer is SWIRLY.
Author’s Notes
SIRLY is the second most frequent incorrect guess in the entire hunt. I have joked that many teams took the L, but not the W 😆.
Despite being an OG Key Clues Enigmatologist, I enjoy solving logic puzzles with full instructions 😮. This is my attempt to bring them into Key Clues, and it might not be the last time you’ll see them 😀. If you are interested in solving logic puzzles, here are a few useful resources with free puzzles to solve:
- Cracking the Cryptic discord group: Look for the “daily pencil puzzles” channel, which has daily Genuinely Approachable Pencil Puzzles (GAPP).
- Grandmaster Puzzles: Thousands of puzzles of various difficulties.
- World Puzzle Federation: They host monthly online puzzle contests with high quality puzzles. There are more than 10 years worth of contest puzzles to solve. Look in the “Archive” tab.