How to solve blocked arrows without guessing
A blocked arrow is not a dead end. It is a clue that points to the path you should inspect next. By turning each obstruction into a dependency chain, you can work backward from an impossible-looking move until you reach an arrow with a genuinely open exit.
Read the obstruction as a relationship
Suppose an arrow points right, but another path crosses the straight ray beyond its arrowhead. Do not keep testing the blocked arrow. Trace the crossing path to its arrowhead and check that exit instead.
If the crossing path is also blocked, continue tracing the next blocker. Keep following the chain until one arrow's ray reaches the edge without crossing a remaining path. That final arrow is the first safe move in the chain.
Do not confuse a gap with an exit
Nightmare boards deliberately place six or more empty cells between an arrowhead and some blockers. Your eye may register the long gap as freedom, but the game checks the entire straight ray. Keep your scan in the same row or column until it leaves the board.
Zoom in when two paths nearly touch. A visual near miss is safe; an actual crossing is a blocker. Following each line through the intersection prevents you from assigning the obstruction to the wrong path.
Use removals to shorten the chain
After you clear the last arrow in a dependency chain, do not assume the chain unwinds automatically. Re-check the board. The removal may free the previous arrow, but it might also expose another crossing farther along its ray.
- Remove the verified clear arrow.
- Return to the arrow it was blocking.
- Scan the complete exit ray again.
- Continue only if the updated ray is fully open.
What to do when two chains look possible
Compare the shortest complete exit rays first because they contain fewer crossings to verify. If both are clear, either move may be valid; choose one and immediately re-scan. No level offers a Hint, so tracing both candidates is part of the solve.
Nightmare boards remove the Hint safety net. Pause before each tap and name the blocker relationship. That small delay protects the three lives in Levels mode and the single life in Daily.
Questions about how to solve blocked arrows in arrow puzzle
An arrow is blocked when any remaining path crosses the straight exit ray extending from its arrowhead to the board edge.
Yes. Empty cells do not end the check; a path farther along the same straight ray still blocks the arrow.
Only after tracing the blocking path to its own arrowhead and confirming that its complete exit ray is clear.
Continue with another Arrow Puzzle guide
Try the pattern on a real board
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