Hybrid Star Battle Series (014) - Double Back
(Published on 13. April 2023, 16:17 by BenceJoful)
Intro
For this Hybrid Star Battle Series I will be sharing a new puzzle each week combining Star Battle with another puzzle genre. This week's genre is Double Back. Like Star Battle, this is a genre with a short ruleset which is nonetheless open to some very interesting (and sometimes tricky to spot) logical arguments.
My apologies for the later-than-usual posting. There were several puzzles I attempted to set but which eluded me in the final stages, leading to the delay. In the future, I will try to be more prompt, but in any case, I hope this was worth the wait!
Rules
Standard Double Back and Star Battle rules apply, plus an overlap rule:
- Double Back: Draw a non-intersecting loop through the centers of all empty cells which passes through each region exactly twice.
- Star Battle: Shade some cells such that each row, column, and outlined region contains exactly 2 shaded cells. Shaded cells may not touch one another, not even diagonally.
- Overlap: Each time the loop enters a region, it passes through one shaded cell before exiting.
Links
8x8 2-star Example (Penpa+ link):
Solution code: Along row 8, then column 8: if the cell is shaded, give *. Otherwise, give L if the loop turns in the cell, and I if the loop proceeds straight. In the above example, the solution code is L*I*ILLLLLLL*I*L.
