WARNING: THIS CONTEST STILL CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR WORDY WEDNESDAY 341, "THE OMINOUS PENTHOUSE 2"!!!
Showing posts with label Logicsmith Exhibition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Logicsmith Exhibition. Show all posts
Logicsmith Exhibition 7: Pentominous Borders (RESULTS!)
Four weeks ago, I challenged my readers to divide a 15x15 grid into as few regions as possible to create a valid Pentomonious Borders puzzle (that is, there is exactly one way to further divide the regions into pentominoes, regions of five cells each, so that no two congruent pentominoes, even if rotated or reflected, share an edge), with ties being broken in favor of which puzzle has the most faux solutions (that is, solutions where you disregard the rule that congruent pentominoes cannot share an edge). I received 6 entries, all of which managed to accomplish the task with just 2 regions! Their entries are collated below:
The winner, with 2 regions and over 13 billion faux solutions, is TheGreatEscaper! He will receive every puzzle in my Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy initiative! Additionally, Hugo van Rooigen, Bryce Herdt, and Michael Tang will receive all the digital puzzles from Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy! Congratulations!
Logicsmith Exhibition 7: Pentominous Borders
I was recently contemplating one of my logic puzzles from 2016, and this contest came about as a result.
You are to divide a 15x15 square grid into the smallest possible number of regions such that it forms a valid Pentominous Borders puzzle (that is, there is exactly one way to further divide the regions into pentominoes, regions of five cells each, so that no two congruent pentominoes, even if rotated or reflected, share an edge). Ties will be broken in favor of which puzzle has the most solutions if you disregard the rule that congruent pentominoes cannot share an edge (since such a puzzle is more likely to be interesting as a puzzle). Further ties will be broken by random.org. Consider the 5x5 examples below:
Puzzle A is outranked by puzzles B and C because it contains more regions (even though it also has more faux solutions); puzzle B is outranked by puzzle C because it has the same number of regions and fewer faux solutions (and in fact is a very boring puzzle).
Submit your puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next 4 weeks (before 11:59 PM Central time on February 12, 2018). You may enter multiple times; only your best valid entry will be counted. I will feature the best valid entry from every entrant on this blog, so even if you don't win, your puzzle-writing abilities will be showcased on my blog.
The winner will receive every puzzle in my Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy initiative! This means you'll get the original Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy pack (24 previously Patreon-exclusive word puzzles), the LiveJournal Logic Pack (300 logic puzzles), the Signed Magazine Four-Pack (four signed puzzle magazines), and the Section Six Six-Plus-Six Pack (12 Section Six puzzles). That's a $50.10 value! Three runners-up will receive the Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy pack, the LiveJournal Logic Pack, and the Section Six Six-Plus-Six Pack (a $20.10 value). The awarding of these prizes was made possible by a very generous donation I got last year. Of course, you can still support my chosen charities if you wish to do so, but if you can't afford such generosity, give puzzle-writing a try.
Good luck!
You are to divide a 15x15 square grid into the smallest possible number of regions such that it forms a valid Pentominous Borders puzzle (that is, there is exactly one way to further divide the regions into pentominoes, regions of five cells each, so that no two congruent pentominoes, even if rotated or reflected, share an edge). Ties will be broken in favor of which puzzle has the most solutions if you disregard the rule that congruent pentominoes cannot share an edge (since such a puzzle is more likely to be interesting as a puzzle). Further ties will be broken by random.org. Consider the 5x5 examples below:
Submit your puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next 4 weeks (before 11:59 PM Central time on February 12, 2018). You may enter multiple times; only your best valid entry will be counted. I will feature the best valid entry from every entrant on this blog, so even if you don't win, your puzzle-writing abilities will be showcased on my blog.
The winner will receive every puzzle in my Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy initiative! This means you'll get the original Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy pack (24 previously Patreon-exclusive word puzzles), the LiveJournal Logic Pack (300 logic puzzles), the Signed Magazine Four-Pack (four signed puzzle magazines), and the Section Six Six-Plus-Six Pack (12 Section Six puzzles). That's a $50.10 value! Three runners-up will receive the Patron Puzzles for Philanthropy pack, the LiveJournal Logic Pack, and the Section Six Six-Plus-Six Pack (a $20.10 value). The awarding of these prizes was made possible by a very generous donation I got last year. Of course, you can still support my chosen charities if you wish to do so, but if you can't afford such generosity, give puzzle-writing a try.
Good luck!
Logicsmith Exhibition 6: Shipping Pearls (UPDATE!)
Five days ago, I posted the results of my Shipping Pearls contest. Since then, I have found another entry in my Gmail spam folder, shown below, which arrived in time to be included but which wasn't, for obvious reasons. It has been posted now. Fortunately, the outcome of the contest was not affected.
Logicsmith Exhibition 6: Shipping Pearls (RESULTS!)
Four weeks ago, I challenged my readers to an optimization task involving writing a Masyu whose unused cells form a Battleships solution. 12 people have entered this contest; their entries are collated here.
Two entries tied for the lowest score of 807; the winner, as decided by random.org, is Robert Vollmert! He will receive a copy of my upcoming Grandmaster Puzzles e-book when it is released. In the meanwhile, I will also give him a copy of both issues of Fox & Badger Magazine so far, previously only available to Patreon supporters!
[Edited on 2016-12-23 to add an entry from Philipp Weiß, which was received before the deadline, but ended up in my spam folder and went unnoticed. Since Philipp did not get a winning score, the outcome of the competition was not affected.]
[Edited on 2016-12-23 to add an entry from Philipp Weiß, which was received before the deadline, but ended up in my spam folder and went unnoticed. Since Philipp did not get a winning score, the outcome of the competition was not affected.]
Logicsmith Exhibition 6: Shipping Pearls
I have not had a contest on my blog in a long, long time. Some of my Wordy Wednesday puzzles in the past have been contests (in fact, the system where you get 1 or 2 stars next to your name on the solvers list is a carryover from the contest format, where you could get 1 or 2 contest entries depending on whether you solved the puzzle before or after the easy version went up). However, since I created my Patreon, where people who pledge $3 or more per month get an early look at my Wordy Wednesday puzzles, it doesn't feel right to basically give an advantage to people who pay to see my puzzles earlier. The solution? This contest doesn't involve word puzzles! In fact, it involves logic puzzles, also known as those things this blog used to be focused on before I jumped the shark. However, I won't be writing the puzzles; that is your job.
You are to write a valid Masyu puzzle on a 10x10 grid. The puzzle must have exactly one valid solution. In this solution, there must be exactly 20 cells which are not entered by the loop; within those unused cells, it must be possible to fit a standard Battleships fleet (one ship of length 4, two of length 3, three of length 2, four of length 1) in accordance with the standard Battleships rules.
IMPORTANT: You are not writing a Masyu Battleships puzzle. The puzzle must be solvable as a normal Masyu puzzle, without knowledge that the unused cells will form a Battleships solution.
Count the number of black circles and the number of white circles in your puzzle. Let M be the number of occurrences of the more frequent color, and L be the number of occurrences of the less frequent color. (M and L will be equal if there is an equal number of black circles and white circles.) Your goal is to minimize the value 100M+L. (For example, if your puzzle has 8 black circles and 14 white circles, your score is 1408.)
Submit your puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next 4 weeks (before December 18, 2016). You may enter multiple times; only your lowest score counts. Whoever submits a valid puzzle with the lowest score wins. I will feature the lowest-scoring valid entry from every entrant on this blog, so even if you don't win, your puzzle-writing abilities will be showcased on my blog. Ties will be broken by random.org.
The winner will receive a copy of an upcoming Grandmaster Puzzles e-book featuring my puzzles, which is scheduled to be released some time before the end of the year. If, for some unforeseen reason, the e-book isn't released by then, the winner will be offered a replacement prize.
Good luck!
You are to write a valid Masyu puzzle on a 10x10 grid. The puzzle must have exactly one valid solution. In this solution, there must be exactly 20 cells which are not entered by the loop; within those unused cells, it must be possible to fit a standard Battleships fleet (one ship of length 4, two of length 3, three of length 2, four of length 1) in accordance with the standard Battleships rules.
IMPORTANT: You are not writing a Masyu Battleships puzzle. The puzzle must be solvable as a normal Masyu puzzle, without knowledge that the unused cells will form a Battleships solution.
Count the number of black circles and the number of white circles in your puzzle. Let M be the number of occurrences of the more frequent color, and L be the number of occurrences of the less frequent color. (M and L will be equal if there is an equal number of black circles and white circles.) Your goal is to minimize the value 100M+L. (For example, if your puzzle has 8 black circles and 14 white circles, your score is 1408.)
Submit your puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com within the next 4 weeks (before December 18, 2016). You may enter multiple times; only your lowest score counts. Whoever submits a valid puzzle with the lowest score wins. I will feature the lowest-scoring valid entry from every entrant on this blog, so even if you don't win, your puzzle-writing abilities will be showcased on my blog. Ties will be broken by random.org.
The winner will receive a copy of an upcoming Grandmaster Puzzles e-book featuring my puzzles, which is scheduled to be released some time before the end of the year. If, for some unforeseen reason, the e-book isn't released by then, the winner will be offered a replacement prize.
Good luck!
Logicsmith Exhibition 5: Polyominous (RESULTS!)
The deadline for voting in Logicsmith Exhibition 5 is past, and I have received 24 votes. Using my amazing ability to count, I have determined the winner of the contest! In this post, I will not only reveal that winner, but I will do something I have only really done once before in a Logicsmith Exhibition: I will be unafraid to give my honest opinion!
Disclaimer: In the past, I have divulged that I like Justin Bieber's "Baby" unironically. I have also watched an episode of the overtly Christian-themed "BibleMan", and somehow find myself liking its cheesiness both ironically and unironically. Clearly, my opinions on logic puzzles should be taken with more than a grain of salt – particularly seeing as the contest is more about reader opinion than my own.
WARNING: There are 40 images in this post!
Disclaimer: In the past, I have divulged that I like Justin Bieber's "Baby" unironically. I have also watched an episode of the overtly Christian-themed "BibleMan", and somehow find myself liking its cheesiness both ironically and unironically. Clearly, my opinions on logic puzzles should be taken with more than a grain of salt – particularly seeing as the contest is more about reader opinion than my own.
WARNING: There are 40 images in this post!
Logicsmith Exhibition 5: Polyominous (VOTING TIME!)
Four weeks ago, I challenged my readers to construct a 10x10 Polyominous puzzle under very specific restrictions, offering a prize to the constructor whose puzzle is voted the best by my readers afterwards. A whopping 19 other readers managed to do so, giving you 20 candidates to choose from!
Warning: there are 20 images contained in this blog post!
Warning: there are 20 images contained in this blog post!
Logicsmith Exhibition 5: Polyominous
Would you like to try your hand at logicsmithing, and possibly be featured on my blog? Read on!
Your challenge is to compose a uniquely solvable 10x10 Polyominous puzzle. Your puzzle must have precisely 36 givens, arranged in a pattern with 180-degree rotational symmetry, and every integer from 1 through 9 must appear as a given exactly four times. You are only allowed to submit one puzzle, but you may change it at any time before the deadline. Send your puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com.
This time around, Logicsmith Exhibition is also a contest! Once the deadline has passed, I will publish all of the puzzles I received without revealing the authors, and ask everyone reading this blog to cast their votes for their favorite puzzles (again via email). If your puzzle is the readers' favorite, you could win a prize!
By entering the contest, you agree to the following terms:
a) You agree not to discuss your entry with any other entrants or any voters until the contest is over.
b) You agree not to cheat the voting system.
c) You agree to provide me with a mailing address in the event that you win and wish to receive a prize, and to await said prize patiently, particularly if you live outside the continental United States. (In return, I agree not to use your mailing address for any malicious purposes, such as sending junk mail or other undesired things.) If you don't want to give out your mailing address, I reserve the right to happily give the prize to someone else who will.
After four weeks (meaning the deadline is August 3), I will post the puzzles that my readers and I have constructed, and give the readers another four weeks to cast their votes for the best puzzles. Good luck, and have fun!
Your challenge is to compose a uniquely solvable 10x10 Polyominous puzzle. Your puzzle must have precisely 36 givens, arranged in a pattern with 180-degree rotational symmetry, and every integer from 1 through 9 must appear as a given exactly four times. You are only allowed to submit one puzzle, but you may change it at any time before the deadline. Send your puzzle to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com.
This time around, Logicsmith Exhibition is also a contest! Once the deadline has passed, I will publish all of the puzzles I received without revealing the authors, and ask everyone reading this blog to cast their votes for their favorite puzzles (again via email). If your puzzle is the readers' favorite, you could win a prize!
By entering the contest, you agree to the following terms:
a) You agree not to discuss your entry with any other entrants or any voters until the contest is over.
b) You agree not to cheat the voting system.
c) You agree to provide me with a mailing address in the event that you win and wish to receive a prize, and to await said prize patiently, particularly if you live outside the continental United States. (In return, I agree not to use your mailing address for any malicious purposes, such as sending junk mail or other undesired things.) If you don't want to give out your mailing address, I reserve the right to happily give the prize to someone else who will.
After four weeks (meaning the deadline is August 3), I will post the puzzles that my readers and I have constructed, and give the readers another four weeks to cast their votes for the best puzzles. Good luck, and have fun!
Logicsmith Exhibition 4: Circumnavi-Gates (RESULTS!)
Logicsmith Exhibition 4 is over now. I received 7 entries from 5 distinct people (not counting myself). As is the tradition, I will go alphabetically by submitter.
The first submission is from someone who goes by crab. Without a doubt, this puzzle is the most difficult one in the batch -- in fact, had I created the puzzle, I'd have no choice but to label it as an Evil Zinger (EZ). Good luck solving this one -- you'll need it for sure. This puzzle will attack your weak point for massive damage.
This puzzle is from groza528. I really can't think of anything to say about it, except that it's pretty, and it's on the tough side (but not nearly as tough as the puzzle above!).
mathgrant is next on my alphabetical list, so now I get to vainly flaunt my own puzzles! This 10x10 puzzle is. . . nondescript, I guess. And easy. I guess there really isn't much to vainly flaunt about it. . . :)
I also made this 14x24 puzzle, which is brought to you by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Counting to 8 plays a huge role in this puzzle, so if you can't count to 8, then please learn how to do so.
These next two puzzles were contributed by MellowMelon; he operates his own logic puzzle blog, and updates it more frequently than I do mine, so you should probably stop reading my boring blog that never gets updated, and follow his instead. :P [Edit 9/10/2010: it's updated very scarcely now.] But seriously, I think he's been doing a good job on his blog.
In this second puzzle, although I hadn't realized it at first, MellowMelon attempted to render a picture of a certain fictional character in the black cells. If you squint, you might be able to make it out. The 14x24 grid, among other restrictions, made it difficult to do; in particular, an arm seems to be absent. However, the character's eyebrows are very nicely rendered as a consummate V. While I'm not as crazy about this character as some people are (I didn't celebrate his January 13 birthday, for instance), I really, really loved seeing him being paid tribute to in this puzzle. (If you haven't figured out who the character is, I'll post another hint as a comment on this post.)
This next puzzle's from mikeamok. I don't have much to say about it. It's nice, though.
Our final puzzle is from Neil Zussman. He sent two puzzles, sadly, one of them was found to have 17 solutions, and could not be accepted for this Logicsmith Exhibition. This puzzle, however, was acceptable. It's on the easy side, I think -- easier, in fact, than my 10x10 puzzle above. Not that I'm complaining, of course! I like a variety of difficulties. I also like having no two black cells share an edge -- don't you? :)
Edit: While it's past the deadline, Neil Zussman has managed to fix his other puzzle, so I'm including it here, too. Just like the previous one, this puzzle has no two black cells sharing an edge; I don't know whether this was intentional or not, but none of the other constructors did this, so it's worth mentioning.
Enjoy the puzzles, and thanks to the people who submitted them!
The first submission is from someone who goes by crab. Without a doubt, this puzzle is the most difficult one in the batch -- in fact, had I created the puzzle, I'd have no choice but to label it as an Evil Zinger (EZ). Good luck solving this one -- you'll need it for sure. This puzzle will attack your weak point for massive damage.
This puzzle is from groza528. I really can't think of anything to say about it, except that it's pretty, and it's on the tough side (but not nearly as tough as the puzzle above!).
mathgrant is next on my alphabetical list, so now I get to vainly flaunt my own puzzles! This 10x10 puzzle is. . . nondescript, I guess. And easy. I guess there really isn't much to vainly flaunt about it. . . :)
I also made this 14x24 puzzle, which is brought to you by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Counting to 8 plays a huge role in this puzzle, so if you can't count to 8, then please learn how to do so.
These next two puzzles were contributed by MellowMelon; he operates his own logic puzzle blog, and updates it more frequently than I do mine, so you should probably stop reading my boring blog that never gets updated, and follow his instead. :P [Edit 9/10/2010: it's updated very scarcely now.] But seriously, I think he's been doing a good job on his blog.
In this second puzzle, although I hadn't realized it at first, MellowMelon attempted to render a picture of a certain fictional character in the black cells. If you squint, you might be able to make it out. The 14x24 grid, among other restrictions, made it difficult to do; in particular, an arm seems to be absent. However, the character's eyebrows are very nicely rendered as a consummate V. While I'm not as crazy about this character as some people are (I didn't celebrate his January 13 birthday, for instance), I really, really loved seeing him being paid tribute to in this puzzle. (If you haven't figured out who the character is, I'll post another hint as a comment on this post.)
This next puzzle's from mikeamok. I don't have much to say about it. It's nice, though.
Our final puzzle is from Neil Zussman. He sent two puzzles, sadly, one of them was found to have 17 solutions, and could not be accepted for this Logicsmith Exhibition. This puzzle, however, was acceptable. It's on the easy side, I think -- easier, in fact, than my 10x10 puzzle above. Not that I'm complaining, of course! I like a variety of difficulties. I also like having no two black cells share an edge -- don't you? :)
Edit: While it's past the deadline, Neil Zussman has managed to fix his other puzzle, so I'm including it here, too. Just like the previous one, this puzzle has no two black cells sharing an edge; I don't know whether this was intentional or not, but none of the other constructors did this, so it's worth mentioning.
Enjoy the puzzles, and thanks to the people who submitted them!
Logicsmith Exhibition 4: Circumnavi-Gates
Would you like to try your hand at logicsmithing, and possibly be featured on my blog? Read on!
Your challenge is to compose a uniquely solvable Circumnavi-Gates puzzle (link to rules, Circumnavi-Gates puzzles from my blog). Your puzzle must either be 10x10 with the black cells arranged according to 180-degree rotational symmetry, or 14x24 with no symmetry restrictions. You must also conform to these rules:
* You must have at least 6 gates, and at least 1 numbered gate.
* The white cells must all be one connected region.
* At least one cell from each row and column must be used in the solution path. (Your puzzle must still be uniquely solvable without this restriction.)
You may send more than one puzzle, so if you want to make a 10x10 puzzle and a 14x24 puzzle, go for it! :)
Send your puzzle(s) to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. For my convenience, if you have OpenOffice.org installed, please send your puzzle(s) by editing this Circumnavi-Gates template. To use it, change the background of the black cells to black, and use three other background colors to correspond to horizontal gates, vertical gates, and the starting/ending cell. (Use any three different non-black colors you like; none of those colors will appear in the final image, anyway.) Then just type in the numbers. Change the font of the starting/ending number to bold Arial Narrow; otherwise, do not change the fonts or other formatting.
Alternatively, here are a blank 10x10 grid and a blank 14x24 grid; you may edit them in any image-editing program and send your puzzle(s) to me as a BMP, a JPG, or a PNG.
Also, if you would prefer to send it as plain text, I recommend using a period for white cells, X for black cells, O for the starting-ending cell, - for horizontal gates, | for vertical gates, and numbers for numbered black cells. Why would you need so many options for sending me a puzzle? I dunno. But I'm offering them. :)
After three weeks (meaning the deadline is January 21), I will post the puzzles that my readers and I have constructed. Good luck, and have fun!
Your challenge is to compose a uniquely solvable Circumnavi-Gates puzzle (link to rules, Circumnavi-Gates puzzles from my blog). Your puzzle must either be 10x10 with the black cells arranged according to 180-degree rotational symmetry, or 14x24 with no symmetry restrictions. You must also conform to these rules:
* You must have at least 6 gates, and at least 1 numbered gate.
* The white cells must all be one connected region.
* At least one cell from each row and column must be used in the solution path. (Your puzzle must still be uniquely solvable without this restriction.)
You may send more than one puzzle, so if you want to make a 10x10 puzzle and a 14x24 puzzle, go for it! :)
Send your puzzle(s) to glmathgrant[at]gmail[dot]com. For my convenience, if you have OpenOffice.org installed, please send your puzzle(s) by editing this Circumnavi-Gates template. To use it, change the background of the black cells to black, and use three other background colors to correspond to horizontal gates, vertical gates, and the starting/ending cell. (Use any three different non-black colors you like; none of those colors will appear in the final image, anyway.) Then just type in the numbers. Change the font of the starting/ending number to bold Arial Narrow; otherwise, do not change the fonts or other formatting.
Alternatively, here are a blank 10x10 grid and a blank 14x24 grid; you may edit them in any image-editing program and send your puzzle(s) to me as a BMP, a JPG, or a PNG.
Also, if you would prefer to send it as plain text, I recommend using a period for white cells, X for black cells, O for the starting-ending cell, - for horizontal gates, | for vertical gates, and numbers for numbered black cells. Why would you need so many options for sending me a puzzle? I dunno. But I'm offering them. :)
After three weeks (meaning the deadline is January 21), I will post the puzzles that my readers and I have constructed. Good luck, and have fun!
Logicsmith Exhibition 3: Polyominous (RESULTS!)
Logicsmith Exhibition 3 is over now. I received 6 entries from 4 distinct people (not counting myself). I think the puzzles ended up a bit harder in this batch than in the previous batch. The added difficulty makes these puzzles feel very different from the previous ones, for better or for worse, and of course they are still very different from each other. As before, I'll go alphabetically by submitter.
This first puzzle is from Bram. This is probably the hardest puzzle in the batch -- in fact, I found it slightly unreasonable (in terms of the depth of trial and error involved). Then again, I'm a wuss who only a month ago started posting Numberlink puzzles, and your mileage may vary. In any case, it's definitely solvable. Just be forewarned of the difficulty. :)
connect4 sent this nice puzzle. If you're allergic to the numbers 1 and 2, then you're in luck -- this puzzle contains none of those.
The next puzzle is my own. It is traditional for me to give a sneak peek of my puzzle to the participants in Logicsmith Exhibition; Paul Redman said that this has "some of [my] characteristic trademarks". He's probably right. *laughs* I always try to keep my puzzles interesting, though, and not to let any one particular style make me too terribly predictable. :)
This puzzle is by miller. This one's definitely on the tougher side, I think, but extremely nice. It will keep patient experts very entertained.
Paul Redman was ambitious enough to send three puzzles. A main feature of this first submission is that it has a LOT of 4's. ("Use the 4's, Luke. . . .") It also makes interesting use of the space in the middle. I thought it was one of the easier puzzles in this batch.
This second puzzle by Paul Redman is a bit harder, but still very reasonable, and quite fun.
Paul Redman's final puzzle contains many 6's -- twenty-seven 6's, to be exact. I believe it's the hardest out of Paul's puzzles, but if you like the number 6, then you'll absolutely adore this puzzle. :)
Thanks to all the submitters for their puzzles, and enjoy solving!
This first puzzle is from Bram. This is probably the hardest puzzle in the batch -- in fact, I found it slightly unreasonable (in terms of the depth of trial and error involved). Then again, I'm a wuss who only a month ago started posting Numberlink puzzles, and your mileage may vary. In any case, it's definitely solvable. Just be forewarned of the difficulty. :)
connect4 sent this nice puzzle. If you're allergic to the numbers 1 and 2, then you're in luck -- this puzzle contains none of those.
The next puzzle is my own. It is traditional for me to give a sneak peek of my puzzle to the participants in Logicsmith Exhibition; Paul Redman said that this has "some of [my] characteristic trademarks". He's probably right. *laughs* I always try to keep my puzzles interesting, though, and not to let any one particular style make me too terribly predictable. :)
This puzzle is by miller. This one's definitely on the tougher side, I think, but extremely nice. It will keep patient experts very entertained.
Paul Redman was ambitious enough to send three puzzles. A main feature of this first submission is that it has a LOT of 4's. ("Use the 4's, Luke. . . .") It also makes interesting use of the space in the middle. I thought it was one of the easier puzzles in this batch.
This second puzzle by Paul Redman is a bit harder, but still very reasonable, and quite fun.
Paul Redman's final puzzle contains many 6's -- twenty-seven 6's, to be exact. I believe it's the hardest out of Paul's puzzles, but if you like the number 6, then you'll absolutely adore this puzzle. :)
Thanks to all the submitters for their puzzles, and enjoy solving!
Logicsmith Exhibition 3: Polyominous
Would you like to try your hand at logicsmithing, and possibly be featured on my blog? Read on!
In an intriguing experiment on its online puzzle site nikoli.com, the Japanese company Nikoli asked its authors to create different Slitherlink puzzles all using the same arrangement of givens. More recently, they asked its authors to create different Akari puzzles all using the same arrangement of black cells. I've decided to try a similar experiment here, using the puzzle Polyominous (link to rules, Polyominous puzzles from my blog). Your challenge is to replace each of the question marks in the grid below with an integer to create a uniquely solvable Polyominous puzzle.
Send your puzzle (and optionally, its solution) to my e-mail address at glmathgrant@gmail.com. After three weeks (meaning the deadline is September 7), I will post the puzzles that my readers and I have constructed for this layout. Good luck, and have fun!
In an intriguing experiment on its online puzzle site nikoli.com, the Japanese company Nikoli asked its authors to create different Slitherlink puzzles all using the same arrangement of givens. More recently, they asked its authors to create different Akari puzzles all using the same arrangement of black cells. I've decided to try a similar experiment here, using the puzzle Polyominous (link to rules, Polyominous puzzles from my blog). Your challenge is to replace each of the question marks in the grid below with an integer to create a uniquely solvable Polyominous puzzle.
Send your puzzle (and optionally, its solution) to my e-mail address at glmathgrant@gmail.com. After three weeks (meaning the deadline is September 7), I will post the puzzles that my readers and I have constructed for this layout. Good luck, and have fun!
Logicsmith Exhibition 2: Polyominous (RESULTS!)
Logicsmith Exhibition 2 is over now. I received 5 entries from 4 distinct people (not counting myself), so that's fantastic. There are many differences and similarities between them, making them interesting to compare.
First, we have Johan de Ruiter's creation. I actually found it a bit difficult in a few points, but fairly enjoyable.
mathgrant comes next alphabetically on the list of submitters, so here's my puzzle. Constructing for such a dense arrangement of givens was an interesting challenge for me, but I think I managed to make it varied and interesting, while also employing some neat themes.
miller sent in this puzzle that interestingly only uses even numbers for the givens. I thought it was fairly simple, but quite a pleasure.
Trayton submitted two puzzles. This first one has some rough spots to it, but is a rather enjoyable challenge for those expert enough to complete it.
Trayton's second puzzle employs a rather humorous theme involving the number 10. It's certainly the easiest puzzle in the group, but also amusing.
The last puzzle comes from the man whose blog inspired me to create my own, the one and only Zotmeister. (If there's another Zotmeister, I have yet to encounter him or her.) This one is mostly easy, but I quite enjoyed the ending. :)
Enjoy solving all of these puzzles! :D
First, we have Johan de Ruiter's creation. I actually found it a bit difficult in a few points, but fairly enjoyable.
mathgrant comes next alphabetically on the list of submitters, so here's my puzzle. Constructing for such a dense arrangement of givens was an interesting challenge for me, but I think I managed to make it varied and interesting, while also employing some neat themes.
miller sent in this puzzle that interestingly only uses even numbers for the givens. I thought it was fairly simple, but quite a pleasure.
Trayton submitted two puzzles. This first one has some rough spots to it, but is a rather enjoyable challenge for those expert enough to complete it.
Trayton's second puzzle employs a rather humorous theme involving the number 10. It's certainly the easiest puzzle in the group, but also amusing.
The last puzzle comes from the man whose blog inspired me to create my own, the one and only Zotmeister. (If there's another Zotmeister, I have yet to encounter him or her.) This one is mostly easy, but I quite enjoyed the ending. :)
Enjoy solving all of these puzzles! :D
Logicsmith Exhibition 2: Polyominous
Would you like to try your hand at logicsmithing, and possibly be featured on my blog? Read on!
In an intriguing experiment on its online puzzle site nikoli.com, the Japanese company Nikoli asked its authors to create different Slitherlink puzzles all using the same arrangement of givens. I've decided to try a similar experiment here, using the puzzle Polyominous (link to rules, Polyominous puzzles from my blog). Your challenge is to replace each of the question marks in the grid below with an integer to create a uniquely solvable Polyominous puzzle.
For those of you who were around for the first Logicsmith Exhibition, I have followed your advice and opted for a smaller grid than last time. I noticed that the huge group of 32 unclued cells in the middle seemed to be a bit of a choke point, so I tried to avoid that. Also, this grid contains an unusually high density of givens -- 50% of the cells are givens, in fact. Finally, I'm giving you three weeks instead of just two. These factors should make it considerably easier to construct a puzzle (I hope!).
Send your puzzle (and optionally, its solution) to my e-mail address at glmathgrant@gmail.com. After three weeks (meaning the deadline is December 16), I will post the puzzle I have constructed for this layout, as well as some of my favorite submissions from other people. Good luck, and have fun!
In an intriguing experiment on its online puzzle site nikoli.com, the Japanese company Nikoli asked its authors to create different Slitherlink puzzles all using the same arrangement of givens. I've decided to try a similar experiment here, using the puzzle Polyominous (link to rules, Polyominous puzzles from my blog). Your challenge is to replace each of the question marks in the grid below with an integer to create a uniquely solvable Polyominous puzzle.
For those of you who were around for the first Logicsmith Exhibition, I have followed your advice and opted for a smaller grid than last time. I noticed that the huge group of 32 unclued cells in the middle seemed to be a bit of a choke point, so I tried to avoid that. Also, this grid contains an unusually high density of givens -- 50% of the cells are givens, in fact. Finally, I'm giving you three weeks instead of just two. These factors should make it considerably easier to construct a puzzle (I hope!).Send your puzzle (and optionally, its solution) to my e-mail address at glmathgrant@gmail.com. After three weeks (meaning the deadline is December 16), I will post the puzzle I have constructed for this layout, as well as some of my favorite submissions from other people. Good luck, and have fun!
Logicsmith Exhibition 1: Polyominous (RESULTS!)
Two weeks ago, I invited my readers to craft a Polyominous puzzle with the givens in a particular arrangement for my first Logicsmith Exhibition. The response was. . . abysmal. I mean, maybe it's because my blog doesn't have a million billion readers, but I promoted this thing on The Grey Labyrinth forum, and I still only got one other valid puzzle submission, from Dave Stigant. Did I make the aesthetic too hard to work with? Was the grid too big? Did I underpromote? Is logicsmithing simply a rarer talent than I had hoped? I honestly do not know. Readers, please give me feedback as a comment on this post! I want to have another Logicsmith Exhibition at some point, so I would like to know what I should do differently. In the meanwhile, here are both of the puzzles:
For better or worse, the puzzles are very stylistically different. Honestly, I prefer mine, because it has more of a Nikoli flavor, but I'm probably biased. ;) But yeah. . . there we go. Those are the results.
dstigant's puzzle:
mathgrant's puzzle:
mathgrant's puzzle:
For better or worse, the puzzles are very stylistically different. Honestly, I prefer mine, because it has more of a Nikoli flavor, but I'm probably biased. ;) But yeah. . . there we go. Those are the results.Logicsmith Exhibition 1: Polyominous
Would you like to try your hand at logicsmithing, and possibly be featured on my blog? Read on!
On its online puzzle site nikoli.com, the Japanese company Nikoli recently asked its authors to create different Slitherlink puzzles all using the same arrangement of givens. I've decided to try a similar experiment here, using the puzzle Polyominous (link to rules, Polyominous puzzles from my blog). Here is the layout:
Your challenge is to replace each of the question marks with an integer to create a uniquely solvable Polyominous puzzle. Send your puzzle (and optionally, its solution) to my e-mail address at glmathgrant@gmail.com. After two weeks (meaning the deadline is October 2), I will post the puzzle I have constructed for this layout, as well as some of my favorite submissions from other people.
I hope to try this kind of experiment again in the future if the response is good enough. Have fun! :)
On its online puzzle site nikoli.com, the Japanese company Nikoli recently asked its authors to create different Slitherlink puzzles all using the same arrangement of givens. I've decided to try a similar experiment here, using the puzzle Polyominous (link to rules, Polyominous puzzles from my blog). Here is the layout:
Your challenge is to replace each of the question marks with an integer to create a uniquely solvable Polyominous puzzle. Send your puzzle (and optionally, its solution) to my e-mail address at glmathgrant@gmail.com. After two weeks (meaning the deadline is October 2), I will post the puzzle I have constructed for this layout, as well as some of my favorite submissions from other people.
I hope to try this kind of experiment again in the future if the response is good enough. Have fun! :)
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