Japanese crossword «Woodpecker»

Whatever this is, it's not worth the effort. For a 3 star difficulty puzzle, it has 5 star trick to discover or you'll be stuck forever. There literally is a single spot you have to find before you can continue. There's no alternate path. If you're going to make me angry by getting me to think I can't solve a 3 star difficulty puzzle, the picture should at least not suck.

I would rate it "very difficult". I don't care how the picture looks though.

Real difficult, commenter ggg has it right.

Good

I did find it fairly easy to be fair even if I was stuck a short time. Although I usually try to find the most difficult small puzzles so might just got used to the tricks now.

I agree though you need to find certain spots that help you advance although I think that is part of the fun at smaller puzzles.

Difficult for me. Solved in about 1h20 (no hint, no guess).
I had to rely on "recursion" for 2 zones.
Nice difficulty, thanks!

I felt like I was going to need to grab a hint several times but I persevered, I think it was a great challenge.

Hard work; worth it.

No less than 4 stars. I was about to give up but proud that I persevered.

Sure you have to find specific spots to advance, but in a 20x20 puzzle, that's very doable. It's a pretty limited set of options. I thought this was really fun; I love smaller puzzles that are tricky. And the picture is cute too, I could see what it was right away :)

Perfect difficulty.

challenging

half-hour of good fun. There's a trick, I was so going to give in and guess, but than I pulled myself together and resisted, and it was worth it. Thanks creator

I found the star difficulty rating is not reliable, so I do not care about it.

This one was ok. Didn't felt it too difficult or challenging. Maybe I was just lucky to find the right way quickly.

What aa challenging challenge! Very nice

I don't get the rating, nor why there are so many people complaining. Took me 15 min, no hints/guesses, and it didn't even need advanced logics.
If you practice a lot on hard ones, this one should be pretty easy. 3 stars max.

yes, the harder puzzles get narrow for a long time, just one logical move at a time. nice challenge, thanks.

Very difficult!

Very nice - thank you :))

Yay! Learned a new trick on this one!

Took 18 mins...but hard to find the way sometimes!

Nice, thank you

060224 ☺

very cute image!

took me 45 minutes in between work lol but I didnt think I would be able to do it tbh

Given the difficulty (for this size), the picture is underwhelming.

got me stuck for a whiiile but got it without hints :D

This was surprisingly engaging. It felt like it unfolded exactly as it should, and I wasn't scanning like a maniac to find the next step. Or according to the first guy, maybe I just got lucky by finding it quickly? Either way, it made me bust out pretty much every logic move I have in the arsenal. Very fun.