For clues inside the grid, each clue can tell either the number of black squares in the region it’s contained in, or the number of black squares adjacent to it (including the cell itself). It might be both.

For clues outside the grid, each clue can tell either the number of black squares in the row/column, or the length of some maximum continuous line of white cells (it cannot be extended, as in it is obstructed by either the grid’s edge or a black square; note that “maximum” doesn’t refer to the maximum length, but rather the nature of the line). It might be both.

Answer key: Enter the lengths of the lines of white cells in the marked row/column. If the row/column has all white cells, enter 0.

Difficulty 8.5/10 • Target times 06:00 20:00 1:30:00 4:00:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 53,12111 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 0: As Hard As ABC
Surveyors Heyawake

Welcome to Deception, where your usual logic puzzle genres are twisted to the point of deceiving you.

Okay, this is the preview puzzle series. It begins with this very obviously rejected Surveyors Heyawake puzzle because it’s pretty much too insane to get into the test.

Okay, preview puzzles. The actual first preview puzzle (Deception Preview 1) will be posted on Monday (13-May-2013), at 00.00 UTC (07.00 UTC+7), and the preview puzzles are separated by 12 hours each, so the series will end on Friday (17-May-2013) 00.00 UTC, 24 hours before the test begins.

Also, yes, a modification in target times. I decide to have four target times: Black, Red, Green, and Blue.

– I set Black to be very tight; if you think you’re in the Top 1% of the world, you may attempt this. Usually people that pass this are Top 10 (10 people, not 10%) of the world.
– I set Blue to be very loose. Even if you’re new to puzzle solving, you may attempt this target. As long as you’re not discouraged by hours appearing.
– But most importantly, don’t worry about time if you don’t want speedsolving.

You can decide which target you’re aiming for. Target times might change by reader’s feedback. Categorizing is based on Black target time for whatever reason.

Finally, “Estimated” is assumed to be implicitly stated in “Difficulty”. And yes, I compacted many lines.

EDIT: Added connectivity of white cells to rules. When you’re too used to puzzles, you begin to mentally assume many “obvious” things… Thanks betaveros for reminding.