LinkedIn Zip #496 Answer & Analysis

Start at 1 and climb straight to the top edge. From there, the route runs left across the top row to keep the upper-left area available for later. This creates a stable opening and prevents the path from boxing in the corner too early.

After the top sweep, the path drops down the left edge, bends through the lower-left corner, and travels across the entire bottom row. This is the cleanest way to keep the remaining middle cells connected while still visiting every square.

From the bottom-right corner, the path climbs the right edge and then turns inward across the upper-middle and center-right cells. This is where the numbered cells 4 and 5 stay on the route naturally, without forcing a detour.

Now the path snakes through the center-left and center cells, hitting 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 in sequence. The main logic here is to avoid sealing off the upper-middle area too early, because that would block the later numbered cells from connecting cleanly.

The last move set carries the path through 14 and 15, then down to 16. At that point the puzzle is complete only if every cell has been used once, every numbered cell has been hit in order, and no wall has been crossed.