Nanro (Signpost) by Grant Fikes
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use the tab key to alternate between shading and number entry modes)
Theme: Rectangles
Author/Opus: This is the 396th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.
Rules: Variation of Nanro rules. Label some cells with numbers to form a single connected group of labeled cells. No 2×2 group of cells may be fully labeled. Each label number must be equal to the total count of labeled cells in that bold region, and all bold regions contain at least one labeled cell. The given numbers indicate how many cells are labeled in that region (but not necessarily which cells are labeled). When two label numbers are orthogonally adjacent across a region boundary, the numbers must be different.
Difficulty: 2 stars
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:30, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30
Solution: PDF and solving video.
Note: Follow this link for Nanro puzzles on this website and this link for variations on Nanro puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nanro Puzzles to get started on. More Nanro puzzles can be found in A Number o’ Nanro by Prasanna Seshadri.
Cool puzzle, but the answer check is only working for number mode. Shading-only doesn’t register as solved for me.
loool, I’m dumb, the UNUSED cells have to be marked. Nevermind then 😀
To me, it also makes more sense to shade used cells. Tapa, LITS, Nurikabe have shaded connectivity and no 2×2 shaded.
Conversely, I find unshaded connectivity to be more intuitive. Not because I solve these with shading, but because I solve these with numbers *and* shading (write numbers in all cells, shade all unused cells) which may not be a popular way to annotate these 😀
I am somewhat consistent to this method David describles, although in very easy puzzles I will only use lines instead of numbers for the Nanro, balanced with shading of unused, for reasons of being faster in my notation.
There are other puzzle styles where I’ve seen notations in conflict with the intended rules, like shading the interior of the Cave including the numbered cells instead of all the groups not in the cave, or shading the islands in the Nurikabe and using blanks/lines for the ocean which is the larger connectivity group. We default to not shading over number clues where possible when we pick a format for styles here.
2:48.Smooth solve.