Puzzle 528: Quad-Wrangle 24

Remember when I said "Hopefully I'll have more to say about my next 31x45 puzzle"? Well, I do!

This puzzle is devoted to groza528, a longtime fan who has encouraged me in so, so many ways – not the least of which was his decision to support me financially in the LiveJournal era of my logicsmithing "career", back when I decided to experimentally charge for access to my next 100 puzzles. groza528 actually sent me a check for four times what I was asking for, requesting access to the next 200 puzzles for himself and for a friend! I remain touched by this simple gesture of paying me money. Thank you so much, groza528.

Rules of Quad-Wrangle

(click to enlarge)

Puzzle 527: Circumnavi-Gates 19

No comment.

Rules of Circumnavi-Gates

Puzzle 526: Numeral Crossing 10

No comment.

Rules of Numeral Crossing

Puzzle 525: Artist's Block 10

As much as I enjoy posting 31x45 puzzles to celebrate milestones (because multiples of 25 are clearly milestones), I'm running out of things to say about them. Hopefully I'll have more to say about my next 31x45 puzzle. :)

Well, I guess I'll say this, since some people seem not to notice when I try to say it unobtrusively in a prefix to the comment form: do not leave a comment claiming a puzzle has multiple solutions unless you can either explain why in a manner that doesn't entirely spoil the puzzle for future readers, or accompany said comment with an e-mail explaining the ambiguity even more uncertainly. While I have made mistakes before when I am overly confident in my own logic, this particular puzzle was test-solved by two individuals who would have undoubtedly noticed such an error. Additionally, please don't spoil what results from shading in the areas with black dots; I would prefer to discuss that via e-mail.

On a completely unrelated note, Sudoku fans may be interested in this Advent calendar David Millar's been working on.

Rules of Artist's Block
(click to enlarge)

Puzzle 524: Proof of Quilt 5

No comment.

Rules of Proof of Quilt

Puzzle 523: The Inner Limits 6

No comment.

Rules of The Inner Limits

Puzzle 522: Numeral Crossing 9

Now that I've finished writing the puzzles I've been paid to write, I can get back to puzzles I'm not being paid to write!

Rules of Numeral Crossing

Grant's Review Corner: Volume 7

Today's volume of Grant's Review Corner is brought to you by Kakuro Conquest.

Wait a minute. . . "brought to you by"? What kind of BS is this? In past editions of Grant's Review Corner, the author (who would be me) has made a big stink about refusing to sell advertising space on his blog (which would be this one), and now all of a sudden we're in for some kind of advertorial? Well. . . yes and no. Let me explain what is happening here.

Puzzle 521: Totally Awesum 22

No comment.

Rules of Totally Awesum

Monday Mutant 104: Polyominous (cipher)

In this Polyominous puzzle, most of 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.

 Erratum: "Lord, how many times shall I forgive a blogger who posts broken logic puzzles? Up to seven times?"

Puzzle 520: Dominnocuous 2

No comment.

Rules of Dominnocuous

Puzzle 519: Dominnocuous 1

No comment.

Rules of Dominnocuous

Monday Mutant 103: Streaming Content / Block Band / Dominnocuous / Room and Reason (mastermind)

Solve the Streaming Content, Block Band, Dominnocuous, and Room and Reason puzzle simultaneously by the normal rules. A number between two rows or two columns in two different grids represents how many pairs of black cells would coincide if those two rows or columns were overlaid, without rotating them.

The longest filename this blog has ever seen!

Puzzle 518: Streaming Content 37

No comment.

Rules of Streaming Content

Rules -- Dominnocuous

Dominnocuous was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli (under the name Norinori).

1. Shade in some cells such that every region contains exactly two shaded cells, and every shaded cell shares an edge with exactly one other shaded cell.

Puzzle 517: Reunion Tour 7

No comment.

Rules of Reunion Tour

Monday Mutant 102: Pearls of Wisdom (optional whites)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, the loop does not have to pass through the white circles; however, when it does pass through a white circle, it must obey the standard rules for white circles.

Lest the African-American community deem me racist for posting a puzzle that suggests that black circles, and black people by inference, are optional. . .

Monday Mutant 101: Pearls of Wisdom (optional blacks)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, the loop does not have to pass through the black circles; however, when it does pass through a black circle, it must obey the standard rules for black circles.

With apologies to Palmer Mebane.

Puzzle 516: Reunion Tour 6

No comment.

Rules of Reunion Tour

Puzzle 515: Tetra Firma 32

No comment.

Rules of Tetra Firma

Puzzle 514: Polyominous 50

This recent BoardGameGeek contribution is brought to you by the letter B. This video, however, is not brought to you by the letter B.

Rules of Polyominous

Monday Mutant 100: Numeral Crossing (jumping crossword)

In this Numeral Crossing puzzle, you are to place letters of the English alphabet, rather than digits, in the white cells such that each of the words listed below the grid (excluding spaces, punctuation, and any other symbols besides letters of the English alphabet) appears as an entry within the grid. Additionally, some white cells must be left blank; no two empty white cells may share an edge. The words are sorted by their actual length in the grid (including empty spaces).

I bet you were expecting something much more interesting, involving numbers. Nope. Interesting puzzles with numbers in them are motris's schtick, not mine.

Happy Monday, everybody.

Monday Mutant 99: 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.

I forgot to mention this when it was more current, but my third Square Root of Minus Garfield strip is now online. Check it out.

Monday Mutant 98: Seek and Spell (POP/PA)

In this Seek and Spell puzzle, the trigram POP or the bigram PA can be treated as a single letter, and entered as such in a single space. (For example, PAHOEHOE can be entered in eight spaces as P-A-H-O-E-H-O-E, or in seven spaces as PA-H-O-E-H-O-E.) The rules are otherwise unchanged.

My father's birthday is tomorrow, on October 4. I mention this for no reason at all.

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!

Monday Mutant 97: Streampunk (no dead ends)

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 black cell must share an edge with at least two other black cells.

Puzzle 513: Straight and Arrow 36

No comment.

Rules of Straight and Arrow

Puzzle 512: Blackbarrier Jam 16

No comment.

Rules of Blackbarrier Jam

Puzzle 511: Tatami For Now 5

No comment.

Rules of Tatami For Now

 

Puzzle 510: Pearls of Wisdom 49

No comment.

Rules of Pearls of Wisdom

Puzzle 509: Process of Illumination 37

No comment.

Rules of Process of Illumination

Monday Mutant 96: Cross the Streams (all 3's)

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 not 3; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of black cells, including none at all, none of which are of size 3.

Puzzle 508: Spirits of Serpentine 6

No comment.

Rules of Spirits of Serpentine

Puzzle 507: Polyominous 49

No comment.

Rules of Polyominous

Monday Mutant 95: Polyominous (no rectangles)

In this Polyominous puzzle, no region may be shaped like a rectangle. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

The latest issue (74) of Akil Oyunlari contains four Akari puzzles and two Cross the Streams puzzles constructed by me! These puzzles were constructed for the magazine, and won't appear on this blog, so buy the magazine to see 'em!

Puzzle 506: Streaming Content 36

No comment.

Rules of Streaming Content

Monday Mutant 94: 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.

I have 15 votes so far in Logicsmith Exhibition 5. The deadline is later this month, so be sure to vote if you haven't already!
In even more exciting news, I recently got 100% completion in the Super Mario Advance 2 remake of Super Mario World! This means not only getting all 96 exits and saving the Princess, but getting all of the Dragon Coins, as well!

Monday Mutant 93: Battleships (water groups)

Ten ships (as indicated below the grid: one four-cell ship, two three-cell ships, three two-cell ships, and four one-cell ships) are hidden in the grid. The ships may be rotated from the orientations shown, but may not overlap or occupy cells which share a corner or an edge. A number to the right of a row or below a column indicates the length of the longest group of consecutive water cells in that row or column. Additionally, some segments of the ships are shown within the grid, and cells with wavy lines are "water" cells which cannot contain ships. Find the ships.

Monday Mutant 92: Pearls of Wisdom (total / Hanjie)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, there are no clues inside the grid. Instead, you are to both draw a loop and place black pearls and white pearls in every cell that could legally contain one. Numbers to the left of a row or above a column represent the groups of consecutive cells containing pearls which are in that row or column. For example, a clue of "3" means the row or column has three consecutive pearls, and a clue of "3 1" means that the row or column has a group of three consecutive pearls followed by a single pearl, separated by at least one cell without a pearl. A question mark (?) represents a group of consecutive pearls whose size is unknown; an asterisk (*) represents any number of unknown groups of pearls, including none at all.

I have thus far received 13 votes in Logicsmith Exhibition 5. Keep those votes coming!

I have also submitted my no-longer-prototypical abstract strategy game Battle of LITS to a contest being held by Spain-based game publisher nestorgames on BoardGameGeek. If you have a BoardGameGeek account and would like to see my two-player adaptation of a Japanese logic puzzle published with quality components, please consider thumbing my post to make this prospect possible! :)

Monday Mutant 91: Streaming Content (torus)

In this Streaming Content puzzle, the grid is a torus; the left and right edges "wrap around" as shown, as do the top and bottom edges. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

Remember to cast your votes in Logicsmith Exhibition 5!

Also, board game fans and logic puzzle fans alike may be interested in checking out my prototypical abstract strategy game Battle of LITS! The game is in need of playtesting, so if you could play it and tell me what you think, you'd be doing me an excellent service. :)

Monday Mutant 90: Spirits of Serpentine (torus)

In this Spirits of Serpentine puzzle, the grid is a torus; the left and right edges "wrap around" as shown, as do the top and bottom edges. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

Oops. . . I forgot to schedule this post for Monday, so you get it early! :)

Be sure to vote!

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!

Puzzle 505: Process of Illumination 36

No comment.

Rules of Process of Illumination

Monday Mutant 89: Pearls of Wisdom (torus)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, the grid is a torus; the left and right edges "wrap around" as shown, as do the top and bottom edges. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

Puzzle Communication Nikoli 133 has four pages of toroidal puzzles, including a toroidal Kakuro, a toroidal Slitherlink, a toroidal Yajilin, and two toroidal Akari. I thought it was pretty impressive how they were able to present the grid in such a way that the gimmick was apparent even to me who can't read Japanese; the presentation of this puzzle is inspired by theirs.

Puzzle 504: Room and Reason 38

No comment.

Rules of Room and Reason

Monday Mutant 88: Quad-Wrangle / Battleships

Ten ships (as indicated below the grid: one four-cell ship, two three-cell ships, three two-cell ships, and four one-cell ships) are hidden in the grid. The ships may be rotated from the orientations shown, but may not overlap or occupy cells which share a corner or an edge. The cells which do not contain ships must be divided into rectangles according to the rules of Quad-Wrangle.

Puzzle 503: Quad-Wrangle 23

No comment.

Rules of Quad-Wrangle

Puzzle 502: Proof of Quilt 4

No comment.

Rules of Proof of Quilt

Monday Mutant 87: 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.

Better late than never.

Monday Mutant 86: Straight and Arrow (incorrect)

In this Straight and Arrow puzzle, none of the clues are correct. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

Heard of Indirect Yajilin? This is Incorrect Yajilin. Har har.

Puzzle 501: Straight and Arrow 35

No comment.

Rules of Straight and Arrow

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!

Monday Mutant 85: 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.

As as few of my readers have noticed, I've finally gotten around to adding sharing buttons to this blog, including Google's new +1 button. They are located very unobtrusively just below the title of each post, in the "Posted on July 4, 2011" line. If you're a long-time reader and there are older puzzles you found particularly memorable, feel free to search the archives for them and +1 them!

Puzzle 500: Polyominous 48

In lieu of a Monday Mutant, I present to you. . . puzzle 500! You thought Fillomino-Fillia was my magnum opus? Think again! At 64x50, this is my largest puzzle to date! Needless to say, it took an incredible amount of time to construct this beauty. (Speaking of time, Back to the Future is an awesome trilogy, as I have discovered in recent weeks.) I have truly come a long way since puzzle 1.

Now, wait a minute. Some of you may be wondering why I never posted a 31x45 Polyominous as one of my previous giants. Well, the answer is simple: in Nikoli's publications, a Polyominous the Giant is 23x37, and my arbitrary adherence to Nikoli's standards for puzzles in the numbered "puzzles" series (as opposed to Monday Mutants et al.) means I only post puzzle genres Nikoli's made, in sizes Nikoli's made. 23x37 is hardly an adequate size for a celebration on this blog, don't you think? However, Nikoli has published 64x50 Fillomino puzzles on at least three occasions, including in volumes 123 and 134 of Puzzle Communication Nikoli, and in a now out-of-print Puzzle the Giants volume, making that size completely fair game.

Special thanks to Thomas Snyder, who set aside 1 hour, 31 minutes, and 45 seconds of his time to make sure this puzzle had a unique solution before it was posted here. I am incredibly honored to have the respect of such an amazing constructor and solver. Not everyone has the privilege of being able to send Thomas Snyder a puzzle and getting the time of day from him, much less his opinion on it. (In fact, I believe some of the people who ended up being ripped to shreds on Grant's Review Corner contacted him first. . .)

Edit: Okay, apparently, Blogger and Picasa handle images taller or wider than 1600 pixels in ways I don't like for the purposes of this post. I was able to find a way to link to the full 1797x1405 version of the picture, but you might be asked to download it instead of being able to view it in your browser. A small sacrifice, but it works.

Rules of Polyominous

(click to enlarge)