Polish Puzzle Championship 2015

This weekend were the Polish Sudoku and Puzzle Championships. I was one of the puzzle contributors and test-solved all puzzles for the championship (and a few more that didn't appear). Both events were won by Jan Mrozowski. You can find all puzzles at the following links: Sudoku and Puzzle. (As a small note, there is a printing error in Round 4 (my puzzles). In the larger Summon puzzle, the 3 clue at the bottom should be a 9).

This post will contain all my puzzles that were used at the championships. I used a similar structure to my round as last year, with two puzzles of each type. I tried to get a good mix of different genres, both familiar and unfamiliar. I didn't use any of the types I used last year to keep mixing it up. There's enough genres to choose from, so it seems a bit weird to repeat a genre. I think it worked out well and would love to hear some feedback from the competitors.

Puzzles can be found below.

1. Battleships Lighthouses (48 + 76 pts)

This genre was used in the Dutch Puzzle Championships and I thought it would make a good Battleships variant for the round. I was happy with how both puzzles turned out. The smaller puzzle is somewhat tricky as it has an uncommon step at the beginning. I like how it ended up with a 1/5 clue combo in the middle, considering it is 2015. From that I decided to make the larger puzzle with only 1 and 5 clues. I couldn't make it completely work without adding a little bit of water, but I think it's a nice result none-the-less.

Rules:
Place the given fleet in the grid so that no ships touch each other, not even diagonally. There are some lighthouses indicated by numbers. The ships can't touch them, not even diagonally. The numbers indicate the number of ship segments that can be seen horizontally and vertically from that cell. Cells with waves can't contain any ship segments.

Puzzle 1

 

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

 

 

2. Disco (31 + 38 pts)

 

This puzzle type is similar to my Tapa Double Back variant, except there are no Tapa clues. I saw it on Naoki Inaba's website after I had introduced that variant. I thought they might make fun puzzles, but I had never actually constructed one before. I think they're both not too hard, once you understand the logic. I tried to limit the number of 3 cells areas in the second puzzle, but it's hard to avoid them when still forcing uniqueness.

 

Rules:

Shade some cells to form a single connected wall. The wall can't have any 2x2 coloured areas anywhere. The grid is divided in a number of black-bordered regions. Each regions must contain exactly two separate sections of the wall.

 

Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

3. Easy as ABCD (16 + 63 pts)

This is one of the standard genres. I always find it tricky to judge difficulty. When you know the path it really is not too hard to ever solve them. But when solving I can sometimes be tricked up. The small puzzle is not too hard, but I think it turned out nicely. The second one is a bit harder. It took a while to get it right. A lot of times I ran into almost solutions where I couldn't fix 2 or 3 letters. I finally found a way to fix that section and found a single clue to fix that puzzle. I was happy to find out it didn't interfere with the intended logical path.

Rules:
Place the letters A, B, C and D once in each row and column. Clues on the outside indicate the first letter seen in that row or column from that side.

Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

4. Fillomino (27 + 75 pts)

This is the second standard genre. I hadn't written any recently but I always enjoy writing them. It just takes some time to keep them interesting. The first one is made up of four arcs of 1~5. It took me a while to get it to work. I found a lot of ways it's not unique or doesn't have a solution. The second one has an open centre, which I think resolves really nicely in the end. It took me a while to find the right way to fix it with the path I had created till then. I was happy with that part and didn't want to change it. It fell in the end.

Rules:
Divide the grid into different regions along the grid lines. Regions of the same size are not allowed to touch by a side. Numbers in the grid indicate the size of the area they are part of. Regions may contain more than one clue number or no clue at all.

 Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

5. Mastermind (39 + 82 pts)

I came up with the idea of using this puzzle type when browsing my own puzzle selection. I thought a different type of logic would be interesting in a complete set. It is also why I realised I hadn't posted my Slovak Championship puzzles. The first one is a bit similar to my first puzzle in the Slovak Championships. It didn't totally work in the sequence, but I changed one of the numbers slightly and then it was unique. That was good enough for me. The second one is a bit trickier, but with the right observations it has a nice logical path.

Rules:
The puzzle has a secret code. Some guesses for this code have been given. Circles indicate how many correct digits are in the code. A white circle indicates a correct digit in the wrong place. A black circle indicates a correct digit in the right place.

Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

 

6. Mintonette (53 + 94 pts)

 

This was the last puzzle type I added. It's a type that used to regularly appear in Breinbrekers and also appears on puzzlepicnic. It's a simple idea, but the logic can still be tricky. A lot of it depends on realising that all cells need to be used. You can actually make them with any number of turns, but I think three turns are generally the nicest. I didn't think either of them was very hard, but they tested harder than I expected. The first one has a simple standard opening and then becomes a bit harder. The second one has a bit trickier opening and it took me a while to find a nice finish for it. A lot of them used too many circles, which made it look a bit crowded.

 

Rules:

Connect circles in pairs by drawing a line that goes horizontally and vertically through the centres of cells. The line makes exactly three turns between two circles. Lines can't touch or cross themselves or each other. Each cell must be used by one line and each circle must be connected to another circle.

 

Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

7. Myopia (51 + 100 pts)

Last year I put in Pentopia, so I figured this year I'd put in the type I based that genre off. You can make some nice puzzles with this genre, but I haven't really seen them used in championships by others. It's usually a bit of a struggle to get the symmetric layout to work as the clue are a bit less forcing as in Pentopia. It's easy to run into non-unique situations. I think they both turned out nicely.

Rules:
Draw a single closed loop along the grid lines. The loop can't touch or cross itself. Lines in the grid indicate the directions in which the loop is closest when looking from that cell.

Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

8. Summon (30 + 120 pts)

When I first started solving these puzzles, I didn't understand the rules properly and could never solve them. The first one I solved was on this year's German Puzzle Championship online qualifier. That's when I finally knew all rules. The second one was of course on the LMI Marathon. That solve didn't go so smoothly. These puzzles are innately hard for several reasons. It's really easy to make a narrow path. Also, as a regular puzzler, the no repeat rule for rows and columns is sometimes a bit too engrained. I first wrote a larger puzzle to be included, but the 8x8 puzzle already tested hard enough. So I added a 6x6 instead. I think both puzzles turned out nicely. The solving path is solid in both.

Rules:
Place digits 1, 2 and 3 once in every black-bordered region. Equal digits can't touch each other, not even diagonally. Orthogonally adjacent digits within a single row or column form numbers. Numbers must be read from left to right or top to bottom. Clues on the outside indicate the sum of the numbers in that row or column.

 

Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2

 

9. Yin Yang (27 + 30 pts)

This is another familiar type. I haven't written many, but solved lots. They are generally not that hard, so it's always a good type to include in a long round. The first puzzle is almost completely symmetric except for one pair of clues. I thought it was a nice touch. The second I thought was a bit trickier, but solving times were pretty similar.

Rules:
Place black or white circles in every cell so that all circles of the same colour are orthogonally connected to each other. Nowhere a region of 2x2 can be filled with circles of the same colour.

Puzzle 1

 

 

Puzzle 2