Slitherlinked (Permaculture)
(Published on 10. March 2025, 19:34 by the_cogito)
This puzzle was my submission for turn 3 of the Skunkworks League. Really had fun setting this, and I may revisit a similar concept soon, we'll see. I hope you like it.
Rules:
- Divide the grid into two regions of orthogonally connected cells. One region is a Slitherlink, the other is a Vertex Slitherlink.
- Slitherlink: Connect some pairs of orthogonally adjacent edges to form a single non-intersecting loop. Clues represent the number of edges surrounding the clue visited by that loop.
- Vertex Slitherlink: Connect some pairs of orthogonally adjacent edges to form a single non-intersecting loop. A clue represents the number of vertices adjacent to the clue visited by that loop.
- Gray cells are not part of any region, but may be inside either loop as allowed by other rules.
- Both loops may only traverse through dotted edges.
- The cells in the Slitherlink region may not be inside the Vertex Slitherlink loop, and vice versa.
- No edge is occupied by segments from both loops simultaneously. Adjacent cells from different regions must be separated by a loop segment.
Below are some examples showing how the rules function. The left side examples are fine, and the right side examples are all broken in some way(s). Green and blue generally align with Slitherlink and Vertex Slitherlink regions, respectively, and red generally indicates something that is inherently broken. It is probably worth taking some time to look these examples over carefully.
And now the puzzle:
Solve on Penpa+ (answer check requires both loops to be green. I don't recommend solving the puzzle in this way)
Solve on SudokuPad (no answer check)
Solution code: From the top down, the total number of vertical loop segments in each row of cells.
Solved by Agent, fjam, Niverio, ThePedallingPianist, jessica6, TripleABattery, itweb, MagnusJosefsson, werevovk, ns08, tuace, damasosos92, rob, polar, ctaussig, Bellsita, widjo, dogfarts
Comments
on 7. April 2025, 20:56 by damasosos92
Epic, brutal and brilliant puzzle! One of my favorites of that round! Thank you, and straight to my favorites on LMD as well.
on 12. March 2025, 15:40 by MagnusJosefsson
Fantastic mind-bending puzzle!
on 11. March 2025, 18:23 by TripleABattery
Quite tough but absolutely spectacular!
on 10. March 2025, 23:22 by ThePedallingPianist
Crazy. Epic, but crazy. Take some time for this one, it's worth it!