Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

To Christmas 2024 some eager puzzlefriends have again arranged a group in which everybody had to make anonymously a puzzle for someone else. These puzzles are now presented one after the other here in the portal.

It was a cold day at the North Pole, and Santa was in a fiery mood. In the midst of the gift manufacturing process he had to turn his attention to his least favorite matter: bureaucracy. His gnomes had once again called for a meeting, to discuss whether the whole operation ought to be moved over to the South Pole.
As Santa arrived, the head gnome was not hesitating: "We have excellent news, sir! I realize that many of the meetings so far have been somewhat of a buzzkill..." (that was a huge understatement – until now the main purpose of the 'South Pole is the Future' (SPIF) meetings had been to show climate predictions for the next centuries, spread anxiety about the melting of the icecaps, and to ensure that the majority of the workers were aware that such a move was truly necessary) "...but today we'll be showing you several of the great advantages that come with relocating to terra firma! We'll begin by showing you the blueprints for a large, effective, modern subterranean transportation system. "That should solve a lot of our current problems, and increase efficiency by..." The gnome could see that Santa was losing patience with every word being uttered, so he interrupted himself and reached for the sketches. „As you can see, we have already drawn in all of these lines, which show where the transportation system runs. But here...“ – the gnome pointed to a different section of the map – "...we have plans for additional excavations. If the operations continue to grow, we might be in a position to take the network...“
Santa seemed to have already become distracted. He stared at the map, but clearly wasn't actually listening. Instead he reached for his pen and began to scribble numbers on the paper. After a minute, the silence seemed to pull him out of his trance, and he looked at his gnomes with excitement. „Thanks so much! This is exactly what I need. It'll be the perfect gift for our friend Oxym!" The gnomes looked confused for a while, and eventually one of them dared to speak. "Sir, these are just a few plans for a potential future transportation system. Sir, maybe you'd like to offer some feedback on it?“ „Plans!? Transportation system!? Pshaw! This is a wonderful Permaculture puzzle that you've prepared for me. I am in your debt! As you can see, part of the grid is a U-Bahn puzzle, and the other is a cave. That's what the numbers in the grid are for. You see?" The gnomes sitting nearest to the sketches took a closer look. Indeed some of the numbers appeared to be ordinary cave clues. "But Santa!" called one of the Wichtel. "Some of the clues lie within the sections of the grid that are part of the U-Bahn.“ „Oh, right, erm...“ Santa seemed to have been a bit rushed, as he was writing the clues. He thought for a full minute, before he smiled and told the gnomes, "Well, these are also like cave clues, but they're for the U-Bahn segments. If such a clue is in the U-Bahn area, then a segment must pass through it, and the clue indicates how often that segment type is seen in the four orthogonal directions, be it a turn, a straight line, a branch, or a crossing. The permaculture borders block the view." The gnomes seemed slightly disappointed, but not surprised. The creation of the map was easier and more fun than they had expected. It only made sense that they, without realizing it, had done what they do best: created a nice gift puzzle for one of Santa's friends!