# The Peculiar File

So I was browsing through my computer files earlier and I found a file I'd not seen before. I was wondering if you guys could help me figure out what it's about.

This is where I found it:

This is its contents:

What does it say? And what is it referring to?

It's a

nonogram.

The filled-in cells say (not perfectly clearly)

THE GREAT ESCAPER. Presumably in homage to the PSE participant. The eye in the window's title bar is (credit to user TrojanByAccident in TSL chat for noticing this) a reference to the eye that appears in many of the grids of TGE's "WITLESS" puzzle that's currently bending the brains of many PSE folks.

Actual filled-in image:

• Right all around :) – dcfyj Jan 13 '17 at 14:54

The grid looks like a game of Descartes Enigma - perhaps that's where you found it on your computer?

The numbers labelling each row and column give the pattern of black cells in each row or column; different numbers correspond to groups of black cells which must have white cells in between.

The grid is $15\times21$, so we can fill in a few sets of black cells right away:

Now I'm going to use light grey to indicate cells which are known to be white (as opposed to the white which is used for unknown cells), and fill in a load more. The logic is fairly simple, so I won't bother explaining every step. First progress report:

Now we start by reading some of the middle rows from the left. Second progress report:

Now we start from the "6,2,1,1" column. Third progress report:

By now the solution has become quite clear, and the rest is easy to fill in: