This is a Nurikabe / Fillomino hybrid puzzle.
Puzzle 315
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) I think this is the very last of the rejects (two and a half months after the test was released too!). As usual for these Fridays, this was a puzzle that was just too hard to keep.
This is an Out of Sight puzzle.
Puzzle 312
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) Another old adult that had to be redone.
This is a Double Back / Country Road hybrid puzzle.
Puzzle 309
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) Before the Hybrid section in the zoo got cut down, this was the adult — the puzzle that appeared on the test used to be the baby. I personally thought this was one of the highest quality puzzles in consideration, but there was no way I could keep something this hard on there.
This is a Out of Sight / Heyawake hybrid puzzle. Shade in some squares to satisfy the constraints of both sets of rules.
Puzzle 303
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) The adult of old versions, yet again. Those of you who finished the actual test back in February may not find this one as uberhard as it is. The difficult, themed logic in this puzzle ended up being transplanted to the (non-hybrid) Out of Sight adult during a phase of replacing puzzles, and that adult survived to be on the real test. So those of you who found what that themed step was won’t be as surprised on this one.
That’s the majority of the rejects I plan to post. There are a few Friday-level puzzles left, particularly some of the old Hybrid adults. I’ll post them in the near future as I really liked all of them, even if they were too hard, but I don’t know exactly when. For the most part, we’re back to original material now.
This is a Out of Sight / Heyawake hybrid puzzle. Shade in some squares to satisfy the constraints of both sets of rules.
Puzzle 302
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) You’ve probably got the pattern now, but this was the adult in the most recent versions that still had this type. I was a little sad to cut this one (as has been the case for every Wednesday…), but at the same time finding the main break-in seemed too hard relative to the rest of the puzzle. I spent a very long time trying to tweak this one to alleviate that and do the themed step better justice, but didn’t have much luck.
This is a Out of Sight / Heyawake hybrid puzzle. Shade in some squares to satisfy the constraints of both sets of rules.
Puzzle 301
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) The hybrid type that didn’t make it on. The issue with this type is that I had already reduced the hybrid section to just having adults, and all of the types except this one had one nice fit for the difficulty level I wanted. But here the baby (the puzzle above) was a bit too easy and the adult a bit too hard. As it was I already liked the other hybrid types better, so it wasn’t a great loss.
This is a In-Out Slitherlink puzzle.
Puzzle 299
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) The adult in the earliest versions. One of the worst offenders in terms of overdoing the level of challenge.
The visual theme in this one is pretty obfuscated and probably nontrivial to catch. Your hint is that it’s staring at you from the start.
This is a In-Out Slitherlink puzzle.
Puzzle 298
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) This one would have been the adult. I really liked this puzzle, so it was a bit of a shame to have to cut it.
This is a In-Out Slitherlink puzzle.
Puzzle 297
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) Now for the type cut from the Mutant section. When it came time to decide what to take out, it was pretty clear that I may as well avoid having two Slitherlink variations in the mutant section, and there was no way in hell I was taking out Liar Slitherlink.
This puzzle was the baby on an early draft. Later drafts had a tweak with a lot more clues and an almost identical solution, but ignoring the difficulty difference I find this version superior. A bit heavy for Monday, admittedly.
This is a Right Face puzzle.
Puzzle 296
(See 294 for info about this “reject” series.) In a very early draft that poor glmathgrant suffered through — seriously, you will pity him when I finish airing out the dirty laundry — this was the Right Face adult, with Wednesday’s puzzle being the baby at the time. “MellowMelon, what the hell were you thinking?!” you might rightfully say. You’re probably going to say the same thing for the next several Fridays, actually.
That said, the puzzle probably feels right at home on this blog, which is brutal relative to a timed contest.
Other bit of trivia: First ever Right Face larger than 10 by 10 by anyone, at least to the best of my knowledge.
