STU'S SUPER PUZZLE CHALLENGE

As a prelude to a forthcoming feature/review, World Of Stuart is proud to offer its readers an exciting puzzle challenge for the whole family to enjoy. Assuming, of course, your family enjoys sitting around the PC doing stupid puzzle challenges.

The object of the game is to fill in all the blocks on a grid using six types of puzzle piece.

You can use the pieces as you like, except for the following rules:

1. You can only make a limited number of moves (a "move" is placing one puzzle piece).

2. You can only use a limited total number of "blocks" (the number of squares in a piece).

3. The pieces can be rotated Tetris-style (but NOT "mirrored") and with the exception of the Special piece, you can use each one multiple times, or just once, or not at all.

4. You must use the Special puzzle piece once, and once only. 

There's one other factor to consider. When you place a puzzle piece, any single squares which are "sandwiched" vertically between the placed piece and already-filled squares are also filled in. This effect only works vertically (for complicated scientific reasons) and applies only to filled squares, not to the edges of the puzzle. See below for an example.

This picture shows how the "sandwich" effect works. Only single blocks can be "sandwiched".

So, those are the rules. Below is the puzzle itself, in which you must fill in the entire grid using no more than FOUR moves, and in which you must employ a total of no more than FIFTEEN blocks (For example, the Special piece consists of six blocks, leaving you only nine more with which to solve the puzzle).

Good luck, viewers!

Rather than have WoS's beloved viewers attempt to solve this tricky puzzle in their heads, of course, challengers can download this file, which contains the puzzle board and all the pieces required in PNG format. Unzip the file and open all the pieces in your favourite paint program, and then you can experiment as much as you like (use the paint program's "fill" command to fill in "sandwiched" squares). Remember, the pieces can also be rotated through 90, 180 or 270 degrees, and you can use any piece more than once if you want (except the Special). If you think you've got the solution, or you just want to swear a bit, then this is the place to go.

The feature will follow when someone's solved the puzzle. Have fun.