In the frame
Spotted garden eels stand up out of their burrows in a wide stretch of pale sand, all leaning the same way. Deep blue water with a rippled surface fills the top half.
This dive cuts the picture into 40 square tiles on a 8 × 5 board and shuffles them. Swap two tiles at a time until the picture is whole; tiles that reach their home spot lock.
Dive plan
- Start with the easy part: the nearest eels and their dark spots.
- Save for last: the pale sand and the deep blue water. About 25% of the frame has little detail, mostly in the top third, and those pieces look alike.
- Swap each tile straight to its home spot; it locks there, and the tile you displaced is the next one to place.
- If every swap sends a tile home, 39 swaps or fewer finish all 40 tiles.
- Place tiles with an outline, a fin or an edge first; the plain ones are easier once only a few spots remain.
- On a big board, finish one area at a time instead of chasing single tiles across the board.
Colours of the picture
Main colours, measured from the picture's pixels: sand (32%), ocean blue (30%), cream (12%) and deep blue (11%).
- sand32%
- ocean blue30%
- cream12%
- deep blue11%
- sky blue10%
- teal6%
How deep it goes
Depth 4 of 5 — a demanding dive.
Deep dives are the longest in the logbook: the largest board each game gets in the numbered dives.