A-star Beats the Gorge

Replaying the gorge under spent-plus-estimated scoring shows a lure inspected, priced, and declined.

Same map, same honest estimates. Camp scores 0 plus 3. Extending: Camp–Cliff scores 1 plus 1 — 2; Camp–Bridge scores 3 plus 2 — 5. A-star, like greedy, is seduced: it extends the Cliff path first. But the extension Camp–Cliff–Lodge now scores 11 plus 0 — eleven — and the meter has told the truth. The frontier's best is Camp–Bridge at 5, which extends to Camp–Bridge–Lodge at 6, which is selected, goal-tested, and returned. Four selections, optimal answer, and the switchback was examined exactly long enough to be rejected — the meter, not any map-reader's instinct, did the rejecting.