Why hand-rolling a backtracking solver for a corn puzzle was a mistake
Solving a corn puzzle with CP-SAT
At a Recurse Center Friday, the author faced a 3D-printed corn puzzle and asked Claude to solve it. Claude's Python script used Google's OR-Tools CP-SAT instead of recursive backtracking, modeling the exact cover problem with binary variables and constraints. The author then applied CP-SAT to Sudoku with friends, learning to reach for solvers rather than reinvent the wheel.
when I get another cp-sat shaped problem in the future, I'll know to try a solver and read the docs for whatever else I need, rather than roll my own.