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

Puzzle 122: Polyominous 15

The deadline for Logicsmith Exhibition 2 was yesterday, but I forgot to announce it. Anyway, this is the puzzle I made for it.

Puzzle 121: Pearls of Wisdom 11

While I like challenging puzzles as much as anybody, a beautiful easy puzzle can be just as challenging and rewarding to construct as a more difficult one. This is probably the easiest Pearls of Wisdom on the entire blog, but I like the visual appeal. Also, my newer solvers need to start somewhere.

Puzzle 119: Fencing Match 15

No comment.
ERRATUM: Regular visitor ralphmerridew pointed out that this puzzle had multiple solutions in its original form; the updated version below fixes this. My apologies.
Rules of Fencing Match

Puzzle 118: Pearls of Wisdom 10

I received my first entry for Logicsmith Exhibition 2 today. Any other prospective logicsmiths have two more weeks to submit their creations. That has nothing at all to do with the puzzle below.

Puzzle 117: Seek and Spell 4

As I have let on before, I am a big fan of Homestar Runner. The theme of this puzzle is Strong Bad emails. If you happen to enjoy Homestar Runner as much as I do, you'll definitely appreciate this puzzle! :)

Special thanks to the Homestar Runner Wiki for its assistance in this puzzle's construction.

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!

Puzzle 111: Room and Reason 8

I'd like to thank David Olmsted for helping me to improve my blog's sidebar, and especially for sending me $10 today for access to puzzles 100-300 on my old blog. (Yeah, I have an old blog. There's a link in the sidebar if you're interested. Send me money via PayPal if you are interested in paying for a piece of my history. Or. . . not. This blog is free. And free is within the budget of most people.)

Puzzle 106: Artist's Block 4

Give this one a shot!

Puzzle 105: Artist's Block 3

No comment.

Puzzle 104: Artist's Block 2

This puzzle is intellectual.

Puzzle 103: Artist's Block 1

An easy one to give beginning solvers a foothold on Artist's Block.

Rules -- Artist's Block

Artist's Block was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli (under the name Tentai Show).

1. Divide the grid into black and white pieces along the grid lines, according to the following rules. (The solution will form a picture.)
2. Every piece must contain exactly one entire dot.
3. Every piece must have 180-degree rotational symmetry, with the dot being at the center of symmetry for that piece.
4. Every piece must match the color of its corresponding dot.

Puzzle 100: Fencing Match 13

ONE FRICKING HUNDRED!!!!!

No, seriously. One hundred puzzles is a huge deal, and I wanted my hundredth puzzle to be special. So here it is -- the largest Fencing Match puzzle I have ever constructed. I test-solved it TWICE, just to be safe. It was definitely worth the effort. I'd like to thank all of the people who have supported my logicsmithing efforts for making this behemoth possible. I look forward to another hundred.
Rules of Fencing Match
(click to enlarge)

Puzzle 99: Fencing Match 12

No comment.

Puzzle 98: Process of Illumination 5

No comment.

Puzzle 94: Eliza Pseudonym of Puzzlania 7

I learned six new words in the process of making this puzzle. What could be better than that?

During a six-day period from Monday through Saturday, Eliza Pseudonym and her friends Anna, Barbra, Carla, Delilah, and Fiona have subscribed to an internet mailing list that features a new word every day. No two women subscribed on the same day. On each day during the six-day period, a different word has been featured (abulia, betise, caryatid, dehisce, euhemerism, and floruit, in some order). From the clues below, determine the day on which each woman subscribed, and the day on which each word was featured.

1. Exactly one of the women has a name beginning with the same letter of the alphabet as the word featured on the day that she subscribed to the mailing list.
2. The word "caryatid" was featured precisely two days prior to Fiona joining the mailing list.
3. Carla joined the mailing list on Friday.
4. Anna signed up for the mailing list precisely one day after the word "euhemerism" was highlighted.
5. Wednesday's word did not end with the letter "e".
6. Barbra subscribed precisely three days after the word "dehisce" was featured.

Puzzle 93: Polyominous 12

No comment.

Puzzle 92: Pearls of Wisdom 7

No comment.

Puzzle 91: Room and Reason 7

No comment.

Puzzle 90: Blackbarrier Jam 5

This puzzle is dedicated to Dave Stigant. (He'll know why.)

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