Press Article
Puzzlers Engage with Creative Challenges as New Year Approaches
In a delightful prelude to the New Year, puzzle enthusiasts were greeted with two intriguing challenges related to the number 2025. The puzzles, shared via The Guardian, offered mental stimulation for fans of critical thinking and problem-solving.
The first challenge, titled "Queens and Pawns," required participants to strategically position five queens and three pawns within a 5×5 chess grid while ensuring that none of the queens could attack the pawns. This task aimed to explore the intricacies of chess movements—queen pieces possess the capacity to maneuver horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The objective was to find a configuration that allowed exactly three cells to remain unreachable to any queen’s movement, leading to an engaging exercise in spatial reasoning.
The second puzzle, "Christmas Star," asked participants to manipulate a star-shaped figure consisting of five triangles. The goal was to draw two straight lines that would ultimately create a visual representation containing ten triangles—counting only those that remained unbroken by any lines. The challenge lay in the straightforwardness of the solution, which involved reconfiguring the star to unveil a fresh set of triangles while adhering to the stipulated criteria.
With solutions that highlighted both ingenuity and logical reasoning, the featured puzzles not only provided a break from the holiday hustle but also fostered a sense of community among puzzle lovers. As the year winds down, the puzzle creator expressed a hope for continued engagement, inviting readers to submit their own puzzle suggestions for future editions.
Fans of intellectual challenges are eager for the next round of creative brain teasers in the coming year, promising more fun and excitement in the world of puzzles.
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Photo credit www.theguardian.com
