Puzzle 63: Rings from Hell

Tetromino Slitherlink Divide the blue cells (marked T) to tetrominoes. Put each of 0,1,2,3 exactly once to each tetromino so each cell contains one number. Afterwards, solve the resulting Slitherlink puzzle: Draw a loop following the grid’s edges. A clue tells the number of edges of the square it’s contained in that belongs to the loop.

Tetromino Slitherlink Example

Difficulty 9.0/10 • Target times 15:00 30:00 1:00:00 6:00:00
Solution PNG (not uploaded) • PDF (not uploaded)

Puzzle 63: Rings from Hell
Tetromino Slitherlink

UPDATE 30-May-2014: I forgot whether this is supposed to be Liar too, as there’s no indication of Liar other than the instructions accidentally having a single sentence. I think not, and so I remove the Liar condition for now. I’ll testsolve it again when I have time; if someone finds this puzzle to be broken due to the Liar condition being removed, tell me too.

Yes, Rings from Hell. Because it has rings and it has 9.0/10 difficulty. As in you have to do lots of nontrivial brute force to obtain the solution. But then Tetromino Slitherlink is mostly brute force. I think I should wish you luck. The difficulty escalates (which is much better than decreases, as you can brute force the remaining—wait, then again, brute force is the only way to solve the endgame so far). A far tamer puzzle will be up in 12 hours.

Deception has ended. Congratulations to Hideaki Jo (deu), Palmer Mebane (MellowMelon), and xevs (Ko Okamoto) for topping the test, and additionally EKBM (Endo Ken) alongside the top three to complete the test. Solutions for select puzzles (so far two) can be found in the thread. Solutions are made on demand, so post there or comment here or e-mail me or notify me however the method if you want a solution for some other puzzle.

EDIT: Fixed example. Thanks for mathgrant to remind me.

Better PDF conversion!

Apparently the built-in MS Word 2007’s DOCX to PDF conversion is way better than a dedicated software PrimoPDF’s.

Puzzle 60‘s solution saved under a much smaller file size. 295 kB vs 2802 kB.

Also, Deception has a 24-hour extension, so there is 30.5 hours left. Furthermore, I’m making solutions to select puzzles, depending on popularity, which will be released after the test is finalized (when the score page becomes static and not Flash).

Deception Preview 9: Lines of Circles

Skyscrapers Kropki Put a number between 1-6 inclusive in the grid (the black-bordered square) so that each number appears exactly once in every row/column. Afterwards, interpreting the numbers as heights of buildings, put a number in each cell outside the grid (observer) that tells the number of visible buildings from that position looking into the grid. Taller buildings block shorter ones. For example, if a row has 25341 in that order, an observer from the left will see two buildings (2,5) and from the right will see three buildings (1,4,5).

In addition, if there is a black circle between two cells, one of the numbers in those cells must be exactly twice the other. If there is a white circle between two cells, the two numbers in those cells must differ by one. (There can be either circle between 1 and 2.) The absence of circles doesn’t imply anything.

Answer key: Enter the unit digits (last digits) of the numbers in the cells in the row/column. Only enter the buildings, not the observers.

Difficulty 4.0/10 • Target times 02:00 04:00 07:00 20:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 563124,362154 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 9: Lines of Circles
Skyscrapers Kropki

Ninth preview puzzle. That ends the Deception preview series. Reminding you that the link is here, and it will start in approximately 31 hours. Good luck!

…yes. This puzzle is posted out of schedule. There’s a long story, but basically Prasanna Seshadri is also going to testsolve this. Or solve this, since it’s official. I don’t know. Whatever. But he wanted the last preview puzzle, and I’m on bed already (yes, this paragraph is hot from the stove), and I don’t have the copy on my phone. So, yeah. Sorry if you find the broken schedule annoying. But earlier never hurts, does it?

About this puzzle itself, it’s supposed to make the shape of P. Or not, I don’t know. I totally forget whether this is intentional or accidental. I toyed with the possibility of lined circles, and this is what happens.

Deception Preview 8: Counting The Naturals

Domino Nurikabe Shade some cells black so the black cells form a tapa wall. No cell with a number may be shaded black. The black cells divide the white cells to several polyominoes (islands), all maximal (cannot be extended). Each island must have exactly one number that tells the size of the island. In addition, it must be possible to partition the black cells to dominoes. Such partition need not be unique, as long as there exists at lest one.

Answer key: Enter the lengths of the lines of black cells in the marked row/column. If the row/column has all/no black cells, enter 0.

Difficulty 3.5/10 • Target times 01:00 02:30 04:00 10:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 311,41 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 8: Counting The Naturals
Domino Nurikabe

Eighth preview puzzle. Try solving the puzzle with 18 changed to a question mark (indicating an unknown number). Otherwise, not much gimmick. Figuring out the top-right part is a little tricky though.

Deception Preview 7: Dock Chains

Battleships Yajilin Put the given fleet in the grid. Ships may be rotated, but not reflected. No two ships may be adjacent, and no ship may cover a number. Afterwards, draw a loop passing all cells that are not a ship segment or a number. The loop’s segments are parallel to the edges of the grid, turning only at cell centers. A number states the number of ship segments visible from the cell; that is, within the line of cells from the cell to the edge of the grid in the direction given in the clue.

Answer key: Enter the lengths of the horizontal/vertical line segments in the row/column respectively. Enter 0 if there is none.

Difficulty 3.5/10 • Target times 01:30 03:00 06:00 15:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 22,11 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 7: Dock Chains
Battleships Yajilin

Seventh preview puzzle. Two more to go, and two days to Deception too.

You know, there are three Battleships Yajilin puzzles out there that I found by Google. Perhaps more but I’m too lazy to search further. Yet, all except the most recent (Grant’s in GMPuzzles) has a quirk (Prasanna’s has irregular fleet, Snyder’s has in-grid ships/seas) from what one can expect from a Battleships-Yajilin combo. So I decide to take a shot.

I’ll just give it away that at least one Battleships Yajilin in the test has irregular fleet. Had it turned worse than this, I’d post it as the preview instead. (Yes, my previews are mostly rejects.) Sadly it hadn’t, so it will appear in the test.

I’ll visit this genre in the future. I find it nice to toy with 😀 This, along with Liar Slitherlink and Skyscrapers Kropki, is fighting for the second most-satisfying-to-make genre (the first is obviously Cipher Fillomino because my bias towards Fillomino).

Deception Preview 6: Wiggly Rooms

Surveyors Heyawake Shade some of the cells black. No two black cells may be orthogonally adjacent, and all white cells must form a single polyomino. No continuous line of white cells may span over two room borders. In addition, the following rules govern clues:

For clues inside the grid, each clue can tell either the number of black squares in the region it’s contained in, or the number of black squares adjacent to it (including the cell itself). It might be both.

For clues outside the grid, each clue can tell either the number of black squares in the row/column, or the length of some maximum continuous line of white cells (it cannot be extended, as in it is obstructed by either the grid’s edge or a black square; note that “maximum” doesn’t refer to the maximum length, but rather the nature of the line). It might be both.

Answer key: Enter the lengths of the lines of white cells in the marked row/column. If the row/column has all white cells, enter 0.

Difficulty 6.0/10 • Target times 03:00 07:00 15:00 1:00:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 12111,133 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 6: Wiggly Rooms
Surveyors Heyawake

Sixth preview puzzle. Do you note that each of 2,3,4,5 appears exactly once in the grid and exactly once outside the grid? That was a theme, but a minor one. The major one is the obvious “wiggly” rooms everywhere, which is a pain to make with MS Excel.

Deception Preview 5: Jumping Borders

Elimination Tapa Shade some cells black so the black cells form a tapa wall. No cell with a number or question mark may be shaded black. A cell containing a number tells the lengths of consecutive black cells adjacent to it; if there are multiple numbers, they must be separated (there must be at least one white square separating them). Question mark represents an unknown number. In addition, every cell with a number/question mark needs exactly one number/question mark removed before the actual set of numbers is obtained.

Answer key: Enter the lengths of the lines of black cells in the marked row/column. If the row/column has all/no black cells, enter 0.

Difficulty 3.5/10 • Target times 01:30 03:00 08:00 20:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 71,32 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 5: Jumping Borders
Elimination Tapa

Fifth preview puzzle.

If you don’t get the title, note that the clues on the first row are at column , , , and . Similarly for first column. Last row and last column are just rotational symmetry.

Deception Preview 4: A Tribute to The Foxger

Cipher Fillomino Follow Fillomino rules. In addition, each letter stands for some number. Same letters represent the same number and different letters represent different numbers.

Answer key: Enter the unit digits (last digits) of the numbers in the cells in the row/column.

Difficulty 5.5/10 • Target times 02:30 05:00 10:00 35:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 7655373322,2241444242 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 4: A Tribute to The Foxger
Cipher Fillomino

Fourth preview puzzle. A tribute to mathgrant (or perhaps here), which is the most influential person for me about logic puzzles. There are just so many things he did to get me hooked on logic puzzles, and he has helped me on numerous occasions, the most recent one is being a testsolver for this Deception test. 😀

Deception Preview 3: Rings

Smullyanic Dynasty Shade some cells black. No two black cells may be orthogonally adjacent, and all white squares must form a single polyomino. A number that is not shaded tells the number of black squares adjacent to it. A number that is shaded must differ from the number of black squares adjacent to it, including itself.

Answer key: Enter the lengths of the lines of white cells in the marked row/column. If the row/column has all white cells, enter 0.

Difficulty 4.0/10 • Target times 02:00 04:00 10:00 30:00
Solution Answer key (highlight →) 61,2211 • PNG (not uploaded) • ZIP of PDF (not uploaded) • DOCX (not uploaded)

Deception Preview 3: Rings
Smullyanic Dynasty

Third preview puzzle. I think I don’t have anything to say. My rejects (read: preview puzzles) are mostly those that are the worst. Liar Slitherlink being the first exception (and the only exception so far), as it’s adequate, only being in the middle of testsolving times.

Where Are The Cows?

We interrupt the Deception preview series for this random blog entry that might or might not help you with logic puzzles in general.

Where Are The Cows? is a logic maze. Just click the link and see. If you understand English, you should understand the maze and it becomes pure logic. Then again, all puzzle genres require some language to understand the basic rules, but whatever.

Well. That’s all. Feel free to go back to your Deception preview.

Oh, also, if you ask me (that haven’t solved it at the time of posting), here’s the “guide” for Where Are The Cows?:

Difficulty 8.5/10 • Target time 10:00 30:00 1:00:00 4:00:00

Take the above with a boatload of salt.

Also, I’m apparently addicted to Anti-Idle: The Game. Warning: Only begin playing the game if you know you have absolutely nothing to do for the next hour, and even then you will usually think about it (and fall back to play it) while you’re doing something else. A less time-consuming variant is Candy Box box box ! I-totally-don’t-know-how-to-stylize-it.