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   br0xen [7](AoC++) 6*

                                 {year=>[8]2024}

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--- Day 4: Ceres Search ---

   "Looks like the Chief's not here. Next!" One of The Historians pulls out a
   device and pushes the only button on it. After a brief flash, you
   recognize the interior of the [16]Ceres monitoring station!

   As the search for the Chief continues, a small Elf who lives on the
   station tugs on your shirt; she'd like to know if you could help her with
   her word search (your puzzle input). She only has to find one word: XMAS.

   This word search allows words to be horizontal, vertical, diagonal,
   written backwards, or even overlapping other words. It's a little unusual,
   though, as you don't merely need to find one instance of XMAS - you need
   to find all of them. Here are a few ways XMAS might appear, where
   irrelevant characters have been replaced with .:

 ..X...
 .SAMX.
 .A..A.
 XMAS.S
 .X....

   The actual word search will be full of letters instead. For example:

 MMMSXXMASM
 MSAMXMSMSA
 AMXSXMAAMM
 MSAMASMSMX
 XMASAMXAMM
 XXAMMXXAMA
 SMSMSASXSS
 SAXAMASAAA
 MAMMMXMMMM
 MXMXAXMASX

   In this word search, XMAS occurs a total of 18 times; here's the same word
   search again, but where letters not involved in any XMAS have been
   replaced with .:

 ....XXMAS.
 .SAMXMS...
 ...S..A...
 ..A.A.MS.X
 XMASAMX.MM
 X.....XA.A
 S.S.S.S.SS
 .A.A.A.A.A
 ..M.M.M.MM
 .X.X.XMASX

   Take a look at the little Elf's word search. How many times does XMAS
   appear?

   To begin, [17]get your puzzle input.

   Answer: [18]_____________________ [19][ [Submit] ]

   You can also [Shareon [20]Bluesky [21]Twitter [22]Mastodon] this puzzle.

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