This is a Heyawacky puzzle.
Puzzle 251
It’s been awhile, hasn’t it? Obviously this omits the wackiness of Heyawacky and is a typical nikoli Heyawake. Well, maybe typical is too strong of a word.
The main issue with this puzzle is that it is absurdly susceptible to meta-logic, so I’m just going to have to remind you that you’ll miss the full solving experience if you use any.
If you’re a real master of Heyawake, try solving this without marking the squares where black cells can’t go on your first run.
June 15, 2010 at 6:29 am |
Very tough, even in comparison to Nikoli’s toughest puzzles, but still very logical and rewarding for the expert solver.
Also, I solved it without marking any cells other than black cells. (Obviously, I can’t prove this.) What do I win?
June 15, 2010 at 6:40 am |
Yes, it’s certainly a toughie. All you win are bragging rights, albeit plenty of them; sorry.
June 15, 2010 at 9:30 pm |
Too tough for me… I had to use trial and error in a couple of places. But I really like the thematic idea.
June 16, 2010 at 12:44 am |
This was a lot of fun. I got stuck for a while, but I still managed to solve it purely by logic. doing it without marking empty squares was too hard for me though.
June 19, 2010 at 12:57 am |
Not being a heyawake expert, I did not get far without marking non-black squares. Very tough. But at least I finished it.
June 24, 2010 at 12:01 pm |
“You don’t write. You don’t call. Your mom and I didn’t know if you were dead in a ditch by the side of the road somewhere.”
Then you jump back into our lives, drop a non-whacky Heyawacky puzzle on us, tell us that if we were real men we would do it without taking notes along the way, and then disappear for a few more weeks or more.
This relationship is just not working out for me. Its not you, its me. I just want to be friends, not friends with benefits. I want to be able to see other puzzle sites and not feel guilty. I don’t want you ringing me up once every 2 months for a puzzle booty call, and demanding funky stuff from me that I am just not comfortable doing.
I am just emotionally exhausted.
Ken
p.s. Great heyawake. Missed ya.
p.p.s. Don’t be insecure and feel that you the need to suggest doing your puzzles with the solvers’ hands behind their backs. Just let go.
July 13, 2010 at 8:12 pm |
Nice to have you back! This was a toughie, but I solved it eventually. I liked the starting logic at the top left (well, that’s where I chose to start anyway).
February 20, 2011 at 5:57 am |
This was nice.I could solve it without much trouble,though i had to do some trial-and-error in the right end and also top-left.
October 6, 2011 at 5:38 pm |
Great puzzle, though I’m a bit confused by this being in your “toughest” list. Maybe I’m a natural Heyawake guy and don’t know it (this was the second I’ve done), but I thought the process for this one was pretty straightforward. I don’t mean to brag either, I’ve now started your Loop of Death puzzle at least 10 times, and run into contradictions every time… so nefarious!
October 6, 2011 at 6:14 pm |
That’s fair; difficulties are always going to be a subjective thing anyway, and I’d agree this is probably the easiest of the puzzles I put in that list.