Broken Sign Blog
#114: Lohkous vs. Rail Pool vs. Tapa-Like Loop
9 July 2023This was my entry to Logic Showcase #47 on Puzzlers Club, “Mixed Signals”. The prompt was to make mashups of genres with the same clue type, where the solver has to determine which genre each clue belongs to. The puzzle won the showcase, though only by tie-breaker.
I know the rules look very scary, especially with Lohkous being involved, but I tried to keep the solve as smooth as I could under these circumstances. There are a couple of subtler steps but nothing unreasonable.
Rules: Identify whether each cell with numbers is a Lohkous, Rail Pool, or Tapa-Like Loop clue. Divide the grid into regions along dotted lines and draw a non-intersecting loop through the centres of all cells except those containing Tapa-Like Loop clues.
The solution must satisfy the rules of all three genres.
Lohkous: Each regions contains exactly one Lohkous clue. The numbers in a clue indicate all of the different lengths of runs of consecutive cells within its region, vertically and horizontally. Lengths may be repeated, but each given length must be represented at least once.
Rail Pool: Each region contains at most one Rail Pool clue. Clues represent all the different lengths of the straight line segments that are at least partially contained within the region. Each number within a region must be represented by at least one line segment.
Tapa-Like Loop: Clues represent the numbers of consecutive cells occupied by the loop each time it enters the (up to) eight cells surrounding the clue.