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I came up with this Word Nurikabe Puzzle, which was NOT a part of the Puzzle Ramayan, the qualifiers for Indian Puzzle Championship.

Tougher puzzle.

Rules

  • Place the given words in the grids ‘islands’, so that the words are readable in orthogonally (horizontally and vertically) connected cells.
  • It may be possible to trace the word in multiple ways within an island but there must be at least one way to do so.
  • Different words can't touch each other orthogonally (horizontally and vertically).
  • The remaining cells must form a single connected shape and can't have any 2x2 areas anywhere.
  • Each word has exactly one letter given in the grid.

Given example :

Word Nurikabe example

Solution for the above :

Solution to the given example of word nurikabe

To solve online on penpa, click this link

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    $\begingroup$ When reading a word, must each character be used only once? For example, in QUARANTINE, must there be two cells with A's, or can the same cell be traced twice? $\endgroup$
    – Jeremy Dover
    Commented Jul 13, 2021 at 18:01
  • $\begingroup$ There should be two different cells reading A. $\endgroup$
    – ABcDexter
    Commented Jul 13, 2021 at 18:02
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    $\begingroup$ Ok need to agree with this, the solution is not unique. Maybe you are missing some deduction? $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 3:29
  • $\begingroup$ @Anonymous Yes, as the puzzle had multiple solutions it was dropped off from the competition. $\endgroup$
    – ABcDexter
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 5:25

1 Answer 1

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Solution is not unique.

The word placements can easily be found:
X is COVAXIN, so V must be VACCINATION
L is SOLITUDE, so D must be SYNDEMIC
Then M is CONTAINMENT, so C is PRECAUTIONS
And finally, I is QUARANTINE

Here, I just threw the top three words in as they appear, and worked out multiple solutions for the bottom half of the grid without much logic. I expect that there are many more solutions with quite a bit of variety.

Multiple solutions

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  • $\begingroup$ Your solutions are correct and yes, since the puzzle had multiple solutions it was dropped off from the competiton. $\endgroup$
    – ABcDexter
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 5:22

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