Monday, 23 December 2024

bakpao

Today's puzzle is a Balloon Box! This is one of the Omopa genres of Nikoli's recent Puzzle Communication Vol. 189. It immediately struck me as one of the most interesting and unique genres to come out of Nikoli in a while. The rules are a bit lengthy, so be sure to read them carefully. Grey regions represent balloons, while paths represent the strings attached to them! 🎈🎈🎈

Rules: Draw several non-intersecting paths such that each path starts at a given clue and ends at a grey cell, and divide the grey cells into rectangular regions such that the area of the region is equal to the number clue that the region is connected to via its path. Each region connects to exactly one path. All empty cells in the grid must be used by a path or connected region. Different paths and regions cannot overlap. Cells used by the same path (which are not consecutive line segments) do not touch orthogonally.

Interface note 💻: This puzzle contains both line drawing and region division elements. Both are required for answer check to trigger. The Line and Composite -> edgesub modes are preselected; use Line to draw the paths, use Composite -> edgesub to draw regions. Make sure paths do not continue past the cell where they enter their respective regions. See the example image to familiarize with the format the answer checker expects.
The interface/answer mode isn't the most ideal. If you've solved the puzzle but have to spend some time correcting inputs to get answer check to trigger, feel free to correct your time according to your best judgement.

Acquire a Speedy Sloth 🦥 by solving in 2:30 or less!
Obtain a Quick Crab 🦀 by solving in 5:00 or less!
All solvers who complete the puzzle will be rewarded with a Great Frigatebird 🐦!

Example (Penpa+): https://tinyurl.com/2ctgt3lu
Main (Penpa+): https://tinyurl.com/2y2494bd