From: Carl Worth Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 02:23:21 +0000 (-0800) Subject: Add blog post for newly-published Pentominous puzzle. X-Git-Url: https://git.cworth.org/git?p=cworth.org;a=commitdiff_plain;h=b671deaee4003cb0aa20c9d8027acbcb04beceaf Add blog post for newly-published Pentominous puzzle. This is my "Intuit, Nix, Fix" puzzle. --- diff --git a/src/puzzles/pentominous-intuit-nix-fix.mdwn b/src/puzzles/pentominous-intuit-nix-fix.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91700b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/puzzles/pentominous-intuit-nix-fix.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,62 @@ +[[!meta title="Pentominous: Intuit, Nix, Fix"]] + +[[!tag puzzles]] + +I just had [my third +puzzle](http://www.gmpuzzles.com/blog/2014/12/pentominous-carl-worth/) +published at [GM Puzzles](http://www.gmpuzzles.com). Take a look. + +This puzzle is a Pentominous puzzle, a really fun style which I +believe was invented by Grant Fikes, a prolific puzzle contributor to +GM Puzzles. To solve the puzzle, you simply need to divide the 10x10 +grid into 20 pentominoes such that each of the given letters in the +grid is contained by a pentomino of that shape, and that no two +pentominoes of the same shape are touching. + +My puzzle today is a Monday-level difficulty, meaning it's not too +tough. And I think this puzzle in particular is a great introduction +to Pentominous. When I first started constructing logic puzzles, I had +a hard time making good and fun puzzles at an introductory level. Part +of the problem is that any puzzle I make is usually harder than I +expect it will be, (I think that's common for many beginning puzzle +designers), so I'd often force harder deductions in the puzzle +thinking that that was a requirement to make the puzzle interesting. + +But this puzzle is probably the first time I made what I think it a +really successful introductory puzzle. I've given this puzzle to a lot +of people and people end up really liking the way the puzzle just sort +of walks you through a series of forced pentomino placements. I've +often heard feedback along the lines of, "Well, I still say that I +can't do puzzles like this, but that one was actually a lot of fun," +and that's really rewarding to hear. + +So take a look if you're interested and let me know how it goes for +you. + +Oh, and I should comment on the words I ended up including in the +puzzle's presentation. First, it's really tempting to include words in +Pentominous puzzles. Second, it's really hard to pull them off. As a +case in point here is an [example +puzzle](http://tspuzzles.wordpress.com/2014/11/17/9-pentominous/) by +Tapio Saarinen where he started with 4 English words, but by the time +he was done, only one remained as an actual word. + +For today's puzzle, I set myself up for a bigger challenge, because I +wanted to get a meaningful phrase, (but I only have the letters +FILNPTUVWXYZ to work with---quite limited). The phrase I chose, +"Intuit, Nix, Fix" is specifically the strategy I don't recommend +using to solve puzzles. That is, you can just make a guess (intuit), +then work with the puzzle for a while until you encounter a +contradiction, then cancel your guess and try again (nix, fix). I +suppose "guess and check" would have been an easier way to say that, +but you can't spell that with the twelve Pentomino letters. + +Anyway, a lot of people have been trained to use guess-and-check as a +strategy because they've been solving puzzles generated randomly by +computer programs, and many of these puzzles don't afford any other +strategy. A huge benefit of solving good, hand-made puzzles like those +published at gmpuzzles.com is that you don't need that +strategy. Inside, there's a nice logical path from start to finish. So +resist the temptation to guess, and go give this puzzle a try. + +Happy puzzling!