48. Birthday Look-Air

Happy birthday to uhhh... me! Because this post was published on Sep. 17, 2026 (my time zone), i.e. my birthday lol

So here's a Look-Air with a variant that already exists as a Sudoku variant, but as far as I know, I'm the first to apply it to Look-Air. The rules for this variant in Look-Air are slightly different from the variant's rules in Sudoku. And they're a bit confusing.

As for more uni lore moments... there isn't really that much to talk about other than me taking a test recently. And also me having salmon at uni for the first time lol

Creator's time: 3:09.8

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: X-Sums \ Numbers outside the grid indicate the sum of the first N square side lengths in the row or column of the clue, where N is the side length of the first square the clue sees. Not all "invisible" X-Sums clues need to be valid/possible in this puzzle.

Difficulty: 6.5/14

Online interface (Penpa+)

Comments

Look-Air Exploration

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...

12. Your Average Easy Nurikabe

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)

My Difficulty Scale

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 with i...

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