Rows Garden, 9 Dec 2023

[iggystan]

Another fine effort by PB. This one went pretty quickly. I do find it odd that I seem to work these from bottom to top most of the time.

[Richard B.]

I do find it odd that I seem to work these from bottom to top most of the time.

As with this one, I start by solving as many blooms as I can and then get a foothold with a row.

[ChrisKochmanski]

I usually start with rows, then try blooms, but you know, when I’ve started with blooms — getting as many of them as I can before tackling the rows — I believe I’ve solved faster.

I’m now getting THREE Rows Gardens per week (yikes!) — Joon Pahk, Michael Blake, and Andrew Ries — so there’ll be plenty of opportunities to compare methods.

[KayW]

Nice one! Usually I see if I can get a toehold by solving the shorter top or bottom row and then their corresponding blooms... which was my path today.

[iggystan]

I do find it odd that I seem to work these from bottom to top most of the time.

As with this one, I start by solving as many blooms as I can and then get a foothold with a row.

I, too, solve as many blooms as I can before tackling the rows, but it seems like I always start with the bottom ones. This week, I got the majority of the blooms right off the bat.

[iggystan]

For those who might be interested, the New Yorker December cartoons and puzzles issue has a number of variety puzzles, including one from Patrick Berry and a few others that were fun to explore. Find it here:
https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons-and-puzzles-2023