GridWits
Easy tier Technique 3 of 9 Used by Smart Hint

Clue Full

When a clue has exactly as many free neighbours left as bulbs still to place, all of them are bulbs.

How it works

  1. 1This wall wants two bulbs among the four cells touching it.
  2. 2Two of those four have already been ruled out, leaving exactly two candidates.
  3. 3Two bulbs still owed and exactly two places left to put them: both are bulbs.
  4. 4The same counting is what makes an edge or corner clue so strong — a wall against the edge has fewer than four neighbours to begin with, so it runs out of slack sooner.
2
  • Cells that establish the pattern
  • Bulb this technique places
Next in the ladder Only Light Source →

An unlit cell with only one cell left that could light it: that cell holds a bulb.