I’ve come across a great online puzzle game called 3D Logic. 3D Logic is played on three faces of a cube. Each of the three cube faces has a grid on it (of varying sizes depending on the level.) Some of the grid squares will have a colored outline, two of each color, and the goal is to fill the empty grid squares with the appropriate color to create a path between the two outlined squares of the same color. The first levels are easy, but it gets tricky pretty quickly. In the beginning, I could figure out all of the paths and then fill them in. Later, I had to fill the paths in one block at a time, alternating colors.

There are no instructions with the game, which was a little bit confusing at first. To fill in a square, you must first select one of the outlined squares. Then both squares with the same colored outline will be highlighted and you can fill in empty squares with that color.

My wordstream puzzles have gotten a little bit big to fit in this space. If you want to try this week’s you’ll have to use the pdf. This week’s puzzle features moons of Saturn. The solution is here.

Thanks to Matthew, I now have a little bit more analysis on Wei-Hwa’s first puzzle challenge.

There is a well known math game that involves taking four small integers and using them to create a mathematical expression equal to 24. In the case of Wei-Hwa’s challenge the integers are 8, 8, 3, and 3. Now, of course, not all number sets can be used to create an expression equal to 24, but approximately 80% of sets formed with low integers will work.

Matthew points out that you can try to make expressions that equal other integers. Or see how many integral results you can get with a set. From the post:

“2 5 9 10″ will produce 79 of the numbers from 0 to 100 and 124 distinct values overall. It’s first miss is 41.

Here’s another Lost Bridges puzzle for your solving pleasure.

solution pdf

Hopefully this week’s puzzle has a unique solution.

pdf solution

I have updated last Monday’s Mochikoro puzzle such that it has a unique solution.  If you click over, you’ll see that it has changed.

It’s a simple puzzle with fancier stuff promised in the future.

The puzzle asks you to take the numbers 3, 3, 8, and 8, arrange them in a specific order and create a mathematical expression that equals 24. You can use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. All of the numbers must be used.

Here it is, my new puzzle that combines baseball and sudoku. And, as promised, it’s an interesting variation on sudoku and it requires some knowledge of baseball. I had been trying for a while now to work out a puzzle that required a solver to recreate the events of a baseball game using only the box score, in part because I wanted to know if it could be done. I took this idea and added sudoku elements to it to get my new puzzle: Scoreboard Sudoku. Here’s an example of the puzzle that I made up to illustrate my idea.

As you can see, the grid in the center is essentially a sudoku grid. In the case of a scoreboard sudoku, each row represents a batter and each column represents an inning. The internal squares are there just to make it a true sudoku. Although I will point out here that the scoreboard at fenway puts a wider gap between innings 3 and 4, as well as 6 and 7.

The letters and numbers in each block represent the result of each at bat. Also based on the complete game information, I’ve filled in the number of runs scored in each inning as well as the at bats, hits, and runs for each player. Here are the nine different results that can be filled into the grid.

• 1B = single; runners advance one base
• 2B = double; runners advance two bases
• 3B = triple
• HR = home run
• BB = walk
• E = reached first base on error; runners advance one base
• GO = ground out; lead runner on base with possible force is out; no double plays; runners advance one base
• FO = fly out; runners do not advance
• K = strikeout

Now here’s where some variation can come into the puzzle. These nine results could be changed to some other set of nine results, or they could be altered to allow double plays, etc. Also, we could give information in addition to at bats, hits, and runs. Or we could take away some information. As long as we can still solve the puzzle.

You’ve probably noticed this already, but not all of the blocks will be filled in. As soon as there are three outs in an inning, that side is no longer at bat. However, one rule that I’ve found to be very important for this puzzle is that all of the blocks coulb be filled in to form a valid sudoku.

So give this puzzle a try. I’m not sure I’m ready to feature it yet, but there will be more coming in the future. Here’s a pdf version of the puzzle and the solution.

ESPN.com has published a few sudoku puzzles (with more on the way, it seems) to promote a new book called ESPN Baseball Sudoku by Michael Solomon.  The only thing that distinguises a baseball sudoku from a standard sudoku is that the nine player positions are used instead of the digits 1-9.

When I first saw these puzzles, I knew that there had to be a way to come up with a better to include more baseball flavor and make the puzzles more fun and challenging.  Well, I have an idea that I will try to develop over the next couple of days.  Look for a new feature next week.

Here’s this weeks wordstream puzzle.

pdf solution

I usually try to get these out earlier in the day, but better late than never.

pdf solution

Here’s my next mochikoro puzzle.

pdf solution

Through Science News Online, I came across this Belgian site that features pentomino sudokus.  I’ve always found pentominos interesting and they often turn up in puzzles, so the idea of combining pentominoes and sudoku is an interesting one.  What they have come up with so far are jigsaw sudokus that use pentominos to form the sections (both 5X5 and 10X10 sudokus.)

When I see these puzzles, I want to break them apart into their component pentominos and then have the puzzler reassemble the pieces and solve the sudoku.  I’m not sure how well thiswould work, but it would be an interesting idea to explore futher.

Anyone with the Da Vinci Code Quest widget still on their Google homepage has probably noticed that it’s changed into Wei-Hwa’s Puzzle Challenge.  The puzzles were so popular that Wei-Hwa Huang will continue making them for you to access on your Google personal homepage.  The first puzzle will be coming available next Friday.

I was recently asked to check out an online puzzle magazine called P & A (for puzzles and answers, but also note that the logo is a panda.)

P & A is a bimonthly magazine that’s made up entirely of puzzles with a few editorial notes. All of the puzzles in an issue focus on a specific theme and each issue has a story. For example, the first issue is about a New Year’s Party and each of the puzzles is titled with a resolution made by one of the guests. One guest resolves to paint a seascape, so the puzzle is a nonogram or paint-by-numbers puzzle. The other puzzles relate to their titles in equally clever ways. In addition, each issue is a puzzle in itself. The solutions for the individual puzzles provide clues for solving a master puzzle. The solution to the master puzzle is the single answer for the entire issue.

The puzzles in each issue are quite varied and include sudoku variations, cryptic crosswords, and other puzzle types that will certainly be familiar (often with clever twists.) You will also need to know a bit of trivia and be prepared to to turn to the IMDB for help. For example, the sample puzzle requires you to find the names of actors and the movies they starred in. I recommend checking this puzzle out. If you like it, you’d certainly like puzzles in the magazine which seemed to me to be of higher quality on average.

Each issue has about 11 pages of puzzles and there’s usually one puzzle per page. Each issue costs $4.95. The editor wanted to charge something that seemed nominal and this is about right. It’s clear that quite a bit of work goes into each issue, and you do get a substantial amount of puzzling fun for your money. Maybe enough to last you for two months until the next issue comes out.