Puzzle 528: Quad-Wrangle 24

Remember when I said "Hopefully I'll have more to say about my next 31x45 puzzle"? Well, I do!

This puzzle is devoted to groza528, a longtime fan and online brother in Christ who has encouraged me in so, so many ways – not the least of which was his decision to support me financially in the LiveJournal era of my logicsmithing "career", back when I decided to experimentally charge for access to my next 100 puzzles. groza528 actually sent me a check for four times what I was asking for, requesting access to the next 200 puzzles for himself and for a friend! I remain touched by this simple gesture of paying me money. Thank you so much, groza528.

Rules of Quad-Wrangle

(click to enlarge)

Puzzle 527: Circumnavi-Gates 19

No comment.

Rules of Circumnavi-Gates

Puzzle 526: Numeral Crossing 10

No comment.

Rules of Numeral Crossing

Puzzle 525: Artist's Block 10

As much as I enjoy posting 31x45 puzzles to celebrate milestones (because multiples of 25 are clearly milestones), I'm running out of things to say about them. Hopefully I'll have more to say about my next 31x45 puzzle. :)

Well, I guess I'll say this, since some people seem not to notice when I try to say it unobtrusively in a prefix to the comment form: do not leave a comment claiming a puzzle has multiple solutions unless you can either explain why in a manner that doesn't entirely spoil the puzzle for future readers, or accompany said comment with an e-mail explaining the ambiguity even more uncertainly. While I have made mistakes before when I am overly confident in my own logic, this particular puzzle was test-solved by two individuals who would have undoubtedly noticed such an error. Additionally, please don't spoil what results from shading in the areas with black dots; I would prefer to discuss that via e-mail.

On a completely unrelated note, Sudoku fans may be interested in this Advent calendar David Millar's been working on.

Rules of Artist's Block
(click to enlarge)

Puzzle 524: Proof of Quilt 5

No comment.

Rules of Proof of Quilt

Puzzle 523: The Inner Limits 6

No comment.

Rules of The Inner Limits

Puzzle 522: Numeral Crossing 9

Now that I've finished writing the puzzles I've been paid to write, I can get back to puzzles I'm not being paid to write!

Rules of Numeral Crossing

Grant's Review Corner: Volume 7

Today's volume of Grant's Review Corner is brought to you by Kakuro Conquest.

Wait a minute. . . "brought to you by"? What kind of BS is this? In past editions of Grant's Review Corner, the author (who would be me) has made a big stink about refusing to sell advertising space on his blog (which would be this one), and now all of a sudden we're in for some kind of advertorial? Well. . . yes and no. Let me explain what is happening here.

Last month, I was the recipient of this e-mail:

Hi Grant,

I've been following along on your puzzle blog and was wondering if you have ever considered writing about Kakuro and/or if I can be of any help to you.

My client is a website called: http://kakuroconquest.com and I am helping them do some linking.

Now I know it says that I shouldn't ask you for a link, and I promise that I am not dumb or illiterate. I am just wishing and hoping that maybe you'll change your mind.

If this didn't work, I am sorry for being a dick and wasting your time. If it did, thank you a ton.

I responded with my usual spiel:

I have gotten so many e-mails from marketing people who think they can get a free link to their stuff that it's refreshing to get an email from someone who realizes that my blog says I don't do that. Clearly you have read more of my blog than previous people who have sent similar queries, and as a reader, you have my utmost respect. I hope that my blog's content will continue provide you with brain-bending entertainment and never create any hard unpleasant feelings. :)

That being said, unless your client is willing to commission puzzles from me so I can self-promote ("Look at me, everybody, these guys paid me money to make puzzles! Go check out the puzzles I made for them, because you won't see them anywhere else!"), I'm afraid there's not much I can do to aid their quest for more hits. :)

A month later, much to my surprise, I've been paid US$126 in exchange for writing ten Kakuro puzzles for this client. Naturally, like anybody with a modicum of professionalism, I have made constructing these puzzles which I'm being paid to write a higher priority than frivolities such as constructing Monday Mutants. However, because a modicum of professionalism is all that I possess, I shall now proceed to express my feelings regarding this commission with the word "squee". Ahem.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

I would be nothing without a dose of shameless self-promotion, so part of the purpose of this edition of Grant's Review Corner is to shamelessly inform my readers that they will soon be able to find my puzzles in a place besides Sudoku Xtra and Akil Oyunlari. However, this post is just as much about Kakuro Conquest as it is about me, and as such, I will compare Kakuro Conquest's online interface with the online interfaces of two other well-known sites which offer interactive Kakuro puzzles, in an attempt to dissect what elements of the interface work and why, and whether I believe any changes are in order.

Let's start with Kakuro Conquest:

Yes, I had to look up the definition of "professionalism" in a dictionary. Don't judge me.

Props to the site's programmer for using JavaScript only and not Flash; I'm sure that readers who are allergic to Flash (maybe they're on an iPhone?) will greatly appreciate this. In fact, most of the functionality, such as being able to type numbers into the cells or check your solution, doesn't even require JavaScript; the three main uses of JavaScript are to automatically shrink the text in a cell when you enter more than one digit (see below), to show you all of the ways of reaching a particular sum when you click on it, and to let you move between the grid cells with the arrow keys in addition to with the Tab key. Thus, the site is accessible to a wide audience. Furthermore, the site sports a clean, non-distracting look. This may sound like such a small thing to praise, but I guarantee you that if the visuals were too distracting, I would demand that the client change that for the sake of everybody. Nobody is going to want to play my puzzles, or any puzzles, on an ugly website.

The ability to enter more than one candidate in a single cell is a trait which all three sites I am reviewing have in common, and it is sufficiently essential for hardcore Kakuro solvers that its presence, while a small detail, is still one I feel I must point out. On Kakuro Conquest, you simply type several numbers (like "12") into a single cell to do so. Easy! This is probably the best possible way to implement this feature in JavaScript.

Probably the only con I can think of is that there is no way to play puzzles on Kakuro Conquest without using the keyboard. This is a very minor issue, because the keyboard is usually faster anyway, and I can't think of a way to "fix" this issue without mucking up the elegance of the site using nothing more than JavaScript, but there might be situations when a solver would like to have the option of not using the keyboard, and the other two sites I'm reviewing offer a mouse-only interface in addition to keyboard functionality. *shrugs* Readers, what say you? Is this really an issue?

Now let's look at Conceptis:

The entire Conceptis website uses Flash, so if you're allergic to Flash, you're screwed. The interface is again very clean to look at, though. Conceptis Kakuro cannot be solved entirely through the keyboard; you must move the on-screen cursor with your mouse. However, you can enter numbers either by hovering your mouse over the cell and typing the number or by clicking on the cell and then clicking on the number from the numeric keypad that appears. To enter a candidate value, move your over the upper-left corner of a cell so a small box is highlighted instead of the entire cell, and then type or click as usual. When multiple candidate values are entered into a cell, they are automatically put in numerical order (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9); this might be a convenience or a curse depending on whether the solver is trying to keep track of candidates for individual cells or track possibilities for the whole puzzle.

Another very minor quibble I have is with zooming. All of the puzzles on Conceptis let you zoom in or out to make the grid cells bigger or smaller, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but I don't always like having to zoom out to make the puzzle fit the window instead of only having 90% of it fit the window. This quibble is extremely minor because there are giant Link-a-Pix puzzles which would be unreadable if they started out filling the entire window, and I'd rather zoom out of Kakuro once or twice than into Link-a-Pix many times.

Finally, a look at nikoli.com:

nikoli.com probably has the most versatile interface of these three sites, as you can play entirely with the keyboard or entirely with the mouse. To enter candidates with the keyboard, hold spacebar while typing the number; with the mouse, click one of the four corners of the cell. All puzzles start out filling the window, but you can zoom in if you'd like to make them bigger for whatever reason (maybe playing on a low screen resolution or something). The largest puzzles on nikoli.com are much smaller than the largest puzzles on Conceptis, so they're always readable on the screen; I have no issues at all with nikoli.com's zooming.

I thought I could make this post awesome today, but too many extenuating real-life circumstances have given me an incredible headache to where I can't accomplish anything intellectual such as writing words. I am truly sorry, readers. I promise next week will be better. In the meanwhile, if you have any suggestions for Kakuro Conquest that would make the site better, whether they're based on the things I've said in this post or not, please, please, please post them here. The more constructive feedback their site gets from my readers as a result of having commissioned me to write puzzles, the more likely I am to get hired again. Oh, and they'll have a better website, too. :)

Puzzle 521: Totally Awesum 22

No comment.

Rules of Totally Awesum

Monday Mutant 104: Polyominous (cipher)

In this Polyominous puzzle, most of the given numbers have been replaced by letters; all instances of a particular letter represent the same number, but two different letters must represent different numbers. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

 Erratum: "Lord, how many times shall I forgive a blogger who posts broken logic puzzles? Up to seven times?"

Puzzle 520: Dominnocuous 2

No comment.

Rules of Dominnocuous

Puzzle 519: Dominnocuous 1

No comment.

Rules of Dominnocuous

Monday Mutant 103: Streaming Content / Block Band / Dominnocuous / Room and Reason (mastermind)

Solve the Streaming Content, Block Band, Dominnocuous, and Room and Reason puzzle simultaneously by the normal rules. A number between two rows or two columns in two different grids represents how many pairs of black cells would coincide if those two rows or columns were overlaid, without rotating them.

The longest filename this blog has ever seen!

Puzzle 518: Streaming Content 37

No comment.

Rules of Streaming Content

Rules -- Dominnocuous

Dominnocuous was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli (under the name Norinori).

1. Shade in some cells such that every region contains exactly two shaded cells, and every shaded cell shares an edge with exactly one other shaded cell.

Puzzle 517: Reunion Tour 7

No comment.

Rules of Reunion Tour

Monday Mutant 102: Pearls of Wisdom (optional whites)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, the loop does not have to pass through the white circles; however, when it does pass through a white circle, it must obey the standard rules for white circles.

Lest the African-American community deem me racist for posting a puzzle that suggests that black circles, and black people by inference, are optional. . .

Monday Mutant 101: Pearls of Wisdom (optional blacks)

In this Pearls of Wisdom puzzle, the loop does not have to pass through the black circles; however, when it does pass through a black circle, it must obey the standard rules for black circles.

With apologies to Palmer Mebane.

Puzzle 516: Reunion Tour 6

No comment.

Rules of Reunion Tour

Puzzle 515: Tetra Firma 32

No comment.

Rules of Tetra Firma

Puzzle 514: Polyominous 50

This recent BoardGameGeek contribution is brought to you by the letter B. This video, however, is not brought to you by the letter B.

Rules of Polyominous

Monday Mutant 100: Numeral Crossing (jumping crossword)

In this Numeral Crossing puzzle, you are to place letters of the English alphabet, rather than digits, in the white cells such that each of the words listed below the grid (excluding spaces, punctuation, and any other symbols besides letters of the English alphabet) appears as an entry within the grid. Additionally, some white cells must be left blank; no two empty white cells may share an edge. The words are sorted by their actual length in the grid (including empty spaces).

I bet you were expecting something much more interesting, involving numbers. Nope. Interesting puzzles with numbers in them are motris's schtick, not mine.

Happy Monday, everybody.

Monday Mutant 99: Spirits of Serpentine (seconds)

In this Spirits of Serpentine puzzle, the clues represent the second number encountered in the direction of the arrow, rather than the first; if only one number or no numbers are encountered before the edge of the grid or the nearest black cell (whichever is closer), then the clue is 0. The rules are otherwise unchanged.

I forgot to mention this when it was more current, but my third Square Root of Minus Garfield strip is now online. Check it out.

Monday Mutant 98: Seek and Spell (POP/PA)

In this Seek and Spell puzzle, the trigram POP or the bigram PA can be treated as a single letter, and entered as such in a single space. (For example, PAHOEHOE can be entered in eight spaces as P-A-H-O-E-H-O-E, or in seven spaces as PA-H-O-E-H-O-E.) The rules are otherwise unchanged.

My father's birthday is tomorrow, on October 4. I mention this for no reason at all.

Logicsmith Exhibition 5: Polyominous (RESULTS!)

The deadline for voting in Logicsmith Exhibition 5 is past, and I have received 24 votes. Using my amazing ability to count, I have determined the winner of the contest! In this post, I will not only reveal that winner, but I will do something I have only really done once before in a Logicsmith Exhibition: I will be unafraid to give my honest opinion!

Disclaimer: In the past, I have divulged that I like Justin Bieber's "Baby" unironically. I have also watched an episode of the overtly Christian-themed "BibleMan", and somehow find myself liking its cheesiness both ironically and unironically. Clearly, my opinions on logic puzzles should be taken with more than a grain of salt – particularly seeing as the contest is more about reader opinion than my own.

WARNING: There are 40 images in this post!

Puzzle 01: mellowmelonmathgrant's comments: Appealing aesthetic. Solve was cute, but not overly so. The implied 4-omino in the upper left was nice, and the rest of the puzzle solved smoothly.

Puzzle 02: Bram de Laatmathgrant's comments: Difficult, but not on the terribly tedious side of difficult, despite the fact that I kept messing up during verification. Author said the arrangement of the givens was inspired by my puzzle 10. Good use of implied polyominoes.

Puzzle 03: sc979mathgrant's comments: This was the last entry received. Props for a 13(!)-omino, but the difficulty was far too extreme for my pedestrian tastes.

Puzzle 04: Valeziusmathgrant's comments: Holy crap, this one was rough. In fact, solving it reminded me of the Fillomino puzzles on PuzzlePicnic in terms of difficulty. I was therefore not surprised to learn that Valezius is an "experienced puzzler" on the site, a title that comes with having solved a sufficient number of puzzles. (In approximately 8 months of membership, Valezius has solved 1418 puzzles; in approximately 35 months of membership, I've solved a mere 429.)

Puzzle 05: motrismathgrant's comments: The first entry received (motris would also be the first to vote). Had some difficult and clever parts, showing much of motris's trademark style. Counting is helpful in the end, but not dreadfully necessary. A mite too symmetrical with the 5's and 6's, and no implied polyominoes of which to speak, but nonetheless elegant enough that I'd expect this puzzle to appear if motris wrote a Polyominous book.

Puzzle 06: mathgrantmathgrant's comments: It would not be fit for me to print my comments on this puzzle here.

Puzzle 07: Shvegaitmathgrant's comments: The author gets mad, mad technical props for working an implied 10-omino(!) into a design while fulfilling all of the contest restrictions, and kudos for the four-way rotational symmetry, but as usual for Fillomino puzzles constructed by PuzzlePicnic users, the difficulty was too far on the tedious end for my tastes.

Puzzle 08: detunedmathgrant's comments: Yikes, what a saga. He posted his first construction on his blog in an effort to inspire other constructors to enter, but that puzzle had multiple solutions. The puzzle he actually sent me also had this error, as did his tweaked version, forcing him to begin anew. I found myself asking, "Will he manage to finish a construction eventually?" And he did! Puzzle's a little harder than I'm used to, but not overly so; compared to PuzzlePicnic, I found it smooth, elegant, and fun.

Puzzle 09: Stumbler's Ridermathgrant's comments: TOO. MUCH. COUNTING. TOO. MUCH. TRIAL AND ERROR. TOO. MUCH. TEDIUM. TOO. MUCH. PUZZLEPICNIC. You know a puzzle has left a bad impression when I type in all caps.

Puzzle 10: Anderson Wangmathgrant's comments: The upper-right 7 and the 8's were moderately tricky, but for the most part, a smooth solve that left me with a smile.

Puzzle 11: Paul Redmanmathgrant's comments: The puzzle came off as mostly droll to me, with the implied 6-omino being the greatest saving grace. Aside from that, the lack of use of the "no same-sized polyominoes can touch" rule was disappointing.

Puzzle 12: groza528mathgrant's comments: The lack of implied polyominoes disappointed me, but the author gets mad technical credit for making opposite givens sum to 10.

Puzzle 13: chaotik_iakmathgrant's comments: Approximately the first 40% was easy, but then the difficulty increased somewhat jarringly. Upper-left corner took some thought to get done correctly, and the upper-right even more so, especially the 2-, 6-, and 8-omino.

Puzzle 14: anurag.sahaymathgrant's comments: Yuck, counting. Without it, it's near impossible to make real progress on this puzzle. With it, it's still difficult. Can you guess what puzzle website anurag.sahay frequents?

Puzzle 15: /dev/joemathgrant's comments: Obviously designed as a response to my clarification that symmetrically opposite givens need not be the same. Difficulty level forces me to classify it as an Evil Zinger. Probably the cutest possible puzzle that could be designed with the restrictions, and far less tedious but ultimately it feels like I'm solving only half a puzzle twice as opposed to one whole puzzle. I nonetheless enjoyed this puzzle more than some of the PuzzlePicnic creations. >.>

Puzzle 16: Rezykmathgrant's comments: I was dreading this puzzle; aside from R2C1-2 and R9C9-10, the givens are completely symmetrical. To my delightful surprise, though, the puzzle didn't solve symmetrically at all. Counting, as much as I try to avoid it when more than maybe 20 or so cells are involved, makes the puzzle doable more doable than some of the others that required mass counting. Fairly elegant.

Puzzle 17: Robert Vollmertmathgrant's comments: Proving that great minds do indeed think alike, Robert Vollmert submitted this puzzle with the givens arranged in the same pattern as in motris's puzzle! The break-in (R6-7C3-5) was a little bit tricky to see, but otherwise fairly plain (in a good way, mostly).

Puzzle 18: ours-brunmathgrant's comments: The sudden shift in difficulty between the first half and the second half of the solve was a little jarring; somehow, though, I can't bring myself to loathe it. I do admit that I'm a bit impressed by the use of the empty space in the middle; maybe that's why.

Puzzle 19: Paul Kruegermathgrant's comments: The left half was mostly simple, but the right half required counting. To be fair, though, it wasn't as nightmarish as some of the PuzzlePicnic crap, nor was it as nightmarish as a certain other being surnamed Krueger.

Puzzle 20: Tristan Millermathgrant's comments: Very pretty, but the ending required too much trial and error for my tastes.

Before I reveal the winner, how about a selection of comments from the voters?

MellowMelon: I'm guessing there a lot of PuzzlePicnic people submitting for this one? Most of the solves felt rather unclean in a way that reminded me of that site. Also, I swear I will never again make a puzzle where an early step is to count up all the clues, unless the presentation makes it pretty motivated and easy to add up (e.g. the Zoo's NC Fillomino Adult, or my recent 36 puzzle). I am sick of it after doing all of these.

Guess that was awfully negative; seems all the gushing in the comments raised my expectations. Most all were much better than average for sure. Personally I hope people notice the symmetry in 16 and that it wins, although I wouldn't be bothered if I miraculously overtake it. It appears some people spent more time making these than my ~15 minutes...

Really? Very articulate, MellowMelon. I like how articulate you are. I like knowing I'm not alone in my weird opinions, especially when the other person who shares my opinion is articulate. I'm honored to have you as a colleague in the puzzle community.

If I had to guess 10 is yours. Whoops, never mind. Thanks for being confident enough in your ability to win that you sent me your mailing address with the puzzle; it'll make hiring a hitman sending you a completely harmless cake of friendship easier.

Paul Krueger: Just in case it provides you a gigantic ego boost, I'll mention that my clear favorite was 06 - after that, I had a 6-way tie for second (which I broke based on aesthetics). Knowing that my puzzles was somebody's favorite makes me want to cry. . . and then, when I'm done crying, sell my mucus-stained tissues in an online auction where people will pay a thousand dollars for it because I'm so famous and likable that anyone would do anything to have something that I've touched. Thank you, Paul Krueger! :)

sc979: a little something interesting about my solving experience. I mainly did them in random order and it just so happened that the last puzzle I finished was the only other puzzle that had a double-digit polyomino. Until that point, I was thinking to myself “Am I really the only one to do this? If my puzzle is unique in that aspect, I’ll surely attract lots of votes!” Well, you both got more votes than I did, if that means anything! :)

David Scherzinger: I loved all but 2 of them, but my starting lineup of choice ended up being:

Charmeleon
Wartortle
Pidgeotto
Raticate

This comment makes me wish I'd gotten at least 38 entries; it would have been beautiful to get a vote for "Ninetales". . . .

And the results?

Anderson Wang    : -- 02 03 -- 05 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
anurag.sahay     : -- -- 03 04 -- -- -- -- 09 -- -- 12 -- 14 -- -- -- -- -- --
Bram de Laat     : -- 02 -- -- -- -- 07 -- -- -- -- 12 -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
David Scherzinger: -- -- -- -- 05 -- -- 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
detuned          : 01 -- 03 -- -- 06 -- 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
/dev/joe         : -- 02 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 12 -- -- 15 16 -- -- -- 20
groza528         : -- -- -- 04 05 -- -- 08 -- -- -- 12 -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- --
Jack Bross       : -- -- 03 -- -- -- 07 08 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
Matt Lahut       : -- 02 -- -- -- -- -- -- 09 -- -- -- -- 14 -- -- -- -- -- 20
Matthew Zinno    : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
MellowMelon      : 01 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 -- -- -- -- -- 16 17 -- -- 20
motris           : 01 02 -- -- 05 -- 07 -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
ours-brun        : -- -- -- -- -- -- 07 -- 09 -- -- 12 -- 14 -- -- 17 -- -- --
Paul Krueger     : 01 -- -- -- 05 06 -- -- -- -- -- -- 13 -- -- -- -- 18 -- --
Paul Redman      : -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 11 -- 13 -- -- -- 17 18 -- --
Rezyk            : -- 02 -- -- -- -- 07 -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
Robert Vollmert  : 01 02 03 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- --
Sam Ettinger     : 01 -- -- -- 05 -- -- 08 -- -- 11 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
sc979            : -- 02 03 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 16 -- -- -- 20
Shvegait         : 01 02 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 -- -- 20
Stumbler's Rider : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- 09 10 -- -- -- -- -- 16 17 -- -- --
Troy Schnabel    : -- -- 03 -- -- -- -- -- -- 10 -- 12 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
Tristan Miller   : -- -- -- -- 05 -- -- -- 09 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 18 -- 20
Valezius         : -- 02 -- 04 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 17 18 -- 20
TOTAL            :  7 10 10  5  7  2  5  5  7  4  2  6  2  3  1  7 12  4  0 11

The clear winner is Robert Vollmert! Congratulations and stuff!