[Solution] Camping Trip – 4 March 2024

One solution to this variant Tents puzzle is as follows:

The fourth column cannot have any tents, and the only way for the sixth row to contain five tents is for them to be in the first, third, eighth, and tenth columns. There are only three trees in the first two rows, so they must all be matched to tents in the first row, in the second, tenth, and either the fifth or seventh columns. Eliminating all spaces orthogonally adjacent to a tent, or not orthogonally adjacent to a tree gives the following:

The tree in row seven, column seven only has one possible location for a tent, to its left. This forces the one remaining tent in row six to be in column five. The two trees in column five and the tree in column six are the only trees which can still have tents in column five, which forces a tent in row one, column five, which in turn forces a tent in row four, column five. This leaves only two valid locations for tents in row two, yielding the following grid:

There are now only two legal tent locations in row three, and the tent in row four, column two is forced, completing that row. The first two columns have enough tents, and the third column has just enough space for its three. Likewise, columns eight and ten are complete, and column nine gets tents in all remaining spots:

At this point, the final three tents are easily placed, starting with the tree in row eight, then the one in row ten, and finally the tree in row nine, giving the final grid:

The cells with the tents spell out the phrase IT’S A HOMOPHONE FOR IN TENTS. The answer is INTENSE. Inspiration for this clue phrase comes from the old one-liner “Camping is in tents”.