Shady Combination #2: Country Road, Heyawake, LITS, Yin Yang
(Published on 24. January 2023, 16:12 by Myxo)
The sequel to Shady Combination #1 with different genres of shading puzzles. This time, the subgrids are divided into regions and only share one row or column with adjacent subgrids. Figuring out which grid belongs to which genre may be more challenging in this one, especially for someone less familiar with the genres. In any case, a very careful read through the lengthy rules is required to solve the puzzle correctly. Enjoy!
Rules:
The grid is divided into four 8x8-subgrids. Shade some cells in the grid, such that each of the following rulesets is fulfilled by exactly one subgrid: Country Road, Heyawake, LITS, Yin Yang. Orthogonally adjacent cells of different subgrids (connected by dotted lines) have the same shading.
Country Road: Draw a single closed loop in the subgrid, that travels orthogonally through the center of cells and visits each thick-outlined region exactly once. The loop may not cross or touch itself. If two orthogonally adjacent cells have a region border between them, at least one of them must be visited by the loop. Cells visited by the loop are shaded, cells not visited by the loop are unshaded. A clue indicates how many cells in its region are part of the loop.
Heyawake: Two shaded cells may not be orthogonally adjacent, and all unshaded cells are orthogonally connected to each other. No vertical or horizontal line of unshaded cells can stretch over two or more thick-outlined borders. A clue indicates the amount of shaded cells in its region.
LITS: Each thick-outlined region includes exactly one shaded tetromino, the rest of its cells are unshaded. All shaded cells are orthogonally connected with each other, but no 2x2-area can be entirely shaded. If two tetrominos of orthogonally adjacent regions touch each other, they must not have the same shape (including rotations/reflections). A clue indicates how many other tetrominos its region's tetromino connects to orthogonally.
Yin Yang: All shaded cells and all unshaded cells each form a single orthogonally connected region. There can be no 2x2-area entirely shaded or entirely unshaded. A clue indicates how many seperate orthogonally connected segments of shaded or unshaded cells are located in its region.
Solution code: Column 4 of each subgrid in reading order (top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right), S for shaded and U for unshaded cells
Comments
on 4. September 2024, 17:47 by h5663454
Lovely. (｡>∀<｡)
on 26. February 2024, 19:04 by Christounet
Wow ! I loved this ! The resolution of the grids is so flowy and yet so minimally clued. Thanks :)
on 5. February 2023, 15:48 by PixelPlucker
Fun one, thanks Myxo!
on 5. February 2023, 00:23 by filuta
Cool puzzle, thanks!
on 25. January 2023, 15:10 by MagnusJosefsson
Fantastic puzzle, just like the previous one. Some careful thought required to identify the subgrids, then pure pleasure in finishing each grid.
on 24. January 2023, 22:17 by kjholt
Loved this! The little tricks hidden in there are really fun to find.
on 24. January 2023, 18:10 by Agent
Very nice combination, thanks! It was interesting to figure out which ruleset belongs to which sub-grid.
on 24. January 2023, 18:07 by kjholt
In the Yin Yang rules: "A clue indicates how many seperate orthogonally connected segments of shaded or unshaded cells are located in its region." Does this mean the solver must figure out whether the clue refers to shaded or unshaded? Or does this mean there are that many swaths of color (of either kind) in the region? E.g. if a clue says 1 does that necessarily mean the region is fully one color?
Myxo: It means there are that many segments of both colors together, so a 1 would indeed mean that the region is all one color, a 2 would mean there is one connected segment of shaded and one connected segment of unshaded cells, etc.
on 24. January 2023, 17:24 by Jesper
Once again a wonderful combination! I enjoyed it greatly.
I did realize that it is important to read the rules carefully, even if you already know the four puzzle types.
