Nonogram

💡 Nonogram Strategy

• Start with any line that is completely forced. In a 10-wide grid, a clue of 10 — or of 4 3 — fills the row with no guesswork at all.
• Use the overlap rule. A clue of 7 in a 10-wide row can start at most three cells in, so the middle four cells are filled no matter where the block sits.
• Mark the blanks. Putting an × in cells you have ruled out is not bookkeeping — those marks are what force the next deduction.
• Work from the edges inward. A block touching a wall has only one possible position, which cascades into the neighbouring lines.
• Alternate rows and columns constantly. Each confirmed cell in a row changes what is possible in its column; solving a nonogram is really a conversation between the two.

🧠 What Nonogram Builds

A nonogram converts numeric constraints into a picture, so it exercises logical deduction and spatial construction at the same time — you are reasoning in numbers but building in shapes. The payoff is unusually satisfying because the correct solution is self-verifying: a wrong grid simply does not resolve into an image. Expect the first few to take a while; the overlap rule is the hinge everything else turns on.