The set was 75 minutes during the championship. An instruction booklet can be found here.
Puzzles can be found below.
1. Arrows (18 + 38 points)
This was the most obvious inclusion in the set. It's a standard puzzle type, that used to appear in Breinbrekers. It's a type I grew up solving a lot. The small one is pretty standard. The larger one is a bit more interesting. It originally had only half the clues, but I added all remaining clues to make it a bit easier.
Rules:
Place an arrow in each empty cell outside the grid. Each arrow must point at at least one cell in the grid. Numbers in the grid indicate how many arrows are pointing at that cell.
Puzzle #1
Puzzle #2
2. Arrow Maze (8 + 31 points)
This is another familiar type to me. It doesn't show up as much as Arrows in puzzle competitions. I always find them fun to solve, but haven't really written that many. There's not that much that can be done with them in my mind. Most of them are just a similar solve, but that's not always a bad thing. The small one is just some easy points, while the second one should be a bit more interesting.
Rules:
Place the numbers 1~25 for the first puzzle and 1~36 for the second puzzle in the grid. An arrow in a cell indicates the direction of the next number in the grid, so that a path can be followed from 1~25 or 1~36 though the grid. Some numbers have been given.
Puzzle #1
Puzzle #2
3. Blind Spot (21 points)
Latin Square puzzles were actually the hardest to include in the set as I couldn't think of many. This one was the easiest to include as it is a type I enjoy writing a lot. It's a Latin Square puzzle type, that is different than most others as it uses arrows. I haven't really seen many of these puzzles by other authors, except those by Naoki Inaba. If you enjoy them, there's a few more on this blog. This puzzle is of medium difficulty.
Rules:
Place four arrows (up, down, left, right) once in every row and column, so that arrows don't point at each other. Black walls block the view of arrows.
4. Compass (19 points)
As always I come back to certain puzzle types. And it's not uncommon for those types to come from Naoki Inaba. They are usually types I think should be more common. I hope more people solving them, will also lead to more people writing them. But that doesn't very often work out that way. The rules for this type are pretty straightforward. This puzzle should be relatively easy, as the opening is pretty straightforward.
Rules:
Colour some squares, so that the remaining cells form a single connected area. This area can't cover any 2x2 area anywhere. Coloured squares can't touch each other by a side. Arrows in the grid indicate the only direction you can travel to the star from this cell, by only traveling over uncoloured squares. Cells with arrows or stars can't be coloured.
5. Heterocut (16 points)
This is a type I've played around with a lot. They always seem interesting, but I'm still trying to work out how to use this type the best. Smaller puzzle always look nice as all walls have arrows, but bigger ones could make it more interesting. I seem to always stick with smaller puzzles though.
Rules:
Divide the grid into a number of regions of 2, 3, 4 and 5 cells. No regions may appear twice. Rotations and reflections are considered the same shape. Some borders have been given. Arrows on these borders always point to the larger region.
6. Inside Skyscrapers (9 + 23 points)
There's two variants of this type. In one of them all possible arrows are given. I never like that variant. I always go for the type that only gives part of the arrows. This leads to nicer solving paths in my opinion. I added a simple puzzle, that should solve without problems. The second puzzle again is more interesting.
Rules:
Place the digits 1~6 once in every row and column. These digits represent skyscrapers of that height. Arrows in the grid indicate, the digit in that cell indicates the number of skyscrapers visible in that direction. Larger digits block the view of smaller digits.
Puzzle #1
Puzzle #2
7. Japanese Arrows (39 points)
I think the first time I solved these puzzles was at the 2003 WPC. I've always had trouble solving these puzzles. I find them interesting to write though. Writing them has helped me solve them better too. I think the construction of this one worked out really well. It's sometimes hard to make sure they end up unique, while keeping a nice solving path. I think this is one of the harder puzzles in the set.
Rules:
Place a number in each arrow. The number indicates how many different numbers the arrow points at.
8. Pentopia (30 points)
Pentopia was an obvious choice by me. It's my own invention and it seems to be well liked. I always enjoy writing them. I hoped to get this one to have only 3 arrow clues, but that didn't work out completely. I really liked the logic though, so I didn't want to tweak it too much to make it work. I always favour logic over aesthetics.
Rules:
Place a number of different pentominos in the grid, so they don't touch each other, not even diagonally. Rotations and reflections are considered the same shape. Arrows in the grid indicate the direction(s) of the closest pentomino when looking from that cell. Pentominos can't be placed in cells with arrows.
9. Pointing At The Crowd (32 points)
This type seems to always work well in sets to add some variety. It's a type that is just different than most puzzle types. These are always tricky to write as it's not always possible to get the puzzle unique. I think it's a nice puzzle. It's probably of medium difficulty.
Rules:
Mark some cells in the grid so that each arrow is pointing to the direction with the most marked cells. The direction of the arrow must have strictly more cells marked than the other (up to) 5 directions from that cell. Cells with arrows must remain empty.
10. Sashigane (17 points)
I'd never written this type before. It's the last type I found when looking for puzzle types. I wanted another division puzzle and I couldn't find many of them. After discovering the genre I was determined to write a puzzle that only uses arrows and no other clues. This seemed to fit the theme of the round well. I think it turned into a really nice puzzle.
Rules:
Divide the grid into a number of one cell wide L-shaped regions. Circles in the grid indicate the bend point of the region. Numbers in the circle indicate the size of a region. Arrows in the grid indicate the end of a leg of an L-shaped region and always point towards the bend point.
11. Yajisan Kazusan (43 points)
This is another type I have trouble solving. It always seems tricky to find the path through these puzzles. I do enjoy writing these puzzles. I think the opening for this puzzle worked out really well. It's tricky to work out and this makes the puzzle a bit harder. There's no real way to work your way through the puzzle without it.
Rules:
Colour some cells so that the remaining white area forms a single connected area. Coloured cells are not allowed to share an edge. Clue cells in the grid indicate the number of squares that must be coloured in the direction of the arrow. Clue cells may be shaded. When shaded, a clue cell no longer has to be correct.
12. Yajilin (10 + 21 points)
Yajilin was another of the more familiar types in this set. As far as puzzles with arrows go, it's probably the most familiar type. It's a type I enjoy writing, so that helps including it in the set. Neither puzzle is particularly difficult. The first puzzle was again included for some easier points.
Rules:
Colour a number of cells, so that a single closed loop can be drawn through the remaining empty cells. Coloured cells are not allowed to share an edge. Clues in the grid indicate the number of cells that have to be coloured in the direction of the arrow.
Puzzle #1
Puzzle #2
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