From: Carl Worth Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 02:46:19 +0000 (-0800) Subject: Add blog post pointing to my first puzzle on gmpuzzles.com X-Git-Url: https://git.cworth.org/git?p=cworth.org;a=commitdiff_plain;h=c9f05839902103278d590ebc620524ab7da39102 Add blog post pointing to my first puzzle on gmpuzzles.com This is my Clueless Nanro puzzle, so I talk a bit about the rules of Nanro and what I was going for with this clueless variation. --- diff --git a/src/blog/personal.mdwn b/src/blog/personal.mdwn index 80fa846..f8afc0f 100644 --- a/src/blog/personal.mdwn +++ b/src/blog/personal.mdwn @@ -3,4 +3,4 @@ Here are [[Carl's|index]] most recent personal blog entries. More information [[about]] the blog is available. -[[!inline pages="link(tag/climbing) or link(tag/family) or link(tag/games) or link(tag/make)"]] +[[!inline pages="link(tag/climbing) or link(tag/family) or link(tag/games) or link(tag/make) or link(tag/puzzles)"]] diff --git a/src/puzzles/clueless_nanro.mdwn b/src/puzzles/clueless_nanro.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4d079ad --- /dev/null +++ b/src/puzzles/clueless_nanro.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,68 @@ +[[!meta title="Clueless Nanro"]] + +[[!tag puzzles]] + +I just had [my first +puzzle](http://www.gmpuzzles.com/blog/2014/11/nanro-carl-worth/) +published at the [Grandmaster Puzzles](http://www.gmpuzzles.com) +website. Give it a try. + +I've really been impressed by the puzzles published at +gmpuzzles.com. They do a great job of showcasing how much more +interesting a logic puzzle can be when it's hand-crafted by a puzzle +designer, rather than computer generated. I've also enjoyed learning +many new kinds of logic puzzles, and decided that I wanted to try my +hand at composing some puzzles of my own. + +My first published puzzle is a Nanro puzzle, which is a puzzle type I +only recently discovered. In a typical Nanro puzzle, the solver is +presented with a grid that is segmented into regions of various shapes +and sizes, with some of the cells labeled with numbers. The goal is to +label additional cells with numbers so that all of the labeled cells +form a single connected group, (with no 2x2 square of cells fully +labeled). Additionally, within each region there must at least one +labeled cell and the number(s) within a region must be equal to the +number of labeled cells within that region. (That is, a region may +contain one 1 or two 2s or three 3s, etc.) Finally, no two occurrences +of the same number can appear adjacent to each other across a region +boundary. + +OK. So, I'll be the first to admit that the ruleset of Nanro isn't the +most elegant. The rules can't be captured as succinctly as those of +that other puzzle, ("no repeated numbers in any row, column, or +region"). Fortunately, the solving experience is smoother than the +description of the rules. + +Most puzzles at gmpuzzles.com have some sort of "theme". Often there's +an interesting visual presentation. Almost always there's a +well-designed "solving path" of logical deductions that can be fun to +discover. The idea is that there's something creative that goes into +each puzzle that that distinguishes it from something +computer-generated. And that creativity usually translates to a more +interesting experience for the solver. + +For this particular puzzle, the theme I wanted to explore was a +"clueless" puzzle. That is, my puzzle contains a grid segmented into +regions as typical for Nanro, but it doesn't include any initial +numbers in the presentation. So that's something unique I think (as +far as I have seen of Nanro at least). I'm not sure how successful I +was at exploring the theme in this puzzle. Hopefully it's an +interesting puzzle to solve, but I am a bit nervous that I'm bringing +down the average quality of puzzles at gmpuzzles.com with this one. + +I hadn't seen it prior to composing my puzzle. But before mine was +published I found this [spectacular +Nanro](http://www.gmpuzzles.com/blog/2014/04/nanro-prasanna-seshadri-2/) +by the inimitable Prasanna Seshadri. It's not entirely clueless, but +as close as possible, (just one given number), but it thoroughly +explores some of the ideas that my puzzle just touches +briefly. Prasanna's puzzle has a really striking presentation that +translates to a fun solving path. And it's obviously something that's +been generated by hand not computer-generated, (at least given the +state of the typical bland computer-generated puzzle today). So that's +a great example of what gmpuzzles is all about and the standard I'll +be aiming for with future puzzles. + +So if you're interested in logic puzzles, take a look at my first +puzzle. But even more, look around at the other puzzles at +gmpuzzles.com. I doubt you'll be disappointed.