Parcels

Hard Parcels puzzles

Hard puzzles are 7×7 and 8×8 and need you to rule placements out. A parcel can fit its own number perfectly and still be wrong, because it would leave another number with no room at all.

Practice gives you puzzles you haven't solved yet, as many as you like, and keeps your best time without hints. Every puzzle has exactly one solution and can be solved by logic alone.

How to play Parcels

1. Split the whole grid into rectangles, called parcels. A square counts as a rectangle too.
2. Every parcel holds exactly one number and covers exactly that many cells.
3. A shape next to a number sets its parcel's shape: a square, a tall rectangle (taller than it is wide) or a wide one (wider than it is tall).

Drag from one corner of a parcel to the opposite corner to draw it. Drawing over other parcels replaces them, and tapping a parcel removes it. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys to move, Enter on one corner and again on the opposite corner to draw, Delete to remove a parcel and Ctrl+Z to undo.

Solving tips

• Start where it's tight. A number in a corner, or squeezed between other numbers, often fits only one way.
• Squares are the most rigid. A square 4 is always 2×2 and a square 9 is always 3×3, so there are only a few places they can go.
• Find cells only one number can reach. Every cell belongs to some parcel. If only one number can stretch that far, its parcel has to cover the cell.
• Mind the leftovers. A parcel that leaves a pocket no number can fill is wrong, even if it fits its own number.