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Thread: Weekend Puzzles |
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adriverhoef
Master Cruncher The Netherlands Joined: Apr 3, 2009 Post Count: 2069 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Maybe a little preparation for next weekend's puzzle to make it a bit more grokkable ...
It may seem a very, very, very complex one. It consists of nine subgrids with 9 squares (cells) in it, of which the middle cell is crossed out. Each subgrid looks like this and should contain 8 letters in the end: ┏━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┓ The subgrid on top intersects with two subgrids underneath it, so that they have only two letters in common (i.e. the two cells that I have denoted below as 'a' and 'b'): ┏━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┓ The subgrid at the bottom intersects with two subgrids above it, so that they also have only two letters in common (i.e. the two cells that are denoted below as 't' and 'u'):
And now for the tricky part(s), the two subgrids underneath the top subgrid and the two subgrids above the bottom subgrid both intersect with (the same) 3 subgrids and both of the two subgrids have only 4 letters in common with the intersecting 3 subgrids. So let's have a look at the two subgrids underneath the top subgrid intersecting the 3 subgrids underneath it; they have 4 letters in common (i.e. the four cells that I have denoted below as c, d, e and f): ┏━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┓ ┏━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┯━━━━━━━┓ Let's also have a look at the two subgrids above the bottom subgrid; they intersect with the 3 subgrids above it and also have 4 letters in common (i.e. the four cells that I have denoted below as p, q, r and s):
Do you see a pattern? The subgrids have to be glued together tomorrow. Please be patient, else the glue won't hold it together.  So tomorrow we will have a raster like this, symbolically:┏━━━━┓The corners, where the subgrids nearly touch each other in this simplified picture, are the overlapping cells a-f and p-u. Thank you for your attention!  Adri |
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adriverhoef
Master Cruncher The Netherlands Joined: Apr 3, 2009 Post Count: 2069 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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This weekend's puzzle looks rather complex. And that's what it is indeed: rather complex. The diagram consists of a number of subgrids, each one containing 9 cells, of which the centre cell is crossed out by using asterisks. Technically, there are 13 9-cell subgrids in the diagram (when we're taking the cells with asterisks into account), in spite of this we will be using only 9 important subgrids.
Each important subgrid will be denoted by 4 letters that are already present in it, starting at the top cell (North), then East, South and West. So the subgrid at the top will be denoted by PLNI. Each important subgrid overlaps with two or more other important subgrids by only one cell. Example: subgrid PLNI overlaps with the important subgrids UECM (at the left side) and UIYM (at the right side). Once again, each important subgrid will be addressed by its 4-letter code here. The uppercase letters are already a part of the final solution. The challenge is to place the correct letter in each one of the empty cells. Now for the tricky part: The 4 letters that are present in each important subgrid, together with the description of another 4-letter word for that same subgrid, form the 8 letters of a word in that subgrid, placed in it according to "the knight's move" in a game of chess(*1).
[*1] In a game of chess, the knight moves two squares (cells) horizontally or vertically and then one more square (cell) at a right-angle. The knight's move is shaped like a capital L, see here. The starting point and the direction of the moves are unknown at the beginning. Of course, you cannot leave your subgrid, you must stay inside the subgrid with each move until the word is complete, and only one direction (clockwise or anti-clockwise) is correct. Example: let's suppose that a subgrid is denoted by HABR, that the description for the four letters is "arranged neatly and in order" and the description for the 8-letter word is "anniversary of the day on which you were born". It would look like this: HABR + arranged neatly and in order = anniversary of the day on which you were born. The answer(s) would then be HABR + TIDY = BIRTHDAY. Here is how the letters should be placed into the subgrid then:
Enough explanation already! :-) DESCRIPTIONS PLNI + The One And Only = not required nor mandatory UIYM + a place where the coins and paper money of a country are made = state or quality of being resistant to a particular infectious disease EUET + Xenopus Molecular Marker Resource = the maximum or minimum value of a function RTOE + sensitive composition in verse, using such techniques as metre, rhyme, and alliteration = Human ........ Folding GONU + butter...., lung...., wound.... (wrong spelled word) = having stopped having an interest in something as one matures OKNT + World University Rankings for Innovation = a single ........ can be split into one or more tasks MUEI + Talk To You Later = chemical element with the symbol Lu and atomic number 71 UECM + part of a device where wires can be connected = electronic device for storing and processing data MCAD + evergreen tree that has thin needle-like leaves, growing in cool northern regions = worldwide spread of a new disease Good luck! Adri |
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alanb1951
Veteran Cruncher Joined: Jan 20, 2006 Post Count: 858 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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Adri,
I've only got round to trying to solve this in the last hour or so -- I'd read the rubric when the puzzle appeared and decided I needed clear vision and a clear head :-) One of the nice things about puzzles with fewer clues is that there are less words I might not know. However, I'll admit to having to look up the chemical element -- I did not memorize the Periodic Table as a student :-) As for the format, it was interesting and I imagine it was quite hard to stitch together an appropriate set of words[*1]. However, the grid complexity and "knight's move" didn't hinder the solving process -- once I got into the swing of visualizing how the answers fit the grid, it was full steam ahead! So thanks for yet another interesting puzzle format. I doubt I could dream up most of these odd grid styles (let alone populate them); I'm just a [lapsed] crosswords man myself :-) Cheers - Al. [*1] I've had enough trouble trying to build a puzzle with 5-letter words and your grid from a few weeks back :-) |
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MJH333
Senior Cruncher England Joined: Apr 3, 2021 Post Count: 224 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Hi Adri,
Many thanks for another excellent puzzle! I think I’ve solved it. It was fun working out where the knight should start and which direction they should go in. Like Al, I did not know the chemical element but worked out the letters it contained and then worked out the order of the letters using the existing letters from the puzzle grid and applying the knight’s move to the other letters.  Cheers, Mark |
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adriverhoef
Master Cruncher The Netherlands Joined: Apr 3, 2009 Post Count: 2069 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Al and Mark, thanks for your responses. Let's hope others had fun, too, with this puzzle.
----------------------------------------This weekend's puzzle took some time to build (using Unicode characters). A few minutes after posting the puzzle, I wondered if it would be possible to start without any letters, but then ... it was too late for that. SOLUTION
There is a nice twist in this puzzle. If you look at the solution and take out all the letters that were there when I posted the puzzle, you are left with many letters in overlapping positions. Of course you can still use the knight's moves to complete the words in the puzzle, but there's more, because you are left with a puzzle in which you can put all nine 8-letter words clockwise! Example: WORKUNIT - remember that the letters at North, East, South and West are gone now - start at W (now a given in a corner), go one left, put an O, go left, watch the R, go up, put a K, go up, watch the U, go right, put an N, go right, watch the I, go down, put an X, uh- I mean T. Which reminds me of a quote from Jurassic Park: "It's a UNIX system, I know this! With all the files of the whole park. It tells you everything. I've gotta find the right file." The 4-letter solutions are: TOAO, MINT, XMMR, POEM, WORT, WURI, TTUL, PORT, PINE. The 8-letter solutions are: OPTIONAL, IMMUNITY, EXTREMUM, PROTEOME, OUTGROWN, WORKUNIT, LUTETIUM, COMPUTER, PANDEMIC. Thank you for your participation! Adri PS Next weekend I will be travelling: celebrating Fairphone's 10-year anniversary is worth a trip through the country and, as a result, I won't be posting a new puzzle. [Edit 2 times, last edit by adriverhoef at Jun 29, 2023 10:21:01 AM] |
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MJH333
Senior Cruncher England Joined: Apr 3, 2021 Post Count: 224 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Hi Adri,
Thanks for the solution.  Funnily enough, in the grid for EXTREMUM, I had the R and the X reversed. But I think that is also a valid solution!  Many thanks for all your efforts with the puzzles, and have a good trip next weekend! Cheers, Mark |
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adriverhoef
Master Cruncher The Netherlands Joined: Apr 3, 2009 Post Count: 2069 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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You are quite right, Mark, EXTREMUM can be put there in two ways.
----------------------------------------So in order to make all 8-letter words in this puzzle run clockwise when you forget about the knight's moves (in the sense of this puzzle's twist), a different word is needed there. And I've found one, instead of EXTREMUM.
Since the position of the two M's is already known, I have added them in this subgrid, plus one new letter of the replacement word. So a new description is needed for it. I will only give the 8-letter word description this time. DESCRIPTION Obstruction of an artery, esp. by a blood clot. You will either need the knight's moves again or use the clockwise method to complete this tiny puzzle. Good luck! Adri [Edit 1 times, last edit by adriverhoef at Jun 29, 2023 10:27:34 PM] |
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Sgt.Joe
Ace Cruncher USA Joined: Jul 4, 2006 Post Count: 7545 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I didn't do the previous puzzle, but this one came to me immediately. Nice little twist.
----------------------------------------Cheers
Sgt. Joe
*Minnesota Crunchers* |
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alanb1951
Veteran Cruncher Joined: Jan 20, 2006 Post Count: 858 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Adri,
----------------------------------------Thanks for the solution. As always, a pleasure to solve. I had EXTREMUM the opposite way round, as Mark did -- as for the replacement word for that sub-grid, I got it, but don't want one :-) Regarding a weekend without a puzzle: I could have a go at posting my puzzle effort, as I think I've managed to knock the bugs out of it. A lot of folks use "this weekend" to mean the weekend immediately approaching and "next weekend" to mean the end of the following week -- I assume you meant 1st/2nd but I'd post it later on the Saturday anyway. so we shouldn't end up with two puzzles if I'm wrong :-) Cheers - Al. [Edit 1 times, last edit by alanb1951 at Jun 30, 2023 3:24:43 AM] |
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adriverhoef
Master Cruncher The Netherlands Joined: Apr 3, 2009 Post Count: 2069 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thanks for your comments, all.
Al, A lot of folks use "this weekend" to mean the weekend immediately approaching and "next weekend" to mean the end of the following week -- I assume you meant 1st/2nd but I'd post it later on the Saturday anyway. so we shouldn't end up with two puzzles if I'm wrong :-) Sorry, I'm not a native English speaker , so please correct me if you think I've got it wrong.So, when I wrote "This weekend's puzzle took some time to build (using Unicode characters)" yesterday, I meant "Last weekend's puzzle …" and when I wrote "Next weekend I will be travelling" I should have written "This (up)coming weekend"? (I wrote that before my trip started, at the moment I'm in my hotel room in Amsterdam in the middle of my itinerary.) There is confusion about this weekend and next weekend, I see. Thanks for pointing it out! Adri |
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