Genre Spotlight 51: Miti (Puzzles 360 and 361)

I found today's genre on janko.at one point and thought it was an interesting idea.  Miti is a genre by Nishiyama Yukari, a vintage puzzle constructor from Japan.  Like Hurdle, it rephrases a full loop into a one-cell-wide path, which creates an interesting feel.  More detailed thoughts about this genre may be spoiler-y, so I've opted to wait until after the puzzles to discuss them.

Rules:  Draw segments on the dotted lines to create a loop one cell wide which passes through all squares.  Black circles indicate all vertices, including those on the edge, where exactly three lines meet at a point.  There may be no vertices where four lines meet.

         

Genre Spotlight 50: Magatama (Puzzles 358 and 359)

Wow, we've made it to 50 genres!  I would say "here's to 50 more", but my pace isn't fast enough for that.

Today's genre is Magatama.  I'm completely unaware of the origins of this genre -- it appears in Eric Fox's ruleset and has a few puzzles on PuzzleSquareJP, but that's all I know.  (Because the genre is probably Japanese, and because Magatama is a normal word, searching for it on the internet is pretty much impossible.)  As always, please let me know if you're aware of its origins!

Rules: Draw a non-intersecting path through the centers of some cells, starting from the S (start) and finishing at the G (goal). Additionally, circle every cell in which the path makes a turn. Some circles are already given. A number X in a circle indicates the it’s the Xth circle in its orthogonally connected group to be visited by the path. 

      

(Example taken from PuzzleSquareJP.  Take special note of the circle marked "8" -- the circles in an orthogonally connected group do not need to be visited consecutively!)

Genre Spotlight 49: Sanctuary (Puzzles 356 and 357)

 For today's genre, we're diving back into the depths of Nikoli Omopa.  Sanctuary (サンクチュアリ) first debuted in Nikoli issue 63.  The editors of the Omopa Compendium describe the type as "extremely heavy", and by Nikoli standards, I'd probably agree.  However, each of the moving parts comes together to create an interesting mix between Fillomino and Santoitchi.

Historically, Sanctuary has been presented as a number placement genre.  However, I've modified the rules slightly to emphasize its region division components, which I think are more natural to work with. 

Rules: Shade some cells on the board and divide the remaining cells into regions.  Each region contains exactly one given number equal to its area.  Regions with the same area may not be adjacent.  Shaded cells may not touch orthogonally, and no 2x2 square may be entirely unshaded.

          

(Example by カルコゲン on PuzzleSquareJP.)

Genre Spotlight 48: Serpent Sum (Puzzles 354 and 355)

Today's genre Serpent Sum may be a contender for the most obscure type in the series: while the genre appears on PuzzleSquareJP, the only puzzles I've seen are from the original author in 2022.  Regardless, it's an interesting type bears quite a few similarities to San Anko.  Also, I've been told that Adders is a much better name, and while I agree, I wanted to keep the original name for consistency reasons.

Rules: Place numbers into some empty cells such that each orthogonally connected group forms a sequence of consecutive numbers from 1 to N, where N is given outside the grid. Each number in the sequence must be orthogonally adjacent to the next. These groups may not share an edge with one another.  Clues in black cells indicate the total value of the numbers in the white squares in the direction of the arrow, up to the outer perimeter or a black square. 

         

Genre Spotlight Small Update II

Hey, hi!

I'm making this post to announce a change in the Genre Spotlight series.  For the past six months, I've been making two posts a week, and while this pace has been sustainable, it's been more taxing than I first thought.  Thus, I'm making the decision to reduce the post schedule down to Mondays only, i.e. once a week.  I hope this is not disappointing to the (probably single-digit) regular viewers of my content, but I hope that I'll be able to focus a bit more on each post rather than push everything off to the last minute.

This means there will not be a post tomorrow, but there will be one on Monday.

~David