hutt's puzzle dump

 While trying to translate the variants of 14 Minesweeper Variants into Heyawake variants was a fun challenge, at times I had to re-interpret the variants in new ways to align with how Heyawake works. To be clear, this isn't a bad thing and likely made the Heyawakes feel fresher than they would otherwise, but I still felt as though, if I wanted to make a more complete series, I should choose another paper puzzle that could accommodate all the variants of both games nearly verbatim. Specifically, I had the following criteria in mind: It must be a pre-existing genre (not named Minesweeper), ideally one people know about. I searched through the Kudamono editor's list first because I could use the built-in variant support for some of the puzzles, but I wasn't opposed to sifting through pzprxs as a second resort. Luckily, I didn't end up having to resort to reading the Dictionary. It must be a cell-shading puzzle or otherwise have a satisfying binary-cell interpretation. For...

 I've been getting stuff done this month, but it's the sorts of things that are part of something larger that I may want to wait for. For example, the writing project is over 85% complete. I also recently hit the first milestone for a large puzzle project I started early this month. I'll make a post for it soon after triple-checking for uniqueness. Speaking of milestones, three days ago, the blog hit a combined 10k post views! Thank you all for checking out my puzzles! It feels nice to be neither obscure nor well-known in this field. For this post, I've decided to include puzzles I've shared to two other sites but for some reason or another have not shared here yet. These Narrowfence puzzles were made on the last day of May. They also appear with credit in part five of the creator's paper puzzle collections . The links use different shapes from the original puzzles due to constraints of the editor. I found the logical techniques of this genre to be fresh yet int...

 Made to celebrate a rare occasion Rules: Slice the grid using straight lines that connect pairs of grid points on the grid's edge such that every region contains exactly one circle. Slices cannot pass through circles or be colinear with a grid edge. Also, every slice must be exactly as long as the grid is wide. 7x5 5x4 25x7

 On 7/13/25, beekie invented a crossword-inspired Pentominous variant where certain rows and columns must contain intact words hinted at by clues. I managed to finish constructing a somewhat thematic puzzle the following day. https://puzz.link/p?pentominous/v:/10/10/zzzzz 3 Across: In a restless manner, or what the pieces have to do in this 10-by-10 Pentominous grid? (8) 9 Across: The most visible part of an iceberg (3) 2 Down: Completely satiated (4) 4 Down: Opposite to the direction this entry reads (2)

 I've received feedback for the puzzles before the final section in my most recent project, but I've yet to discover if anyone's found the special secret. I'll be pushing the formal release update sometime tomorrow. I've also made a bit more progress on the writing project, which is now about three-quarters complete. I'll definitely be making a page for it here when I finish, but I don't know when that will be. I've also been taking some time recently to comb through all my puzzles here again to look for more nonuniquenesses and provide Kudamono links for some of the variant puzzles that had been set with puzz.link. I'm not sure whether I also should be submitting older puzzles to Kudamono; if I do, I should at least not do it all at once. At least it's been long enough that I should be able to spot nonuniquenesses beforehand. The following puzzles were created on the eleventh. I like Menderbug's name recommendation of Strata, since the lines...

This was made on 5/29/25. The idea was to see if the structure could give the feeling of exploring connected rooms. https://puzz.link/p?fillomino/13/13/-17-17-17-17-17h9-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17h3-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17i-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17g-17-17-17-17-17-17i-179i3-17i147-17k-17121l2m2g-17k-17j1g-173i9-174g4-17-17-17-17-17-17g-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17i-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-171g1-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17-17g4g-17-17-17-17-17

 The second puzzle here was originally posted exactly one year ago and the first puzzle here was made today. I don't think a name has been suggested yet, so I've decided to name it unofficially in this post. This puzzle type was invented by yakaki. Shade some cells and divide the board along edges into regions. Every region contains exactly one clue and has 180-degree rotational symmetry about its clue (like in Tentaisho). Numbers reveal the amount of cells within the region that are shaded. Every mass of orthogonally connected shaded cells also has 180-degree rotational symmetry, about some arbitrary point per mass.  Variant: Percentage clues reveal the percent of cells within the region that are shaded.

Back in February, I spent some time solving old puzzles on Puzzle Square JP. So far, I've only decided to skip four and am currently procrastinating on attempting a Habanero-level Sudoku. I was reintroduced to Nanro and found it to have lots of promise in its logic, but the region structure made it difficult for me to set. Nevertheless, I have set a couple worth sharing: (Made on 2/15/25) https://puzz.link/p?nanro/10/10/14285ga0k50a1k284g000s0700vv00s07000o2k3l-15zi2h43h3zi3l3k4o (Made on 2/16/25) https://puzz.link/p?nanro/4/4/94g1s0i21o3g https://pedros.works/paper-puzzle-player.html?W=4x4&L=(1)2(3)6(2)7&SIT=2RRRR8UUUU&G=speckled-bands

 made yesterday, to see if anyone would attempt to solve it as a Sudoku if I didn't post the link https://pedros.works/paper-puzzle-player.html?W=4x4&L=(2)0(4)2(3)11(4)2&SIT=2RRRR12DDDD&G=speckled-bands

 I made this one yesterday.  I really like how it turned out despite the foundational decisions being made on a whim. Online solving link

These were made on 12/15/24, based on the ruleset from this YouTube video . The second puzzle below has multiple solutions unless different district sizes are used for each.

These were made between 11/28/24 and 12/1/24 while exploring the idea of giving shaded regions bounding boxes. I really like how the logic ended up having depth to it: these puzzles rely on some special theory that I don't think applies to any other puzzle I've seen before. Rules: Shade some cells and divide the grid into rectangular regions such that each rectangular region is the smallest possible grid-aligned bounding box for each orthogonally-connected mass of shaded cells. (That is, the shaded cells in each region collectively touch every edge of the region but are never adjacent to the shaded cells of other regions.) Numbers reveal the area of the shaded mass in the same box and cannot be shaded. The first has been solved in the picture below as an example. penpa link

     I find it hard to believe that I first created this blog two summers ago. Due to this, I cannot quickly reference whether I've been more or less active this year with making paper puzzles. I used to think that I peaked in 2022, but I'm quite proud of many of the ideas I was able to explore this year, especially on the monthly projects. I've released a few huge puzzles and started work on a few large projects, two of which I plan to adapt into games someday and two of which will be ~200-unit collections that may release next year if I continue working on them.     As I get older, I expect to find less time to pursue this hobby, but I'm not quite there yet. Sometimes I wonder if there's a way to make a living off of constructing puzzles, but then I remind myself that I'm not doing it for the money, keeping in the back of my mind the opportunity to set up donations on my itch or to learn a formal programming language that allows making an executable. I also do...

 I like how naturally the length constraints lead to regions with interesting flow patterns. https://puzz.link/p?lohkous/6/4/a12b23b24s https://puzz.link/p?lohkous/12/12/b1a2d1a23c2a1l12l1w1f12m23e23a12k1a12k12l1a1l12c12a12c12b2c

 This might be the only puzzle type on the calendar that I was actually somewhat scared of setting. I like the solving logic, but the elegant simplicity of cluing makes creating a puzzle really hard. I expect to be busy for most of today, so I've only decided to make one puzzle. I found this grid on my seventh attempt at making a small themed board, and I think I managed to make it flow well through my usual style of setting despite a hunch that the easiest way to set might be to work backwards from a simple solution. https://pedros.works/paper-puzzle-player?W=6x6&SIE=6RRRDDLLLDDRRR4RR22UU10UUUUU&G=the-longest

 Nikoji is an old favorite of mine because of how easy it is to incorporate themes through words and phrases. The overall logic for solving a Nikoji tends to fall into one of two categories; both types of puzzles are included here. Both of these puzzles were created on graph paper, so the variant rule in the second was originally unintentional. I wouldn't be surprised if this first one has already been made before. It might be harder than the second. https://puzz.link/p?nikoji/7/2/eh9hbfhah9 Variant: The N region is a rotated version of the Z region, and thus will throw an error for having the same shape. https://puzz.link/p?nikoji/v:/12/14/bgfkem45r3j9ag-10j5rdr2h6h-10-15-1a-1ac5g5hfg-13-11-151-125h-12h-15r-12r-14jag-10gai5r5q9ej

 Not counting rotations and reflections as different, there are exactly 12 pentominoes, which might be why this type was chosen for the twelfth day instead of FourCells. I prefer this type to Pentominous because it doesn't tend to lead itself into extensive bifurcations. I really like the technique this shares with Heteromino and FourCells, but I wasn't exactly able to include it in these puzzles. https://puzz.link/p?fivecells/10/6/b1d2m1a1a2a2d2a2a0a.a1g.b2g2 https://puzz.link/p?fivecells/12/12/7a12a12a12a7n12e12f12b12a2l12a1212a12m12a12b12a12n12121212n7j7

P laying over a solar radio is some classical music I'm not familiar with. The violin helps provide some atmosphere to the daunting mountain in front of me. The lake here reminded me that I brought a lantern, which I deposited in lieu of a flag. Am I prepared for the final stretch? Rules: Solve as a Sashikazune , and draw an orthogonal path from the bottom to the top.  The path cannot revisit clueless regions.  If the path visits a region with clues, it must visit an amount of times equal to the amount of clues and each visit must travel an amount of squares provided by a different clue in the region.  Question marks for the path borrow from what they would be in the Sashikazune. penpa link

R ight now, I'm starting to think I should've found a way to preserve the motorcycle. All about this section of the island are assorted trails, not necessarily unsimilar to those I saw on the eighth day. Or was it the fourth? I've been walking a long road, and my backpack is beginning to feel less full than when I started. Rules: Place the pieces into the grid (without rotation or reflection) to create a Country Road puzzle, which uses a path that enters and exits the grid where indicated instead of a loop. penpa link

Made on 2/16/22; found while looking through old files           The postmodern city of Tetra is composed of buildings on square blocks. Its name comes from how each building takes up 4 blocks of space. The only square building is the supermarket in the exact center; all the others are oddly shaped mansions. Roads are placed wherever possible between the houses, and for easier access a side road which also forms a square demarcates the city limits. I drove through the city to map it out. I started by entering from the side road through the only northern entrance. At the first intersection, I chose a direction at random which then immediately forced me into a right turn. I took the next available left with hopes of finding the market, and at the turn afterward I saw it. I remembered that the entrance to the supermarket was on the center of one of its sides, but in a state of slight disorientation I had forgotten which one. So, I circled around it clockwi...