Thomas Snyder (aka Dr. Sudoku) is a two-time World Sudoku Champion and five-time US Puzzle Champion, as well as the author of several books of puzzles. His puzzles are hand-crafted, with artistic themes, serving as a kind of “cure for the common sudoku.” Each week he posts a new puzzle on his blog, The Art of Puzzles. This week’s prescription is a new puzzle type where no instructions are given; figuring out what is going on in the example is half the challenge.
One of my favorite challenges in the world of puzzles is to try to solve an unfamiliar puzzle in a foreign magazine (most typically in Dutch or Japanese) where not being able to understand the instructions is half the battle. Looking at the example picture, or more often at one of the solutions, lets you try to divine the rules without any real knowledge of the language.
Instruction-less puzzles have been used a few times at the World Puzzle Championship, and the biggest hurdle is always to have a clear enough example so that the solver can actually figure out what is on your mind. This often means "simple rules", but not always. This week, I offer my own attempt at a mystery puzzle type with no written instructions. Enjoy.
Example:
Puzzles:
__Solutions »__The rules of the puzzle are these:
1. Place the numbers 1-n, as indicated, into some cells so that each occurs once per row/column in the grid.
2. Circles in the (blue/orange) squares point at the unique (maximum/minimum) value in all cells surrounding them, including possibly the cell itself. The absence of a circle in a colored square means there is no unique maximum or minimum.
