Zip #42 Solution (November 6, 2026): Route, Decision Points and Answer

Zip #42 was the 7×7 hard board of Friday, November 6, 2026: 9 numbered dots, 2 walls, and one path that visits all 49 cells in order. Our solver, a line-for-line port of the app's, needed 3,281 search nodes to prove the path unique, which puts the board at 5 of 5 on the difficulty scale. Along the answer, 56% of the moves had only one legal continuation; the other 21 steps offered a real choice, and those are where you have to look ahead. The path turns at 43% of its cells, and its longest straight run is 7 cells. The longest leg, between two consecutive dots, is 15 cells.

Zip #42 in numbers

Board	7×7, Hard
Numbered dots	9
Walls	2
Cells on the path	49
Solver search nodes	3,281 (5/5)
Moves with a single legal continuation	56%
Decision points	21
Turns along the path	43%

Zip #42 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	left 2, down 1
2 → 3	1	right 1
3 → 4	11	right 2, up 2, left 4, up 3
4 → 5	4	left 1, down 3
5 → 6	7	down 1, right 1, down 1, left 2, up 2
6 → 7	15	up 4, right 6, down 1, left 3, down 1
7 → 8	1	down 1
8 → 9	6	right 1, up 1, right 2, down 1, left 1

Where the choices are: step 1 at row 6, column 6 (4 ways), step 2 at row 6, column 5 (2 ways), step 3 at row 6, column 4 (2 ways), step 4 at row 7, column 4 (2 ways), step 9 at row 5, column 7 (2 ways) and step 11 at row 5, column 5 (2 ways) and 15 more. Everywhere else only one move keeps the board solvable.

Zip #42 solution

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

31323334353637301744140393829181574546472819148449486513121110926212232182524232367

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Zip #42 (November 6, 2026): solution and route

Zip #42 in numbers

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