DonationCoder.com Software > N.A.N.Y. 2013

NANY 2013 Release - ClueMeIn, a logic / math puzzle game

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mouser:
Just solved my second puzzle.  I like this game. Like most of timns's games, it takes me a couple tries to figure out how to play it, but they are exceedingly clever.

Timns, I'm assuming that you aren't inventing this actually game idea (i mean the nature of the clues, the size, the summing, the algorithm).. Where is it from?

timns:
Just solved my second puzzle.  I like this game. Like most of timns's games, it takes me a couple tries to figure out how to play it, but they are exceedingly clever.

Timns, I'm assuming that you aren't inventing this actually game idea (i mean the nature of the clues, the size, the summing, the algorithm).. Where is it from?
-mouser (January 01, 2013, 01:37 PM)
--- End quote ---

Thank you for the kind comments, as ever! Like most of my software, documentation and help is a bit light on the ground :(

This idea is lifted from a really old puzzle book I have where they're called "magic squares".

They sure do lend themselves to being ported to a computer version of course. Once I figured out how to remove every piece of information except the bare minimum that is!

But the algorithm IS mine: it was quite pleasing to figure out and code - about 600 lines of java, which  could be generalised easily enough to provide an "engine" for many variants.

I have no doubt at all that there are other versions of this puzzle to play on the PC, although I have not seen one.

I've made a note of your comments, and I'll do an update accordingly  :Thmbsup:

timns:
Here's a tip, based off mouser's puzzle screenshot:

See the top row adds up to 9? To make 9, one possibility is that 8 and 1 and 0 are in the top row.

BUT! We know that "0" cannot be on the top line, because of the clue "4^0" (4 is in a row above the row where 0 is)

So we can safely remove "0" from all three cells across the top. Which means that we cannot make a "9" any more using the 8, because it would need 1 and 0. So the 8 too can be removed from the top line.

Likewise, the 7 can be removed, since it would need 2 and 0. And the 0 is not in the top row.

Work your way through the clues in this fashion and the puzzle slowly solves itself.

mouser:
The way I attack is, i go through each clue.

If it says X<Y then I know that X cannot be in any of the 3 rightmost grids, and Y cannot be in any of the 3 leftmost grids.
Similarly, whenever A^B I know that B cannot be in any of the 3 top grids, and A cannot be in any of the 3 bottom grids.

Then I iteratively look for grids with small number of live cells, and look for numbers that cannot be part of a solution.  For example if a row sum adds to 6 then I know i can eliminate any 7s and 8s, etc.

timns:
The perfect approach!

In fact, if it adds to 6, then you can remove 8,7,6 and very quickly after that the solution appears. Puzzles with very low (<9) or very high (>19) totals are much easier  :Thmbsup:

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