Norma's Shadow (Infections)
(Published on 13. September 2026, 19:28 by gdc)
Episode 4 of the Norma L. Dokes series. It uses walls which limit both path movement and infection spread. There is also "akari stlye" dynamic fog where the reveals mimic the vision inside a maze. According to testers (thanks everyone!) it should be 3.5-4 stars. I hope you enjoy!
Darkness covers all clues. Placing a correct digit lights up its row and column up to the first seen walls.
Neighbors: Two cells are neighbors if they share an edge which is not a wall.
Infection Sites: Each digit matching its box number is an "infection site". Each row and column contains an infection site. They are infected.
Infections: Infected cells infect every smaller neighbor. Infections keep spreading until no infected cell has a smaller uninfected neighbor. (Every infected cell can be traced back to one or more infection sites).
Path: Draw a path connecting the two arrows such that adjacent cells along the path are always neighbors and no infected cells are visited.
Microscopes are uninfected and count the number of infections in the (3, 5 or 8) surrounding cells.
Kropki Tabs join consecutive digits.
Upcoming Norma Puzzle By ChinStrap
Stay tuned for ChinStraps (unofficial) entry to the Norma L Dokes saga, which will be released in a few days. ChinStrap's puzzle went up against this one in the secret impostor event 2026.
Edit: ChinStraps Infections puzzle is released now! You can find it here.
Solution code: Row 1 left to right (9 digits)
Comments
on 18. September 2026, 04:58 by KeenanN
My mind was continuously blown for the long stretch of time that it took me to solve that puzzle. An absolute blast! Thank you for sharing.
on 17. September 2026, 11:04 by Christounet
Great! Enjoying this series. Thanks :)
on 16. September 2026, 21:38 by gdc
link to ChinStrap puzzle
on 15. September 2026, 05:15 by jakestilesowen
Excellent puzzle! Thanks for it.
on 14. September 2026, 14:10 by LehanLehan
No less fun than famous rat runs;thank you very much for the series.
on 14. September 2026, 02:33 by GG_70
Great as always!
on 14. September 2026, 02:32 by emoney1374
Glad to see this series come back! Fun puzzle!
on 13. September 2026, 21:13 by ViKingPrime
Very much looking forward to the next adventure of Dr. Dokes.
on 13. September 2026, 19:33 by Laake
An excellent opener for team crewmates.
on 13. September 2026, 19:30 by Flinty
Excellent puzzle, and chinstrap did you both proud with his imposter puzzle.
