Thursday, 15 June 2023

Menderbug

Walkthrough of yesterday's Shimenawa: https://youtu.be/EcOCNMBe8lo

Like Eric, I love coming up with new genres or variants. And while I haven't created nearly as many as he has, I have quite a few under my belt by now. You've already been subjected to one of them (several times!), and today I'd like to introduce you to another: Ivy. This exact ruleset already existed in Japan over twenty years ago under the name 三叉路リンク which translates roughly to "Three-way Link", but seemed to have been mostly forgotten.

Today also marks the first time we're presenting a puzzle via the Kudamono Editor (by @Deleted User), which has an implementation of Ivy (among many many other genres). If you don't want to learn a new tool though, I'm also including Penpa+ links as usual. In any case, I recommend spending some time with the example puzzle to get a feel for the genre's logic and notation.

Rules: Draw lines connecting the centres of some orthogonally adjacent cells to form a single connected, non-looping network of lines. Four-way branches are not allowed. Each dead end is marked with a number (and each number marks a dead end), indicating the distance along its line to the first instance of a branch.

Notation tip: I recommend using a lot of aux marks. You can place crosses on edges that cannot be used without breaking a clue or creating a four-way branch, and you can mark cells which you know must [not] contain a branch (as shown in the example image).

You can solve the example puzzle here.
Penpa+: https://tinyurl.com/26rb73aa

Score a Speedy Sloth 🦥 by solving the puzzle in 5:00 or less!
Collect a Quick Crab 🦀 by completing the puzzle in 9:00 or less!
Finish the puzzle in your own time to become the proud owner of an Evergreen Forest Warbler 🐦!

Solve today's puzzle here.
Penpa+: https://tinyurl.com/2dyea59m