Unit squares intersecting all secants of a square (Q1317880)

Let \(S\) be a square of side length \(s>0\). For any sufficiently large \(s\) the author constructs a set of less than \(t = 1,994 \cdot s\) closed unit squares whose sides are parallel to those of \(S\) such that any straight line intersecting \(S\) intersects at least one square of \(S\). A conjecture of \textit{L. Fejes Tóth} [Mat. Lapok. 25(1974), 13-20 (1975; Zbl 0359.52010)] says: ``Given \(n\) points in the unit square there exists a line intersecting the unit square which has \(L_ \infty\)-distance at least \(1/(n + 1)\) from each point.'' This assertion can be changed into the above intersection problem with less than \(2s-1\) unit squares. Therefore that conjecture can not be true. The author remarks that the constant \(t\) can be improved and he gives a further result with unit squares whose sides are not necessarily parallel to those of \(S\). He ends with an application of his results to a modification of the mentioned problem of L. Fejes Tóth (chess board) and to a question of P. Erdős giving a better bound than \textit{I. Bárány} and \textit{Z. Füredi} [Colloq. Math. Soc. János Bolyai 48, 19-27 (1987; Zbl 0629.52011)].