Slitherlink 3

I kind of have a soft spot for Slitherlink.  It was the first of the Nikoli type puzzles I was introduced to (besides Sudoku, Kakuro and Battleships).

Slitherlink Rules

Puz Pre v3 link

Nurikabe 3

I was experimenting with different grid sizes and came up with this.  I suppose it would've worked just as well if it was stretched vertically rather than horizontally, but it just felt more stable like this.

Nurikabe Rules

Puz Pre v3

Chocona 2

Chocona Rules

Puz Pre v3 link

Nurikabe 2

I'm keeping with the golden ratio motif, but I've increased the size of the board to 15 by 24.  And I've included a hefty 27-cell "island" in the puzzle. 

Nurikabe Rules

Puz Pre v3 link

Masyu 2

I was experimenting with golden ratios and trying to make a board size that is the most aesthetically pleasing.  Since the golden ratio is approximately 1:1.61803399, my choices were somewhere between a board size of 100,000,000 columns by 161,803,399 rows or 2 columns by 3 rows.  I settled for a size that should take fewer seconds to solve than the total number of atoms in the universe.  I thought 10 columns by 16 rows makes a nice looking board, and you should be able to solve it in just a few minutes.

Masyu rules

Puz Pre v3 link

Edit:  I removed a pearl that was unnecessary to arrive at a solution.  I updated the Puz Pre link, too.  I'm sure there's more pearls I could remove, but I'm not that good at getting it to a bare minimum yet.  I just happened to get lucky with the one I took out.

Slitherlink 2

I finally got around to creating another slitherlink.  I wanted something a little more challenging than my first, and something with a nice aesthetic look to the starting clues.  What came out was this.  Just to forewarn you, this one is not easy.  I actually felt a little dirty for letting this one loose in the world.

Slitherlink Rules

Puz Pre v3 link

Chocona 1

Chocona Rules

Puz Pre link

This one is pretty easy, and there are a lot of givens.  I hope to get better.

Chocona Rules

I think this puzzle shows some promise to be an interesting puzzle type.  I like how the logic seems to work more towards "Where can't the black squares go?" rather than "Where can the black squares go?"  It works thusly:

1. Some of the cells must be painted black.  A number in a heavily bordered region indicates how many cells in that region must be painted black.  A region with no number can have any number of black cells, including zero.
2. The black cells must create only rectangular or square areas.
3. The rectangular areas may include cells from different regions, and most likely will.
4. Two different rectangular areas may not touch along edges.  They may touch at corners, though.  (Thanks, Marcin, for pointing out this missing rule.)

Check out the sample below.

You'll note that there is no requirement for all the painted cells in any particular region to be connected.  

LITS 2

Yeech.  I hope this post works okay.  I've created a monster of a LITS puzzle and now my Internet connection is all wonky.  I've got the images saved, but the Puz Pre link may give me issues.  Anyways, this puzzle is probably the hardest I've created so far.  Get ready to put your thinking caps on.  You'll definitely need to open this in its own window.

LITS Rules

LITS 2

Puz Pre V3 link

Another tip:  If you go to the Puz Pre link, Go to the Display menu, and change the Cell size to Small or Ex. Small to see more of the puzzle at once.  It also helps with making the borders between regions appear thicker and easier to distinguish between them and the thinner grid lines.

LITS 1

LITS Rules

Puz Pre V3 link

LITS Rules

LITS earned it's name based on the 4 pieces that are used in the puzzle.  The L-shaped tetromino, the I-shaped tetromino, the T-shaped tetromino, and the S-shaped tetromino.  The square tetromino is not used for reasons you will see below.

Here are the rules.

1.  Each region in the grid must contain exactly one tetromino of edge-connected cells.
2.  No tetromino in one region can touch another similarly-shaped tetromino in another region along a cell edge.  (This includes rotations and reflections)
3.  A solved puzzle can have no area of 2x2 black cells anywhere.  (Even if the cells come from different regions.)
4.  All black cells must be connected together through their edges.

Stay tuned for LITS Puzzle no. 1!