pzprxs (and other puzzling) updates!

Alright then. It's been too long.

pzprxs has been continuing to update and add new genres for quite a while at this point, and I have some old puzzle posts that didn't have solution check that I get to replace now! But this doesn't add the puzzles to the increasingly less relevant database, which I'd like to do. So, just like the big update 4 years ago I'll be reposting links for all of these puzzles.

Bosnian Road (previously appeared #356, #357 - Hexagony)

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?bosnianroad/6/6/h4b3l1b6h

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?bosnianroad/11/11/e3m4c7m2m6c2i4c3m4m5c6m1e

Isowatari (previous appeared #577 - #589 - New Genre Pack, #590)

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/6/6/3/0i3fc0085610

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/6/6/2/003692000000

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/6/6/3/0420i00209l0

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/7/7/4/090j0i3i0b0i6i090

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/8/8/2/210330ii110360ii210330

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/8/8/4/0006387460963000000000

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/7/7/5/0i04l0179i6c1f000

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/9/9/3/9b0ii1990009j0b1000119210j1

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/9/9/2/090031a9030a043090909099103

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/9/9/5/0000000o0k262060k060i0ii080

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/12/12/4/0360200962i60910i1i223691369i2i20i203193200i0330

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/11/11/5/0600i30010009b3390j32690k23ii006002090100

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/15/15/4/ddddd90001940519iiija039ab06719i901940o1901219f30ab230jb21219l0f190001ddddd

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?isowatari/10/10/4/0001qg9i0360110099066021009phf0000

Nibunnogo (previously appeared #603, #604 - Puzzle Getchu!)

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?nibunnogo/6/6/gakde6dq7bddkb

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?nibunnogo/7/7/o3cgcc8chbbbbh7bcdg3cm

Japanese Sums (previously appeared #624, #625 - Puzzle Getchu!)

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?japanesesums/5/5/5/8h.9gah2.g.h76g54g..g31gbh

https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?japanesesums/9/9/7/-1cj.9i1jc..hd2.hc..h2j.3i-1cjd3i-1cj31i56bh9.7h4.5h9.6hc76h556h

As for where I've been, I was hard at work on a few other puzzle related projects. Most notably a few months ago The Artisan of Glimmith released, a region division puzzle game with over 1000 handmade puzzles, curated by me, with Overwhelmingly Positive feedback and an estimated 100k+ sales! I spent so long staring at the organizational spreadsheet that I haven't wanted to look at my own personal puzzle spreadsheet or write supplementary documentation like these posts. I'm also the main contributor to Inkwell Games daily puzzles, with Star Battle, Light and Shadow, and Barred Simple Loop available. You can play the current week at any time, but past archive puzzles require a subscription to access. (and 236 Star Battle / 117 Light and Shadow are currently inaccessible). Keeping up with all of this is tough, so I'm hoping to find some time during upcoming vacations to actually work (haha) through my extensive backlog here. I've been saying that since Islands of Insight, though...

Puzzles #624 & #625 - Sushi Temple (Japanese Sums)

Before WPC 2023, I ran a Puzzle Getchu!, a contest themed on Ape Escape. I had intended to queue these puzzles for posting before WPC, but didn't have the time. Better late than never!

The thirteenth level is Sushi Temple, and is very much a Japanese shrine. Once I got past the idea of using Anglers (fish, ha ha), I went straight into Japanese Sums, which has quickly become one of my favorite number placement genres. It's both so flexible and restricted at the same time, and there's almost always a useful clue to add to disambiguate a problem. Because of that, the example puzzle was a complete non-issue to make, even with a self-imposed constraint of not duplicating a clue value and making sure to show that a question mark is not strictly a single digit number, like in some implementations.

pzprxs interface      puzz.link interface      penpa interface

The 25 point contest puzzle may appear themeless, but it's not. The opening steps and specifically the first few shaded cells form a torii. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have thought to go this route without being aware this is a common shrine element from the Touhou series. Hmmm, that's another idea...

pzprxs interface      puzz.link interface      penpa interface

Puzzle #600 - Interconnected Secret

This year for Secret Solver I was assigned feadoor, someone I know is quite a good solver and constructor across a variety of puzzle types. I wanted to try to lean into as much of those types as I could, remembering the Skyscrapers and Sudoku from a GP round, Yajilin from Yajilin and Variations, and Heyawake from Heyawake Hike. The rest of the genres were picked to cooperate with the connections between grids, and lead to a final secret. I did a lot of planning before any actual construction here!

Anyway, here's all the rules. The short version is that standard rules apply for each individual puzzle, and that cages marked with the same letter must have the same pattern of shaded cells. Country Road requires all regions, and unused cells are considered shaded. Nanro (Signpost), the numbered cells are considered shaded. Skyscraper Sudoku is 1-6 in each row, column and region. Domino Yajilin counts the number of shaded cells.

penpa interface

I really should have taken my own advice and not made an interconnected puzzle - it's very stressful when something starts not working, or seems like it might not resolve. I also ended up doing most of the writing over 2 days, with a few scattered bits of progress before that point. I even brought a notebook with transcriptions of the starting points (determined links) for 3 puzzles to a relatives' for Christmas Eve, and finished those puzzles there!

To think my original idea involved having to figure out the cage matching as part of solving... that would have been impossible within the time I ended up having, and especially with the other constraints.