A nonogram game you can always finish by reasoning
A nonogram, also called a griddler, hanjie or picture cross, is a grid with number clues beside each row and column. Each clue lists the runs of filled squares in that line, in order, with at least one gap between runs. Cross-check rows against columns and a single picture emerges.
Nonograms: The Glasswright is a nonogram game built on one promise: you never have to guess. Every puzzle, whether a story panel, a bench grid or the daily, is first run through a solver that works one row or column at a time. Anything it cannot finish by that line-by-line logic is thrown away before you see it.
The story is a restoration. A fire has taken the windows of the church at Saint-Aubin, and as the new apprentice you rebuild twelve panels from the surviving drawings, starting with a 10x10 lantern and ending on a 25x25 rose window. Maren, who runs the workshop, and Wren, a year ahead of you, speak every line aloud, hints included.
How to play nonograms: the first techniques
- Start with the biggest clues. In a 10-square row, a clue of 8 must cover the middle six squares wherever it sits, so fill those first.
- Add the clues and gaps. A row reading 3 2 4 needs at least 3+1+2+1+4 = 11 squares; when that equals the row length, the whole line is known.
- Cross off what cannot be filled. A right-drag marks squares as empty, and an empty square splits a line into smaller pieces that are easier to reason about.
- Work the edges. A filled square on the border anchors the first or last run of that line.
- Alternate. Every square you settle in a row becomes a fact for the column that crosses it.
Nonogram tips for when you get stuck
Past 15x15, the opening techniques stop finishing lines on their own and the work becomes small, local deductions. Three habits carry most players through.
When you are truly stuck, the hint points to a line rather than a square, so the next deduction is still yours to make. Turning on Cross off finished lines in settings marks the rest of a completed line empty for you, which saves clicks on large grids without making any decision you could not make yourself.
- Look for overlap again after every change. A run that could sit anywhere in a 20-square line may be pinned to a 9-square stretch once a crossed-off square appears, and the overlap rule applies to that shorter stretch.
- Count from the wall. When a run touches the border, or a crossed square, its length tells you exactly where it ends and the next square must be empty.
- Check the small clues last. A 1 has many places to go; leave it until the big runs around it are settled.
Daily nonogram and the open bench
The daily puzzle is drawn from the date on your own PC, so everyone gets the same picture on the same day. It grows over the week: 10x10 on Monday and Tuesday, 15x15 midweek, 20x20 on Friday and Saturday, and 25x25 on Sunday. A streak counts the days in a row you have solved it.
The open bench offers the same four square sizes whenever you like, with a newly generated, newly proved picture each time and best times kept per size.
