March Mutant 31: Streampunk (make room)

Shade in some cells black such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. Numbers in a cell indicate the sizes of the orthogonally contiguous groups formed by black cells sharing a corner or an edge with that cell. For example, "3" means that the cell shares a corner or an edge with three black cells, and they form a single group, whereas "1 2" means the cell shares a corner with three black cells which form a group of two cells and a single separate cell. Cells with numbers cannot be black. Additionally, every outlined region of more than one cell must contain exactly five black cells.

Well, Quantity-Not-Quality Month is over, so I'll need to think of some other excuse for my puzzles being lacking in quality. What if I decided tomorrow to stop posting puzzles on this blog, and to post everything in the universe besides puzzles? That might be a good excuse. Nah, too lazy this year. Guess I'll have to resort to actually making high-quality puzzles.

Regular Monday Mutants will resume in the middle of April!

March Mutant 30: Tatami For Now (cipher)

In this Tatami For Now puzzle, the symbols have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same symbol. (There is no requirement for different letters to represent different symbols.) The rules are otherwise unchanged.

Puzzle 542: Dominnocuous 3

We interrupt these March Mutants for something completely different.

Rules of Dominnocuous

March Mutant 29: Double Entry

Draw a single loop that connects the grid cells. The loop may only travel horizontally or vertically, and never diagonally (so all turns are of 90 degrees). The loop may only turn at the centers of grid cells, and may not cross itself or branch off. Every grid cell must be used, and the loop must enter and exit every region of the grid exactly twice.

This image lacks the color and dotted lines of my previous two entries due to time constraints. Sorry.

Edit: For solvers who insist on having color and dotted lines, I have found time to make this image. The plain version above will still remain the default, though.

March Mutant 28: Streaming Content / Tetra Firma

Shade in tetrominoes in simultaneous accordance with the rules of Streaming Content and the rules of Tetra Firma. (As the grid isn't partitioned into regions, the rule of Tetra Firma that every region contains one tetromino is waived.)

March Mutant 27: Quad-Wrangle (one away)

In this Quad-Wrangle puzzle, every number is off by 1. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 26: Cross the Streams (partially inverted)

Shade in some cells black such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. Numbers to the left of a row represent the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row. For example, a clue of "3" means the row has three consecutive black cells, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row has a group of three consecutive black cells followed by a single black cell, separated by at least one white cell. In the same fashion, numbers above a column represent the groups of consecutive white cells which are in that column. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive black or white cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black or white cells, including none at all.

Tired of these crappy stream-based puzzles yet?

March Mutant 25: Adam's Grapple (total / no numbers)

Draw a single loop that connects the grid cells. The loop may only travel horizontally or vertically, and never diagonally (so all turns are of 90 degrees). The loop may only turn at the centers of grid cells, and may not cross itself or branch off. The loop must pass through and turn in every cell with a question mark, and the two line segments which meet at such a cell must be the same length. A question mark has been placed in every cell which could legally contain one.

You know this puzzle is of good quality because I made it in late 2010 (judging by its location in my pad of graph paper) and never bothered to publish it for over a year! Happy Quantity Not Quality Month! Hope you weren't too attached to the concept of having numbers in a logic puzzle!

March Mutant 24: Adam's Grapple (total)

Draw a single loop that connects the grid cells. The loop may only travel horizontally or vertically, and never diagonally (so all turns are of 90 degrees). The loop may only turn at the centers of grid cells, and may not cross itself or branch off. The loop must pass through and turn in every numbered cell, and each number represents the length of each of the two line segments which meet at that cell. A number has been placed in every cell which could legally contain one.

March Mutant 23: Cross the Streams (inverted)

Shade in some cells black such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. Numbers to the left of a row or above a column represent the groups of consecutive white cells which are in that row or column. For example, a clue of "3" means the row or column has three consecutive white cells, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row or column has a group of three consecutive white cells followed by a single white cell, separated by at least one black cell. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive white cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of white cells, including none at all.
Yeah, so all of my readers managed to see this coming. I'm so proud to have you guys as my audience.

March Mutant 22: Cross the Streams

Shade in some cells black such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. Numbers to the left of a row or above a column represent the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row or column. For example, a clue of "3" means the row or column has three consecutive black cells, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row or column has a group of three consecutive black cells followed by a single black cell, separated by at least one white cell. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive black cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black cells, including none at all.

Sorry about the lack of any sort of mutation at all in this puzzle. I promise that tomorrow's puzzle will be completely different.

March Mutant 21: Seek and Spell (back)

In this Seek and Spell puzzle, some words need to be reversed before they can be entered in the grid. (For example, DOWN can be entered as DOWN or NWOD.) The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 20: Pearls of Wisdom (alternating)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, the loop must alternate between black circles and white circles. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

Happy Quantity-Not-Quality Month!

March Mutant 19: Cross the Streams / Tetra Firma (arbitrarily inverted)

Shade in tetrominoes such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. No two congruent tetrominoes may share an edge, even if they are rotated or reflected versions of each other. In a normal Cross the Streams, numbers to the left of a row or above a column represent the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row or column. For example, a clue of "3" means the row or column has three consecutive black cells, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row or column has a group of three consecutive black cells followed by a single black cell, separated by at least one white cell. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive black cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black cells, including none at all. However, in this puzzle, some of the clues are inverted, and refer to the groups of white cells in that row or column. (A clue may coincidentally function as both a normal clue and an inverted one simultaneously.)

When will the arbitrary madness end???
ERRATUM: The original version of this puzzle had no clue in column 5, and more than one solution. Happy Quantity-Not-Quality Month!

March Mutant 18: Streampunk / Tetra Firma

Shade in tetrominoes such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. No two congruent tetrominoes may share an edge, even if they are rotated or reflected versions of each other. Numbers in a cell indicate the sizes of the orthogonally contiguous groups formed by black cells sharing a corner or an edge with that cell. For example, "3" means that the cell shares a corner or an edge with three black cells, and they form a single group, whereas "1 3" means the cell shares a corner with four black cells which form a group of three cells and a single separate cell. Cells with numbers cannot be black.

The Print-and-Play edition of my two-player board game Battle of LITS is officially available! Based on a Japanese logic puzzle, Battle of LITS is, among other things, about not having neighboring tetrominoes which are congruent. Nah, don't let my self-deprecation deter you from trying it; I'm actually proud of it. :)

March Mutant 17: Polyominous / Dominnocuous

When this Polyominous puzzle is solved, the partitioned grid will be solvable as a Dominnocuous.

Happy Quantity-Not-Quality Month, everybody.

March Mutant 16: Polyominous / Quad-Wrangle (non-consecutive)

In this Polyominous puzzle, every region must be shaped like a rectangle. (Thus, the puzzle is similar to a Quad-Wrangle puzzle, but without the restriction that every region must contain exactly one number, and with the restriction that regions with the same area may not share an edge.) Additionally, no two horizontally or vertically adjacent cells may contain two consecutive numbers.

March Mutant 15: Straight and Arrow / Pearls of Wisdom (total blacks)

In this Straight and Arrow puzzle, the loop may pass through a black cell, but only if it turns in that cell, and goes straight through both adjacent cells in the loop (as though passing through a black pearl in Pearls of Wisdom). All such cells (where the loop turns in that cell and goes straight through both adjacent cells) must be black. The other rules regarding black cells still apply.

March Mutant 14: Polyominous (cipher)

In this Polyominous puzzle, the given numbers have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same number, but two different letters must represent different numbers.

March Mutant 13: The Inner Limits (total multiples of 3)

In this The Inner Limits puzzle, a multiple of 3 has been placed in every cell which can legally contain one. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 12: Streaming Content (cipher)

In this Streaming Content puzzle, the given numbers have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same number, but two different letters must represent different numbers. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 11: Room and Reason (symmetry)

In this Room and Reason puzzle, a room with an S in it must have 180-degree rotational symmetry, and a room with an A in it must NOT have 180-degree rotational symmetry. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 10: Seek and Spell / Crowd Nine

In this Seek and Spell puzzle, every row, every column, and every outlined box consisting of nine cells each must contain every letter in FOX BADGER exactly once (as in a Crowd Nine puzzle, but with letters). The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 9: Fencing Match (crosslink)

In this Fencing Match puzzle, the loop may pass through a dot twice, but only if the loop goes straight through that dot both times, once horizontally and once vertically. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 8: Polyominous / Quad-Wrangle (cipher)

In this Polyominous puzzle, every region must be shaped like a rectangle. (Thus, the puzzle is similar to a Quad-Wrangle puzzle, but without the restriction that every region must contain exactly one number, and with the restriction that regions with the same area may not share an edge.) Additionally, the given numbers have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same number, but two different letters must represent different numbers.

March Mutant 7: Polyominous / Quad-Wrangle

In this Polyominous puzzle, every region must be shaped like a rectangle. (Thus, the puzzle is similar to a Quad-Wrangle puzzle, but without the restriction that every region must contain exactly one number, and with the restriction that regions with the same area may not share an edge.) The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 6: Crowd Nine (sum skyscrapers)

In this Crowd Nine puzzle, a number to the left or right of a row or above or below a column represents the sum of the numbers in that row or column which can be seen from that direction. A number is visible if and only if it is greater than any other numbers in the row or column between that number and the edge (and is blocked from being seen if a number greater than it is in the way). The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 5: Spirits of Serpentine (seconds)

In this Spirits of Serpentine puzzle, the clues represent the second number encountered in the direction of the arrow, rather than the first; if only one number or no numbers are encountered before the edge of the grid or the nearest black cell (whichever is closer), then the clue is 0. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 4: Straight and Arrow (domino)

In this Straight and Arrow puzzle, instead of no two black cells being allowed to share an edge, every black cell must share an edge with EXACTLY ONE other black cell. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 3: Process of Illumination (all 3's)

In this Process of Illumination puzzle, a 3 has been placed in every black cell which could legally contain one. The number of light bulbs adjacent to a black cell without a number must not be 3. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

March Mutant 2: Tetra Firma / Dominnocuous

Solve this grid as a Tetra Firma and a Dominnocuous simultaneously. No cell may be black in both solutions.

March Mutant 1: Cross the Streams (arbitrarily inverted)

Shade in some cells black such that the black cells are all connected to each other through their edges, and no 2x2 cell area within the grid contains all black cells. In a normal Cross the Streams, numbers to the left of a row or above a column represent the groups of consecutive black cells which are in that row or column. For example, a clue of "3" means the row or column has three consecutive black cells, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row or column has a group of three consecutive black cells followed by a single black cell, separated by at least one white cell. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive black cells whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black cells, including none at all. However, in this puzzle, some of the clues are inverted, and refer to the groups of white cells in that row or column. (A clue may coincidentally function as both a normal clue and an inverted one simultaneously.)

This is an extension of the idea presented in Monday Mutant 94. Now you don't know which clues are inverted and which are normal! Gwa ha ha!