Puzzlerium Tour: Go Square

Solution video for today's puzzle as well as for the Slitherlink should be out soon. Next on the series is a region division puzzle that is a hybrid between two Nikoli puzzles, which will then be followed by an engrossing Tapa.

Rules: Draw a single loop that has an orthogonal path and visits all cells exactly once each. Numbers indicate how many 2x2 squares in the corresponding outlined region have all of their four cells visited in immediate succession to each other. 

About Go Square: Go Square is due to Anurag Sahay, and debuts with the puzzle published in this post.

Puzzlerium Tour: Slitherlink

Update:

As I resume posting here, albeit with a new dimension to it, I will also have any interested viewers know that the POC (Puzzlerium Optimization Championship) shall be back with another bunch of delightful optimizers in late September. There would be several logical challenges, each on a grid no larger than 12x12 in size. So, if you are looking to put your logical and optimization skills and endurance to test, you want to try this.

Today's puzzle is the first in a series of puzzles that would constitute most of the content to be posted here henceforth. The idea here is to write and post puzzles that involve interesting solution paths and take the viewer through the solution using a video walkthrough that may help understand some of the logical methods.

You will see a link to the solution video tomorrow. Next puzzle on the series will be available soon. 

Rules: Draw a single loop by joining some of the dots. The loop cannot touch or cross itself. Numbers indicate how many of the four surrounding edges are used.

About Slitherlink: This genre was invented by Nikoli Puzzles. The first known Slitherlink puzzle was published in 1989.

POC's future prospects

This blog was on a long hiatus as I more recently experimented with another free blogging service  knowing its limitations (when compared to the very convenient Blogger) and knowing that I didn't have to care about them either. I did publish some content there, one of which was what I called the 'POC', a competition of optimization puzzles for the so-called enthusiasts. Not surprisingly, it was a debacle that says a lot about the attitude of a significant section of the community towards me.

 Not that I intend to get back to regular posting, but if I do intend to return with the POC, it should be either here or on the other blog, in late September or early October; it was originally supposed to be a twice-a-year event. With only a couple other events of  this kind, one with extremely boring and often very hard optimizers, and given the exceptional quality of my work, I am both motivated and not, for reasons aforementioned.

 

Puzzle 419: KenKen

As perhaps one of the worst years humankind has ever seen leads to another one, here is a kenken. 

To retain the theme, some cells are not caged. However, that should not discourage you, as this one  has a near clean solving path. 

Puzzle 418: Blockchain Kakuro

This is a Blockchain Kakuro.

Puzzle 417: Cipher Tapa

Rules: Paint some squares to create a continuous wall of connected squares. Number(s) in a square
indicates how many painted squares are contained in a continuous black cell block in its
surrounding cells. If there is more than one number in the square, there has to be at least one
white cell separating the black cell blocks. Painted squares cannot form a 2x2 square.
Numbered squares cannot painted. Numbers are replaced by letters. Each different letter
stands for a different number.

Puzzle 416: Heterogenous Loop

This is a new loop style.

Rules: Draw a closed loop that connects the centres of all cells horizontally or vertically.
The loop may not cross itself or branch off, and must turn in every circle. For each circle,
the sum of lengths of segments connecting the circle on either side has to be different.

Puzzle 415: Non-consecutive Fillomino

Rules: Divide the grid along the gridlines into several polyominoes, and fill each of the empty cells with a number. When two orthogonally adjacent cells belong to different polyominoes, they
cannot contain the same number. Given numbers represent the area of the polyomino they belong to. A polyomino may contain none, or one, or more of the givens. No two polyominoes of consecutive areas may share an edge.

Puzzle 414: Product Snake

Rules: Draw a snake one cell wide, that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. The head and tail are given as black cells. If a row/column contains a number outside, it represents the product of  lengths of all groups of contiguous snake cells in that row/column.

Puzzle 413: Fillomino

Rules: Divide the grid along the gridlines into several polyominoes, and fill each of the empty cells with a number. When two orthogonally adjacent cells belong to different polyominoes, they
cannot contain the same number. Given numbers represent the area of the polyomino they belong to. A polyomino may contain none, or one, or more of the givens.