Featured Puzzle: Paint by Pairs #2 – Kakizome
I love finding unique holidays to theme a puzzle around. In Japan, Kakizome takes place on the second of January. It’s meant to celebrate one of the major traditional arts – calligraphy. This practice began as a court event during the Heian era during the late 8th century. They would make ink with water drawn on the morning of the first day, then write short aspirational poetry for the year.
Today’s puzzle has a kanji symbol hidden in a Paint by Pairs form. Link the numbers and shade cells to find it!
- Numbers indicate the total length of the line, including the cells containing the number.
- A 1 cell has no pairing. You may simply shade it.
- Lines travel only in orthogonal directions. They may turn 90 degrees as many times as needed, but will not cross themselves or any other path
- There is only one unique way to use all the numbers. Many puzzles hide the image in unused cells.
- Don’t forget – shading used cells reveals the picture!
Learn to solve Paint by Pairs puzzles with our Solving Guide.
Want to try it online? Click here!
This is ki, the first kanji in kibou, one of the Japanese words for “hope.”
If you’re interested, you can read more about the background of this character here.
