Puzzle #5
Thunderhead
6 × 6Intermediate5 colorsPublished October 8, 2026
Purple and Green are the long colors here. Green climbs the right edge and crosses the top-right corner, while Purple snakes up from the bottom-right, cuts across row 4 and wraps around Red at the bottom-left. The key moment is a bit of thinking ahead with Green that keeps Orange from being cut off.
New to these puzzles? Read how to play first. Connect each pair of dots with a path, fill every cell, and don't let paths cross. This board has exactly one solution.
Hints
Hint 1: where to look
Start in the bottom-right corner around Purple's dot.
Hint 2: the first idea
Purple and Green both climb out of the bottom-right with only one open side. When Green reaches row 3, column 6, turning left would cut Orange off from its partner.
Hint 3: the key step
So Green climbs to the top and runs left into its dot at row 2, column 4. Orange then hooks down through row 3 to reach its left dot, and Purple has to wrap all the way around Red in the bottom-left.
Techniques used: Forced moves, Bottlenecks.
Step-by-step walkthrough
Every step below follows from the rules alone, with no guessing. Try the puzzle first and use the walkthrough when you get stuck.
Step 1 of 5
The bottom-right corner gets moving first. Purple's corner dot has only one open side, so it steps left and then up into row 5, column 5. Green's dot climbs one cell up the right edge, and Red's bottom dot steps up into row 5, column 4.
Step 2 of 5
Purple and Green keep climbing side by side, each with only one open side. Purple moves up to row 4, column 5 and Green moves up to row 3, column 6.
Step 3 of 5
Think ahead at row 3, column 6. If Green turns left, Orange is cut off from its partner, so Green climbs to the top-right corner, runs left and drops into its dot at row 2, column 4. Orange's right-hand dot then drops into row 3 and Purple runs left two cells along row 4. Orange follows row 3 left and turns up into its dot at row 2, column 2.
Step 4 of 5
The left side fills in. Blue's top dot runs left to the top-left corner and down the left edge to row 3. Red steps left into its other dot at row 5, column 2. Purple's lower dot runs left along the bottom row, climbs the left edge to row 4 and turns right to meet the rest of Purple.
Step 5 of 5
Blue's path now sits right beside its dot at row 3, column 2, so the two ends join and the board is full.