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Messages posted by: mathgrant
Profile for mathgrant -> Messages posted by mathgrant [71] Go to Page: Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Next 
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Johan wrote:

Jfo wrote:
This is my spin-off for "puzzle sudoku".
The solution for a puzzle sudoku can be used for "reverse engineering". 

Cool. We currently have an unreleased genre where you dissect a grid (not necessarily a square or even a rectangle) into polyominoes containing all different symbols exactly once (we use letters at the moment). Adding the possibility to give hints regarding the number of line segments in a row or column sounds like it could work.
Do you happen to have some of these ready? 


Also consider allowing two or more target sets of symbols which need to be contained in a polyomino, as in some of Nikoli's harder puzzles of this type. For example, in this puzzle, you must have 8 polyominoes with a permutation of the letters in TACIT, and 8 with DATANODE.
Your rules for subtraction and division state that they can only be applied to two-cell regions. Thomas Snyder allows subtraction and division in larger regions; you simply start with the largest number first. For example, in a region with the numbers 2, 4, and 8, you could have the clue 2 (for subtraction) or 1 (for division).
Code:
      x7x
   ______
 xx)xxxxx
    x77
    ___
     x7x
     x7x
     ___
       xx
       xx
       __
        0


From now on, please consider using the "Preview" button before submitting a post. Also, there is an "edit" button on posts you've already made.

For the record, the solution is unique even without the solver being told that all of the 7's are given.
The first that comes to mind is

AAAC
BACC
BBCD
BDDD
Can't blame you, Danny. This puzzle really is cool. I normally shy away from Skyscrapers puzzles, but this one solved very smoothly and elegantly, and I highly recommend it.

As a constructor, I'm happy whenever one of my puzzles has inspired people to comment on it; it means I've made it stand out, somehow. I hope zulio feels the same way about this topic.
Number: Puzzle #1789
Genre: Fences
Author: mathgrant
Appeared at: March 17, 2010

I mentioned this when the puzzle appeared on my blog, but I thought I'd mention it here: this puzzle is antisymmetric. All of the 0's and 2's are symmetrically opposite one another, and all of the 1's and 3's are symmetrically opposite one another. This was inspired by Bram's puzzle at http://www.puzzlepicnic.com/puzzle?1711 , which has a similar kind of antisymmetry, with 0's opposite 3's and 1's opposite 2's.
My favorites are probably Fillomino, Heyawake, LITS, Masyu, and Slitherlink, although it's worth pointing out that, in my years of experience, puzzles of any genre by Nikoli are generally far better than almost every other source I've encountered, and I would rather solve a Nikoli Kakuro or Sudoku than most non-Nikoli Slitherlink puzzles I've run into.
I've noticed this bug before, but only now have I certainly figured out the cause.

If you submit a puzzle, either to the vestibule or the sandbox, and then edit the puzzle, the solution will be cleared. . . and you won't be able to save any edits to that solution. This is sad. :[
Wow! Great antisymmetry. The puzzle solved very nicely, as well, and felt like something Nikoli would publish.
Along the line of bloggers like Thomas Snyder (motris) and Bram's Some of my other puzzles, I have begun a weekly series of hybrid puzzles on my blog called Monday Mutants. I don't have much else to say, except I hope you like them! I have some interesting puzzles lined up for the next two weeks. . .
I am running another contest on my blog! Just as in the previous one, you can win logic puzzle books by solving the four logic puzzles in the contest. If you'd like to try to win some puzzle books, or at least have a little fun, I definitely encourage you to enter.

As before, please do not spoil solutions in this thread.
I admit that I was surprised at how approachable, with the right thinking, this puzzle was for a three-star Country Road without numbers.

For the most part, I more well-versed in the creation and solving of Country Road puzzles with numbers (a number in a country represents how many cells in it are used). I hate to sound like a bother, but would it be possible to add numbers to Country Road? I might then be more able to contribute to this genre.
If I were you, I might make the Fillomino applet where the solver can input numbers or boundary lines, but only the boundary lines need to be correct to count as solved. I've played with other Fillomino applets, and personally, I find that without the ability to add boundary lines myself, it's a lot harder to solve. I personally always solve these on paper by adding both numbers and boundaries. *shrugs*
Number: Puzzle #1243
Genre: Country Road
Author: Bram
Appeared at: January 1, 2010

In Nikoli's version of Country Road, some countries have numbers, indicating how many cells in that country are part of the road. Not that you can't make perfectly valid puzzles without numbers, as this proves, but would you consider adding them? They might add to the variety.
Number: Puzzle #1629
Genre: LITS
Author: Maarten
Appeared at: December 30, 2009

WARNING: VERY MINOR SPOILERS FOLLOW





This wouldn't be the first time I've encountered an LITS puzzle that forms a picture when solved -- Puzzle Communication Nikoli volume 122 contains a 31x45 LITS puzzle that also forms a picture. (The same puzzle has been reprinted in volume 128.) It is truly an amazing puzzle, and I cannot begin to imagine how it was conceived and executed. Just. . . wow.

This puzzle was also interesting in that aspect, although it was, in some ways, harder, despite being a more 20x13 in size. The solving process felt more like a Puzzle Picnic puzzle than a Nikoli puzzle. Still, it wasn't bad, and the end result impressed me.
 
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