Puzzles Etc.

8:51 AM

@JonathanAllan for the turqoise region, the corner tile has to connect left, so the bottom tile can't connect up. It can't connect right either cause of the 2x2, so it has to connect down. Then the region is fully complete.

Then the 1x1 tile marked with a square has to connect upward, and it can't connect right because if it does there will be a loop.

(I just noticed that there's a wall to the right of it in the top room as well)

9:07 AM

@Volatility am on it :)

also, you can connect the lines below the 2x3 blue region in the first room because the red 1x1 can't connect on the left, and the bottom middle tile of the blue region can't connect downward, because if it did it causes problems with the 2x2 region

and since every tile in the middle room must be stepped on, the top-left corner of the 2x2 must connect right and down

i was hoping you all would solve the first room last, but i guess that works too :P

it seems to be the next easiest :P

anyway, gtg, so that's all from me for now

Q: Best puzzles of 2016 Q2 (April - June)?

see ya! c:

2 hours later…

humn

10:45 AM

@Deusovi, you can have my proxy to vote at:

This question is part of the best-puzzle award series. What are your nominations for the best puzzles, here on Puzzling.SE, of the second quarter (Apr/ May / Jun) 2016? Suggested guidelines for nomination: Nominate each individual puzzle in a separate answer, so they can be upvoted/down...

discussion good-practice best-of

because it won't let me vote for: vvvvv (huh, poor rendering here, looks much better in situ)

A: Best puzzles of 2016 Q2 (April - June)?

Chess Fortnight is finally over! by Deusovi Never $\require{begingroup}\begingroup \sf \def\A {\color {#027}}\def\a #1{\A {\small #1}} \def\B { \color {#055}} \def\b #1{ \B { \normalsize #1}} \def\C { \color {#074}} \def\c #1{ \C { \larg...

11:03 AM

@humn Thanks so much! I feel like you're vastly overstating the quality of the puzzle (and writing much more poetically than the puzzle itself), but I really appreciate the nomination! c:

11:19 AM

oooh can we upvote our own? :p

yeah, but you can't nominate your own

^v yours, f'' and Alc's...

(effort to create)

FYI getting there on your maze :) very enjoyable

thanks, glad you're liking it!

well, it's not "too easy" :)

...could probably write a solver for this type.

(but enjoying the solve)

yeah, i meant for it to be solved manually

you COULD use computers, but that would ruin the fun :P

11:27 AM

depends on your definition of fun :p

Lawrence

12:01 PM

I'd like to ask about a specific Sudoku puzzle, but am concerned that it doesn't have a good answer. I don't know the answer, and the built-in solver "To Solver" gave up (!). Sudoku site, Difficulty=Hard, Date=2016-06-12. Numbering cells with top-left at (1,1), I have (2,1)=4, (3,2)=9 and (7,8)=4, then I'm stuck. The question I'd ask on main, if suitable for posting, is: other than brute force, is there a 'nice' continuation to this particular sudoku?

My (chat) question: is that puzzle suitable for posting?

12:16 PM

I think I've solved the middle room, but I didn't keep track of the logic

also, i agree, very enjoyable puzzle

your puzzles seem to be the ones that draw me in :-)

12:45 PM

(for those wanting to verify the middle room themselves) the corners are a good place to fill in, since you know they are traveled on, and there is only one possibility for them.

@Volatility I have that same solution to the middle room, just trying to sort out the top & bottom now

FYI I have not linked the blue cell up externally in the bottom room yet as we dont know on which wall the exit is located

1:25 PM

...almost there

1:43 PM

@Deusovi - think it's done

@Jon: Nicely done! My intended solution was slightly different (as I said in the comment) but your solution worked perfectly c:

gonna have to fix the uniqueness issue for the next one I make, and make it slightly harder by not putting shapes on borders

@Lawrence That's a perfectly fine question! Go for it!

(My intended solution started ULLLLULDL U URR..., where UDLR is up/down/left/right)

@Deusovi you mean you didn't write a program? Impressive.

...and thanks!

Nah, I'm not a coder - I know Java and a bit of Haskell but that's it

and my Java's really rusty

pen and paper for this, and only that minor issue is amazing

well, more like pen and paint.net

and it helped that i could place blocks wherever i wanted :P

1:56 PM

yeah I used msPaint :)

some lines out by a pixel I imagine :p

oh no, how horrible

i mocked it up in Google Sheets, where i do nearly all of my puzzling

i'm glad you liked it though! i'm thinking of doing another maze like that but with some other gimmick

maybe make several with different rules and somehow combine them into a metapuzzle - that would be fun

Q: Minimalist posters - Can you find the movie?

What is this sudoku @Lawrence

@Lawrence you mean 2016-07-12 with "3...72596" on top row

@Lawrence, yeah - the three cells you mentioned are hidden singles. Next thing to notice is probably the pointing pair of 6s in the 8th column (we can remove 6 from being possible in the two cells of that row in the middle box since the only cells that can be 6 in the bottom box are in the same column)

@Lawrence after that, it definitely seems to be more than "hard"

@Lawrence - It is not a proper Sudoku (it has multiple solutions)

@Lawrence, in fact I just ran my home-brewed solver on it and found 80,485 possible solutions :p

7 hours later…

Lord of dark

9:42 PM

My minimalist posters puzzle is out :

- Let's watch your favorite movie ! - If you can guess what it is ! It's hidden in this five minimalist posters - But I don't have time to watch 5 movies... - Oh don't worry there's only one ! Can you help me find out my friend's favorite movie ?

visual movies

Hope it's not too broad ;)

Lawrence

10:04 PM

@Deusovi and @JonathanAllan Thanks for checking it out. I appreciate the confirmation.

@JonathanAllan Whoops - yes, it's the July instance.

@JonathanAllan Do you remove solutions where swapping a pair of numbers in related cells leads to a solution? I.e. remove unique rectangles.