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...which must surely be the island setting for this World War II -based novel: Pianosa. After all, the novel's context entirely fits the set-up given for this puzzle (a small island somewhere in Europe, [on which] a battle is fought in the middle of World War I)!

It's worth noting also that the puzzle's instructions have been written in a way that imply that to find the flag you need to find the hidden values, whilst finding the hidden values will help you to find the flag. This paradox is very reminiscent of the so-called 'logic' at the heart of the 'Catch-22' in the novel, in which the book's fighter pilots will only be excused from flying dangerous missions if they are found to be insane, but any pilot who expresses a concern that they might be insane is thereby showing themselves to be sane by demonstrating a rational concern for their own safety, and thus cannot be exempted from flying! (Yes, it's a head-scratcher...)

...which must surely be the island setting for this World War II -based novel: Pianosa. After all, the novel's context entirely fits the set-up given for this puzzle (a small island somewhere in Europe, [on which] a battle is fought in the middle of World War I)!

It's worth noting also that the puzzle's instructions have been written in a way that imply that to find the flag you need to find the hidden values, whilst to find the hidden values it might help you to find the flag. This paradox is very reminiscent of the so-called 'logic' at the heart of the 'Catch-22' in the novel, in which the book's fighter pilots will only be excused from flying dangerous missions if they are found to be insane, but any pilot who expresses a concern that they might be insane is thereby showing themselves to be sane by demonstrating a rational concern for their own safety, and thus cannot be exempted from flying! (Yes, it's a head-scratcher...)

...which must surely be the island setting for this World War II -based novel: Pianosa. After all, the novel's context entirely fits the set-up given for this puzzle (a small island somewhere in Europe, [on which] a battle is fought in the middle of World War I)!

...which must surely be the island setting for this World War II -based novel: Pianosa. After all, the novel's context entirely fits the set-up given for this puzzle (a small island somewhere in Europe, [on which] a battle is fought in the middle of World War I)!

It's worth noting also that the puzzle's instructions have been written in a way that imply that to find the flag you need to find the hidden values, whilst finding the hidden values will help you to find the flag. This paradox is very reminiscent of the so-called 'logic' at the heart of the 'Catch-22' in the novel, in which the book's fighter pilots will only be excused from flying dangerous missions if they are found to be insane, but any pilot who expresses a concern that they might be insane is thereby showing themselves to be sane by demonstrating a rational concern for their own safety, and thus cannot be exempted from flying! (Yes, it's a head-scratcher...)

PIANOSA, the Italian island which provides the setting for Joseph Heller's satirical wartime novel Catch-22! The blue flag is to be found on the square numbered 22 (i.e. the 'R' with a square icon in the third row) - i.e. we catch it in 22.

If we consult the standard European (because this puzzle is set in Europe) scoring system for Stratego, a General is worth 9, a Colonel 8 (we shall count the Lieutenant Colonel as a Colonel too), a Major 7, a Captain 6, and a Lieutenant 5. Summing the scores for the red team and blue team separately, we get value of RED 46 and BLUE 24.

The square where we will find the 'flag' (another Stratego playing piece, note) is therefore that numbered 22 - the difference between the two teams' scores. Thus we thematically catch the flag in 22! Very satisfying...

PIANOSA, the Italian island which provides the setting for Joseph Heller's satirical wartime novel Catch-22! The blue flag is to be found on the square numbered 22 (i.e. the third square in the third row down, marked by a completely blank playing piece) - i.e. we catch it in 22.

If we consult the standard European (because this puzzle is set in Europe) scoring system for Stratego, a General is worth 9, a Colonel 8 (we shall count the Lieutenant Colonel as a Colonel too), a Major 7, a Captain 6, and a Lieutenant 5. Summing the scores for the red team and blue team separately, we get value of RED 46 and BLUE 24.

The square where we will find the 'flag' (another Stratego playing piece, note) is therefore that numbered 22 - the difference between the two teams' scores. Thus we thematically catch the flag in 22 (i.e. the third square in the third row down, marked by a completely blank playing piece)! Very satisfying...