Nonodropmasyu

Written by Brian Shimanuki

Answer: BORN THIS WAY

This puzzle contains a nonogram that becomes a dropquote and then a Masyu.

Whether by hand or with an online solver, the numbers in the columns and rows can be used to fill out the nonogram. (If solving by hand, there are a couple tricky areas but it can be filled out starting with some deductions using the 4s, 5s, and 0s, and then continuing to fill in surrounding areas.)

221111
1111111111221111
0011221111552211002233223333222200004411
11113322
11222211
113322
44111111
221111
1144
3355
221122

Then the letters can be used to fill the dropquote. (Once solvers have found a number of words, the quote can usually be googled to fill in the remaining portions.) However, some of the letter colors are ambiguous where there are multiple letters of different colors in the same column.

EEAAAADD
EEFFAAFFBBEEBB
GGFFAAEEFFGGEEBBEEFF
IIGGBBNNBBGGNNEEAABBLLDDEEII
IINNDDRREEGGOOHHCCEEEENNDDFFHHEEII
NNRRCCEESSAALLIIOOKKEENNIIIINNIIIINNGGKK
NNSSIIFFYYOOLLRRRRRREEOOUUSSSSIISSRRIINN
OOSSIINN,,..MMWWTTYYSSTT,,TTYYSSTT..OO..
I
I
F
F
A
A
N
N
E
E
G
G
G
G
I
I
S
S
B
B
R
R
O
O
K
K
E
E
N
N
B
B
Y
Y
A
A
N
N
O
O
U
U
T
T
S
S
I
I
D
D
E
E
F
F
O
O
R
R
C
C
E
E
,
,
L
L
I
I
F
F
E
E
E
E
N
N
D
D
S
S
.
.
I
I
F
F
B
B
R
R
O
O
K
K
E
E
N
N
B
B
Y
Y
A
A
N
N
I
I
N
N
S
S
I
I
D
D
E
E
F
F
O
O
R
R
C
C
E
E
,
,
L
L
I
I
F
F
E
E
B
B
E
E
G
G
I
I
N
N
S
S
.
.
G
G
R
R
E
E
A
A
T
T
T
T
H
H
I
I
N
N
G
G
S
S
A
A
L
L
W
W
A
A
Y
Y
S
S
B
B
E
E
G
G
I
I
N
N
F
F
R
R
O
O
M
M
T
T
H
H
E
E
I
I
N
N
S
S
I
I
D
D
E
E
.
.
white
maybe white
maybe black
black

By filling out these colors onto a blank grid, we get a Masyu puzzle, except the locations of some of the circles must be deduced between two or three cells in the column.

There are 10 ambiguous circles (for a total of 1536 possible grids). Only one of these has a valid Masyu solution. Logic can be used to deduce where these circles must lie in tandem with filling the Masyu out. It is easiest to start making deductions on the left and right ends and then work your way inward. (Some keen solvers could have accelerated solving the Masyu by using a Masyu solver on the remaining possibilities after deducing the locations of most of the circles.)

The quote from the dropquote talks about great things starting from the inside. When solving the Masyu, we constructed a loop, which has an inside and outside. Reading the letters on the inside of the Masyu yields BORN THIS WAY.

I
I
F
F
A
A
N
N
E
E
G
G
G
G
I
I
S
S
B
B
R
R
O
O
K
K
E
E
N
N
B
B
Y
Y
A
A
N
N
O
O
U
U
T
T
S
S
I
I
D
D
E
E
F
F
O
O
R
R
C
C
E
E
,
,
L
L
I
I
F
F
E
E
E
E
N
N
D
D
S
S
.
.
I
I
F
F
B
B
R
R
O
O
K
K
E
E
N
N
B
B
Y
Y
A
A
N
N
I
I
N
N
S
S
I
I
D
D
E
E
F
F
O
O
R
R
C
C
E
E
,
,
L
L
I
I
F
F
E
E
B
B
E
E
G
G
I
I
N
N
S
S
.
.
G
G
R
R
E
E
A
A
T
T
T
T
H
H
I
I
N
N
G
G
S
S
A
A
L
L
W
W
A
A
Y
Y
S
S
B
B
E
E
G
G
I
I
N
N
F
F
R
R
O
O
M
M
T
T
H
H
E
E
I
I
N
N
S
S
I
I
D
D
E
E
.
.