Category Archives: Puzzles

Puzzle 48: Aussichtspunkte

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This is a puzzle I found in the depths of my puzzle folder. I probably made it after struggling with the puzzles of this type on the contest Best of HCS, which featured one that is thematically similar. EDIT Replaced by a non-broken if less pretty version.

aussichtspunkte

Rules Split the grid into 5 orthogonally connected areas of 5 cells each. The given numbers indicate how many cells within the area can be seen horizontally and vertically, including the cell itself. The givens are in those cells where this number is maximal for the corresponding area.

Or see the puzzle wiki for German instructions that include an example.

Puzzle 46: Kaputte Bahnhöfe

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Here’s some broken train stations to celebrate placing first in the recent Bahnhöfe series on CrocoPuzzle.

bahnhof-kaputt

Rules Blacken one of each pair of identical numbers, then solve as a regular Bahnhöfe puzzle: Draw a loop that visits every cell (except the blackened stations), travelling vertically and horizontally. The loop crosses itself at the cells marked ‘+’, and can not touch itself otherwise. The loop goes straight through each (unblackened) number, and visits them in order.

There’s an example on the wiki.

Puzzle 42: Missing Labyrinth

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Here’s a practice puzzle I made in London. It took me a while to get it typeset.

missing-labyrinth

Rules Place some walls along grid lines to form a non-branching labyrinth leading from start to finish and visiting every cell. Clues indicate the lengths of all walls ocurring in that row/column. Questionmarks stand for any positive integer.

In other words, draw a path from S to F that travels horizontally and vertically between cell centres, visits every cell, and doesn’t cross itself, then draw walls along every edge that isn’t crossed by the path. The number of question marks outside a row/column is the number of walls of any length in that row/column. Unclued rows/columns can have any number of walls.

You can find better rules and an example in the WPC instruction booklet.

Puzzle 40: Fractional Skyscrapers

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Guess I had skyscrapers on my mind after batch-solving the first week of Roland Voigt’s daily puzzles. No, it doesn’t solve as a tightfit skyscraper puzzle.

skyscraper-fractional

Rules Place a number between 1 and 6 in each cell (one in each triangle for divided cells) such that each row and each column contains every number from 1 to 6 once. Reading the divided squares as fractions, the numbers in the squares represent the heights of skyscrapers. Clues outside the grid indicate the number of skyscrapers that can be seen when looking into the corresponding row or column. Skyscrapers block the view to any other skyscrapers of smaller or equal height behind them.

Example

Example

Puzzle 38: Split Pentominos

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An update, finally. I’ve been busy starting a new job. This is a split pentomino placement puzzle, as seen in this year’s puzzle GP, a candidate puzzle for the GP finals which were held today during the WPC in London.

pentomino-split

Rules Place a full set of pentominos across both grids, such that they don’t touch, not even diagonally. Clues count the number of cells that are part of pentominos in the corresponding row or column.