AkashG23's Puzzle Locker

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+)