Cave by Grant Fikes
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)
Theme: Small Digits (1-5)
Author/Opus: This is the 124th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.
Rules: Standard Cave rules.
Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the cave segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30
Solution: PDF
Note: Follow this link for other classic Caves. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cave Puzzles to get started on.
Is it just me, or does the lack of a no 2×2 squares rule in Cave puzzles give a weird feeling to the solve?
– Neelix
That rule is not very common, except for some European sources of this style (whatever name it goes by). So I never get a weird feeling during the solve, and am happy to have a simpler rules set. The connectivity rules (cave with itself, and unused with the outside of the grid) are quite forcing so needing any 2×2 rules either inside, outside, or both, is really overkill. It was not in the original BAG form of the puzzle in Japan, so we don’t include it here.
I didn’t mean it felt odd amongst cave puzzles but amongst other puzzle types with similar connectivity rules. Solving a cave (any cave with the standard rules) after having recently focused more on LITS, nurikabe, cross the streams and Tapa solves, which all have ‘no 2×2’ rules is what feels odd. *shrugs* maybe it really is just me. 🙂
– Neelix
Well, every other genre you name I consider a Shading puzzle. I call Cave, like Fillomino, a Region Division puzzle (and they got grouped together in The Art of Puzzles ebook). Admittedly the line is close but that is one way that I don’t confuse them. But there are indeed some Cave puzzles out there with the 2×2 extra rule like Denksel’s which are the caves that are most problematic for me as I forget the rule.
01:38.
Nice puzzle.
It’s the answer key that keeps throwing me off — I keep trying to enter the lengths of consecutive shaded (wall) cells, like Nurikabe, rather than the interior cave.