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Update: January 2026

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 I am somewhat familiar with the concept of link rot. When sites go offline, the hyperlinks that point to them are often considered broken or dead. A few years ago, I lost a few Witness panel sets I had made through Looksy because the link shortener I used for them, git.io, went out of service. I don't know what the status is there because, for example, the git.io link for my Plateaus puzzle still works but the link to the puzzle in its Source does not, but it is unfortunate nonetheless that information can just disappear from the internet. It was about a year ago that I mentioned someone advised me to provide pictures of the puzzles on the posts. I didn't think that the sites I was still linking to were liable to stop working. I did notice late last year that the Kudamono editor started adding a pop-up on puzzle completion asking for donations. I also noticed that this pop-up disappeared in December, so I assumed it had accrued enough donations to keep going. Now I fear the op...
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Circuit Walk

 I assume the name is a nod to how it's like a more restrictive version of Energy Walk. I set these three yesterday with a certain solving theme in mind. https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?circuitwalk/5/5/04400o6pcj https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?circuitwalk/5/5/08200k6y https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?circuitwalk/5/5/060c0zj6
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Word Cube

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 sketched on 1/10; shared on 1/11
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Corner Chain

 The lack of rules surrounding shaded squares initially caught me off guard, but the special rule seems perfectly tailored to target local nonuniquenesses whilst allowing for a more free-flowing form of Mochikoro. For example, rectangles are always allowed to be 2 cells wide if necessary, but only some of the small region shapes can be used. https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?cornerch/5/5/3o3i4p https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?cornerch/7/7/6k4t.z8k4 https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?cornerch/9/5/.i.i2q6i.q5i.i./ https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?cornerch/8/8/j.h.g2n6zl6n4g2h.j https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?cornerch/9/9/4l3q4h4n4n4i34l3k4r3m3g
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Update: December 2025

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 2025 was a very ambitious year for me. I'm especially proud of Puzzletober and mostly proud of the mystery and larger project which were completed back in spring and summer. I enjoy having lofty goals to work towards, though sometimes I worry about biting off more than I can chew. I wonder how that bar is set. My original plan for the Christmas puzzle was to make a 45x45 grid composed of 81 5x5 plots that needed to be placed in the right locations and then divided into 37 zones, each with a different ruleset inspired by a prompt on the calendar, the entirety of which would be traversed by a directed network of looping carolers who could band together, split up, and sometimes cross paths. I got about halfway through writing the rules before realizing it was too complicated even for myself. Instead, I poured the extra energy into making puzzles for my family as presents; every family member received two puzzles I thought they'd enjoy that hinted towards a location to find scraps...
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Flowing Field

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 I got the opportunity to visit a Japanese gardens today. Remembering the origin story of Isowatari, I tried to come up with a new genre idea while I was there. This genre was directly inspired by karesansui, but doesn't really reflect its symbolic patterns, so I pivoted when naming it by supposing that regions could be more laminar or turbulent. I think the ruleset is a bit like if Reductionism  spilled into  Tonttiraja , but I think it manages to be distinct from both. It tends to be loose but allows overcompensating by having large regions with small numbers; the third puzzle is probably the best example of what I was originally going for with the association. Rules: Draw lines between the centers of cells and/or from a cell's center to the grid edge. Lines never branch, cross, or have dead ends within the grid. All and only the cells in the grid without circles must be passed through by a line. Numbers reveal the amount of different cell contents within their region, ...
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#A75: To Bethlehem; La Paz, Sendai-Miyagi, and Roma

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 These puzzles were created on the 23rd and 24th. I originally intended to create a 45x45 puzzle incorporating all the advent genres from this year into one interlocked enigma, but it was so daunting even to me that I scrapped it early. I'll discuss the details in the monthly update. Instead, I've made my special Christmas puzzle small, as a treat. To compensate, I've also included a couple 5x5s for each of the other genres today. https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?lapaz/5/5/h1g2u2g.h https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?lapaz/5/5/..g..g2g.g..g..0i...g../ https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?sendai/5/5/4nllqj5cg12g5g https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?sendai/5/5/400l301o3i https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?roma/5/5/raiq53tmf4a3c5c4a1e1 https://pzprxs.vercel.app/p?roma/5/5/98iqkftme2a35g31a2e To Bethlehem Rules: Further divide the grid into regions to solve it as a Sendai-Miyagi, which uses the corner numbers as clues. Then, solve the grid as a Roma. Gray numbers reveal the amount of times that the path from its...
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