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Nonogram instruction ambiguity
Forum Index -> Bugs & Suggestions
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paul46038



Joined: 22/05/2011 01:04:56
Messages: 27
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I think there are two things in the instructions for nonograms that would benefit from some clarification.

First, if there are no hints for a particular row or column, it apparently means "this could be anything", not "there are no sequences here". I suppose sometimes that might be obvious from the context. It's not obvious in today's puzzle (#3531).

Second, it's not clear when two different shades are permitted or required (or prohibited, I guess). In the "More Information" puzzle, it implies that a 5-space row with hint "2 2" can only be filled with [2 filled][1 blank][2 filled]. It's not clear to me why this can't be [2 dark][2 light][1 blank] or any of many other configurations.

Can anyone clear this up for me? And should the instructions be expanded a bit or am I missing something? Thanks!
fl0rrat



Joined: 10/10/2010 20:04:05
Messages: 237
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I agree with your first confusion, I just posted about it on the corresponding puzzle page: http://puzzlepicnic.com/community/posts/list/1978.page

About your second point, note that there are different shades for the hints for dark and light cells. For example look at the following puzzle:
http://puzzlepicnic.com/puzzle?969
The black hints correspond to the dark cells and the gray hints to the light cells. This means that if all hints are black, no light cells can be used.
paul46038



Joined: 22/05/2011 01:04:56
Messages: 27
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Thanks for the enlightening reply! Again, it seems the rule would be clear in certain contexts only. Unless I had seen and remembered a two-color puzzle, I wouldn't know that today's was a one-color puzzle.

One of the things I like about this site is that I spend very little time fighting my ignorance of the rules. It's clear that a lot of thought went into both the short and long versions. I don't think this one quite measures up to the same standard.


Thierry


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Joined: 22/12/2006 20:42:47
Messages: 578
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As mentioned in the other post, I agree that the rules were unclear about rows or columns without hints. The rules have been updated to clarify this issue.

Regarding the fact the hints can be shaded: this is something I've struggled with too. I would like to clarify the rules in this regard as well. Any suggestions on the exact wording?

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
paul46038



Joined: 22/05/2011 01:04:56
Messages: 27
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Perhaps something like this:

In some puzzles, the sequences of squares (and their corresponding numbers) can be one of two shades - dark or light.

or

In some puzzles, two different shades - dark and light - are used for both the sequences of squares and their corresponding numbers.

Thierry


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Joined: 22/12/2006 20:42:47
Messages: 578
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I adapted the rules with your second suggestion. Is this clear enough? I'm hesitating, because it does not explicitly say that a lot of puzzles only have 1 color.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
paul46038



Joined: 22/05/2011 01:04:56
Messages: 27
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I understand your concern - it is certainly true that a pretty good chunk of the instructions are not applicable to a pretty good proportion of the puzzles.

But the fact remains that there are two mutually-exclusive sub-types of this puzzle - one color or two color - and you have now provided a way to immediately distinguish between the two. We couldn't do that before and that's what led to my initial confusion.
 
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