Hi, and happy Alarm Day! This is an unofficial holiday that celebrates The Shattered Alarm, the debut of the Detective Watts series. Most of the events in the novel take place on March 7th, and so it only seemed appropriate to post a puzzle today in celebration. I’d like to thank all of you who have messaged me with thoughts on the book and theories for future installments; your enthusiasm motivates me through early mornings and late nights. Now, let’s get to the puzzle!

The next entry is based on Shikaku, which roughly translates to “Divide by Box” or “Rectangles” from Japanese. Darcy Miller, a farmer on the outskirts of Granville, wants to separate her chickens to conserve her farmland. However, her chickens are rather particular about where they like to graze and how much space they require. Your goal is to divide the land (a grid) into sections that satisfy the following conditions:

• Each section must be a rectangle or square, and it must contain exactly one chicken. Sections cannot overlap.
• The number on each chicken represents the area of the section that the chicken should occupy.

The pictures below depict a sample puzzle on a 5×5 grid, along with its solution. The cells are colored to match the number on each chicken, and the solid white borders help distinguish each section of land.

Now, can you solve the puzzle below and help Darcy divide her farmland?

The solution will be released in the next blog post. Also, if you tried the puzzle from the last blog entry, here is its solution below. I’m sure it was no match for your wits!