31 October 2023

Halloween puzzles

I don't celebrate Halloween in any form, but I think it's an interesting theme for various creations - in my case it's usually food and puzzles. Since I can't share food via internet, enjoy these two spooky puzzle-treats instead :)

Akari

solve online rules

Regional Yajilin

solve online rules

24 October 2023

Masyu variants

As promised, a bunch of nasty masyu variants is here. Deformable and total masyu are pretty standard, well established types. Double, maxi and hidden variants are my ideas.

If you are not sure about your masyu-solving skills, I would recommend to do some warm-up first.

And as usual, you can find download link for PDF with puzzles and solutions at the bottom of this post.

Deformable Masyu

Variant rules: This puzzle have a solution only when you shade some white circles, so they will become black circles. You will have to figure out, which circles should be shaded.

Total Masyu

Variant rules: All the possible circles are given. When the loop passes through an empty square, it cannot undergo rule for white or black circle there.

Double Masyu

Variant rules: Draw TWO masyu loops - standard one, that travels between centers of the cells with circle hints in the cells, and second one, that travels on the grid lines (with smaller circle hints). Loops cannot cross each other.

Maxi Masyu

Variant rules: Numbers around the grid show the lenght of the longest continuous loop segment in corresponding row/column.

Hidden Masyu

Variant rules: Except the given circles, there is exactly one invisible black circle in every row and column. Identified invisible black circles together with given black circles are the complete set of possible black circles (like in total masyu), that means, no other square can undergo rules of black circle.

Masyu Cube

Variant rules: Given grid is a net of a cube. Use classic masyu rules, but solve this puzzle as if it was printed on the surface of this cube.

Recommended way to solve masyu cube: print it, construct the cube and chill.

17 October 2023

Masyu Warm Up

I was planning to throw some nasty masyu variants at you (don't get me wrong, I'm still doing that later), but I thought it would be nice to have a warm up before the real challenge.

This time I used an online solver to measure the difficulty of each puzzle (1-5 stars), so you can progress from easy ones to not-so-pleasant-to-solve-but-still-somehow-enjoyable ones.

Masyu rules here.

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The last one is actually not that hard, it's just bigger and requires a variety of techniques.

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No, I haven't made any 5-star monstrosity so far. If my experiments will ever give birth to such abomination, I will definitely share it here. Believe that!

Akari special: 20th anniversary of Max Payne 2

Last weekend, I found out that one of the most memorable and replayable games I've ever played - Max Payne 2 - is celebrating 20th anniversary. I immediately decided to make a thematic akari puzzle on the same day. Since I was in a hurry to finish it in time, I didn't make it too hard, so hopefully you will enjoy solving it.

(akari, not Max Payne :))

05 October 2023

Puzzles from archive: Sudoku variants

To be honest, I'm not very good at solving sudoku, but somehow I'm still able to create my own sudoku puzzles. Interestingly, for me, it's much easier to make variants than classic ones. Let me show you some of my designs and stories behind them.

(Variant rules and PDF with puzzles can be found at the bottom of this post)

This one is my all time favorite so far. Looks nice, is quite hard (at least for me) but it's still possible to solve it without guessing.

Palindrome Sudoku

Four-leaf clover

solve online

Next three sudokus were made during my last year's trip in Korea. I didn't originally plan to make puzzles there, but well, when inspiration hits, I can't resist.

This puzzle was made as a celebration of my first experience with a bullet train, travelling across Korea from Seoul to Busan. After watching the movie "Train to Busan" I was expecting at least some zombies on board, but none of them showed up.

Antiknight Sudoku

Seoul to Busan

While exploring the local gastronomy scene in Busan, I stumbled upon Momos Coffee - a cafe with super friendly staff, beautiful roastery and world-class quality coffee.

Antiknight Sudoku

모모커피 - momos coffee

One month and four cities later, I returned to Seoul and I just had to immediately visit my most favorite cafe in the whole world - Mesh Coffe. They make such a delicious espressos even though it's not very popular in there, since Koreans drink almost exclusively americano.

Thermo Sudoku

Mesh Coffee espresso

Kimchi theme was a must for me since I'm a huge Korean food enthusiast. If I remember correctly, this was my first variant sudoku. It took me a while to set those thermometers right, but it was very satisfying to finally finish it.

Thermo Sudoku

김치 - kimchi

This one was made really quickly during my visit of my friend's cafe Goriffee in Bratislava. Quite easy, but still fun to solve.

Thermo Sudoku

Goriffee

There was not much to do during last year's Easter, so I made quite a few thematic puzzles. I'm still surprised, how was I able to produce such a neat looking sudoku, despite my lack of sudoku-solving skills.

Clone Sudoku +

Easter eggs

Clone+ rules: Outlines of every big egg go through 8 cells. These 8-cell groups contain same set of numbers in the same positions in every big egg. Cells with small colored eggs contain 4 different numbers.

Palindrome rules: Sequence of numbers along the gray line is palindromic, which means, it reads the same from both directions.

Antiknight rules: Symbols cannot repeat in any cells separated by a chess knight's move.

Thermo rules: Numbers (or lettes from the given set) in the thermometer shapes must be strictly increasing in each cell from the round bulb to the flat end.

If you solve any of these puzzles, please let me know what do you think about them. I would really appreciate your feedback.

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