Chaos Construction: Increasing Path
(Published on 3. October 2022, 23:31 by KNT)
A path that travels orthogonally from cell center to cell center must be found such that it visits each region in the order of their indices from lowest to highest. The path may not re-enter any region, and within any region, numbers strictly increase along the path.
A number in a cell with an arrow or arrows indicates the total count of cells in the same region as itself that are on the path in the indicated directions combined. The cell itself is not counted. If a cell has multiple arrows, at least one cell is on the path in the direction of each arrow.
A 1-6 example is provided:
Solution code: Row 1 followed by Row 9
Comments
on 1. March 2023, 06:54 by konklone
Oddly enough, I managed to make it through the puzzle's major gauntlet mid-solve on my own, which I am very proud of -- and then kept fumbling the last few region placements and landing in contradictions! Even though I needed a hint at the very end, I feel I did very well and grew as a solver through this puzzle. Fantastic design!
on 13. February 2023, 14:29 by Piatato
Fantastic construction! So much fun throughout, and not even that hard after I discovered the rule that the path must go through the regions in order lol
on 7. February 2023, 03:32 by SimplePurpleFrog
I had to rewind a few times, but what a stunning puzzle! The logic is flawless, beautiful, clean, yet hard to infer.
on 4. February 2023, 01:01 by KNT
@kjholt i am happy to help: jehlp#8886
on 4. February 2023, 00:48 by kjholt
Can I message someone on discord for help as to where I went wrong? I'm stuck at what I thought was the end and I can't figure out why it isn't resolving.
on 3. February 2023, 21:28 by DillyK
This puzzle has one of the most beautiful and cleanest solution paths I've ever seen in a puzzle. Kudos to a fantastic puzzle, I wish I could rate it higher than 100%!
on 3. February 2023, 05:14 by cmb
Since that was amazing, it's presumptuous to ask for more, but I wish ...
on 1. February 2023, 16:13 by Ziboo
Pretty much the same as "stayal" says. Beautiful puzzle and very challenging for me (at my level) but such a good feeling when it solved :D
on 29. January 2023, 21:04 by stayal
Been following CTC for about a year and love solving the puzzles they put feature. This is the hardest puzzle I have attempted (and completed) without a video to look back at for help. This felt impossible at multiple steps, which made the breakthroughs that much more satisfying. It's incredible that this solves so elegantly with so few clues. I truly hope Simon or Mark circle back to feature this puzzle, because it was absolutely beautiful.
on 29. January 2023, 21:04 by stayal
Been following CTC for about a year and love solving the puzzles they put feature. This is the hardest puzzle I have attempted (and completed) without a video to look back at for help. This felt impossible at multiple steps, which made the breakthroughs that much more satisfying. It's incredible that this solves so elegantly with so few clues. I truly hope Simon or Mark circle back to feature this puzzle, because it was absolutely beautiful.
on 29. January 2023, 16:58 by wand
brilliant puzzle, and mindbending indeed. was sure I'd broken it multiple times, suprising and delightful twists
on 29. January 2023, 14:42 by giladooshlon
Wow! that was incredibly hard and incredibly good! I was going crazy multiple times, but that eureka moment in the middle was totally worth it.
on 29. January 2023, 00:06 by BloodbuzzCorio
KNT thanks for this exceptional puzzle. I particularly enjoyed (and was impressed by) how you combined the region/path/arrow logics throughout the solve path - a very difficult but enjoyable one to solve!
on 8. January 2023, 22:22 by Christounet
Now I get what you mean when you say rewarding ! ;)
That "top left cell" rule can really mess up with your mind and provoke some real sense of disorientation at some point, until you realize how powerful it is, and then it just opens up like a nice present. Fantastic !
on 9. November 2022, 20:28 by peacherwu2
Great puzzle!
on 23. October 2022, 18:02 by lerroyy
Very nice puzzle! The top left cell rule is so powerful in this puzzle
on 21. October 2022, 10:46 by henrypijames
Got stuck for days and had to seek help from the author. :( Amazing logic, super tight (quai-linear) solving path.
on 13. October 2022, 02:04 by Agent
Insane opening, very surprising minimalistic ending.
on 7. October 2022, 17:44 by the_cogito
Great puzzle, I struggle to imagine trying to set this haha
on 7. October 2022, 16:08 by filuta
I also deserved at least a triple facepalm at that one point, super cool, the ending made me smile. Excellent puzzle!
on 6. October 2022, 06:37 by KNT
Added Chaos Construction tag
on 5. October 2022, 09:44 by MagnusJosefsson
Incredible! What an achievement to make this ruleset work at all, even more to get such a challenging but beautiful logical path. The first half is quite difficult, there was one point mid-solve where I started over checking every deduction from the start thinking I had broken the puzzle only to find there was something really cool I had missed right where I had stopped. Near the end the puzzle gets easier and flowier, and I liked that once the path/region logic was finished the puzzle finished almost immediately as well. Amazing setting!
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Feedback like this makes me really happy, though I have to admit I got *extremely* lucky with this grid after the first half. I cannot emphasize that enough... I was ecstatic once I found the puzzle could be resolved uniquely so nicely and minimally. That feeling of "I broke the puzzle" when you actually did not is something I really like in puzzles, and I'm super glad that great solvers like you (and others) got to experience that feeling. I do set quite a lot, and comments like this just motivate me to continue :)
on 4. October 2022, 23:51 by Koalagator2
Nice puzzle, very impressed that you managed to make it solve with such a minimal number of clues.
on 4. October 2022, 22:11 by ONeill
Such a great puzzle. Thanks for the push in the right direction :)
on 4. October 2022, 15:36 by Jesper
Great puzzle, quite remarkable! One specific point made me doubt my sanity for a while :)
on 4. October 2022, 13:25 by marcmees
great puzzle again. We're getting spoiled. thanks.
on 4. October 2022, 03:24 by Niverio
Very enjoyable puzzle but it made my head hurt a little bit :)
on 4. October 2022, 02:36 by JayForty
Amazing puzzle! Very interesting use of the numbered rooms and a very well balanced and smooth solve. Thanks!
on 3. October 2022, 23:41 by thoughtbyte
This was indeed a mind-bender! Impressively smooth for how few clues there are. Fantastic setting, thanks KNT.
