Candy Path

Tips and strategy for Candy Path

Stuck on a path puzzle? These seven habits solve most boards. They work on the daily puzzle and on every journey level.

Seven tips

  1. Look at the corners first. A corner square only has two neighbours. Unless the corner is the start or the end of the line, the line has to enter and leave through both of them. So you can draw those two short pieces right away.
  2. Watch for squares with one way out. If an empty square has only one free neighbour left, the line can only end there, or start there. If that is not where your line begins or ends, you have already boxed yourself in. Draw back and try another route.
  3. Never cut the board in two. Before you draw a long line, check that all the empty squares are still connected to each other. A line that walls off a group of squares means you can never come back to fill them.
  4. Hug the walls early. Running along an edge early on keeps the empty squares in one big block in the middle. Thin strips left along the border are the usual reason for getting stuck at the end.
  5. Plan from the last number backwards. The line ends on the highest number, so the squares around it are just as important as the ones around 1. Imagine the last few steps first, then connect the middle.
  6. Count steps between numbers. Colour the board like a chessboard in your head. Each step moves to a square of the other colour. If two numbers sit on squares of the same colour, the way between them has an even number of steps. If they are different colours, the number of steps is odd. This tells you whether a short route is even possible.
  7. Do not fear undo. Drag back over your line to undo as far as you like. Trying a route to see if it works is a normal way to solve these.

The corner rule, drawn

The top left square is a corner. The line has to use both of its neighbours, so these two pieces are certain.
12
1 and 2 are a diagonal apart, so they are two steps apart on the shortest way. That is an even number of steps, and the squares are the same chessboard colour.

A simple way to work

  1. Draw the certain pieces first: corners and squares with one way out.
  2. Connect the numbers that are close together.
  3. Fill the gaps, checking after each move that the empty squares are still connected.
  4. If it fails, undo a few squares. You rarely need to start over.

Ready to try? Play today's puzzle or read the rules again.