This is part 4 of the puzzle series Around the World in Many Days. Each part is solvable on its own.
Deаr Puzzling,
How have you been? I hope you don’t mind me showing up a little early this time around. Just wanted to get this one out before the holidays.
This type of grid puzzle is called Statue Park (Loop). Shade some cells in the grid to form the given five pieces. Pieces can be flipped or rotated. No piece can touch another piece, even at a corner. The cells indicated with a black circle must be shaded, and the cells indicated with a white circle must be unshaded. In addition, draw one continuous loop in the grid which visits all unshaded cells and none of the shaded cells, going horizontally or vertically through centres of cells without crossing itself or branching out.
Today I have visited a place whose wildlife is unlike anything I have ever seen, and walked among giants from a time before Caesar. Can you guess where I am?
Love, Gladys.
Statue Park (Loop) on Penpa+
Crossword on Penpa+
Across
5. Able was I ere I saw —
9. A law of nature: Eat or be —
10. —, orchestra instruments or a city in the West Bank
11. Star Wars character, Han —
12. — and flows, consistent periods of decline and increase
15. An optimist's glass is — full
17. Shall I compare — to a summer's day?
19. —'s Game, a novel by Orson Scott Card
21. Louisiana dish, — chicken
22. Snake —, a pair of ones in craps
Down
1. Kept in a short —
2. Powerful crime boss, — di tutti capi
3. Nuclear test site, Bikini —
4. Five countries have — power in the UN Security Council
6. Improvised, ad —
7. — tree, Adansonia gregorii, native to northern Australia
8. "Six pack", trained —
13. Indian vegetarian dish, puri —
14. — Maritime, a French department
16. The Shawshank Redemption character, — Dufresne
17. Hidden explosive, booby —
18. In 1932, Australia fought a war against —
19. All About —, a film starring Bette Davis
20. Fifth Amendment: "...without — process of law"
Gladys will return in Hippos and Horseplay.