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humn
humn
04:41
I know someone who regularly combines sports and crosswords, but not how it might sound
They play a crossword like a golf game!
Where they find the hardest puzzle in the paper, tee off in the NW corner and try to get to the SE corner.
Once there, they move on to the next hole (crossword).
A long word counts as a "drive," short words are "putts," tough areas are "traps," ...
Alconja
Alconja
:) Sounds like fun.
I've been trying (well, "trying" might be a bit strong of a word), since before fusion fortnight was even a suggested idea, to create a chess+sports hybrid...
humn
humn
Sports knowledge or sporty action or?
Alconja
Alconja
Basically present a board with a classic, "how does white win in X moves" scenario, but with different "rules".
So a soccer/football version, where pieces move normally, but there's a "ball", and if you "take" the ball it moves equal/opposite to your move
Aim being to get the ball into the middle 4 squares on the opponent's baseline
Had a volleyball set of rules too, and a dodgeball set
humn
humn
The dynamics are already my favorite aspect of chess, What a great extension!
Alconja
Alconja
Yeah, mulled over ideas like if you land the ball on another (same colour) player, they get to move too before the opponent gets a turn to have pseudo-passing
humn
humn
04:47
...For mechanical-puzzles you the chessboard can be tilted....
Alconja
Alconja
:) pinball chess
humn
humn
so the "ball" is a neutral piece? never heard of that but can make a lot of games more interesting
Alconja
Alconja
I'm just not sure/experienced enough how to construct a nice clean, provable set of starting positions to guarantee the desired outcome without making it obvious.
So it stagnates in my notebook
Yes. It would be a neutral piece of some kind. (I was just using a second king when I was playing around with it).
Kings were "goalies" and were the only pieces who could go in the "in zones"
humn
humn
One thing i was going suggest even with your difficult multilinguual self crossingwords was to post a simple purely experimental version. That's what i'm considering for "Crosswording Puzzles & Word Golf" (got it as far as a title already)
Alconja
Alconja
the title's the most important bit :P
humn
humn
04:52
Wordberg to the wise!
Alconja
Alconja
My chess/soccer one will (let's stay positive, I'll get it out one day) be titled something like: "d3 Nf3 Qh6 Bc5 GOOOOAAAAALLL!!!"
humn
humn
!
You still can put out a patently experimental version first. Certainly helped with the honeycomb mazes (if you happened to notice). The first one looks like a turd now but really helped get some kinks out. .... straying from the topic of this room ...
user image
Alconja
Alconja
..all good. "topic fusion" :)
humn
humn
think text-editing puzzles would count as mechanical-puzzle?
had one where each line was shifted left and right,,, mechanically on the screen, to line up for the solution
Alconja
Alconja
Yeah, it's a bit a fuzzy one... I think if it follows consistent "rules of physics" so to speak (i.e. you could plausibly construct a true physical one in real life), it should be ok. But I think it was originally intended for rubiks cubes and such.
humn
humn
05:02
That's why i didn't tag with that after all. Wanted to , though.
Alconja
Alconja
Yeah, same reason I don't think I'll use either reverse-puzzling or retrograde-analysis on my crossword one
Feels not 100% correct, even though it probably should fit in one (or both)
humn
humn
Retrograde analysis could cover a lot of ground. Perhaps even crosswords where the words are given and have to be assembled.
Guess that's a lot like a jig-saw puzzle too.
Alconja
Alconja
True, especially given that (non-chess) link you gave me. But in my case it's secondary/tertiary to the main "puzzle", so it's not a big deal
Basically it give all the clues and the grid, but doesn't match clues to the grid, and part of the solution will be which clue maps 1:1 to which answer
...hopefully more interesting than that description sounds :D
humn
humn
My favorite crosswords tend to be diagramless because they're so visual in fitting islands together
Alconja
Alconja
Don't know that I've ever tried one, but I think I'd like them. I'm very much a visual person
humn
humn
05:08
(somewhat related to your idea) (and your secret interest in the visual is safe with me)
Alconja
Alconja
:) No one would ever guess based on my history
humn
humn
(snicker)
Diagramless crosswords tend to have easier clues too, and the best ones don't have proper NW corners so you have to juggle possible locations for square 1
Alconja
Alconja
Yeah, mine's a mixed bag.. But I went through it yesterday "cold" and I'm pretty sure it's solvable...
Sneak peak example (and my favourite) clue: "Number of answers potentially clued by a clue that could have been, but isn't for this answer"
humn
humn
That's a clue to leave hanging like a ripening fruit, while circling in on what that number of possible answers might be
sounds like your _________ (did you mention a name?) is just about ready!
Alconja
Alconja
It's ready, just figured I'd wait for fusion fortnight since it fits... but no, I definitely need a snappy title.
humn
humn
05:16
By the way retrograde-analysis is so rarely used, it would count as uncoventional all by itself
Alconja
Alconja
Very true
humn
humn
Anyway thanks for coming over and hearing the crossowrd golf idea
and for tantalizing with your fusion piece
Alconja
Alconja
:) no worries. thanks for listening to my rambling ideas
humn
humn
Pleasure and privilege, .. ah, one more (from Sphinx's):
I have seen clues just like "one of 7" for "continent." Perfectly acceptable, and makes a solver think extra when they realize that it actually is a valid clue.
nuf sed for now i guess . . . to be continued in unconventional ways . . .
Alconja
Alconja
@humn Good to hear. At the moment I have something to the effect of "Something of which there are 7 examples of in the world", but I think I prefer the simpler wording

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