[grid-deduction] Puzzle Solving

bobble

2:23 AM

gmpuzzles.com/blog/2021/04/myopia-by-ashish-kumar

Sciborg

is this... a new genre?

oooh

cracks knuckles

HTM

Hmm, I'd really like to get in on this, but I've got both GMP and Penpa blocked at the moment, so can I get an image or PDF of the grid?

Sciborg

Sure! one sec

Here ya go

HTM

And the rules as well

Sciborg

> Draw a single, non-intersecting loop that only consists of horizontal and vertical segments between the dots. The arrow clues indicate all the directions (up, down, left, and right) where the nearest loop segments are located when looking from that square.

HTM

2:27 AM

Dope, thanks!

Sciborg

Happy solving :D

i believe i figured out the break-in, took me a bit to figure out the deduction style

bobble

ooh!

Sciborg

the top middle right-arrow and down-arrow lets you place some X's

then you can't have a wall up against the right-arrow, or a closed loop becomes impossible

so it must be pointing to a wall that's at least 3 spaces away, which gives information

the down-arrow must then have a wall right below it, because of that, since it has to not "see" the right wall

i think?

bobble

sounds similar to what I did

Sciborg

not sure where to go from here, though....

bobble

2:34 AM

well if it's pointing at something at least 3 away, the closest walls in the other directions must be more than 3 away

Sciborg

ahhhh, that does help!

Things ensue

placing "counter" X's helped

this is a really interesting genre, i like it

flowing is happening and i love the four-way-arrow deduction

HTM

I think I have a solution - I started with the four ways actually, only later did I realize how many deductions single arrows give you

Sciborg

i should have started with the four ways, yeah. didn't realize they give you a bunch of information

Graylocke

curls quietly in a corner

Sciborg

am slow, sorry. lol

HTM

2:43 AM

No one's timing ya, take as long as you want

Sciborg

tada

HTM

Yep, that's what I have too

bobble

smart bird

Sciborg

that's a really fun genre :D

the four-ways were probably the more obvious break-in though, i'll start with those from now on

HTM

"Slitherlink but you're on the grid, but you're blind"

bobble

2:52 AM

uh sorry but gmpuzzles doesn't have any more

Sciborg

yeah - i noticed the "Myopia" name and was like "seems about right" :P

bobble

only variants

which mix it with yajilin or battleships

HTM

Time to construct more!

Sciborg

if only there were people here who designed grid puzzles :P

HTM

Hmm, where would we find such people though?

Sciborg

2:53 AM

It will forever be a mystery

> [grid-deduction] Puzzle Solving

HTM

Maybe in a grid deduction chatroom on a site dedicated for puzzles?

Nah, sounds too far-fetched

Sciborg

Don't be silly

Does bobble have any sudokus? Sam has finished grilling the quesadillas and wants to be helpful and that's the one puzzle he knows

HTM

I can browse the CTC discord and see if there's any interesting ones as of late

bobble

depends what kind and difficulty

bobble has some delicious no-clues ones if birdy is up for them

Sciborg

he has reported he would like a "medium"

but mick can flex on him with a no-clues

actually yes, let's do that

i would like to flex

HTM

2:58 AM

OK, here's a no-clue one I found that's rated 2-3 out of 5

f-puzzles.com/?id=yf749an8

Normal Sudoku rules apply.

Arrows: Digits along an arrow must sum to the digit in the circle.

Killer Cage: The numbers in the cage must sum to the total given in the upper left corner.

Anti-Knight: Cells that are a chess knight's move apart cannot contain the same number.

Black Kropki Dots indicate a 1:2 ratio between the digits it connects. Not all Black Kropki Dots are given.

I literally just found this, so we'd be doing this one together

Sciborg

challenge accepted

HTM

Unless you'd rather do a bobble-recommended one

Sciborg

after about 10 seconds of staring i have confirmed i am too dumb for this one

challenge-unaccepted

HTM

darn

Sciborg

nice medium sudoku

bobble

3:01 AM

gmpuzzles.com/blog/2021/03/sudoku-by-akash-doulani-2

3/5-star standard sudoku

Sciborg

Perfect

i like that gmpuzzles gives you a penpa by default now, saves the hassle of converting

HTM

(Currently doing the CTC one, I can take a look at the GMP one in a bit)

Sciborg

sam is having fun Backseat Puzzling me

bobble

3:16 AM

how far has the Backseat Puzzling gone

Sciborg

well, after Mister Sudoku Expert led us down the wrong path, we got there in the end :p

bobble

\o/

Sciborg

had to stop and redo because SOMEBODY put a 3 in the wrong spot

not naming sams

HTM

Nice! I'm still doing the CTC one still - completely forgot there was a knight move restriction

Sciborg

i'm amazed you can do it at all, so :p

HTM

3:21 AM

There's a really nice break-in to get things rolling, if you want to take a look at it again

Sciborg

i appreciate that you have faith in me to even understand the rules

HTM

Well, you said you wanted to flex, right?

Sciborg

my brain fogged over when it hit "kropki dot"

HTM

Ah, so basically what that means is that the numbers between those dots are 1-2, 2-4, 3-6, etc.

i.e. one number is twice the other

bobble

swaroopg92.github.io/penpa-edit/…

Sciborg

3:25 AM

is the break-in the 27 cages...?

bobble

this one is pretty and only slightly variety!

HTM

@Sciborg What about those cages?

Sciborg

am too dumb, never mind

sudoku stars? ooh

HTM

You're on the right track!

Hint: there's two consecutive kropki dots in a single 3x3 box, so what can those 3 numbers be?

Sciborg

one two four i guess

HTM

3:29 AM

How about 2, 4, 8?

Sciborg

27 cage is unhappy if it's 1-2-4 so it has to be 2-4-8 yeah

huzzah, i tried

HTM

Nice!

Sciborg

is the star in the sudoku the same as star battle, bobble?

bobble

yep

numbers only go from 1-7

HTM

@bobble Pics pls?

Sciborg

3:31 AM

ahh, neat :D

bobble

HTM

Oh, I think I've seen that one in the GMP archives

I'm guessing Sudoku + Star Battle with two stars?

bobble

yep

Sciborg

this is a nice flowy mick-is-equipped-to-solve puzzle

it was a neat idea to combine sudoku with stars, it fits well together

lots of crunchy row-and-column logic

HTM

3:55 AM

Ah, finally got through the CTC puzzle. I made so many bogus deductions at first, but I got there eventually

Sciborg

nice :D

HTM

Do normal Star Battle rules apply in the Star Battle Sudoku i.e. can I put a star in R2C4 for instance?

bobble

still no diagonals

Sciborg

Normal Star Battle rules, so no diagonal adjacents

bobble

is birdy still crunching

Sciborg

4:04 AM

birdy is crunching

HTM

Nice, finished it - def a lot easier than that other one :)

Sciborg

;-;

bobble

birdy is smart birdy

HTM

How far along are ya? Anywhere you're particularly stuck?

Sciborg

4:17 AM

i think this is right?

HTM

Yep, same thing I got, congrats!

Sciborg

cool beans

HTM

Currently doing a nicely themed killer sudoku, also from the CTC server

Sciborg

gonna go do some easy ones to restore my self-esteem

HTM

f-puzzles.com/?id=yzf2nzxw

And without color: f-puzzles.com/?id=ydpl8zda

HTM

5:52 AM

@HTM Holy, I just completed this, took me an hour and a half - I'm not gonna be entering any sudoku solving competitions any time soon I guess

Anonymus 25- Reinstate Monica

7:22 AM

Why does the puzz.link say this nurikabe is wrong?

HTM

5:00 PM

I found this absolutely crazy Star Battle variant on the CTC server, wondering if any of you all would like to do a group solve of it some time soon: git.io/JOE8x

This is as far as I'm currently able to get:

I'm not even sure if these deductions are valid or not in the first place

Deusovi

5:59 PM

@Anonymus25-ReinstateMonica what does it say is wrong about it when you click "check answer"?

HTM

8:13 PM

More progress on the large Star Battle - I'm gonna go do actual work now, so feel free to pick up from where I left off:

Transcript for

[grid-deduction] Puzzle Solving