Wichtels Rätselherbst 2025 (11): Adventskalender-Rekonstruktion
(Published on 30. November 2025, 20:25 by wichtel)
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.
The Wichtel are beside themselves! The doors of their Advent calendar are unexpectedly missing! And so close to the first Advent! Luckily, the position of the doors can be reconstructed from the calendar's design. As an expert in door installation, they've brought you on board. Excitedly, they talk over each other: "Draw the rectangular doors back in!" — "Door frames can cross each other, but otherwise they can't touch!" — "There must be part of a door frame on every field!" — "Nooooo, that's not right, fields can be left empty!" — "Yes, but no two fields that touch orthogonally..." — "And don't forget the numbers with the arrows! They tell you how many empty fields there are in the direction of the arrow!" — "And the circles! The circles!" — "The circles mean that at least one door frame goes straight through there -- meaning it's never a corner!" — "Yes, but at least on one side the circle's only one cell away from a corner!" — "That's right, you're right. That's it then, isn't it?"
Exhausted and a little confused, you try to sort through all the information. Soon you notice something strange and you ask the Wichtel: "Is your calendar possibly one door short?" — "Why?", the Wichtel wonder. "It has 23 doors, just like all Wichtel Advent calendars. After all, we have other things to do on Christmas Eve!" — "Oh, well then," you say. "Then I guess I can help you."
The Wichtel are beside themselves! The doors of their Advent calendar are unexpectedly missing! And so close to the first Advent! Luckily, the position of the doors can be reconstructed from the calendar's design. As an expert in door installation, they've brought you on board. Excitedly, they talk over each other: "Draw the rectangular doors back in!" — "Door frames can cross each other, but otherwise they can't touch!" — "There must be part of a door frame on every field!" — "Nooooo, that's not right, fields can be left empty!" — "Yes, but no two fields that touch orthogonally..." — "And don't forget the numbers with the arrows! They tell you how many empty fields there are in the direction of the arrow!" — "And the circles! The circles!" — "The circles mean that at least one door frame goes straight through there -- meaning it's never a corner!" — "Yes, but at least on one side the circle's only one cell away from a corner!" — "That's right, you're right. That's it then, isn't it?"
Exhausted and a little confused, you try to sort through all the information. Soon you notice something strange and you ask the Wichtel: "Is your calendar possibly one door short?" — "Why?", the Wichtel wonder. "It has 23 doors, just like all Wichtel Advent calendars. After all, we have other things to do on Christmas Eve!" — "Oh, well then," you say. "Then I guess I can help you."
Solution code: Row 5, Row 11: L I X for the corresponding shapes, S for a black (empty) cell.
Last changed on -
Solved by Piatato, lupo, Mark Sweep, ibag, Playmaker6174, polar, Jesper, Mjb99, jessica6, glum_hippo, Christounet, dumediat, puzzler05, ns08
Comments
on 8. December 2025, 15:17 by dumediat
Thank you once again to my wichtel for such a fantastic gift! :D
Last changed on 3. December 2025, 05:19
on 3. December 2025, 05:18 by glum_hippo
Sæhr schæn — und wunderbar thematisch!
on 2. December 2025, 20:08 by Playmaker6174
Super fun and surprisingly clean solve throughout, though I made a small mistake at one point but I eventually recovered well at the end. Thanks a lot, dear wichtel! :)
on 2. December 2025, 17:18 by ibag
Klasse gemacht - aber das hat es ganz schön in sich!
on 30. November 2025, 22:47 by lupo
Schöne Idee, hat mir gut gefallen!
on 30. November 2025, 21:59 by Piatato
Great fun! Creative ruleset combo and a smooth, enjoyable solve!
