Snaketember #8

 Puzzle #8 (18x18, hard/✏️✏️✏️✏️+)

Snaketember #7

 Puzzle #7 (easy to medium/✏️✏️+)

Snaketember #6

 Puzzle #6 (16x16, very hard/✏️✏️✏️✏️✏️+)

Snaketember #5

 Puzzle #5 (easy to medium/✏️✏️)

Snaketember #4

 Puzzle #4 (14x14, medium to hard/✏️✏️🎯+)

Snaketember #3

 Puzzle #3 (10x10, easy to medium/✏️✏️)

Snaketember #2

 Puzzle #2 (12x12, medium/✏️✏️✏️)

Snaketember : Hebi-Ichigo !

     This month, I'm publishing 10 Hebi-Ichigos every 3rd day (next one will be on the 5th, then 8th, and so on.) I'll also be reworking the presentation of the blog, and clarifying the rating system, for which any feedback on difficulty is appreciated ! The idea is really only to have an indication of the solving experience. In all cases, here are the rules for the puzzle :

    Place numbers into some of the empty cells to form snakes.

- Each snake consists of a sequence of 5 consecutive numbers which are orthogonally adjacent.

- Two snakes cannot share a border.

- The number 1 denotes the snake's head. Snakes are facing in the direction away from its second number. Snakes cannot look directly at other snakes, unless separated by a black cell.

- Numbers on black cells indicate the first number seen in the given direction. Arrows don't point past other black cells.

Puzzle #1 (10x10, easy/✏️✏️)

Word Snail 🐌

      Word Snail today. An old puzzle which works really well with the theme (from an old french meme). Here are the rules :

    Place all words in the grid.

- Words are written from the outside to the center, following the thin edges (following the spiral).

- No letter may be repeated in a row or column.

- Two words are separated by at least one white cell. No spaces are allowed between letters of the same word.

    Thanks to WSPC France discord for testing and feedback.

Penpa+ interface

 

Shakashaka #2

    Shakashaka this time. Big and somewhat easy puzzle. I realised I made a few a while back but never posted them, so i'll roll them out between other posts. Rules here.

Puzz.link interface

 

Curve Data 📊

    Today, we are checking out Curve Data, an object placement genre with simple yet confusing rules. As such, puzzles may greatly vary on difficulty based on the solver (all puzzles can be percieved as overrated or underrated based on who's solving them.). This genre is great for making themed puzzles with a great flexibility on the clues. Here are the rules :

Draw orthogonal lines between cells to form figures.

- Every unshaded cell must have a line. Shaded cells cannot contain lines.

- Lines cannot go through bold borders.

- Every figure must overlap exactly one clue.

- Clues indicate the shape of the figure that overlaps it, without rotation or reflection. The length of each line segment can be expanded or reduced, as long as it is at least 1.

Rules taken from puzz.link -> click here for a solved example.

    Thanks to Barbitos for testing and feedback on puzzle 2.

Puzzle 1 (easy)

Puzzle 2 (medium)

Puzzle 3 (hard)

Spooky puzzles for Halloween ! And FillomiNovember is starting tomorrow !

     Here are 2 puzzle to scare you to tell you the month of November will be exclusively Fillomino (and variants), at the rate of 1 per day. These are old puzzles (late 2022) and were expected to be use in a speed solving constest with friends. As I don't have friends as the puzzles are of good quality it would be a waste to keep them collecting dust on my pc, so they will be shared gradually. I hope you love Fillomino as mush as I do, and to justify making a post, here is an Aquapelago and a Tren (Ghost). Here are the rules :

Aquapelago : Shade some cells on the board. Some shaded cells may be given.

- Shaded cells cannot be horizontally or vertically adjacent.

- The unshaded cells cannot form a 2x2 square.

- A number indicates the amount of cells in its diagonally connected group of shaded cells.

- All unshaded cells on the board form an orthogonally connected area.

Tren (Ghost) : Place several 1x2 and 1x3 blocks on the board, which don't overlap each other.

- Each number is contained in a block. Blocks may or may not contain a number.

- Horizontally oriented blocks can slide left and right, while vertically oriented blocks can slide up and down. Blocks cannot move outside the grid or through other blocks.

- A number inside a block indicates how many spaces the block can move.

- All empty cells must form an orthogonally connected area.

Rules taken from puzz.link - click for Aquapelago and Tren examples. Tren (Ghost) is not supported so the answer is provided.

      Tough puzzles today, and hopefully spooky enough to justify this as a Halloween post.

                                                           Aquapelago (medium to hard)

Ghost Tren (hard) (solution)

Evolmino ⮕☐⮕☐☐⮕

     Evolmino is an offbeat object placement puzzle with a nice look and nice logic ideas. It was brought very recently on Nikoli's "Omopa", and allows for puzzles of all difficulties. Here are the rules :

Place squares in some of the unshaded cells.

- Orthogonally adjacent squares form blocks. Every block must have exactly one square overlapping an arrow.

- Each arrow must pass through two or more blocks.

- When following an arrow from the start to the end, the second and subsequent blocks must have the same shape as the previous block (without changing orientation) with one additional square.

Rules taken from puzz.link - click here for a solved example.

   Do check the rules page to make sure the "evolution" idea is well understood. As always, if more puzzles of this type come I will try to aim for other difficulties.

     Thanks to Wessel for testing and providing feedback.

Puzzle 1 (easy)

Puzzle 2 (medium)

Puzzle 3 (hard)

Placement Platter #1

      Tetrochain, Tren, RGB Akari, W.Briquet and Hebi-Ichigo : finally, we are serving a batch of Object Placement puzzles. These are the most diverse in shapes and rulesets, and may need to be studied before attempting big puzzles. Only Hebi-Ichigo is tougher than what I can recommend for beginners, and Iwa Daigeki has plenty of smaller, easier ones if you don't want to leave this one out. Tetrochain CBT is a twist I like with Tetrochain, you can check the puzzles I've made with the tags on the right. I promise posts focusing on one type will return.

     Thanks to Wisteria for testing the RGB Akari, and Wessel for testing the Wittgen, the Tetrochain, and attempting the Hebi.

Tetrochain (easy to medium)

Tren (medium)

RGB Akari (medium)

Wittgenstein Briquet (medium)

Hebi-Ichigo (very hard)

RGB Akari 🔴💡🟢💡🔵

     Yesterday, we took a glance at Akari puzzles. While the genre is fun to solve at all levels, it's still fairly restricted in terms of inputs (as you only place lightsbulbs in some cells), compared to types like Sudoku or Hakkyu (with numbers). Here is a very recent way to dirversify the solving of Akari : RGB Akari ! Created a week ago by Jubale & Jolson, here are the rules :

Place red, green and blue lightbulbs in some cells of the grid.

- Lightbulbs illuminate cells in the same row and column it's in, stopping at the edge of the grid or a black cell.

- Every white cell is illuminated by at least one lightbulb.

- No two lightbulbs illuminate each other.

- Numbers in black cells represent the numbers of lightbulbs in the 4 adjacent cells.

- Colored tiles must be illuminated with the corresponding light color(s). Lightbulbs may be placed over tiles.

 Rules rewritten from Kudamono > click here for illustrations of the rules.

Here is a color chart to make sure mixed colors are clear for you :

Puzzle 1 (easy)

Puzzle 2 (medium)

Puzzle 3 (medium)

Akari 💡⬛

     Akari is an object placement genre, where you illuminate the grid by placing lights sources. Here are the rules :

Place lights in some empty cells so that every white cell is illuminated.

- Lights illuminate the cell they’re in as well as all cells seen in a straight line horizontally or vertically, until 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.

Rules taken from puzz.link - click here for a solved example.

     The rules gives way for big grids that can solve quickly, so don't be afraid when the 2nd puzzle is a 20x20 grid. RGB variant will be published tomorrow.

Puzzle 1 (easy)

Puzzle 2 (easy to medium)

Puzzle 3 (medium)

Big Rectislider

     A big puzzle following this post. Should be of medium to hard difficulty. Rules on the linked post.

Puzz.link interface

Rectangle Slider ⬛➡

    Today we are covering Rectangle Slider, a moving object puzzle (subgenre of object placement). Solving on paper is definetly a hassle, so puzz.link is a great tool for these. Here are the rules :

Draw lines to move some of the panels.

- A panel can be moved horizontally or vertically, but cannot make a turn.

- Movement lines cannot cross or overlap each other. Lines can also not go through the start- or endpoint of other panels.

- A number indicates how many spaces the panel must move.

- Panels must be orthogonally adjacent to at least one other panel.

- All panels must form filled rectangles or squares.

Rules taken from puzz.link - click here for a solved example.

Puzzle 1 (easy)

Puzzle 2 (easy to medium)

Puzzle 3 (medium)

Egypt-themed Puzzles

      Today, we will feature 3 new types of puzzles, with all of them using clues on Egypt and Egyptian mythology (by that I mean only the Ankh lol) : Curve Data, Fillomino, and Scrabble. Here are the rules for all 3 puzzle types :

Curve Data : Draw orthogonal lines between cells to form figures.

- Every unshaded cell must have a line.

- Every figure must overlap exactly one clue.

- Clues indicate the shape of the figure that overlaps it, without rotation or reflection. The length of each line segment can be expanded or reduced, as long as it is at least 1.

Fillomino : Divide the grid into regions.

- A number indicates the size of the region, in cells. Regions can have any amount of identical numbers, or none at all.

- Two regions of the same size cannot be orthogonally adjacent.

Scrabble : Place a letter into some cells of the grid so that all letters form one orthogonally connected area. 

- Every run of two or more letters in consecutive cells in a row or column forms a word read from left to right or from the top down. 

- All words are given outside the grid, and must each appear exactly once. Words in parentheses are purely for theming and are not used in the puzzle.

Rules taken from puzz.link for Curve data and Fillomino, and from Eric Fox's ruleset index for Scrabble.

If  you're wondering, "madina" is the arabic word for city, and all words from the Scrabble are cities in egypt from most to least populated (top to bottom).

Curve Data (medium)

Fillomino (medium)

Scrabble (medium)

Word Connection #3 : Money Game 💸🕹️

     Continuing the Word Connection puzzles, here is an even bigger puzzle (in terms of word bank, it's still a 10x10), with this time a theming based on lyrics of a song. This puzzle may seem tedious, but I can assure that looking at the right place can make for smooth(-ish) progress on the grid.

    The lyrics comes from the song Money Game : Part 2, by Ren. You may either know this artist directly (who usually comes off as a whistleblower in his songs, with very punchy lyrics) or by the internet meme "Luigi explains capitalism". It uses the famous tonguetwister "she sells sea shells on a sea shore" (and yes, in the actual song, it's not "the" but "a" but I will NOT bother with that fact), and degenerates into greedy capitalism and manipulation.

    Don't forget, if a word appears multiple times, it must appear in the correct place in the list as you travel along the line, for every occurence.

    Check the oldest post for the rules.

Penpa+ interface