43
$\begingroup$

A companion puzzle to the 'This new puzzle type needs a name' series, and inspired in part by @JeremyDover's answer to a recent question.


Usually, puzzles in this series comprise a mash-up of two puzzle types, and the solver is challenged to solve the first, identify and solve the second, then derive the hidden name. This puzzle, however, takes this to another level...

This puzzle combines [NUMBER REDACTED] puzzle types. It began as an effort to create a nonogram which leads to a slitherlink, as per the post linked above... then things got out of hand! All I will tell you is this:

  1. The first four puzzle types you must solve are a HEYAWAKE, a NONOGRAM, a NURIMEIZU, and a SLITHERLINK (not necessarily in that order).
  2. After that, deduce and follow the further instructions.
  3. The ultimate answer to the puzzle is a thematic 11-letter word. Once you find that word, there are no more puzzles to solve.

(BONUS: There is also one further difference to the other puzzles in this series - this time, if you solve it, you get to name it! Acceptable names must follow the usual spirit of the series.)

You are provided with the image below, comprising the main puzzle grid, a separate grid for solving the nurimeizu, and a suite of shapes (20 pentominoes). Instructions for heyawake and nurimeizu (arguably the two least well known of the puzzle types incorporated here) are provided at the bottom of this post.

Note that due to the constraints of constructing this puzzle in as compact a way as possible, difficulty levels of sub-puzzles do vary - some are definitely trickier (or easier) than others - and at one point deducing your next instruction requires some specific knowledge about grid-deduction puzzles (although without this knowledge, the Internet will still be your friend...). Once set up correctly, however, each one can be solved purely through logical deduction, without any reliance on other sub-puzzles nor on guesswork relating to other letters and numbers in the grid.

A perfect answer will:

  1. Solve all sub-puzzles through logical deduction.
  2. Find the final thematic 11-letter answer.
  3. Explain the key logical steps in the solutions for each sub-puzzle.
  4. Suggest a name for the puzzle in keeping with the usual naming conventions of the series.

Good luck!

enter image description here Colourblind-friendly version available here. A .xlsx version of the image is available via filedropper.com.

Rules of Heyawake: (adapted from @Deusovi's introductory puzzle)
- Shade some cells of the grid.
- Shaded cells cannot be orthogonally adjacent; unshaded cells must be orthogonally connected.
- There cannot be a horizontal or vertical line of unshaded cells that passes through two borders.
- If a number is in a room, there must be exactly that many shaded cells in that room.

Rules of Nurimeizu: (adapted from Nikoli)
- Make walls by painting cells under the following rules, and create a maze which goes from S to G across only white cells.
- The areas enclosed by bold lines are called "Rooms". All cells in a Room have to be painted over or left white.
- White cells cannot be entirely cut off by painted cells, and white cells must not form a loop.
- The Rooms with S, G, ○(circle), and △(triangle) cannot be painted. All the ○(circle) cells will be on the shortest way from S to G, and there are no cells with △(triangle) on the shortest course from S to G.
- Black and white cells cannot cover 2x2 or larger squares.

$\endgroup$
4
  • 17
    $\begingroup$ To those who may have wondered why I've been a lot less involved in this site of late... THIS is why! Designing and creating this puzzle has been an all-consuming process, every evening for 16 days. I am positive it will be solved in next to no time, but I hope the community enjoys this festival of grid-deduction - it's been a labour of love! :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 10:51
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ oooh, this is exciting! $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 14:16
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ JeremyDover: "I've got this really complex logic puzzle" Stiv: "Hold my beer" Can't wait to have a crack at it! $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 14:23
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This is simply incredible! $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 30, 2020 at 1:25

1 Answer 1

30
$\begingroup$

Heyawake

This is the left side of the puzzle, with the rooms and gold numbers.
The gold numbers are the given clues.

(1) The 3 in 3×2 region can only fit one way; then the 1 and 2 regions also have only one way to fit.
(2) Then, the lower 3 region has only one way to be filled without breaking connectivity.
(3) And finally, the last two shaded cells can be placed with the "no two walls" rule.

enter image description here

Nurimaze

This is, of course, the area at the bottom with the circles and triangles.

(1) Initial deductions based on the given unshaded cells and the no 2×2 rule.

(2) Noting that our path must pass through circles: on the left we must go through the top and bottom edges of the circle (or a 2x2 is created). We can also get to the goal on the right.
(3) Block loops from forming: near the goal, around the flat shaded 1×2 on the right, and around the tall shaded 2×1 on the left.
(4) No matter how we get to the goal, the single cell directly above the right circle must be shaded to stop a 2×2. This lets us finish off the puzzle.
enter image description here

Nonogram

Now we've got both of the minipuzzles on the left and right of the grid solved. Time to do a Nonogram!

First, to figure out whether we need to use shaded or unshaded cells. Calculating the totals, we get:
enter image description here
So we need to use the unshaded cells as the valid clues, and ignore the shaded cells.

(1) Some initial cells can be filled in using just the row clues.
(2) And then some more can be filled in with just the column clues, building off of that logic.
(3) Back to the row clues, we can narrow more placements down.
(4) And back to the column clues.
(5) One more trip to the row clues...
(6) And we're done!

enter image description here

Slitherlink

Now it's time to use the Nonogram solution! As before, the shaded cells should be ignored. (This is clear from the clues that are 4 or more, which all happen to be shaded.)

enter image description here

Some initial deductions based on small 'constellations' of clues:
enter image description here
The loop edge on the left side of the top-left 3 cannot go left or it gets trapped. So it must go down, and this satisfies the 1 clue. (Also, some more logic building off of those constellations.)
enter image description here

Repeat the same logic on the right. On the top, the loop edge must escape by using the edge right of the 2. (We can also resolve the 2 just below the middle, and do things with it.)
enter image description here

Now, with a bit of 'don't-close-the-loop' logic, we can resolve the top half of the grid.
enter image description here
On the bottom right, the 3 must be ⊔-shaped rather than ⊐-shaped, so the right half can connect.
Meanwhile, in the middle-left, if we use the bottom edge of the 2, the loop there is forced to connect. This breaks either the 3 or the 2 below, since they will have nowhere to go.
enter image description here
In the previous step, I marked four loose ends. These must connect to each other, so this determines the "polarity" of the 3-3 in the bottom middle, and lets us complete the puzzle.
enter image description here

A new instruction!

enter image description here
"SET ALL LEMON AS BLACK AND RED AS WHITE, THEN SOLVE MASYU". So, I'll do that!

(1) Some initial deductions.
(2) With some 'don't-close-the-loop' logic, the left side can be completed.
(3) The top-middle black can't extend right, or it would make a tiny loop.
(4) Don't close the loop early again, and the puzzle is solved! enter image description here

And another instruction:

enter image description here
The Masyu loop uses almost all of the squares. The unused ones, reading column-by-column, spell TEAL NURIKABE.

So, time to solve a Nurikabe from the teal numbers!
(1) The initial puzzle.
(2) Some basic deductions just from 1 rooms, adjacent clues, and shaded cell connectivity.
(3) Some more deductions, extending the rooms. (Some cells have been marked for the next step.)
enter image description here
(4) Look at all the cells marked with "!!!". Each of these has only one room that can reach them -- and if it does, it cuts off some of the shaded cells. (5) Next look at the 2x2 region of undetermined cells near the top. Either the top two there or the bottom two must be shaded; if the bottom two are, the 6 cannot extend left enough to prevent a 2x2 of shaded cells in the upper left.
(6) The top-right undetermined cell is impossible to reach, so it must be shaded. Then, the 3s must extend upwards to reach the two cells next to it, and the puzzle is solved. enter image description here

Yet another instruction...

enter image description here
"HOLES TAUPE, TEES COLOR CYAN. MAKE A HERUGOLF SHAPE SUITE".
I'm not quite sure what "shape suite" means here just yet, but I can do the Herugolf portion. Let's do that:
enter image description here
A lot can be done with "this ball can only go this direction" logic -- in fact, the whole puzzle can be solved this way!
enter image description here

So now, what about the "shape suite"? The 20 pentominoes are specifically referred to as a 'suite of shapes', and they would fill the grid perfectly. This is probably a packing puzzle, then. But it's not immediately clear what constraint we have. I do note that we have 13 non-black squares in the shapes, and we also have 13 holes, 13 balls, and 13 unused cells in the Herugolf solution.
Actually, more specifically, there are 4 green squares and 9 white squares; there are also 4 balls that ended with 1 shot left, and 9 that used up all of their shots.

After a few other failed attempts to extract a message... let's try just packing them into the grid on the unused cells, and see where that gets us.

(1) The top-right L shape and the marked P shape both need an "empty-full-empty" pattern. There's only two places for that (though we don't know which is which yet). Then, the X can be placed, and then the W can be placed as well.
(2) There are now only two "two letters adjacent to each other" locations. This gives the placement of the F and the second L. (The second L must have its tip on the bottom rather than the top, or it would enclose an area of the wrong size in the corner.)
(3) There's only one way to satisfy the upper right corner. We also have to place the other L with its nub on the left, because it would enclose an area that isn't a multiple of 5 if we didn't.
(4) The T can't go on the E, because then it would block off areas. So it has to go on the N, and the Y has to go on the E. Then, there's only one way to fit the remaining U pentominoes in. enter image description here

The Next Puzzle

The four green-labelled squares say U, D, L, R. They're all different colors, so we can apply those letters to each of those colors...
enter image description here
...and solve the resulting Yajilin.

(1): Some initial deductions, not drawing loop segments yet.
(2): Drawing in some loop segments, and placing more dots where shaded cells can break the loop.
(3) There can't be a shaded cell on the very bottom of the 3↓ clue. This lets us draw a lot of the loop.
(4) Some "don't close the loop" logic on the left gives us most of the rest of the loop, and then a forced shaded cell in R3C9 finishes it off.
enter image description here

And finally...

the shaded cells in the Yajilin spell PORTMANTEAU!
enter image description here


Somehow I don't think this puzzle genre will become popular enough to need a name besides "that one huge mashup". But, since I have the opportunity (and have been prompted to use it a few times, here's a fitting name:

HeyaNuriNonoSlitherMasyuNuriHeruYajilin, or "HNNSMNHY" for short (pronounced /hn̦.sm̦.nʱi̤/ - good luck!)

$\endgroup$
5
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ What's your name suggestion? $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 18:21
  • $\begingroup$ ...and you finished this 6 hours from time of initial post. $\endgroup$
    – Ben Barden
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 19:43
  • $\begingroup$ @BenBarden I don't think he spotted it for 3 either! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 20:29
  • $\begingroup$ Solid performance as usual, Deus - brilliant work! My only minor nitpick (being incredibly picky here) is that you mis-transcribed a bar in the nurimaze (to the right of G - it should be solid) which means you resolved the top-right corner a smidgen quicker than would otherwise have done (albeit still correctly). But of course finding the solution is proof you nailed it anyway. Would you like to take on the bonus reward of naming the puzzle? (PS Re the packing problem, it was impossible to clue that part any more specifically by that stage - I was so limited by letters available! So tight!) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Sep 29, 2020 at 20:33
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @Stiv Fixed, thanks for pointing it out! And yeah, I figured that would be pretty limited - I'm very impressed by the reuse of letters. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi
    Commented Sep 30, 2020 at 2:06

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.