Getting help
To get help at any time, just tap the button with the "?!" symbol.
Do I have to pay to use the help?
No. The help is completely free and you can use it as much as you like.
What sort of help is provided?
The help is dynamic and depends on the state of the puzzle:
- If there are any mistakes then you are told that you've gone wrong. The help offers to clear the mistakes, or you can choose to reset the puzzle completely.
- If there are no mistakes then the help offers to give you a hint by showing you where to look. An explanation of what can be done is also available to accompany the hint.
- If the hint doesn't help and you find you are still stuck, then when you tap the help button again it offers to show you how the next step actually goes.
The help showed me a hint, but I'm still stuck! What now?
Be sure to check out the explanation for the hint by tapping Explain what can be done at the top of the screen. However, if you are still stuck then just tap the help button again and it will show you how the step goes (ref. the last bullet in the answer above).
The help showed me how the next step goes, but I'm sure there was another option. Is there a way to go back and check?
Yes. You can undo the changes made by the help with a single tap on the undo button. Then you can try what you thought was the other option, to see if it would have worked (or why it wouldn't have worked).
The help step didn't take me much further, why not?
The help is there to get you further when you get stuck, it does not just solve the puzzle instantly! Usually it will only perform a minimal change, so that it is easier to understand the logical reason for the change. But if you are still stuck, you can call on the help again.
Is there any penalty for using the help?
Using the help may lead to a penalty being applied to the score. However, it is also possible to get a little help without incurring a penalty.
When the setting "warn if a help action will cause points to be lost" is turned on, a warning symbol is shown next to the help button and next to help options, to show when a penalty will be incurred. This setting can be found in the settings section "Layout & Appearance".
Full details about when penalties get applied are described further below in the separate section about penalties.
When the setting "warn if a help action will cause points to be lost" is turned on, a warning symbol is shown next to the help button and next to help options, to show when a penalty will be incurred. This setting can be found in the settings section "Layout & Appearance".
Full details about when penalties get applied are described further below in the separate section about penalties.
What is the difference between the options for fixing mistakes?
If the help finds any mistakes, three recovery options are usually offered:
Undo back to where I went wrong
This option performs an automated undo that goes back to just before the first mistake was made. It is like as if you would press the Undo button repeatedly, except that it is faster and it knows when to stop going back! However, it doesn't reveal the exact square where the first mistake was made, so you will need to study the starting position once more and try not to repeat the same mistake again.
Clear mistakes only
This option leaves as much of the puzzle intact as possible and only clears the squares that have mistakes.
Clear completely and start again
This option is the same as if you would use the reset button to clear the puzzle and start again.
Why does the automated undo not show where the first mistake was made?
The short answer is that this would be too helpful! It would make it easier to solve the puzzle, so a penalty would need to be applied. More details about penalties can be found further below.
Why is the option to undo mistakes not showing?
The option to undo back to where I went wrong is only shown if the undo history is still available.
The undo history will always be available if you play a puzzle all the way through to completion without pausing. However, the undo history is not always preserved if you pause a puzzle and return to it later. This is also the reason why the Undo button may at first be disabled when you resume a puzzle.
The undo history will always be available if you play a puzzle all the way through to completion without pausing. However, the undo history is not always preserved if you pause a puzzle and return to it later. This is also the reason why the Undo button may at first be disabled when you resume a puzzle.
Scoring
How does the scoring work?
The points scored for solving a puzzle depend on a number of factors:
- the size of the puzzle (larger puzzles score more points than smaller puzzles)
- the level of difficulty of the puzzle (harder puzzles score more points than easier puzzles)
- the time taken to solve the puzzle (the faster you solve the puzzle, the more points you score)
- the extent to which help was used to solve the puzzle (the more you use the help, the less points you score, except that this might be offset by solving the puzzle faster!).
Puzzles with hidden clues are usually harder, so do they score more too?
It all depends on the level of difficulty.
The same scoring principles apply to puzzles with hidden clues as to puzzles where all clues are shown. However, if a puzzle is harder to solve because it has hidden clues then usually this will be reflected by it having a higher level of difficulty too. Looking at it the other way: if all of the clues would be shown and none would be hidden then the puzzle would probably be rated as easier.
The level of difficulty impacts the score and more points can indeed be earned with harder puzzles, even if they take longer to solve.
The same scoring principles apply to puzzles with hidden clues as to puzzles where all clues are shown. However, if a puzzle is harder to solve because it has hidden clues then usually this will be reflected by it having a higher level of difficulty too. Looking at it the other way: if all of the clues would be shown and none would be hidden then the puzzle would probably be rated as easier.
The level of difficulty impacts the score and more points can indeed be earned with harder puzzles, even if they take longer to solve.
Why is it telling me I lost points because help was used, even though I didn't ask for a hint?
Every time you tap the help button it counts as using the help, even if you don't ask for a hint. The first time you use it, there is no penalty. But if you tap the help button more than once (for the same puzzle) then it will probably result in a penalty.
Penalties are explained in more detail in the next section below.
Penalties are explained in more detail in the next section below.
Can I turn off the message telling me I lost points because help was used?
Yes. Just turn off show feedback about the help used in the settings.
Penalties
When is the help penalty-free?
When the setting "warn if a help action will cause points to be lost" is turned on, a warning symbol is shown next to the help button and next to help options, to show if a penalty will be incurred. This setting can be found in the settings section "Layout & Appearance".
If the setting is turned on, but no warning symbol is shown, then the help action is penalty-free. The times when this is the case are as follows:
If the setting is turned on, but no warning symbol is shown, then the help action is penalty-free. The times when this is the case are as follows:
Easy puzzles
As of app version 1.47.0, there is no penalty for using the help with Easy puzzles, no matter how much it is used.
Status check
When you tap the help button, the state of the puzzle is checked to see if there are any mistakes or not. The first time this is done, there is no penalty. This means, if you are a bit stuck and just want to know if you've gone wrong or not, you can find out without penalty... but only once per puzzle!
Recovering from mistakes
If the status check tells you that you have gone wrong and you choose to undo back to where I went wrong or to clear completely and start again, the correction is performed without any additional penalty.
However, an additional penalty will be applied if you choose to clear mistakes only, because this form of recovery often makes it easier to complete the puzzle quickly. The penalty will normally be heavy and can even be very heavy, depending on how obvious the mistakes were.
Choosing undo back to where I went wrong is usually the best way to recover from mistakes. If it is the first time that help is being used on the puzzle then the mistakes can be fixed with no penalty at all. This is because the first status check is also penalty free (as explained above). When the help is used in this way, it is like having a no-penalty joker for fixing mistakes that can be played once per puzzle!
However, an additional penalty will be applied if you choose to clear mistakes only, because this form of recovery often makes it easier to complete the puzzle quickly. The penalty will normally be heavy and can even be very heavy, depending on how obvious the mistakes were.
Choosing undo back to where I went wrong is usually the best way to recover from mistakes. If it is the first time that help is being used on the puzzle then the mistakes can be fixed with no penalty at all. This is because the first status check is also penalty free (as explained above). When the help is used in this way, it is like having a no-penalty joker for fixing mistakes that can be played once per puzzle!
If more help is used
Whenever any other or any more help is used for the same puzzle, a penalty is applied to the score.
Is there any penalty if I just use the help to tell me if I've made any mistakes, but without using it to fix the mistakes?
As explained above, there is no penalty for the first check, but after that there will be a penalty every time you check again. So using the help to solve a puzzle by repeatedly trying a step and then checking for mistakes is not the best strategy.
If you are stuck, then instead of guessing the next step, it would be better to let the help show you how it goes. This way you can study the explanation and learn from it.
If you are stuck, then instead of guessing the next step, it would be better to let the help show you how it goes. This way you can study the explanation and learn from it.
Is there any penalty for viewing the help explanation?
It depends at what stage the explanation is viewed:
- At the hint stage, there is a penalty for viewing the explanation that accompanies the hint, because this reveals what can be done. However, the penalty is not as heavy as letting the help perform the step for you, so it is always worth viewing the explanation in case you can avoid the extra help.
- If you do tap the help again and let it perform the step for you, there is no additional penalty for viewing the explanation afterwards.
If I use the help, then reset the puzzle and start it again, does the penalty get reset too?
No. When a puzzle is cleared using the reset button (the button with the X symbol), neither the elapsed time, nor the use of help, are reset. Consequently, if the puzzle is paused after being reset then it does not go back to new, it is simply seen as paused. When the puzzle is resumed, the time continues from before and the previous use of help is also remembered.
Puzzles only go back to a state of new when all the puzzles in a puzzle set are reset together using the option in the popup options menu. More information about resetting all puzzles together can be found in the FAQ section on playing a puzzle.
Puzzles only go back to a state of new when all the puzzles in a puzzle set are reset together using the option in the popup options menu. More information about resetting all puzzles together can be found in the FAQ section on playing a puzzle.
How is a penalty applied?
A penalty is always applied in the form of extra time that is added to the elapsed time when computing the points scored. It is as if you would have taken longer to solve the puzzle.
Is the penalty shown anywhere?
There are two options in the settings that make it possible to see when a penalty has been applied. These options can both be found in the section Layout & Appearance:
- When the option to show feedback about the help used is on, the page showing the points scored for a completed puzzle will tell you if points were lost because help was used. The feedback reports how much longer you could have taken to solve the puzzle. The time it shows is the time penalty that was added for using the help.
- If the option to show points lost due to help is on, the actual points lost due to help are shown immediately below the help feedback.
Why is the time penalty always different?
The penalty not only depends on the extent to which the help was used, but also on the size of the puzzle and the level of difficulty. The larger the puzzle and the harder it is, the more time you can afford to spend studying it instead of using the help. However, the more you use the help, the higher the penalty.
You will find that the time it shows is actually the same when you use the help to the same extent on a puzzle of the same size and same level of difficulty. However, the points lost will probably be different on every occasion, because the impact of the penalty on the points depends on the elapsed time too.
You will find that the time it shows is actually the same when you use the help to the same extent on a puzzle of the same size and same level of difficulty. However, the points lost will probably be different on every occasion, because the impact of the penalty on the points depends on the elapsed time too.
Will the score always be less if a penalty is applied?
Not necessarily! As explained in the earlier section on scoring, the score for solving a puzzle also depends on the total time taken. If you would have needed longer to work out the solution than the extra time that it shows, then by using the help you will have actually saved time and so earned more points.
The purpose of showing the time penalty in the feedback message is to help you to judge whether you are using the help effectively for achieving the best score.
The purpose of showing the time penalty in the feedback message is to help you to judge whether you are using the help effectively for achieving the best score.
Is there any penalty for using the number spotlight feature?
No. You can use the number spotlight feature as much as you like, without penalty.
Is there any penalty for using pencil mode?
No. In fact, if pencil mode helps you to solve a puzzle faster then you will score more points.