Detuned Broadcast #4: Yajilin
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)
Theme: Logical
Rules: Standard Yajilin rules.
Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. If the loop only has vertical segments in the marked row, enter 0. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 3:30, Expert = 7:00
Solution: PDF
03:52.
Nice puzzle, with unusual trick near the horizontal adjacent 2 and 3 and finishing all givens while leaving about 10-20% of the board open (and it devolves to a variant of Simple Loop then).
I think I’ve used openings on a similar theme in yajilin before, it’s always nice to get 2 (or more!) clues interacting so closely.
As simple as it might seem, I quite like the gimmick in the bottom right as well. I might use it in future puzzles in conjunction with the the fact that the result area has one strand coming in, and where exactly one of two possible ways out must be used. You don’t really need any of that for this one!
Blah, I did horrible. The logic is so different than the typical stuff I am used to from say Nikoli that it took me a long time to figured it out.
That’s actually why I really liked this one. The usual Nikoli logic tends to be a bit blandly repetitive. This sort of puzzle relies much more on pure Loop skills, and is more memorable and interesting for it.
This was a really fun Yajilin. I enjoyed it very much, thanks!
That’s a lot of mileage out of a scant six clues. Well done!
Lovely how those clues work together.
And how the placing of the clues is as important (or maybe more important) than the cardinality of the clues.
Nice how after all clues are resolved there is only one path for the right/bottom part which leads to the one path for the rest.