Zip #21 Solution (October 16, 2026): Route, Decision Points and Answer

Zip #21 was the 7×7 hard board of Friday, October 16, 2026: 10 numbered dots, 3 walls, and one path that visits all 49 cells in order. Our solver, a line-for-line port of the app's, needed 3,359 search nodes to prove the path unique, which puts the board at 5 of 5 on the difficulty scale. Along the answer, 54% of the moves had only one legal continuation; the other 22 steps offered a real choice, and those are where you have to look ahead. The path turns at 68% of its cells, and its longest straight run is 5 cells. The longest leg, between two consecutive dots, is 14 cells.

Zip #21 in numbers

Board	7×7, Hard
Numbered dots	10
Walls	3
Cells on the path	49
Solver search nodes	3,359 (5/5)
Moves with a single legal continuation	54%
Decision points	22
Turns along the path	68%

Zip #21 route, dot by dot

How many cells each leg takes and which way it runs, reading from dot 1. “Right 3” means three steps to the right.

Leg	Cells	Directions
1 → 2	3	down 1, left 1, up 1
2 → 3	2	left 1, down 1
3 → 4	1	left 1
4 → 5	4	down 2, left 1, down 1
5 → 6	1	right 1
6 → 7	8	down 1, left 2, up 3, right 1, up 1
7 → 8	5	left 1, up 2, right 1, down 1
8 → 9	10	right 1, up 1, right 4, down 3, left 1
9 → 10	14	left 2, down 1, right 3, down 2, left 1, up 1, left 1, down 1, left 1, up 1

Where the choices are: step 1 at row 2, column 6 (3 ways), step 2 at row 3, column 6 (2 ways), step 3 at row 3, column 5 (2 ways), step 4 at row 2, column 5 (2 ways), step 5 at row 2, column 4 (3 ways) and step 6 at row 3, column 4 (2 ways) and 16 more. Everywhere else only one move keeps the board solvable.

Zip #21 solution

The number in each cell is its position on the path; the dots keep their own numbers and are highlighted.

232427282930312282652132217433233181983736934171093839404116561046454215141348474443

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Zip #21 (October 16, 2026): solution and route

Zip #21 in numbers

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