Puzzle 58 - Polycubeous 3

Hey, it's me, Polycubeous!  Remember me?

...so, I had this idea of making a two-layered Polycubeous puzzle a while ago, but when I started doing it I messed up really badly.  I recently decided to try again.  Now, I have created a masterpiece monster.  This puzzle is insanely hard.  I usually hate puzzles of this difficulty, but then I ended up making one by accident.  Oh well.

Oh yeah, also, the solid gray lines are there just as a reference when you're in the more middle parts of the grid.  They have no relevance to the actual puzzle whatsoever.  There are only two levels to this puzzle.

Puzzle 57 - Polyominous 12

I made this puzzle a little bit differently than usual for Polyominous.  I usually make the pattern of givens before the rest of the puzzle, but this time I just made things as I felt like then mirrored the rest to make it symmetrical, and out came this.  I might do this more often.

Edit: Well, looks like we're playing Spot the Asymmetry again.  Oh well.

Puzzle 56 - Slitherlink 10

Let's play checkers!

...again.

Puzzle 55 - Polyominous 11

Let's play Checkers!

Puzzle 54 - Logic of Life 3

Puzzle 53 - Straight and Arrow 5

Puzzle 52 - Room and Reason 5

I have to go to bed now, so the other two puzzles will wait until later.

Puzzle 51 - Process of Illumination 4

So, over a 10-hour car drive I made several puzzles...

First is a Process of Illuminati Illumination with a very specific theme.  Can you figure it out?

Puzzle 50 - Boxing Match 4

It's puzzle 50!  To celebrate, here's a really big Boxing Match.

I feel like this type puzzle has so much potential to be really great, but I'm not the best at making puzzles and since I've never actually solved any of these that others have made it's even harder.  There were a few parts in this one where I was thinking, "Why can't I always make these puzzles like this?"  Hopefully some others (who are actually good at this) will start making these.

Also, this puzzle is a lot harder than my other Boxing Matches.  Be warned.

(click to enlarge)

Puzzle 49 - Logic of Life 2

 Making original types of logic puzzles is hard.  Because I have no experience solving these, I found a bunch of mistakes.  I had to test solve this thing four or five times before it was finally finished.

Hey, look at what puzzle number is next...  I wonder what type of puzzle it will be...

Puzzle 48 - Logic of Life 1

Once you wrap your mind around the rules, I think this puzzle type is actually really interesting.  I hope you do too.

Rules - Logic of Life

Logic of Life is an original logic puzzle I created.  It's name, for once, is original!  (even if it is just mixing up "logic puzzle" and "game of life"...)

1. Make each cell white or black.

2. No two black cells may share an edge.

3. All white cells must be connected to each other through their edges.

4. The completed puzzle will be generation 1 of a pattern in Conway's Game of Life, with black cells being live cells and white cells being dead cells.  The edges act like dead cells.

5. All cells with an O in it must be alive in generation 2.

6. All cells with an X in it must be dead in generation 2.

7. All cells with a ? in it must be different in generation 1 than in generation 2.

If you don't understand Conway's Game of Life, here's an alternate telling of the rules (when I mention the cells "around" another cell, I am talking about the eight cells orthogonally and diagonally adjacent to that cell):

1. Make each cell white or black.

2. No two black cells may share an edge.

3. All white cells must be connected to each other through their edges.

4. A white cell with an O must have three black cells around it.

5. A black cell with an O must have two or three black cells around it.

6. A white cell with an X must have zero, one, two, or four black cells around it.

7. A black cell with an X must have zero, one, or four black cells around it.

8. A white cell with a ? must have three black cells around it.

9. A black cell with a ? must have zero, one, or four black cells around it.

Puzzle 47 - Polyominous 10 (Nested)

In this Polyominous puzzle, there are 16 smaller Polyominous puzzles.  The cell in the position the puzzle is in is part of a bigger Polyominous puzzle (here's an illustration).  Sometimes the bigger puzzle depends on the smaller ones, and sometimes the smaller ones depend on the bigger one.  Solve all 17 puzzles.

Puzzle 46 - Arrowneous 4

I haven't made one of these in a while...

In completely unrelated news, check out the tips tab on the top!  It's not close to being done, and I keep on thinking of more to do in the stuff I have done, but maybe it will help you out somehow.

Puzzle 45 - Polyominous 9

I have two things to say about this puzzle:

1. For it's size, it was really, REALLY hard to make.

2. As you can see, it has a six and a seven in it (and an upside-down six and seven for symmetry).  What are some of the things you can do with a six and a seven, and what does it make?  The answer is in this puzzle.

Puzzle 44 - Boxing Match 3

This puzzle is in reply to a comment on my first two Boxing Match puzzles that the rule where two circles can't make a square was never used.  I tried to use it a lot here, but upon test solving it and trying not to use it, it only HAS to be used once.  It can still help you in other areas, though.

Puzzle 43 - Pearls of Wisdom 7 (Total)

In this puzzle, any grid cell which could legally contain a pearl has one.  If a grid cell does not have a pearl, it MAY NOT follow the rules for black or white pearls.

EDIT: This puzzle was impossible.  I always missed those black pearls.  This version is fixed.

Puzzle 42 - Pearls of Wisdom 6 (Total)

IMPORTANT: This puzzle is a variant on the normal Pearls of Wisdom puzzles.  In this puzzle, any grid cell which could legally contain a pearl has one.  If a grid cell does not have a pearl, it MAY NOT follow the rules for black or white pearls.  This variant comes from motris (Thomas Snyder).  Any variant puzzles will have their name in parenthesis after the puzzle name/number, so watch out for those in the future.

Puzzle 41 - Pearls of Wisdom 5

Puzzle 40 - Slitherlink 9

Here's my take on a Slitherlink with no givens in the perimeter of the puzzle.

Puzzle 39 - Process of Illumination 3

So, I've been really busy...  I made several puzzles during this time but didn't get around to getting them online.  So, here's six puzzles for you!

About this puzzle: During a rehearsal, a 10-13-year-old girl asked me for a logic puzzle.  She said she wanted to do Process of Illumination (from seeing me do it), so I made this puzzle.  Warning: it's probably the easiest puzzle I've ever made.

Puzzle 38 - Boxing Match 2

Puzzle 37 - Boxing Match 1

Rules - Boxing Match

Boxing Match is an original puzzle that I created.  The name comes from Tables of f.ds (no, it's not based on mathgrant's "Fencing Match").

1. Divide the grid into rectangles along the grid lines.

2. Each rectangle must contain exactly two shapes.

3. A rectangle containing two circles must not be a square.

4. A rectangle containing at least one square must be a square.

Puzzle 36 - Slitherlink 8

Although it should be obvious, the loop may not go through the empty spaces in this puzzle.

Puzzle 35 - Polyominous 8

So, an expansion to my favorite board game came out, the 1.0 version of Kerbal Space program came out, and I got my minecraft server working again, so updates might be sparse for a bit...

(Not that anyone cares, as I usually get 0-1 views a day)

Puzzle 34 - Process of Illumination 2

Let's play...Spot the Asymmetry!

...okay, the asymmetry in this puzzle was completely on accident.  I made that thing down there black for some reason and not in the upper left, and I didn't notice until after the whole puzzle was finished.  I didn't want to change the puzzle at that point so I just left it.

Puzzle 33 - Straight and Arrow 4

This puzzle shows how cruel I can be.  Both for it's difficulty, and in making you not figure out pieces of information for ages after you feel like you should.

Puzzle 32 - Polyominous 7

EDIT 6-24-15: My brother finally got around to solving this thing (he's basically my extra test-solver), and it was found to be horribly broken.  The version below has fixed this.

Puzzle 31 - Pearls of Wisdom 4

Isn't solving puzzles fun?  Like, so fun that I solve them instead of make them and let this sit for a while...?

Puzzle 30 - Room and Reason 4

I need to stop making these types of puzzles at this one place.  I always find a bunch of mistakes every time.  Last time I made one there, it turned into Room and Reason 2.

Puzzle 29 - Slitherlink 7

I learned two things making this puzzle:

1. I need to be in the right mood to make a good Slitherlink (I think I was this time).
2. I hate 0 in Slitherlinks for some reason.

Puzzle 28 - Pearls of Wisdom 3

Puzzle 27 - Slitherlink 6

So, when making logic puzzles, of course you can mess up.  You can either make there be no solutions (Fixing this usually makes a similar-difficulty logic puzzle), or you can make there be multiple solutions (fixing this usually makes a slightly easier logic puzzle because you have to add more information to make it work).  Sometimes, though, when it seems like there's multiple solutions, the extra solution(s) are ruled out by how the rest of the puzzle is designed.  This makes for an extremely hard logic puzzle, because you need to make a long sequence of possible outcomes to see if it's the right solution.

The reason I say this is to explain why this puzzle is so hard.  It's mostly a nice fairly difficult puzzle, but one part will make you pull your hair out.  Good luck.

Puzzle 26 - Polyominous 6

So, I've been really busy...  One of those things that I've been busy with was auditioning for Pirates of Penzance last weekend, and I got the Major-General's part!  To celebrate, here's a music themed puzzle, complete with musical notes, horribly-made bass clefs, and a couple things I threw in there because it was getting annoying making the puzzle without givens there.

Note to self: don't make a polyominous puzzle with this big of spaces again.

Puzzle 25 - Process of Illumination 1

Maybe I should have done something special for puzzle 25.  Oh well.

Rules - Process of Illumination

Process of Illumination was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli.  The name comes from mathgrant.  (Look, I'm horrible at coming up with names, and don't like using the Japanese ones)

1. Place light bulbs in some of the white cells.
2. A light bulb illuminates its own cell and all cells in a horizontal or vertical line from it up to a black cell or the puzzles edge.
3. All cells must be illuminated.
4. No light bulbs may illuminate each other.
5. A number in a black cell says how many light bulbs are orthogonally adjacent (share an edge) with that black cell.

Puzzle 24 - Twincognito 1

For new puzzle types, I used to make the first puzzle first then make the example, but recently I realized it would be better to make the example first because I can train myself making it instead.  That definitely was the case for this; half of the grid could be any number, but making sure that they didn't make you figure anything out when I didn't want you to was pretty hard.  If you want to see how bad it can get, solve the example puzzle.

Rules - Twincognito

Twincognito was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli.  The name comes from mathgrant (I don't feel like linking it anymore, just look at earlier rules or something to find it if you want it).

1. Make each cell white or black.

2. No two black cells may share an edge.

3. All white cells must be connected to each other through their edges.

4. No two white cells with the same number may be in the same row or column.

Puzzle 23 - Arrowneous 3

After realizing that there's usually a lot of clumped givens in this type of puzzle, this was my attempt at fixing that.  I kind of did it.

Puzzle 22 - Arrowneous 2

EDIT: My brother finally got around to solving this, and there was a place where I miscounted and the puzzle ended up having multiple solutions.  The version below has been fixed.

EDIT 2: I've been solving a few random puzzles of mine, and found the upper right corner of this puzzle to be broken.  I don't have my original solution with me at the moment, so I won't fix it at this time.  For now, a broken puzzle will be here, and you do not need to attempt to solve it.

Puzzle 21 - Arrowneous 1

Rules - Arrowneous

Arrowneous was invented by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli.  The name comes from Rick Griffin, a reader of mathgrant's blog.

1. Make each cell white or black.

2. No two black cells may share an edge.

3. All white cells must be connected to each other through their edges.

4. A white cell with a number and an arrow show how many black cells are in the row or column pointed at by the arrow.

5. Cells with a number and an arrow can be shaded in.  If they are, the clue is meaningless, and may or may not be true.

Puzzle 20 - Straight and Arrow 3

A part of this puzzle shows that arrows aren't placed just for showing where the black cells are...

Puzzle 19 - Slitherlink 5

Puzzle 18 - Polycubeous 2

You know, now that I'm getting the hang of these, they're actually pretty fun to make...

Puzzle 17 - Polycubeous 1

Rules - Polycubeous

Polycubeous is a three-dimensional version of polyominous.

1. Make a three-dimensional grid out of the two-dimensional ones by stacking them on top of each other, with the grid on the top being the top section of the 3D grid.  (The example puzzle is a dome when stacked this way.)

2. Divide the grid into polycubes.
3. Each space in the grid will have a number in it.
4. Each number must be in a polycube with that number of cubes.
5. No two polycubes with the same number of cubes may touch on any of their (square) edges.
6. A polycube may contain any number (including zero) of the numbers originally given.

Puzzle 16 - Pearls of Wisdom 2

Puzzle 15 - Pearls of Wisdom 1