IPC Preview – Practice, Solving Tips, Links

Update: Fixed the typo in Pentomino Kakuro. New PDF uploaded. No other change.

Update: There is an erratum published on the IPC site that says the 2×2 restriction applies to Happy Dots too. Since the practice puzzle in the PDF still gives a nice practice for placing the dots and forming regions, and only uses 2×2 regions minimally, it stays the same in the PDF. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. 

If you’re having trouble with some puzzles, seeing/adding to the discussion in the comments might help. (This also serves as a spoiler alert for those who want to work on the puzzles without help)

Right, took a while, but we’re finally there. If you’re still not aware, the Indian Puzzle Championship will be held on 7th July. Here are our (me and Swaroop) best efforts, with the main goal being to try to help the newer participants.

This PDF features –

1. Practice puzzles for B1, B2, C, D, E2, F1, F2, G2, I1, I2, J1, J2, K1, K2, L1, L2, M2.

2. Beginner-level solving tips for all the puzzles in the set.

3. Solutions to all the puzzles in the set.

4.  Links to other practice material, pattern guides, and other technical tips.

Link to PDF – Practice

Enjoy!

I never lie.. or do I? (IPC Practice puzzles) (Part 2!)

I promised a liar slitherlink, so I haven’t lied there, but I’ve given you 10 clues that lie, so haven’t I lied there? So am I a liar or not? I can guarantee you this slitherlink is anyway.

So after that embarrassingly lame opening, I’ll again link to the Indian Puzzle Championship and tell you you’ll get a better idea if you refer to the examples and rules there of what exactly I’m giving you here.

Regarding yesterday’s as well as today’s and possibly tomorrow’s puzzles, since many of you solvers practicing will probably be newcomers, I’m giving my mail id where you can send any doubts, help requests, solutions etc. – bimbimbong@yahoo.co.in

Again, there were supposed to be more/better puzzles today, but I was busy making a deadline for my publishers, so had to create 3 for that. And then I messed up the graphics of the triangular As Easy As ABC. I may/may not have a part 3 up because of this.

Now, to the puzzles!

Liar Slitherlink

Draw a single continuous loop along the dotted vertical or horizontal line segments. Crossovers or branches are not allowed. Clues given inside the cell indicate the count of line segments surrounding that cell, that are part of the loop. Exactly one clue in each row and each column is false. It is part of solving to determine the liar clues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Masyu No Touch

Draw a single closed loop using horizontal and vertical segments. It does not cross or overlap itself, and it may not visit all cells. The loop makes 90o turn at every cell with a black circle, but does not make a turn immediately before or after. The loop goes straight at every cell with a white circle, but makes a 90 degree turn immediately before or after or both. Cells unvisited by the loop cannot be
orthogonally adjacent to each other.

I made 2 puzzles of this type, simply because I said “Oops” after the first one.

 

Its as easy as IPC (practice puzzles) (Part 1?)

I’m not numbering these simply because I don’t want to rush to 200 as I’m not ready with an idea for that 😛

These are puzzles that can be used for practice for the Indian Puzzle Championship and you can refer to the Instruction booklet provided on that link for better understanding of the rules with examples.. These are mostly around the difficulty I’ve generally seen at IPC, i.e. , around easy for experienced solvers, somewhere from medium to more for the first time solvers.

I’ve concentrated on types that are not on my blog already. You can see previous posts for Masyu, Slitherlink, Tapa, Graffiti Snake here and here.  I wasted a lot of today making a Liar Slitherlink only to find that I’d made a stupid error right at the start. Thats why only 6 puzzles, I hope to have either a Liar Slitherlink, or some other puzzles ready tomorrow, and Friday. Lets hope I get them working 😉

Anyway, obviously the heading suggests what I’m gonna open with.

As Easy As IPC

Enter the letters I, P and C, so that each letter appears exactly once in every row and column. Some cells will remain empty in each row and column. The letters outside the grid show the first seen letter from that direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tapa Borders

Paint some empty cells to create a continuous wall. Numbers in a cell indicate the length of painted blocks on its neighboring cells. If a cell has more than one number, there must be at least one white cell between the blocks. No 2×2 squares can contain only painted cells. The borders between some cells may be thick or non existent. A thick border separating two cells means one is painted and one is not. Lack of a border means the 2 cells are either both painted or both white.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battleships 

Locate the indicated fleet in the grid. Each segment of a ship occupies a single cell. Ships can be rotated but cannot be reflected. Ships do not touch each other, even diagonally. Some ship segments, or sea cells without ship segments, are given in the grid. The numbers outside the grid reveal the total number of ship segments in that row or column.

Note : The letters A, B, C may be equal or unequal, the only constraint I’ve added is that their sum equals 4. This is just to introduce first timers to the summing up logic that can be used sometimes in this type.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snake 

Locate a snake in the grid, whose head and tail are given. The snake does not touch itself even at a point. Numbers outside the grid indicate lengths of snake segments in the corresponding direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Star Battle 

Place the given number of stars in each row, each column and each region. Stars cannot touch each other, not even diagonally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Colored Star Battle

I’m new to this type myself even as a solver, so the puzzle may leave a lot to be desired. Sorry about that. Although it should be an easy warm up for first timers, I do think the difficulty of the IPC one will be higher given the high points. Anyway,  Place the given number of stars in each row, each column and each region. Similarly colored stars cannot touch each other, not even diagonally. Some stars may be given.