Spin Me Right Round
(Published on 24. April 2023, 19:41 by jodid)
Below are four 8 X 8 puzzles: Castle Wall, Masyu, Slitherlink, and Moon-or-Sun. None of these puzzles have a unique solution -- at least, not alone! Together, they share one solution, at least in a sense: that "solution" a single loop... and its three rotations. There exists a loop L such that L and its three rotations (more precisely, its 90°, 180°, and 270° rotations) are each a solution to one of the 4 puzzles. For example, if one grid has one solution, another grid might have the same solution, but rotated 180° degrees.
Remember, no two grids have the same exact solution. One grid has the 0° rotation, another has the 90° rotation, etc. The solver must decide which grid has what!
Let's now discuss the rules of each puzzle, in the order they are numbered.
- Castle Wall. Draw a single noncrossing loop. Gray blocks with numbers and arrows refer to the total amount of line segments of the loop in the arrow's given direction. Gray blocks may be inside or outside the loop, but the loop cannot go over a gray block.
- Masyu. Draw a single noncrossing loop which travels through each white and black circle. The loop must make turn at a black circle, but the loop cannot turn in the space directly before or after a black circle. On the other hand, the loop must not turn at a white circle, but it must turn either before or after a white circle (potentially both!)
- Vertex Slitherlink. I guess in this case, it's Cellular Slitherlink.... Draw a single noncrossing loop. A number on a vertex represents how many cells out of the 4 cells adjacent to that vertex is used by the loop.
- Moon-or-Sun. Draw a single noncrossing loop which enters and exits each region exactly once. Crescents are moons and circles are suns. In each region, the loop must go through either ALL moons and no suns, or ALL suns and no moons. If a loop went through all suns in a previous room, it must go through all moons in the next room, and vice versa.
Solution code: Three parts with no symbols or spaces separating them: 1. Enter the number of cells which contain a section of the loop in each row in grid #1 (Castle Wall) from top to bottom. 2. In grid #2 (Masyu) starting from the top left corner and proceeding clockwise, list the number of cells in each of the areas outside the loop, followed by the amount of cells enclosed in the loop. 3. In grid #4 (Moon-or-Sun) starting from the farthest upper left corner of the loop and proceeding along the loop clockwise, list the number of cells used by the loop in each region.
Comments
on 4. December 2023, 06:25 by ThithildeProuv
I really liked the puzzle, but I found the code to difficult to fill
on 12. October 2023, 19:14 by Zzzyxas
@webato: One number in the Masyu part is incorrect.
on 7. October 2023, 12:51 by The Book Wyrm
Nice puzzle. Cool concept, and the different grids worked well together.
Very easy though; I feel like a harder version of this could be very interesting.
The solution code is a bit complex though; took me longer to figure that out then it did to solve the puzzle.
on 19. May 2023, 02:05 by csearles
Hello, I am trying to enter the solution code, however I am stuck at the Magyu trying to figure out what you mean with starting from the top left side counting all the cells: 1st question: do you mean from the top row to the bottom row? second question: what do you mean by outside and enclosed in the loop? are cells enclosed in the loop which are also crossed by the loop or only ones which are inside the loop but not part of the loop. we need a better explanation with example screenshots for the solution code please.
also, the rules for castle wall are not described clearly enough and require further research for clarification coming from a person who has never played castle wall before.
on 5. May 2023, 09:54 by CHalb
Off topic: jodid, I've solved your puzzle with the ID DQA without using the 50/50 or the same-clues-are-connected rule. I liked it and hope you come back to the idea some day.
jodid: Thanks CHalb. People seemed to be confused by the rules, so I took it down. I might put it back up if you solved it.
CHalb: Well, I DID solve it before starting this comment.
on 25. April 2023, 18:07 by wooferzfg
Very nice concept, but I didn't end up using a lot of the clues.
Also, the solution code could've just considered one of the puzzles, since arriving at the solution requires information from all 4 puzzles.
on 24. April 2023, 21:43 by filuta
Hi, could you please be more precise with the code description? What do you mean by line segments and by areas outside the loop?
In any case a rally nice idea, but more like a 1 star. Thanks for setting.
@jodid: Not really sure how to explain "areas outside of the loop" more simply, but they are just the areas (groups of one or more cells) on the exterior of the loop, i.e. between the loop and the bounder of the grid. I've changed the other part to be simpler. I'm glad you like it :)
on 24. April 2023, 21:03 by jodid
Expanded solution code for anti-cheating purposes
