AkashG23's Puzzle Locker

Deckardv  hosted another "puzzle night" (speed setting competition) on his puzzle server! I participated and placed... 5th out of 27 participants! (the "purple zone"). My goal was the "blue zone" or higher, so I'm glad I accomplished that! If you're wondering why I'm using these "colored zones", here are my names for each zone and their associated rankings (they are numbered this way in Deckardv's server): 1st - 3rd : Podium 4th - 5th: Purple Zone 6th - 10th: Blue Zone 11th - 20th: Green Zone 21th and below: Red Zone This night was titled "See Example", and the description implied instructionless puzzles, Since I didn't make the main puzzles, I won't be posting them here. If you want to see them, they're on Deckardv's puzzle server. Puzzle 1: Instructionless Loop I - "Number Loop" \ Time: 12:24 \ Placement: 9th First, up was a loop-based instructionless puzzle similar to Touch Slitherlink. Ther...

No new puzzles?   Another "puzzle night" (i.e. a speed solving competition) happened on  Deckardv 's puzzle server. I participated and placed... 7th out of 22. Definitely better than my previous placement , and definitely higher than where I thought I would place. This time, there were some more familiar puzzle genres, as well as a theme of "Missing Information". Again, I won't show the actual puzzles here (because I didn't make them), but I'll describe and show my experiences for them. If you want to see the puzzles, they're on Deckardv's puzzle server. Puzzle 1: Star Battle \ Time: 9:46 \ Placement: 8th First, there was a 10x10 star battle with 2 stars. However, five of the regions were combined into one "mega-region" containing 10 stars. It had some interesting logic with the mega-region. Puzzle 2: Word Snakes \ Time: 18:09 \ Placement: 8th Next up, a Word Snakes! However, there were some missing letters that formed two eight-let...

 I participated in a "puzzle night" (i.e. a speed solving competition) on Deckardv 's puzzle server! I didn't do that well, but here are some of my experiences. I placed 25th overall out of around 35 competitors, which was a bit disappointing for me, but not too bad for my first puzzle night. I felt like I had some fun solving the puzzles. There were only 5, consisting of both familiar and unfamiliar genres. I won't show the actual puzzles here, but I'll show my thought processes and experiences for them. Puzzle 1: Word Snakes \ Time: DNF \ Placement: 32nd Word Snakes is a genre where you have to find words on a grid, similar to a word search. However, the words are all paths instead of just horiz./vert./diag. lines. I got thrown off by a word that wouldn't fit any other words but eventually found the correct solution. Unfortunately, I was a few seconds too late to have my completion time counted. Puzzle 2: Gerrymandering \ Time: DNF \ Placement: 32nd Gerr...

This was my puzzle for Memeristor's Caterdokupillar! It's a 6x6 sudoku with a few variants, and also my second sudoku if you count  Mysterious Pink Lines (15)  as a sudoku. But what will I do for my 25th puzzle on this blog? Well, I've worked on it for quite a bit. It's pretty big, but not as big as  Winds of Aeolus (14) . However, the genre is the same. Maybe I'll make a 9x9 sequel to this puzzle... Creator's time:  4:25.1 Rules:  Standard Sudoku rules apply. Variant 1: German Whispers Lines (6x6) \ Adjacent digits on a green line must differ by at least 3. Variant 2: Kropki Pairs \ Digits separated by a black dot have a 1:2 ratio, while digits separated by a white dot are consecutive. Variant 3: Look-Air Hybrid \ Cells with a hexagon act as look-air clues. The final grid must be shaded in such a way so that it forms a completed look-air grid. Look-Air rules: Shade some cells so that each orthogonally connected area of shaded cells is in the shape of a square. ...

 I measure difficulty using a scale different from the CTC server. The two scales are comparable. This scale is inspired by the osu!  difficulty scale and the MODS server's scale. My scale goes from 0  to 14  on normal puzzles, with higher difficulties representing harder puzzles. Yes, the scale goes above 14, but this blog rarely has a d15 or higher puzzle. Attached for each difficulty is an approximate real-life comparison in mathematics. d0 \ The easiest a puzzle can get. This difficulty is generally reserved for some joke puzzles or really easy example puzzles. These puzzles practically require no effort whatsoever. \  Real-Life Comparison: Addition and subtraction with integers d1 \ Most example puzzles fall in this difficulty. Puzzles here are almost never made as a joke, but are harder than d0 puzzles.  This difficulty includes puzzles that many people, puzzle solvers or not, will find pretty easy. \ Real-Life Comparison: Multiplication and division ...

When I posted this on the CTC discord, I only got 9 testers (not including myself), at the time of writing this. I didn't feel that it was enough to post the puzzle here or add it to the discord archive, but then I remembered  Winds of Aeolus  also didn't have a lot of testers (though it was probably due to the length and size of the puzzle). When this puzzle was first posted here I started to think I under estimated the difficulty for once (but only by 1 or 2 points). Well, now it’s a d7 instead of a d6. Creator's time:  2:42.3 Rules:  Standard Look-Air Rules \ Shade some cells so that each orthogonally connected area of shaded cells is in the shape of a square. Clues represent how many of the five cells forming a cross around the clue (including itself) are shaded. Two shaded squares of the same size may not have a vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells between them, unobstructed. Variant 1: No Divide \ All unshaded cells form one orthogonally contiguous are...

help there's a given digit that I'm too lazy to remove Creator's time:  2:10 Rules:  Standard Skyscrapers Rules \ Place a number from 1 to N into each cell so that each row and column contains every number from that range with no repeats, where N is the side length of the grid. A clue outside the grid represents how many cells in the corresponding row or column contain a larger number than all cells before it in that row or column from the direction of the clue. Difficulty : 5/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

I need to be more creative in naming puzzles... Creator's time:  1:27 Rules:  Standard Double Choco Rules \ Divide the grid into regions of orthogonally connected cells, each containing a connected group of white cells and a connected group of gray cells, with the property that the shape of the white cells is identical to the shape of the gray cells, allowing rotations and reflections. Clued cells must belong to a region containing the indicated number of white cells and the indicated number of gray cells. Difficulty : 4/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

 Funny thing — when I gave this puzzle to my IRL friends for testing, I accidentally gave rules for Akari instead of Creek. Anyways, this post will have the correct rules this time. Creator's time:  0:51 Rules:  Standard Creek Rules \ Shade some cells so that the remaining unshaded cells form one orthogonally connected area. A clue represents how many of the (up to) four cells it touches are shaded. Difficulty : 3/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

This is kind of a follow-up puzzle to the previous. Creator's time:  0:23 Rules:  Standard Akari Rules \ Place lights into some empty cells so that every cell is illuminated. Lights illuminate the cell they’re in as well as all cells seen in a straight line horizontally or vertically, not obstructed by a black cell. Lights may not illuminate each other. Clues represent the number of lights in the (up to) four cells surrounding the clue. Difficulty : 2/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

A while ago, I attempted a Nonogram and Tapa hybrid. I already did a vanilla Tapa, but here's a vanilla Nonogram. Yes, I know the thumbnail says it's July, but it's actually August and I was too lazy to change the thumbnail. Creator's time:  1:41 Rules:  Standard Nonogram Rules \ Shade some cells so that the clues outside the grid represent the lengths of the blocks of consecutive shaded cells in the corresponding row or column, in order. Difficulty : 3/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

Here's an easy Hashiwokakero. This puzzle was originally a d3 on my scale, but I lowered the difficulty by 1 point. Creator's time: 0:32 Rules: Standard Hashiwokakero Rules \ Connect pairs of circles horizontally or vertically so that all circles form one connected network. Connections may not cross one another, and any pair of circles may have at most two connections between them. Numbers in circles represent the amount of connections they’re a part of. Difficulty : 2/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

A lot of my real-life friends hate this genre. Creator's time:  1:23 Rules:   Standard Choco Banana Rules \ Shade some cells so that all areas of orthogonally connected shaded cells are rectangular and all areas of orthogonally connected unshaded cells are not rectangular. A clue represents the size of its group of shaded/unshaded cells. Difficulty:  4/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

To those who are trying to solve all my puzzles in order — I hope you had fun with the 10x1,200 look-air. If you're into variant sudoku, you'll probably like this next puzzle. Also, should I call this a "KenKen" or "TomTom"? Oh well, I'll just put both in the labels. Creator's time:  3:32.3 Rules:   Standard KenKen/TomTom Rules \ Place a number from 1 to N in each cell, where N represents the side length of the grid. You can’t repeat any numbers in the same row/column. The heavy lines indicate cages that contain groups of numbers that can be combined (in any order) to produce the target number shown in the cage, with the indicated operation. Variant: Renban Lines \ Numbers on a pink line must not repeat and must form a consecutive sequence in any order. Difficulty:  5/14 Online interface (Penpa+)

10x1,200 Look-Air. Enjoy! Creator's time:  121:20 (2:01:20) Rules:   Standard Look-Air Rules \ Shade some cells so that each orthogonally connected area of shaded cells is in the shape of a square. Clues represent how many of the five cells forming a cross around the clue (including itself) are shaded. Two shaded squares of the same size may not have a vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells between them, unobstructed. Difficulty:  11/14 Tall version (puzz.link)  \  Long version (puzz.link)

The numbers on the thumbnails are based on the order in which I post these puzzles to the CTC discord. I'll add difficulty here soon. Maybe. Rules :  Standard FiveCells Rules \ Divide the grid into regions of 5 orthogonally connected cells. Clued cells must have the indicated number of region borders or grid borders surrounding them. Creator's Time : 2:40.0 Difficulty:  4/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

Wow, I'm behind on here... Anyways, here's the beginning of my Phase II thumbnails. Rules :  Standard Nurikabe Rules \ Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one orthogonally connected area and no 2x2 region is entirely shaded. Clues cannot be shaded, and every orthogonally connected area of unshaded cells contains exactly one clue, the value of which represents the size of the area. Creator's Time : 1:33.0 Difficulty:  3/14 Online interface (puzz.link)

In this post, we'll take a deep dive into the rules of Look-Air, a puzzle genre by Nikoli . Examples and visuals will be included. Part I: Setting the Scene To start, here are the rules, according to this dictionary : "Shade some cells so that each orthogonally connected area of shaded cells is in the shape of a square. Clues represent how many of the five cells forming a cross around the clue (including itself) are shaded. Two shaded squares of the same size may not have a vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells between them, unobstructed." Let's break down each of these rules step by step: 1. "Shade some cells so that each orthogonally connected area of shaded cells is in the shape of a square."     On the grid, each cell can take one of two states --- shaded or unshaded. If you know that a cell is unshaded, interfaces tend to use green, and if you know that a cell is shaded, interfaces tend to use black or dark gray. White is also used to show cells...

 After that initial surge of puzzles, you'll start seeing puzzles come at more normal and manageable times. Rules : Shade some cells so that each orthogonally connected area of shaded cells is in the shape of a filled square. Squares may pass through region borders. Not all unshaded cells need to be connected, unless otherwise stated in a region border. Tasquare \ Left, Right - Clued cells cannot be shaded, and represent the total size of the shaded squares that share an edge with the clue. Circles and Squares \ Middle - All unshaded cells form one orthogonally connected area. Cells with black circles must be shaded, and cells with white circles must not be shaded. Look-Air \ Whole Grid - Two shaded squares of the same size may not have a vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells between them, unobstructed. Creator's Time : 2:55.3 Difficulty:  5/14 Online interface (Penpa+)

       Ten puzzles on this blog! I know it's not that much of a milestone, but I'll still take it. Also, as the title implies, I set this puzzle at around 4 AM today in my time zone, and it's a Star Battle. I almost forgot some basic rules. Creator's time:  0:46.0 Rules:  Place stars into some cells such that each row, column, and outlined region contains exactly N stars. The value of N is given outside the grid. Stars may not touch one another, not even diagonally. Difficulty:  3/14 Online interface (Penpa+) Online interface (puzz.link)

      Here's a relatively easy Shikaku puzzle to gain experience. Creator's time:  1:15.4 Rules:  Divide the grid into rectangular regions of orthogonally connected cells. Each region must contain exactly one circle. A number in a circle represents how many cells are in the region the circle belongs to. Difficulty:  3/14 Online interface (Penpa+) Online interface (puzz.link)

     Another puzzle category — loop-based puzzles. However, the instructions here might be a little bit vague. Also I wish puzz.link supports irregular board shapes... Also, the reason for the long name is because Masyu used to also have a longer name when it was introduced. Again, this might count as two puzzles, so I'll put the Multiple label just in case. Creator's time:  2:38.5 Rules:  Draw two non-intersecting loops — one in each area. The loops cannot branch off or cross themselves. The loops must turn on black circles and travel straight through the cells before and after the circle. The loops must go straight through white circles, and turn in at least one of the cells on either side. The loops may not cross areas. Difficulty:  4/14 Online interface (Penpa+)

     Here's another shading puzzle. However, there are more numbers, and you have to cover them. Creator's time:  2:46.1 Rules:  Shade some cells on the board. Shaded cells cannot be horizontally or vertically adjacent. A row or column may not contain two unshaded cells with identical numbers. All unshaded cells on the board form one orthogonally contiguous area. Difficulty:  3/14 Online interface (Penpa+) Online interface (puzz.link)

    Here's a larger puzzle. Only this time, it's a number placement puzzle... a Cojun. Also, due to the size and nature of this puzzle, the Creator's Time is longer than usual. Creator's time:  6:42.1 Rules:  Place a number in each cell. Some numbers are already placed. Numbers must be positive integers between 1 and N, where N is the size of the region. Each region contains exactly one of each number. Two equal numbers cannot be orthogonally adjacent. Where two numbers within a region are stacked vertically, the number on top must always be larger. Difficulty:  6/14 Online interface (Penpa+)

   Should this count as one or four Tapa puzzles? I'm not entirely sure, but I'll still put the Multiple  label just to be safe. Creator's time:  1:14.3 Rules:  Shade some cells on the board. You cannot shade a cell containing numbers. Numbers represent the lengths of the blocks of consecutive shaded cells in the (up to) eight cells surrounding the clue. Numbers aren't necessarily in order. The shaded cells cannot form a 2x2 square. All shaded cells form one orthogonally contiguous area. Difficulty:  2/14 Online interface (Penpa+)

  Here's another hybrid between shading puzzles which involves squares and stuff. Note that puzz.link does not have the dashed border in the middle 6x6 region. Creator's time:  2:58.4 Rules:  Shade some cells on the board. Every group of shaded cells must form a filled square. Clues represent how many of the five cells forming a cross around the clue (including itself) are shaded. Two squares of the same size may not have a vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells between them, unless obstructed by another square. Additionally, all unshaded cells in the middle 6x6 region must form one orthogonally contiguous area, and all shaded regions that lie inside the middle region must also form filled squares. Clues act as if they were placed on the full 10x10 grid. Squares retain their full size, even if part of the square lies in the middle 6x6 region. Difficulty:  4/14 Online interface (Penpa+) Online interface (puzz.link)

 Here's a hybrid between a Nonogram and Tapa puzzle. Note that this puzzle breaks the rules of Tapa a bit. Creator's time:  1:48.0 Rules:  Shade some cells on the board according to the numbers. Clues outside the grid represent the lengths of each of the blocks of consecutive shaded cells in the corresponding row or column, in order from left to right or top to bottom. Rows or columns without numbers must remain empty. Clues inside the grid cannot be shaded, and represent the lengths of the blocks of consecutive shaded cells in the (up to) eight cells surrounding the clue. Numbers aren't necessarily in order. Note that in this variant, shaded cells may be separated and ARE allowed to form a 2x2 square. Difficulty:  5/14 Online interface (Penpa+)

Here's another Look-Air puzzle. This one has a bit of problems on its first draft in terms of uniqueness, but was later fixed. Creator's time:  2:58.3 Rules:  Standard Look-Air rules apply. In addition, each of the red, green, and blue grids acts as separate puzzles. Shade some cells on the board. Every group of shaded cells must form a filled square. Clues represent how many of the five cells forming a cross around the clue (including itself) are shaded. Two squares of the same size may not have a vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells between them, unless obstructed by another square Difficulty:  4/14 Online interface (Penpa+)

 Hello! I'm starting a blog to post some of the pencil puzzles that I've constructed. I'll start off with some older puzzles, then work my way to posting some newer ones. Here's a puzzle genre that I've been trying to cram lately — Look-Air. Only this time, the board shape is not rectangular. Creator's time:  0:33.4 Rules:  Shade some cells on the board. Every group of shaded cells must form a filled square. Clues represent how many of the five cells forming a cross around the clue (including itself) are shaded. Two squares of the same size may not have a vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells between them, unless obstructed by another square. Difficulty:  3/14 Online interface (Penpa+)