First up is the Combined Tapa. I'm not really happy with the Digital Tapa part because of the changed 0 rule, but the rest is nice in my opinion. It is 12 by 12 just like the previous time a Combined Tapa appeared on the TVC.
Secondly is the Fractional Tapa. I finally gave up on trying to incorporate the 3 by 3 fractioned cells and then the construction went far more smoothly. I put some clues inside the fractioned cells as Serkan said it could happen, so there's a good chance it will. I think it worked out well. I'm happy with the result.
Then we have the Modern Tapa. I have not a single clue why it's called Modern, but that's unimportant. I think I exploited the set layout very well and it's important not to forget the no reflections rule.
Lastly there's the Tapa Balance. I employed a small gimmick in this puzzle as I expect that Serkan might do the same thing. I would have at least if I were to make the test. So pay attention to the puzzle before you get started. I think this one is relatively tricky.
Puzzles can be found below
Rules for Tapa
1. Combined Tapa
The grid is divided into 4 sections. Each section uses a different rule. All sections together form a single Tapa wall.
Left Top: Place Tapa
Follow regular Tapa rules. Place one of the given Tapa clues in each grey cell. Each clue is used once.
Right Top: Peers Tapa
Follow regular Tapa rules. Each clue cell has a peer, symmetrical to the center of the grid. The sums of the digits in both cells are equal, but two peers don't contain the exact same digits. Find the missing peers to solve the grid.
Left Bottom: Digital Tapa
Follow regular Tapa rules. Digits are in digital form as shown below the grid. Some segments may be missing from the original numbers. Any digits can be a 0.
Right Bottom: Ir-irregular Tapa
The grid is divided into irregular shapes. Each shape is either completely coloured or not coloured. Each cell in a shape counts as a seperate cell in the clue count.
 |
| Click to enlarge |
3. Fractional Tapa
Follow regular Tapa rules. Some cells are divided into smaller squares. Numbers in the cells indicate the total area of each distinct group of painted cells, rounded to 2 decimal places. Nowhere in the grid can a vertex(corner of a square) be completely surrounded by painted squares.
7. Modern Tapa
Follow normal Tapa clues. Additionally each clue gives the length of each distinct groups of painted cells on its neighbours as well as each group of empty ones, in an exact circular pattern (without reflections). Imaginary cells outside the grid are all considered empty.
 | ||
| Click to enlarge |
9. Tapa Balance
Follow regular Tapa rules. Additionally the grid has to be in balance. This means the total number of black cells on either side of the pivot point is the same.
 | |
| Click to enlarge |
Even in an Ir-irregular Tapa, how can a 3-5 clue exist? Am I missing something? :O
ReplyDeleteOops, yes, just got the way the clue cell extends. Sorry.
DeleteThe 4 part one was nice, I got stuck twice in the digital grid, probably should learn to read those part-clues better.
DeleteThe Fractional was my favorite of this batch, and the Balance was like a half-mad max, half-mad min :P Nice logic.
I'll do modern Tapa later. I hadn't even considered clues on irregular cells hence the confusion above. I hadn't considered clues on Fractional cells either. You might have mentioned them in your description but I've skipped it again due to my impatience :P I'll go read it now. Thanks for another nice batch.
The fractional design was somewhat a similar experience as designing the Magnetic Tapa last test, where at first I didn't like it, but when it came to the eventual puzzle I was really happy with it.
DeleteFantastic puzzles, really liked them. I started with modern tapa, and you really made the rotational constraint felt :) Then I did balance and was stuck for a couple minutes until I realized that it is a completely different puzzle from the one in the IB and, as Prasanna said, is more like mad max / min max. Spend another couple minutes figuring out what on earth could the clues in irregular mean, but then the puzzle had a really nice flow. Finally, the fractional.. Well, if those tiny clues do appear in the actual test, thanks for putting this out, because I kept getting them wrong all the time, broke the puzzle twice before actually completing it, each time it was the case of thinking "It cannot possibly get through here... O wait!! Doh". Thanks for the puzzles!
ReplyDeleteThanks. The rotation is really the defining feature of the genre as most clues don't really have many different distributions.
DeleteI made miscounts sometimes in designing the Fractional as well. It's very easy to go, oh it's in this cell so that cell must be touching. But then you realise it doesn't touch the quarter the clue is in.
I also did not like the title of modern tapa.Binary tapa is a fitting title,actually.Full tapa has a tricky opening,rest of it solves smooth.I posted the approach on the forum.
ReplyDeleteWhat gimmick? I am not sure if i understand the rules.In your puzzle the left half multiplied by some fraction should equal right half?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you mean by multiplication. It's just as it says. There's an equal amount of either side of the pivot point.
Deletehey can you tell me how to proceed for tapa balance ,
ReplyDeletei tried a lot but getting 23 max painted cells on left side of pivot ,but 26 on right side..
can u send me the answer image of this puzzle at
swaroop.guggilam@gmail.com
I tried again , this time i finally reduced the right side painted cells to 23 and i think that this is the least it can be reduced, but on left side now i am getting 22 painted cells , short of 1.
DeleteThe solution as I remember it is 23 on each side. Try to maximize the left.
Deletecan you send me the image if possible
DeleteI sent you the image. Sorry, I've been out most of the day.
ReplyDeleteyeah got it thanks.
ReplyDeleteswaroop