RussetHints

Russet Hints is a picture-logic puzzle — a nonogram — built around one idea: the numbers do not belong on the edges of the field. They live in a single rail down the right side, and the field stays clean. A nonogram works like this. Every line of the grid carries a clue, a short run of numbers that says how many cells in a row are painted and in what order: 4 4 means a block of four, at least one gap, then another four. Cross the rows against the columns, and a picture appears. In most nonograms the clues crowd both edges at once and the numbers shrink until you squint. Here the rail shows one axis at a time. A button above it flips between ROWS and COLS: the same slots that were rows one to ten become columns one to ten, and only the set you are working with is on screen. Put a finger on a cell and that line lights up in the rail with a soft band across the field, so you never lose your place. Fields are deliberately small — 5x5 and 10x10. This is a one-sitting puzzle: pick a level on the way to the bus, finish it before the stop. Twenty-eight pictures are drawn by hand — a cog wheel, a horseshoe, an anvil, a cup, a hook, a street lamp — and the clues are counted from the picture itself, so they can never disagree with it. Levels are fixed by number: level seven on 10x10 is the same picture today and next year, which makes beating your own time worth something. Beyond the drawn set, levels are sketched by the generator from the level number, and those repeat too. Mistake highlighting is off by default, and that is the point. Nothing flashes red while you are thinking. When you believe the picture is finished, press CHECK and it tells you one of two things: not there yet, or that is the picture. It never points at the cell you got wrong. If you would rather be told at once, there is a switch in settings that turns the red on. A cell has three states. Tap to paint it, tap again for a cross, tap again to clear it; a long press drops a cross straight away. Crosses are your own notes about cells that must stay empty — they never count as mistakes and never block a win. If you do not use them, switch them off and the tap goes back and forth between painted and empty. The stats screen keeps score per field size: how many of the drawn pictures you have found, how many you solved without pressing check even once, your best time and the average length of a game. Settings hold the field you open with, mistake highlighting, crosses, vibration, and a reset that asks for a second tap before it wipes anything. Everything is stored on the phone. No account, no network, no ads, no energy bars and no timers pushing you along. Warm grey plates, rust-red cells, and as long as you like to think. Features: - Nonogram puzzles on small 5x5 and 10x10 fields, made for one sitting - All clues gathered in one side rail instead of two crowded edges - A single button flips the rail between rows and columns - Touching a cell lights its line in the rail and bands it on the field - Mistake highlighting off by default: a CHECK button answers done or not yet - 28 hand-drawn pictures plus repeatable generated levels beyond them - Three cell states with crosses for marking empties, switchable off - Stats per field size: pictures found, clean solves, best and average time - Fully offline, no ads, no accounts, no timers