Questions tagged [puzzle-creation]
A question about the creation and development of puzzles. Not to be used for requesting the creation of a puzzle.
281 questions
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Is it fair to use the possessive as misdirection for a plural definition?
In a fair cryptic crossword clue the definition part must match the solution in tense and pluralisation.
Is it generally considered fair to use the possessive, 's, as misdirection for a plural ...
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Meaning of "wordplay from definition"
I recently posted my first attempt at a cryptic crossword. Among the helpful comments was one that said some of my clues used: wordplay from definition when it should be other way round.
Presumably ...
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Stories with hidden/subtle impossibilities or inconsistencies?
There is a certain kind of puzzle story, where the story is seemingly "normal" and perfectly believable, if not for one detail that can't be true (i.e. anachronism, or subtle physical ...
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Testing Puzzles for Feedback: Enigmatic Puzzles 3
I'm starting to test out puzzles for my second puzzle book (link to the first). They're all enigmatic word puzzles. Try out this new puzzle I'm testing and share any feedback you might have to make it ...
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Can TrackMania puzzles be abstracted into conrete, interesting puzzles?
I recently got back into the older TrackMania games, which have a gamemode called Puzzle. In this mode, players are given a limited amount of blocks (consisting of roads, ramps, etc.) to finish a ...
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Solid border Yin-Yang
Yin-Yang is a grid deduction puzzle with the following rules:
Fill each cell with either a black circle or a white circle.
All circles of a given color must form a single orthogonally-connected ...
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Is it possible to have a double miracle Sudoku grid?
I've been attempting to construct a miracle sudoku puzzle for a while now, with a little twist. Instead of one sudoku grid, there are two combined grids, as a new-ish idea. The grid I've been using to ...
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Looking for some words or phrases
I would like to find some words or short phrases that have the letter sequence E-I-E-I-O. For example:
_ E _ I E ... I _ ... _ ... _ O _ _ _ _
Ans: GENIE IN A BOTTLE
(ignore the ... dots)
I have tried ...
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How to create a crossword based on a 16 letter theme
I'm making a crossword puzzle to honor someone specific whose name contains 16 characters, obviously too many for a standard 15x15 grid and also an even number which can't go in the middle row of a ...
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Seeking Software to Convert Line Drawings into Connect-the-Dots Puzzles
I am on the lookout for a software solution, whether free or premium, that is capable of transforming line drawing images into connect-the-dots puzzles. My interest lies in both vector and bitmap ...
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How do I constrain a puzzle and keep a singular solution?
I am tinkering with a puzzle framework that has the following rules:
In a 6x6 grid of squares, arrange 8 strips of connected squares such that there exists exactly one strip of every length (i.e. a ...
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What is the church secret?
This is really a request to make a puzzle. I am sometimes made to go to church. On the wall will be a series of what I would to think are secret clues and I would love to make a puzzle from them. The ...
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Feedback on a themed Nonogram/Hidato puzzle combo with a cell color gimmick
So, as you might know, the Christmas season is coming up. (17 days until Dec. 1 at the time of writing)
I'm thinking of posting some Christmas-themed puzzles during that season, and just want some ...
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In Hokuro, does $←$ added to $↙$ equal $↙$?
Sorry if any of the info in this question isn't needed, I'm for some reason just really used to putting a lot of info/additional resources into my questions lol.
So as you may or may not know, I ...
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Good cipher with a "password"?
I'm starting to create a puzzle, but I'm going to need a cipher that will be impossible (or at least very difficult) to crack, but can be easily decoded with a key. I first looked at the one-time pad ...
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Given an ordinary sudoku puzzle how would you convert it into an irregular sudoku?
I'm trying to create a puzzle like the one below (image snagged from puzzlephil.com).
I know how to generate and solve sudoku 3x3 variation via C#, and I'm now trying to add
a new variant, irregular ...
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Creating a high number from this grid using minimal mathematical operations
I'm creating a puzzle (pictured below). From this grid, how could I output a 10-digit number? The tiles cannot be moved or changed.
Instruction-wise, I would like to provide my players with some ...
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Can experienced players tell when a Sudoku was randomly generated? Or if it's a shuffled version?
I'm trying to make a simple classic Sudoku game in JavaScript, and I'm wondering what considerations I should have in how experienced players might interpret the generated puzzles. I'm not very ...
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Unique number from digits 0123456789 with simple property
It would be fun to have a puzzle "Find the only 10-digit number having each digit once AND property xyz", but offhand I don't know any "simple" xyz. "Is a square" gives ...
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A Theoretical Dive Into the Book Cipher
The following code, of my own making, follows a well-known, standard procedure. However, it may be interesting to note that there is something unique about it. Try and break it---it will probably be ...
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How does copyright work for puzzles and ciphers?
How does copyright (and/or patents) work for puzzles? Can puzzle formats (like type of code/cipher, scheme, or method of posing a question) be copyrighted, or does only the specific puzzle get ...
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How to create a 5 x 5 word grid?
I'm trying to design a new game that requires a 5 x 5 grid of criss-crossed words (like squareword has).
I have a word list of about 4600 5-letter words; I think that there are more than 2 x 10^18 ...
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Is the puzzle presented below solvable with the information presented? [duplicate]
Is this puzzle, as presented, solvable by the average player, with only the information included below? If not, what would need to be added/changed/outtaken to make it more logical and cohesive (but ...
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D&D 5e: Is the puzzle presented below solvable with the information presented?
Is this puzzle, as presented, solvable by the average player, with only the information included below? If not, what would need to be added/changed/outtaken to make it more logical and cohesive (but ...
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How can I restrict quinapalus to subwords of the same length?
I'm trying to find words like A.B where the subwords A and B are the same length.
This is my best attempt from my understanding of Qat:
|A|=|B|;C=A.B
Link to qat ...
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Interlocking puzzle piece with rotational symmetry
I'm designing a jigsaw puzzle where all the pieces have identical shape, but I've found that I also need to be able to rotate some of the pieces. Can anyone suggest a shape with the following ...
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How to clue actors with distinctive names (without giving away who they are)?
I've found myself needing to fill a gap in a cryptic crossword with a word that happens to be the surname of an actor. However the surname they have is very distinctive.
As an example, let's say the ...
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Is it possible to create a shirokuro puzzle and publish it without infringing copyright?
I have seen some online shirokuro games, and I guess new ones are created by code every day. Hence my question: if I create one myself, can I publish it somewhere without infringing copyright? Because ...
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Notation for Tangram Problems
Has anyone seen a text notation for describing a Tangram solution? I'm thinking of something like chess notation or Trevor L. Davis's piecepack notation.
For example, it would need a way to describe ...
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How to confirm the reader has the right answer without showing the answer?
I'm writing a puzzle book for young readers where there are a lot of simple riddles and puzzles. For instance: "It belongs to you, but your friends use it more. What is it?", and the answer ...
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How to word question about multiple sets of coloured snooker balls
The following puzzle is from the October 1961 issue of the Eureka journal (published by The Cambridge University Mathematical Society).
Arrange 15 balls, 3 of each of 5 colours, in the triangular ...
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Requesting Feedback on Check Sum for Word Linking Puzzle Stage
I want the community's feedback on a puzzle I am considering creating.
If your answer is real short, a comment is fine. Otherwise, please leave a real answer.
Let's say the solver is given, as one of ...
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How do I create a sliding-blocks puzzle (specifically like the "Rush Hour" ones) which requires an "ah-hah!" moment?
Background
My grandma gave me a set of Rush Hour puzzles as a small child, ever since I could be trusted to not eat the pieces. I still enjoy playing these today and would like to try my hand at ...
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How to arrange the colored cells in game grid?
Puzzle: In a game grid some cells are missing. Each line has only one colored cell with a label (a number greater than zero). This is an example grid and the number of columns/rows can be less than ...
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Feedback for a new(?) puzzle format
My wife likes solving puzzles and I like creating them. But I'm afraid my latest idea might not be as great as I thought - could you please beta-test it and give feedback on what to improve and how? ...
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Creating accessible crosswords
Often, crosswords* posted to Puzzling have at least one of the grid or clues in an image. For visually impaired, blind, and/or screen-reader using people, or those who can't see images for some other ...
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Can you make a puzzle that looks correct until the very last piece?
Lately I've been enjoying a little game called Flow Fit: Sudoku.
It's basically sudoku meets jigsaw. You need to place the pieces into predetermined slots, and numbers cannot repeat in the same rows/...
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Please help me identify this encryption puzzle with hidden images
I am trying to reconstruct this interesting piece of the puzzle that a long time ago, my father brought me. It has cards from A to B, mentioning a word using the same. For example J for Joker. ...
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Local clues for crossword
Is it safe to use indicators that only work "locally"?
Such as
"swimmer" for SE
"quetzal" for Q
"Scratch Team" for ST
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How to create a logic grid given three categories?
How do they make the three category setup here? I do not understand how this works. A detailed answer to this is most welcome.
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How can connecting marks in a text to form a picture be used as part of a puzzle?
Recently I rewatched "A Beautiful Mind" based on the life of the American mathematician John Nash.
And the other day I came across a book spread photograph, in which one attentive reader ...
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Proving by weighting
Here is the puzzle:
Alice and Bob leave in a world where all diamonds are divided into 2 types: Light and Heavy. All diamonds look exactly the same. All light diamonds weight exactly the same, all ...
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Do minecart puzzles like this, with buttons that rotate track, exist?
This is the end result of me messing around with minecarts and moving floors.
The buttons change the orientation of either their nearest or their same-color track. Now I'm not asking you to solve the ...
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What are some examples of "cheat-proof" trivia questions?
I'm planning on running a Zoom trivia tournament with monetary prizes and am trying to avoid any concern about cheating to preserve competitive integrity. What are some types of questions that are ...
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Is there a puzzle that is only solvable by assuming there is a unique solution?
Is it possible to construct a puzzle that is:
Solvable if you assume there is a single unique solution
Not solvable if you do not make this assumption
My intuition says that the answer is "No&...
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How to prevent overcluing in a Statue Park?
I'm interested in making some Statue Park puzzles. This genre seems easy to accidentally overclue. I have read Deusovi's grid-deduction creation guide, but all it had to say was this:
When placing ...
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When designing a tougher Connect Wall, how to provide good entry points and signposting for a solver?
I'm still very new to Connect Wall puzzle design, and I don't want to make a puzzle that frustrates or confuses potential solvers, so I figured I would ask here for some advice.
Recently I've designed ...
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Designing a new type of twisty puzzle
Recently, I was fiddling with my Rubik's cube and tried scrambling it only using R and U moves. I then tried to solve it using only R and U moves. I didn't use any cube rotations.
It was an ...
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How do I make an Around the Bend crossword?
This post is not a puzzle. There is nothing puzzly hidden inside it or the self-answer, posted at the same time.
What exactly is an Around the Bend crossword, and how do I make one?
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How to union a slitherlink and a nonogram?
I would like to union two puzzles in one. The first puzzle is a slitherlink, the second is a nonogram.
The main idea is: the slitherlink's solution is the entrance for the rows of the nonogram.
In the ...
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