Sections Puzzle

Sections is a number logic puzzle where the regions are bars rather than boxes. Thick lines cut the grid into sections, each one a straight horizontal or vertical run of cells, and a section has to hold the numbers 1 up to its own length exactly once. The catch, and the whole game, is that every cell belongs to two sections at once, one running across and one running down, so the number you write has to be legal in both. The link opens the game's own welcome page rather than the daily grid: it explains the three rules, then hands you a run of five puzzles with a ladder from Beginner to Expert along the bottom of the screen. The board it opened was four cells by four, with a keypad running 1 to 4, a Notes toggle, Undo, Erase and Restart, and a mistake counter beside a running clock.

1. Read the thick bars first. They are the only thing defining a section.
2. Tap a cell to select it.
3. Punch in a digit from the keypad below the grid. It runs 1 to 4 on a four by four board.
4. Use Notes to pencil candidates into a cell, Undo to walk back a move, Erase to clear one, and Restart to wipe the grid.
5. Keep an eye on the mistake counter in the header, which starts at 0 of 3.

The section idea earns its keep because the regions are one dimensional. A run of three cells is a tiny, complete constraint you can solve on sight, and the grid is nothing but those runs crossing each other, so progress comes in small certainties instead of long chains. It also means the rules fit in one sentence and the hard boards get hard through geometry rather than through extra clauses.

Countable. A MISTAKES readout sits in the header next to a running clock and started at 0 of 3, which means the game grades placements as you make them rather than waiting for a completed grid. The board itself stays quiet apart from the selection tint and the bars, so the counter is the thing to watch.

Beginner, Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert

Five rungs, numbered 1 to 5, laid across the bottom of the welcome run. The page describes them as five exclusive puzzles from easy to hard.

• Work the crossings, not the sections. A digit that is fine in the horizontal run it sits in can be dead on arrival in the vertical run it also belongs to, and that double membership is where every deduction in the game comes from.
• The longest section on the board caps the biggest digit you will ever type, which is why a four by four grid was served with a keypad that stops at 4.