No, I am not bored with LITS.
Rules: Shade in some cells such that each outlined area contains exactly four shaded cells that form either a trimino or a pentomino . No 2×2 square can be shaded completely. All shapes must be connected to form a single contiguous group of shaded cells. Identical figures, regardless of rotation or reflection, cannot share an edge. Any Xs mean the cell cannot be shaded.
About: NoLITS was conceived by Anurag Sahay in 2020.
Rules: Place a snake whose path is 1-cell wide. The snake does not touch itself, except diagonally. Every point of contact is given as a black dot. Given numbers outside the grid indicate the number of snake cells in that row or column. The head and tail of the snake are not given and are to be determined.
About: Invented by Anurag Sahay in 2021, Touchy Snake debuts with this post.
Although popular with Fillomino, I believe the rectangular and non-rectangular variants are yet to be explored with Araf. So, I decided to squeeze two small puzzles into one post.
Rules: Divide the grid into some contiguous regions. Each cell is part of one region, and each region must contain exactly two given numbers, Each region must have an area that is strictly between the given numbers it encloses. Additionally, the variants enforce the following constraints:
Rectangular: Each region is rectangular in shape.
Non-rectangular: There are no rectangular regions.
Theme: Vertically mirrored
Rules: Draw a loop that visits each of the outlined regions and each of the given shaded cells. The loop may not intersect itself or pass through any cell more than once or pass through any of the regions more than once. Additionally, when traversing through shaded cells, the path of the loop must either make a turn immediately before and after visiting the cell, or go straight immediately before and after visiting the cell. Given numbers tell how many cells in the contained region are used by the loop.
About: Invented by Anurag Sahay in 2020, Angular trail debuts with this post.
This hybrid seems to provide enough room for packing some interesting deductions.
Theme: The lone unknown
Rules: Place a number from 1 to N-2 into each cell of the square grid so that each number appears exactly once in each row and column, where N is the length of the square's side. Each number inside the grid represents a skyscraper of its respective height. The outside clues indicate how many skyscrapers are visible in that direction; smaller skyscrapers are hidden behind taller ones. A question mark indicates any value from 1 to N-2.
Then, shade in the unused cells. Outside clues double up as double block clues - each clue representing the sum of numbers (including the "sum" of a single number) between the two shaded cells in the row or column the clue points at.
For the puzzle to solve uniquely, both Skyscrapers and Double block rules have to be applied on each clue.
About: This hybrid was invented by Anurag Sahay and debuts with this post.
This is an unsurprising take on the Ripple loop with the "not alone" behavior.
Theme: You and me
Rules: Draw a loop with orthogonal paths between cell centers. The loop visits all of the cells without intersecting itself or passing through any cell more than once. When two given circles are edge-adjacent, the loop must go straight through one and turn in the other. Additionally, the loop never alternates between black and white colored circles - no circle of either color may be sandwiched between two circles of the opposite color along the path
Theme: Bookshelf
Rules: Draw a loop that visits all of the outlined regions. The loop may not intersect itself or pass through any cell more than once. The loop also may not traverse more than two regions successively without making a turn. To state that alternatively, no straight line path may cross two or more borders. Given numbers tell how many cells in the containing region are used by the loop.
About : Invented by Anurag Sahay, the puzzle debuts with this post.
I had started posting these a year ago. This is sort of a resumption, hopefully.
The Nuraf I am posting here is perhaps the easiest you will lay your hands on. This might serve as a good introductory puzzle to those who are still not familiar with this now fairly established genre.
Theme: Between 2 & 4
Rules: Shade some cells black to leave some islands, each island being a group of contiguous white cells. Shaded cells must all be connected in a single group without any 2x2 squares of all shaded cells. Each island must contain two numbers, and the area of the island is a value between those two numbers (not inclusive).
About : Invented by Anurag Sahay in 2016 and by "Deceptive puzzles" Jamie independently the following year.