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The Cult of Helios

Scott Purdy

This puzzle is a modified version of a mirrors logic puzzle. The grid contains mirrors (“semi-reflective shields”) and light sources (“glowing embers”). The numbers around the outside of the grid represent the number of embers that can be seen from that edge, followed by the number of embers worth of light that can be seen from that edge. Each mirror halves the amount of light reflected off of it on the way to an edge. So, for example, a path that hit an ember and then a mirror before passing out the other side would be labeled 1.1, whereas the same path traveling in the other direction would be labeled 1.0.5. Subject to that constraint, the grid can only be filled in one way, seen below:

grid

To translate the grid into an answer word, take the string of squares row by row, reading the embers as dots and the shields as dashes, which gives .--./.-././.-/-.-./...././.-./--/.-/-. or PREACHER MAN.