by Philip Z. Loh and Dan Katz
Answer: MANDATORY SENTENCING
Problem: April Fool’s Day

You first find a Minesweeper game with a taunting message on the cells.

As you play the game of Minesweeper, you realize that the first cell you click determines which board you play. Some cells automatically end the game . . .

. . . whereas some cells lead you to a trickier board that you can solve (though it may take multiple attempts). In the middle of every solvable board is a giant, highlighted, contiguous island of mines, which can be interpreted as an Arabic numeral.

Zero (0) One (1) Two (2) Four (4)
Five (5) Six (6) Seven (7) Eight (8)

Each of the cells that results in a number in this way can be interpreted as a numerical clue in a “meta-board” for one more Minesweeper game, with at least one instance of each numeral represented except three (3). Cells that instantly end the game are treated as blank cells in this meta-board, without any information.

The meta-board is solvable without the need for any trial-and-error. Since the flavortext references “threes,” and the number 3 is conspicuously absent from the meta-board, it makes sense to determine where there could have been 3’s. Identifying each cell that has three mines in its surrounding cells, and taking the corresponding letters in the original labeled grid, reveals the answer, MANDATORY SENTENCING.