Shortest Segment
Shortest Segment is a loop-drawing puzzle invented by Anurag Sahay. First published in 2010–2011, it was one of the author’s earliest original puzzle designs.
The central idea is the use of outside clues, likely inspired by their role in Sudoku. In this puzzle, numbers placed outside the grid indicate the length of the shortest continuous segment of the loop in the corresponding direction. This simple but powerful constraint creates strong global interactions along rows and columns.
Despite its minimal ruleset, Shortest Segment leads to rich logical deductions. Solvers must balance local loop construction with global length considerations, making the puzzle both elegant and conceptually distinctive among loop-based puzzles.
The central idea is the use of outside clues, likely inspired by their role in Sudoku. In this puzzle, numbers placed outside the grid indicate the length of the shortest continuous segment of the loop in the corresponding direction. This simple but powerful constraint creates strong global interactions along rows and columns.
Despite its minimal ruleset, Shortest Segment leads to rich logical deductions. Solvers must balance local loop construction with global length considerations, making the puzzle both elegant and conceptually distinctive among loop-based puzzles.
Rules
Draw a single continuous loop in the grid using horizontal and vertical line segments so that the loop visits every cell exactly once. It should not cross or overlap itself. Clues outside indicate the lengths of the shortest segment in that direction.
Click to see the answer.