This entry was posted on January 5, 2011 at 4:57 am and is filed under Nurikabe, [2] Wed/Thurs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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I was originally thinking about asking which trick you were referring to, since I can think of three things this puzzle does that might be considered a bit out of the ordinary. None of them apply to Heyawake though, so now I’m really curious.
Well, in Heyawake you often have two black components which you know are connected in one of two ways (but you don’t know which way yet), and that forces a white cell somewhere else to keep the whitespace in one piece. Same happens here, along the diagonals. (But with “black” and “white” switched, of course.)
Ah, I see. What confused me is that I usually associate that concept with most all of those “black square” types: Heyawake, Hitori (or Out of Sight), and Yajisan Kazusan all can make good use of it. Yes, this puzzle certainly involves that idea, although my solution path only used it a couple of times.
Thanks. I do not like my comments to usually contain spoilers, but the break in the middle diagonal was brilliant and fun. If I had just come across the puzzle in a Nikoli book or online without importance I would have probably assumed the creator errantly forgot stuff.
After these comments that I don’t fully understand, I’m wondering if we’re all using the same solution path?
Here’s mine (spoiler):
1. The bottom 8 must touch the border.
2. Figure out what the diagonals imply, i.e., that they’re “connected”, and that the different diagonals must not touch.
3. Deduce that the 3 in the second-from-last row must not go up (conflict with the two nearby 4s).
After this, the puzzle fell easily for me. Step 3 is one that may require a little more thinking ahead than the creator usually intends, so I’m wondering if I was off the path?
Step 3 is intended, albeit in chunks. Those two 4s have so little space that they can only be resolved in two (similar) ways, and you can draw a pretty diamond shape of black cells around them when you realize that.
Melon's Puzzles 
January 5, 2011 at 5:35 am |
That was a clever little puzzle with some cool tricks. It definitely felt like you made it. 🙂
January 5, 2011 at 5:39 am |
I’ll take it as a big compliment that my construction style has gotten that distinctive.
January 5, 2011 at 10:28 pm |
Brutal!
January 6, 2011 at 12:47 am |
Really neat. The central trick of this puzzle is not one I’ve seen before, I think.
January 6, 2011 at 12:58 am |
Outside of Heyawake, I mean.
January 6, 2011 at 1:00 am
I was originally thinking about asking which trick you were referring to, since I can think of three things this puzzle does that might be considered a bit out of the ordinary. None of them apply to Heyawake though, so now I’m really curious.
January 6, 2011 at 1:29 am
Well, in Heyawake you often have two black components which you know are connected in one of two ways (but you don’t know which way yet), and that forces a white cell somewhere else to keep the whitespace in one piece. Same happens here, along the diagonals. (But with “black” and “white” switched, of course.)
January 6, 2011 at 1:38 am
Ah, I see. What confused me is that I usually associate that concept with most all of those “black square” types: Heyawake, Hitori (or Out of Sight), and Yajisan Kazusan all can make good use of it. Yes, this puzzle certainly involves that idea, although my solution path only used it a couple of times.
January 6, 2011 at 2:10 am |
Beautiful!
January 6, 2011 at 2:58 am |
Never mind heyawake, that had my favourite nurikabe trick as borrowed from numberlink. Very good!
January 6, 2011 at 4:08 am |
Thanks. I do not like my comments to usually contain spoilers, but the break in the middle diagonal was brilliant and fun. If I had just come across the puzzle in a Nikoli book or online without importance I would have probably assumed the creator errantly forgot stuff.
Well done young man!
January 6, 2011 at 7:55 am |
After these comments that I don’t fully understand, I’m wondering if we’re all using the same solution path?
Here’s mine (spoiler):
1. The bottom 8 must touch the border.
2. Figure out what the diagonals imply, i.e., that they’re “connected”, and that the different diagonals must not touch.
3. Deduce that the 3 in the second-from-last row must not go up (conflict with the two nearby 4s).
After this, the puzzle fell easily for me. Step 3 is one that may require a little more thinking ahead than the creator usually intends, so I’m wondering if I was off the path?
Thanks for a great puzzle.
January 6, 2011 at 2:53 pm |
Step 3 is intended, albeit in chunks. Those two 4s have so little space that they can only be resolved in two (similar) ways, and you can draw a pretty diamond shape of black cells around them when you realize that.