Puzzles #445 - 448 - IPC 2022 Round 1 (Sashigane, Kurodoko)

I was fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to contribute to and testsolve for the 2022 Indian Puzzle Championship. The first round was for puzzle types that appeared in the years Puzzle Ramayan series, and I made a Sashigane and a Kurodoko worth 20 and 40 points, respectively.

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Wait, hang on, that was the first attempt at a fairly easy Sashigane. It didn't resolve super nicely so I tried again.

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Nope, that wasn't it either. Though I'm mostly happy with the symmetric theme and lack of numbers, it's not really a competition puzzle, you know? Glad I made it, but I had to try again.

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There we go. An 8 clue, one per row and column Sashigane. Pretty sparsely clued for the type and some neat logical steps along the way resulted in a puzzle I'm really happy with as a low point contest puzzle.

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As for the Kurodoko, my first attempt at making a puzzle I liked was a puzzle I liked. I've always had a particular affinity for these two genres and was glad to get the chance to make these.

Puzzle #261 - All Four None (Tatami Sashigane)

Funny story about this variant- I originally tried applying it to Tentaisho instead, and constructed 4 working puzzles (and 1 failed construction where I gave up on the variant rule). However... none of them needed the variant to be unique! Not even one!

So I switched to Sashigane and themed it on the number 4. Solve as a standard Sashigane, except there can be no gridpoints where 4 borders meet. I checked afterwards, and the variant is required- though it shouldn't be too tricky of a solve.

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The bottom left of this puzzle has been changed from its original version, as the original version had two solutions. That's what I get for slipping behind schedule, I guess- I'm a few days ahead at the moment.

Puzzles #237, #238 & #239 - Sagittarius (Sashigane Fillomino)

As Sagittarius is an arrow, I knew that for the Puzzle Zodiac I needed a type with pure arrow clues. The most common type like that is Sashigane, and as I wanted a common type, uncommon type and variant in each class of puzzle, I decided to combine it with the Fillomino rule. I've seen a few puzzles with this variant before and so I knew it added some interesting depth.

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I tried for a while to make a 6x6 example without much success- like Foursight, this type really needs some room to move in order to work.

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Puzzle 17 on the test, worth 30 points, themed on the Sagittarius sign. I wasn't sure if I would be able to manage making the puzzle with just an arrow out of arrows, but after the top left worked out I really did try. I ended up with about 6 solutions, and so added another arrow in the corner to resolve the rest uniquely.

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Puzzle 18 on the test, worth 40 points, and a failed attempt at an anti-symmetric (sum to 10) theme. I thought I had it at one point but there were two solutions, so I adjusted the back half of the solve, and made sure to maintain the focus on only circled number clues as a counterpoint to the prior puzzle. I love it when a puzzle genre can be used to make such different puzzles as these two, and I think that shows through most of this set.

Puzzle #91 - Sashigane (7)

Compared to the last few Sashigane puzzles here, this one is much easier.

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Puzzles #81 & #82 - Addendum to the Addendum (Sashigane)

Firstly, I'd like to thank Pavel Curtis for the opportunity to contribute to the Ænigmatic Addendum series. Well, it was an open offer to the Puzzler's Club server, and I just happened to be around at the time and have enough confidence in my constructing abilities to give it a shot. Looking over the available list of genres, Sashigane was the one I was most familiar with and, as a region division puzzle, I thought I had a reasonable shot at it.

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My first attempt is shown above- if you followed the first link to the page, you'd know that this was not the puzzle used for the Addendum. I had to make a second puzzle because this one was too easy, not helped by the fact that I wanted to force a deduction on the border with cells that must be used by non-border things to resolve it all late in the puzzle, but failed. I still learned a lot about how to fill a Sashigane in making this, though.

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I took the feedback on my first attempt to heart (too many arrows, adjacent clues give too much information) and worked very hard to avoid that, and also embed some intricate steps. One part of the puzzle resolves easier than I would have liked, but apparently it's also non-trivial so I suppose as the constructor, I knew what the placed clues were trying to make. I also had to make a small fix here before sending it off- I made a bad assumption about how the 9 had to resolve but fortunately could fix it easily enough, which is why you're seeing this now!

Fair warning, this is probably the hardest puzzle on this blog so far. I think I have a harder one coming in a few days, though.

Puzzle #80 - Antisymmetric S (Sashigane)

Antisymmetry is a fun theme. Sashigane is a fun genre. Let's combine them. This puzzle is probably a little easier than yesterday's, and I like the construction much more.

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Tomorrow you guys get 2 puzzles. :)

Puzzle #79 - Bolt From the Blue (Sashigane)

Today's Sashigane puzzle is an interesting one to me. Back near the start of this blog, I posted a 7x7 puzzle with 12 givens. This is a 10x10 puzzle with 14 givens, and much more interesting logic. Originally this would have been a 9x9 with a 9 clue in the middle, but I wasn't able to find a way to do what I wanted with that arrangement. Maybe someone else can manage that theme?

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Puzzle #11 - Simple Sashigane

Sashigane is one of the genres I have the most fun solving, alongside Fillomino, Yajilin, and pretty much any shading puzzle.

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Nothing too hard with this puzzle- probably a good introduction, as it showcases some of the useful techniques for solving Sashigane. And constructing it helped me with some general puzzle construction, too. I hope to include some more complicated puzzles soon, but for now let's round out some introductions, alright?