so aran fey

class Bomb:
    def __init__(self):
        raise RuntimeError('BOOM')

bomb =  Bomb.__new__(Bomb) # YOUR CODE HERE

assert type(bomb) is Bomb, "You didn't create a Bomb instance, did you?"
print('You win!')

Python's object creation has two steps; create the object, then initialize it. Normally, you never call __new__, this happens automatically when you instantiate an object like Bomb(). __new__ returns the object itself, and then that gets passed into __init__ to be initialized. Since you called __new__ yourself, you're in charge of initializing it, but you didn't, so you subverted the RuntimeError.

That's why if you create your own __new__ method, you have to actually return the object, but __init__ doesn't, because it just uses the object created in __new__.

Ooh! that's wicked. I just tried to work backwards, first seeing the assert, then i wrote a Dir on the Bomb class. New looked promising, and i ran it without any argument. It complained. Then i wrote a random string, it complained again. So i passed Bomb... Pretty wicked, tyvm for the explanation. Need a second to grok it though, objects dont come intuitively to me