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Shikakui Hebi is a new grid deduction puzzle I invented. It translates from Japanese which means "Square Snake". It quite sounds like Slitherlink, but trust me, it isn't.

Rules of Shikakui Hebi are as follows:

  • Solvers are to draw 1 big snake/a long line with twists and turns around a rectangular grid.

  • The snake is not allowed to form a loop, which means the edges of the snake cannot connect.

  • The snake always starts in the lower right corner.

  • The snake MUST NOT cross through shaded squares.

  • The snake MUST cross through circles.

  • Arrows mean that there is AT LEAST 1 square containing a piece of the snake in that direction.

  • The snake cannot pass through the arrows.

Here is a TRULY easy Shikakui Hebi which I believe doesn't involve a lot of deductions. In the future, harder ones will appear. Good luck!

Edit: I'm truly sorry, but I was missing a rule, so thanks to hexomino for pointing it out. The extra rule is now here.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ "Arrows mean [...] square containing a piece of the snake in that direction. The snake cannot pass through the arrows." These rules seem contradictory. But after seeing the intended answer, I understand what you meant. How about "Black squares and squares with arrows are impassable. Each arrow points toward at least one segment of the snake (but there may be arbitrarily many black or white squares between the arrow and the snake segment)." $\endgroup$
    – Quuxplusone
    Commented Dec 26, 2020 at 19:48
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    $\begingroup$ (2/3) It's important not to talk about the arrow pointing "in the direction of" a piece of the snake; say either that the arrow points "in the same direction as" a piece of snake, or that it points "toward" the piece, depending on what you meant. $\endgroup$
    – Quuxplusone
    Commented Dec 26, 2020 at 19:48
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    $\begingroup$ (3/3) Finally, the visual iconography can be improved: Make the arrow squares have black backgrounds. Then all black-backgrounded squares are impassable (and some might have arrows); all white-backgrounded squares are passable (and some might have circles). $\endgroup$
    – Quuxplusone
    Commented Dec 26, 2020 at 19:50
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    $\begingroup$ Why not go straight to the harder ones? This puzzle is completely trivial (with every single one of the arrow clues being entirely useless for the solve) -- except it still has an ambiguity. I'm not sure this genre has enough room for "harder" deductions. [...] $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Dec 26, 2020 at 21:10
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    $\begingroup$ As for presentation, I agree with quuxplusone's comments above (and was going to suggest the same things) - I'd also recommend using the Penpa editor, and marking the starting cell. With these suggestions, it looks like this, which is much nicer in my opinion. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Dec 26, 2020 at 21:11

1 Answer 1

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I think there are two slightly different possible solutions (the path can join at either end in the top right corner)

enter image description here

Deductions

Step 1

Given that we cannot pass through the arrows, with most of the circles there is a unique way to pass through them
enter image description here

Step 2

Now, we see that the path will have to end in the top right corner. This forces the path everywhere else in the grid as follows
enter image description here

Step 3

We don't want to form a large loop on the left so this forces the path on the right hand side of the grid.
enter image description here

From here we can connect to the small part in the top right corner, either horizontally or vertically and both are valid solutions.

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  • $\begingroup$ And sorry with the 2 solutions, I seem to have missed it. $\endgroup$
    – Anonymus 25
    Commented Dec 26, 2020 at 12:10
  • $\begingroup$ Just saying, I think you now hold the record for quickest correct answer for a question ever! It says you only took 3 minutes! Previous record: Deusovi $\endgroup$
    – Anonymus 25
    Commented Dec 26, 2020 at 12:29

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