Puzzle 406 (Slitherlink)

This is a Slitherlink puzzle.

Puzzle 406

This one might remind you of the IPC 2012 Tapa, and in fact this one is another reject from the IPC (along with 401) for being a little harder than what was needed.

IPC 2012 Puzzles

Last weekend, the 2012 Indian Puzzle Championship was held at LMI. Like last year, I provided some of the puzzles for it, alongside Deb Mohanty, Serkan Yurekli, and Thomas Snyder. Six out of the 30 puzzles were mine; I’ve reproduced them in this post for anyone who hasn’t seen that championship. Enjoy.

Puzzle 403 (Slitherlink) [Liar]

This is a Slitherlink puzzle, with a twist. Exactly one clue in each row and column is false. Which clues are lying is up to you to determine.

Puzzle 403

Puzzle 401 (Slitherlink)

This is a Slitherlink puzzle.

Puzzle 401

Expect the pack near the end of the week. I think I’ll be able to squeeze in the time to put it together…

Puzzle Pack Vol. I: Slitherlink

Happy 2012 from the Eastern US timezone. Expect Puzzle 382 to be posted on the 4th.

Download the pack (PDF; 1.27 MB)

This pack contains

• A Slitherlink primer for novice solvers
• 15 classic Slitherlinks, mostly on the easier side
• 5 variations with 3 puzzles each: All Threes, Interior Path, Domino, Relation, Liar
• 3 chimeras each combining two of the above variations
• 2 larger puzzles
• Hints and solutions for each puzzle

Version 2 uploaded on 1/3/2012 10:12 AM ET. Fixed multiple solution errors in I.12 and I.23.

Version 3 uploaded on 1/8/2012 12:28 AM ET. Fixed a major uniqueness error in I.35.

There is a nontrivial possibility of a broken puzzle somewhere. If you think you’ve found one, you may either comment here or email me at palmermebane -at- gmail -dot- com. Any updates to the pack will be announced in this post, so be sure to check here first before reporting an error.

Puzzle 367 (Slitherlink)

This is a Slitherlink puzzle.

Puzzle 367

(Click for larger size)

Puzzle 352 (In-Out Slitherlink)

This is an In-Out Slitherlink puzzle.

Puzzle 352

(Click for larger size)

Puzzle 350 (Slitherlink) [All Twos]

This is a Slitherlink puzzle, with a twist. All of the twos are given to you in this puzzle. That is, any unclued square cannot have exactly two segments of the loop surrounding it.

Puzzle 350

(Click for larger size)

Celebrating the blog’s second anniverary. For those who think this puzzle is boringly easy, try to see how few non-2 clues you need to solve it. The new rule is a tight constraint, so the minimum is probably pretty low.

Puzzle 318 (Slitherlink) [Point-symmetric]

This is a Slitherlink puzzle, with a twist. The configuration of dots that the loop passes through must exhibit 180 degree rotational symmetry about the center of the puzzle. If a dot is used by the loop, its symmetrical opposite must be also, and vice versa. (Some dots are red; this is only as a reference and has no bearing on the rules.)

Puzzle 318

(Click for larger size)
EDIT (5/20/2011 9:26 AM): Only a cosmetic change; the puzzle is the same. Made some of the dots red so that it’s easier to identify the symmetric pairs.

Puzzle 300 (Loop of Death) [Unique]

This is a Loop of Death puzzle, a unique type. Almost all of your favorite (and unfavorite) loop puzzles have been combined into a single type. Detailed rules, along with an example, follow below the image and comments.

Puzzle 300

(Click for larger size)
3/20/2011 5:22 AM ET – Fixed a goof in the far bottom right corner that resulted in no solutions by a minor change to the regions. You probably found this contradiction if you made any progress at all in that area. My apologies.

As far as my marathons/unique puzzles go, my guess is this is probably tied for the easiest – size has something to do with that – but I could be completely off in either direction. Of course, this still means it is going to be really hard.

Grid size is 29 by 29 squares. This means 30 by 30 for the vertex clues, although I never used any of the edges. From that, I’m sure some of you are going to figure out what puzzle I paid homage to in constructing this one, but I’ll leave to you all to guess.