Nurikabe (Pentomino) by Serkan Yürekli
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Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic
Author/Opus: This is the 52nd puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.
Rules: Variation of Nurikabe. Place all 12 pentominoes into the grid as Nurikabe islands (rotations and reflections allowed), with no other islands. Pentominoes may be indicated by one or more letter clues, or by no letters at all.
Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the black segments (the unnumbered, connected “ocean”) from left to right for the marked rows. Separate each row’s entry from the next with a comma.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 4:00, Master = 5:15, Expert = 10:30
Solution: PDF
Note: Follow this link for classic Nurikabe puzzles on this website and this link for other variations on Nurikabe puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Nurikabe puzzles to get started on.
03:50.
Feels less of a Nurikabe than a pentomino puzzle due to the fact that islands may have multiple/no clues. Besides that remark, nice puzzle.
I agree that it felt a lot more like a Pentomino puzzle than a Nurikabe, Though for my part that was more to do with how much it felt like the logic of each contributed to the solve.
– Neelix
Both of you are right. It is really hard to prepare this puzzle using all pentomino pieces just once. I cannot remember exactly how much time I spent putting together all pentominoes, but I guess it is a lot. When you do this you don’t want to give so many clues, because your subconscious says “no, no you must prepare a beautiful puzzle, don’t give so many clues, try to get the puzzle with using minimum clues”:). So I followed this. At the end, the puzzle felt like pentomino placement rather than Nurikabe. But there is a solution to eliminate this feeling, it is not using all pentominoes once. When I prepare next time I’ll do that, no pentominoes restriction. I guess it will feel more like Nurikabe, or both types.
I agree that this solves much more as a Pentomino puzzle but I added it into the week as it introduces more variety.
In terms of what may be the best combo, I’m reminded of some Pentomino Nurikabes I’ve made that used twelve “5” clues instead of specific letters. The presence of one clue per island but with unidentified shapes lets the initial steps be very nurikabe in feel. But the conclusion is more about mapping the last possible shapes onto the space. I believe my only publicly shared one was the last puzzle in my 2010 Puzzle Decathlon.
*wanders off to solve the Decathlon puzzle referenced*
@drsudoku You’re right, that does strike a very nice balance. 🙂
– Neelix
Nice variant.