Puzzle No. 022
Picarats: 30


Seven prizewinning pigs are lazing about in a pen.

To make sure that the pigs don't fight with each other, you've decided to section off the pen with three ropes.

Can you hitch the ropes up to some of the posts shown below and separate each pig from its neighbor? Remember, not even a snout or curly tail can sneak over each partition!














Hint One: Since you have seven pigs to separate and only three ropes, it's pretty much a given that the ropes will have to overlap in places.

Go ahead and hitch the ropes up a couple of times. You might just find the answer.

Hint Two: Look at how the seven pigs are arranged. Do you see the one pig in the middle? In order to separate him from the other pigs, you're going to have to surround him with rope on all sides.

Your three ropes need to be arranged in such a ways that they surround and isolate the middle pig.

Hint Three: Arrange your three ropes so that the little pig in the middle is surrounded completely.

Next, look at how your ropes are laid out. You need to keep the middle pig surrounded, but you also need to separate the other pigs. There aren't many configurations that will satisfy those conditions, so you should have an answer before you know it.

Solution:













Good job! You've made a lot of pigs very happy!