Puzzle #380 - Fixed (Pipelink)

Hi again jkitty, I finally made a vanilla Pipelink. I was curious if it was possible to make a non-trivial puzzle with only one clue type and orientation, and I think I succeeded.

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Puzzle #379 - Plus One (Yajilin)

I may have forgotten to post my large Yajilin that was posted to GMP while I was going through the puzzles from Hexagony. This one was really fun to make, even though I ran into a lot of issues with resolving the 6x6 areas uniquely. The original version of the puzzle did not have symmetric clue placements, but once I had working logic I liked I moved most of the clues to equivalent locations and added a few useless ones to make everything fully symmetric.

Enjoy the puzzle!

Puzzle #378 - Twin Snakes (LITS)

One of my LITS puzzles was posted on GMP "today"! I like the break-in and theme on this one quite a lot, even if it falls very quickly once getting that break-in like many LITS puzzles do.

But yeah, like usual, no direct link or image since this puzzle is hosted offsite.

Puzzle #377 - Not So Simple Loop

Recently, Logic Showcase 25 on Puzzlers Club concluded, with the prompt being to make a puzzle with a non-square grid. I made a last minute Simple Loop.

Or, you know. A not so simple loop going through 6 different tilings that penpa has. No interface link here, just a loop puzzle that was a lot of fun to make- if any given part wasn't working out, I could just trash it and move to the next one! That actually did happen once, too. I'm quite happy with how this ended up turning out, even if I never want to see another triangular grid again.

Puzzle #376 - Out of Character (Killer Skyscraper Sudoku)

Uhhhh... yeah that's a variant. Killer Skyscraper Sudoku. The rules are as follows: inside the 4x4 grid, place a number from 1 to 4 into each cell such that each row, column and region contain each digit once each. Additionally, each cage must not contain a duplicated number. Any digits placed outside of the grid act as skyscraper clues on the grid.

puzz.link interface (cages are shown by same number links) penpa interface

Yes, I'm aware this is very atypical for my constructions. I was curious if this sort of construction would even be possible, and it was- maybe I'll try a 6x6 with this ruleset? It's pretty interesting.

Puzzles #373, #374 & #375 - Hexagony Password Path

Password Path was not only the last genre on Hexagony, but also the last genre selected for the contest. As mentioned earlier, picking loop and path genres that could make the jump to hexagonal grids proved challenging. Password Path allowing diagonal lines anyway meant that jumping down to 6 adjacent cells from 8 made it easier to work with than the standard version of the puzzle!

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The only thing I wanted to do for the example puzzle was show that the password could contain a duplicated symbol, and avoid crossings. It turns out that this is still a pretty easy type to construct and solve- a very fun way to end things off.

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This was the only 5 point puzzle on the contest, with an expected solve time for finishing pace being 1 minute. I bet a lot of people crushed that time. The double letter in the password probably made this easier than not having a duplicated symbol, honestly.

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And finally, I went for a thematic conclusion. I was tempted to reverse the order of these or put them first, opening the contest with HEXAGON PUZZLE but ultimately I thought that solvers would want a bit of a come down after that Ripple Effect. Puzzle order is the one thing I'm never sure of in a contest like this, there's not really any wrong answer and there's almost always a way to improve the ordering in some way at the cost of something else. But anyway, thanks for checking out these puzzles and solutions! Overall I'm very proud of Hexagony, from concept to execution to the final result, and I'm glad I put it together. Until next time.

Puzzles #370, #371 & #372 - Hexagony Ripple Effect

Alright.

Here's the genre from Hexagony everyone was waiting for, Ripple Effect. The second puzzle here, worth 60 points, was only solved by 6 of the participants in the contest. I highly recommend giving the puzzle a real shot here to discover the logic before watching the walkthrough- I promise a nice logical path exists and is worth your time to discover.

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I don't know how to make easy Ripple Effect puzzles, and it shows with this example. Regions of size 4 always tend to lead to interesting deductions and this puzzle is no exception.

puzz.link interface      penpa interface

I didn't try too hard to make another clueless Ripple Effect here, though I think it would have been possible with this grid shape and theme. The choice of given numbers was very economical, giving the most information at the right steps without compromising the rest of the intended logic. The break-in here is a bit subtle but should be easily spottable to those with experience.

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I did say "another" clueless Ripple Effect. This was the second puzzle that I made for the contest, and oh man was it a struggle. Nicknamed "Six Feet Under" it took me several failed attempts where either I missed a number seeing itself early on or the very last placement before I finally turned up this extremely challenging puzzle. I learned a lot about structure from those failed attempts, and what region shapes would be useful to propagate information. As a result, when I had to recreate the path later, several times, I struggled to find it again! I think it's still my favorite from the contest.

Hexagony Aqre

Aqre is a puzzle type created by Eric Fox, my co-constructor for Hexagony. I find the type very challenging to both make and solve, as though the "no four in a row" and "all black cells are connected" rules have so much cool potential, I've always felt like room numbers aren't the best way to use that base. I'm please to say that these two puzzles have partially changed my mind. I still think other clue types can handle the rule better, but these show that the room numbers can be used to great effect. The hexagonal puzzle in particular is by far my favorite Aqre I've ever solved- I really do think that the extra dimension makes it work that much better. Though I can only imagine how tough getting that construction to work was...

Hexagony Double Choco

I'll post the Double Choco walkthroughs first, then get into some thoughts on Eric's puzzles.
Double Choco is a genre that I really like constructing and solving, and I was slightly disappointed that Eric got to making both of these before I got a chance. Both puzzles have a very nice flow to them, with the first reminding me a lot of a more difficult puzzle from @Tarai_puzzle, and the second of the style of another prolific constructor, jkittykitkat. It's probably for the best though, as Hexagony turned out pretty tough and my Double Chocos are... difficult.

Puzzle #369 - Hexagony Yajisan-Kazusan

When picking genres for Hexagony I always wanted to include a "dynasty" genre where shaded cells couldn't share a side. Most genres in that form didn't make the transition very well, but Yajisan-Kazusan did. It still proved difficult to construct but I love how it turned out- a lot of my difficulty was from the theme I went for. This was probably the only overvalued puzzle on the contest, as almost everyone who submitted in groups knocked this out a much better points per minute than other puzzles- I probably should have taken 5 points from this and put it onto something like the 2nd Double Choco. On that note, Double Choco walkthroughs tomorrow, Aqre walkthroughs after that, and then more puzzles from me.

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