this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023
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[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation

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Sudoku, towers, Star-battle, fillomino, Hybrids and one offs... ?

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[–] Ubettawerk@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don’t play much any more but I used to love Picross

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I haven't heard them by that name before. I like the cross the streams variant. Unfortunately I've played through them all. https://www.gmpuzzles.com/blog/category/shading/cross-the-streams/

[–] Ubettawerk@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, I honestly didn’t know it had a different name. Perhaps Picross is just the name for the video game version

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 1 points 1 year ago

Lots of names, most of the pencil puzzles do. The first name I associated with that type was pic-a-pix. I might have come across a few unnamed before that time though. The Wikipedia page has the name as nonogram. The cross the streams variant has some extra rules, 1 contiguous region and no 2x2 full.

[–] SgtAStrawberry@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

That's my favourite too, I also really like those Zebra puzzels but only if there is a grid I can cross out.

[–] makuus@pawb.social 1 points 1 year ago

I love these, but TIL that one can get a book to do them by pencil.

[–] 0xblaze@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Cracking the Cryptic has shown me the wonders of variant sudoku. My personal favorite variant is thermo. Their GAS series is a good introduction, or jump right in at logic masters

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cracking the cryptic is awesome! They opened my mind to the wonderful world of puzzles

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Simon's enthusiasm is infectious. I am up to the point I can do most of the puzzles that don't involve set theory or really heavy math. So much fun.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I used to just passively watch all their videos, but I recently started "having a go" if the video is less than 50 minutes. It always feels good when I can actually complete one.

Their android apps are awesome as well. Much more approachable than the puzzles on the YouTube channel.

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It was probably a year after I started watching before I started attempting the puzzles myself. It started with Mark's videos that were under 45 min and Simon's that were under 30. Now I think my limit is under 90 minutes for Simon, except pencil puzzles, I'll try any of those. The video length can actually be a bad indicator of how difficult I find it. They both do math heavy puzzle really fast, and Simon has a knack with set theory.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They both do math heavy puzzle really fast, and Simon has a knack with set theory.

That's a good point. Simon seems to have every killer cage committed to memory lol. Set isn't too bad if it's the Phistomefel ring (and clearly signalled by the clues), but some of the other sets I've seen him spot are damn near impossible for me to see.

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They both worked in banking, so the math makes sense. For the sums I have a feel for most of the extremes and common ones, the triangular numbers, the maximum numbers, the missing or extra "ones" (4 digits that add up to 14, 4 digits for 11...). I usually just use the killer calculator for the other ones. At least on the desktop site its under the advanced settings.
That too is about my limit for set, although I might see the expanded ones too. As soon as Simon highlighted the cells in yesterdays feature he immediately knew it was set. I don't know how he does it.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

To be fair he has done a LOT of set puzzles haha

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 2 points 1 year ago

I don't know if Simon has played set https://www.setgame.com/set/puzzle . Sorry. But yes he has experience.

[–] 0xblaze@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for sharing this. Never been trained formally, just picked it by doing it in the papers. Would definitely check it out and see how I would do.

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 2 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't call their videos training, more of guided solving of easy to monstrously difficult puzzles. You solving is the training. As a warning, if you start enjoying solving the featured puzzles, your old sources might lose the allure they once had.

[–] Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] 0xblaze@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago
[–] squirrel@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I can't remember the last time I played. Never really liked the aesthetics of the windows versions after 7. If I'm in the mood I use https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/js/mines.html That version never requires guessing. To give myself a challenge I try to do it without flagging the mines.
Edit: realized its the xp version I liked, 7 was ugly.

[–] squirrel@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Nice. I use Minesweeper Online on desktop and Antimine on Android.

Word searches. I love word searches but I honestly can't find ones featuring numbers or license plates

[–] Larry@lemmy.ca 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hello everyone! I've just stumbled upon an unusual version of tic-tac-toe on a large board: Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe. I use to play here: https://tictactoefree.com/ultimate-tic-tac-toe

[–] l_b_i@yiffit.net 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That's an interesting take on it. I wonder if that version is "solved". You reminded me of a 3d version on a really old version of windows. https://tcrf.net/TicTactics

[–] Linus_Torvalds@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Decomposing the current time into prime factors. 24-hour-format, only one minute time, then the next one.