Stitches Logic Puzzle

Stitches is a region puzzle. Neighbouring regions are joined by exactly one stitch, and the numbers outside the grid count the holes in each row and each column. You can play squares from 5×5 to 10×10, plus a 6×8 board, in easy, medium, and hard. Every puzzle here has exactly one solution.

Rules

The board is a grid of cells, split into regions. A thick line is the border between two regions. A thin line stays inside one region. The frame around the grid is thick.

A stitch crosses the shared edge of two cells that sit in different regions. It is drawn as a short line across that edge, with a hole at each end. The two cells each gain one hole. One pair of regions that touch along any edge gets exactly one stitch, even when they touch in several places. A stitch inside a single region is not allowed.

A cell holds at most one hole. Two stitches cannot end on the same cell.

Numbers sit outside the grid. The number above a column is how many holes that column must contain. The number beside a row is how many holes that row must contain. A hole is one end of a stitch, so a stitch on the edge between two rows counts in both rows, once in each.

While you play, a row or column that can still reach its number stays quiet. It is a clash only when the holes already drawn are more than the number allows. Two stitches between the same pair of regions are a clash. A cell with two holes is a clash. A stitch inside one region is a clash. A stitch that ends on a cell you marked with an X is a clash.

An X means that cell has no hole. It is a note you place. It is not part of the given puzzle.

The puzzle is solved when the stitches match the unique solution and no clash remains.

Controls

Choose Stitch, No hole, or Erase under the board. The tool stays until you pick another. A tap does not cycle through marks.

In Stitch, drag across the line between two cells, or tap one cell and then a neighbour. That edge becomes a stitch. Dragging through several cells stitches each edge you cross. One drag is one undo.

In No hole, tap or drag across cells to mark them with an X. Cells that already have an X stay as they are.

In Erase, drag across a stitch or an X to clear it. A drag that crosses both clears both. One drag is one undo.

The arrow keys move a cell cursor. The first arrow selects the top-left cell. Shift and an arrow, or S and an arrow, stitches toward that neighbour. X toggles the no-hole mark on the cursor cell. Backspace or Delete clears that cell and every stitch that touches it. The keys 1, 2, and 3 select Stitch, No hole, and Erase.

Press Hint for one step the counts already force, with a sentence saying why. The hint highlights the edges or cells it uses, then places the stitch or the X. Press Check when you want the board checked against the rules. Undo and Redo step through your moves, and Reset clears every stitch and every X. When the stitches match, they turn teal.

A coral count, stitch, or X is a clash that is already visible. The size and difficulty menus list the 21 bands that ship. The daily puzzle is 7×7 easy.

Techniques

Easy:

• zero-line: This line still needs 0 holes, so these cells have no hole.
• full-line: The remaining holes equal the open cells, so every one of these cells has a hole.
• span-block: This number is under 2, so no stitch can lie inside that line.
• region-quota: This region already has its holes, so the remaining cells stay empty, or every remaining cell in the region is a hole.
• dead-edge: An end cannot take a hole, or the stitch would pass a row, column, or region count.
• only-edge: These two regions share only this edge, so that edge is the stitch.
• no-exit: This cell has no open edge, so it has no hole.
• single-exit: This hole has only one open edge, so that edge is the stitch.

Medium:

• line-mask: No still-valid placement of the remaining holes uses these cells, or every still-valid placement uses this cell.

Hard:

• pair-split: Of the edges between these regions, only the one that survives agrees with the counts already found.
• exclude: Leaving this edge open contradicts the counts, so it is the stitch, or stitching it contradicts the counts, so it is not a stitch.

Beginner tips

Start with a 0. That row or column has no holes, so every cell in it can take an X, and no stitch can cross it. A full line, where the number equals the cells that are still open, is the other end of the same idea: every one of those cells is a hole.

When two regions touch along only one edge, that edge is the stitch. When a region already has as many holes as it can hold, the rest of its cells stay empty.

A cell that already has a hole has only one way out if a single edge is still open. That edge is the stitch. A cell with no open edge has no hole.

If you are new to Stitches, start with a 5×5 easy grid, or the daily 7×7 easy grid, and move up once the counts feel natural. Play runs from Easy → Hard on 5×5 through 10×10, and on 6×8.