One Letter Is Hiding
Read the puzzle
A 13 by 13 mosaic of tiles. Almost every tile is an octagon or an eight-point star, set in a checkerboard. Fourteen tiles are different: small squares and four-point stars. Counting rows 1 to 13 from the top and columns 1 to 13 from the left, they sit at column 6, rows 4 to 10; row 7, column 7; rows 6 and 8, column 8; rows 5 and 9, column 9; rows 4 and 10, column 10. Which letter is hidden in the mosaic?
Which letter is hidden in the mosaic?
K
Its tiles have 4 points or sides, not 8.
How to solve it
Start by ignoring colour, which changes from tile to tile. Shape is the real signal: almost every tile has 8 points or 8 sides, an octagon or an eight-point star.
Next, scan for tiles that break that rule. Fourteen tiles have only 4 points or 4 sides: plain squares and four-point stars. Mark where they are.
Now join the marks. Seven of them stand in a straight vertical line in column 6, from row 4 down to row 10. That is a tall upright stroke. One more sits at row 7, column 7, right beside the middle of that stroke. From there one arm climbs up and to the right through rows 6, 5 and 4, and a second arm drops down and to the right through rows 8, 9 and 10. An upright stroke with two arms branching from its middle is the letter K.
The usual slip is to spot only the two diagonal arms, which look like a V turned on its side or the start of an X, and miss the vertical stroke because the squares in column 6 blend in. Check by counting: 7 tiles in the stroke, 1 joint and 3 tiles in each arm make 14 odd tiles, and every one of them belongs to the K.
Learn the method: How to Solve Hidden Picture Puzzles: A Step-by-Step Method
