Chocona Mall
(Published on 16. August 2024, 21:19 by Jay Dyer)
Rules
- Shade some cells so that each connected set of shaded cells forms a rectangle. A clue in a region gives the number of shaded cells in that region. Regions without clues may contain any number of shaded cells.
- Draw a single closed loop through the centers of some cells, which only moves orthogonally and may not branch or touch itself. Every shaded rectangle must be visited at least once.
- If a straight edge of the loop passes through a shaded cell, the edge's length must equal the size of the rectangle containing that cell. An edge's length is the total number of cells the edge passes through, and the corners at both ends of the edge are counted as part of the edge.
Point of clarification: if just a corner is in a shaded rectangle (e.g. r6c1 in the example), this still counts as both connected edges entering the rectangle, so both edges' lengths must match the rectangle's size.
Example:
Solution code: The shading in column 13 (S for shaded cells, U for unshaded cells).
Comments
on 11. September 2024, 00:02 by sorryimLate
Wow, I guess all the deductions were fair, but at least I needed a lot of perseverance to get through the whole adventure. Especially because it's a new ruleset(?). I thought I had broken the puzzle probably a dozen times, but I finally managed to close the loop and was glad that the ending was a bit easier. Very interesting, thanks!
PS @h5663454 Maybe we can all have our own unique way of finding fun and meaning in solving puzzles.
on 30. August 2024, 10:50 by h5663454
Based on past records, I found that our Skorpian solved the puzzle in 7 minutes...
Unsurprisingly, this was the 13,872nd time he killed the fun and meaning of solving puzzles.
on 26. August 2024, 10:39 by Jay Dyer
Removed solver links for the example puzzle as it turns out it's not unique (whoops). I might replace it with a new one if I come up with a good one, but for now I'll leave the images up to aid with visualising the ruleset. If you tried the example as a warm-up and got confused, that may be why.
on 22. August 2024, 22:50 by Jesper
Great puzzle, some cool deductions, thanks!
on 21. August 2024, 05:54 by psams
I am very impressed by the work that must have gone into setting this puzzle. Nothing came easy for me in solving this - there IS a solution, but there are many small variations that do not quite work along the way, and the correct choice is not obvious. It continually gave me the feeling you sometimes get at a grocery store, where you know the thing you are looking for is nearby, but you cannot quite see it. "If it was a snake, it would have bitten you" as we say in Texas. Great puzzle, and glad to have solved it, but also kind of glad it is over. A lesson in accepting what logic dictates (what the puzzle tells you), rather than guessing or going with what you want the solution to be.
on 20. August 2024, 10:03 by Jay Dyer
Added some clarification about loop corners in shaded rectangles.
on 18. August 2024, 14:46 by hepcecob
Surprised I'm only the 2nd solve on this. 4/5 difficulty IMO. Very nice puzzle, logical all the way through, no need for divergence.
on 17. August 2024, 22:23 by ONeill
Briliant puzzle! Pretty hard, but full of unique deductions that are satisfying to find :)
