Tuesday Teaser #1
One reason people start blogs is because they're bored. I wouldn't say that applied to me when I started, but I do run out of things to do, at least voluntarily.
So in an attempt to start posting more regularly, I'm putting up a new feature, a counterpart to motris's Friday Puzzle: the "Tuesday Teaser." (I know, it's late.) I'll try posting a puzzle here every week for a while, see if I can handle it.
Up first are two of a Masyu variant I submitted to nickbaxter for his consideration. Of course, he made no promises about where/when/whether the idea would appear, so I finally decided to make it appear myself.
A loop drawn on a hexagonal grid by connecting adjacent hexagons will have a combination of straight segments, soft 120-degree turns, and hard 60-degree turns, so it would make sense to have three kinds of pearl in the grid. The loop makes a hard turn when going through a black pearl, but must not turn in the neighboring cells (those immediately before and after on the loop, as distinct from the up to six adjacent cells). Also, the loop goes straight through white pearls, but makes the same size turn in both neighbors (the directions don't need to match). Finally, the loop makes a soft turn through gray pearls, makes any turn through one neighbor, and goes straight through the other. Here are the puzzles.
So in an attempt to start posting more regularly, I'm putting up a new feature, a counterpart to motris's Friday Puzzle: the "Tuesday Teaser." (I know, it's late.) I'll try posting a puzzle here every week for a while, see if I can handle it.
Up first are two of a Masyu variant I submitted to nickbaxter for his consideration. Of course, he made no promises about where/when/whether the idea would appear, so I finally decided to make it appear myself.
A loop drawn on a hexagonal grid by connecting adjacent hexagons will have a combination of straight segments, soft 120-degree turns, and hard 60-degree turns, so it would make sense to have three kinds of pearl in the grid. The loop makes a hard turn when going through a black pearl, but must not turn in the neighboring cells (those immediately before and after on the loop, as distinct from the up to six adjacent cells). Also, the loop goes straight through white pearls, but makes the same size turn in both neighbors (the directions don't need to match). Finally, the loop makes a soft turn through gray pearls, makes any turn through one neighbor, and goes straight through the other. Here are the puzzles.