Naoki-Projekt

[fuji]

Naoki is writing a puzzle book now.
It will be published on 5 March.

[cuucw]

This post attempts to fill in all of the currently reported blanks.

Brackets ("[]") have been used to provided guesses, commentary, or additional rules that are not obviously included in translations.

Translations of the titles have only been provided where they make sense. However, it should be noted that these translations were usually derived from the .pdf files in 2005 and a current translation (or from .html) may give different results.
Most of these sets of rules were derived from the associated .pdf files. An attempt has been made to find where the .html versions differ (usually using colors) but some differences may remain.
Where possible, these interpretations of the rules try to follow the organization of the Japanese source as given by automatic translation.


amida (.html only) - Amitabha. Some participants are engaged in an activity where their positions are rearranged. The starting and ending positions are shown at the top and bottom of the board. Movement takes place along the indicated vertical solid lines, and possibly along the indicated horizontal dotted lines. Horizontal movement is only done by exchanging positions with a participant on an adjacent vertical line. Place lines where these exchanges take place. Numbers on the side are the quantity of exchanges that take place along the indicated line. Numbers at the top are the quantity of exchanges the participant takes part in. [Solutions are only recognized if there are no dotted lines.] [Unlike all the other applets, no intermediate codes are provided as each puzzle is completed.] [The associated note file seems to indicate the puzzle was inspired by a situation in a film.]

amida2 (.html only) - Amitabha (The Return!). The rules are the same as for the "amida" puzzles. Puzzles are randomly generated. Different puzzles can be started with the "Next" button. There is a total time limit of 30 minutes. [The listed Hint may indicate that the solutions may not be unique.] [There is supposedly an achievement code given based on performance, but as no link for entering a code is included, this may not be implemented.]

large (.html only) - Large or Small. Based on the clues, determine an unknown number. The unknown number is composed of digits from 1 to 9. No digit is used more than once. The symbols indicate how each of the digits of the listed number compares with the digit in the same position in the unknown number. The symbols are not necessarily in the same order as the digits they compare. A star indicates a digit is the same. An arrow pointing up indicates the digit in the unknown number is higher. An arrow pointing down indicates the digit in the unknown number is lower.

relay - Relation. - Connect two symbols to each circle with lines that pass through all the cells. An observer in each circle could face in a direction so that the relative directions of the two connections to the circle are indicated by the symbols the lines are connected to. [In the example, the symbols from left to right are the Kanji characters for Left, Behind, Right, and Front.]

jan - Place one of three different symbols in each cell. The clues describe the victorious side if a contest is held among the symbols in that particular row or column. The clue is either the symbol of the victorious group or the numeric size of the victorious group. A clue such as that for the second column in the example means that no contest can be held in that line because there are not exactly two types of symbols. [The victor is determined in a fashion similar to rock-paper-scissors in that A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A. The victor in each type of matchup can be determined from the example.]

posi - Position link - Symbols are connected two at a time by non-branching lines which pass through all the cells. Each symbol represents it's relative position to the symbol it is connected to. [In the example, from top to bottom, the symbols are the Kanji characters for Right, Up/Above, Down/Below, and Left.]

second - Second place. Two of each of A, B, and C are placed in each line. The letters on the outside indicate which of the three letters has it's second instance occuring first from the viewpoint of the outside clue. For simplicity, the Example is done with only two letters, A and B.

tona - Tournament. Lines are drawn connecting all the cells. [forming a single connected network] The complete diagram represents how a tournament occurs. The three different shapes represent different types of participants. The Kanji character [translating as "superior"] represents the tournament victory. Black circles represent a match between two participants. [The participants and victory symbols have lines in one direction. The black circles have lines in 3 directions. Cells with no symbol have lines in 2 directions.] The number in a shape is the quantity of matches won by that participant. The winner of each match continues to a later stage of the tournament. There are no matches which result in draws. [The winner of each match is determined in a fashion similar to rock-paper-scissors. Square beats Circle. Circle beats Triangle. Triangle beats Square.] [Each shape is associated with a specific concept, but none of these seem to translate in a meaningfull form.]

hisha - [Rook-like and Bishop-like Place]. One Rook-like piece and one Bishop-like piece are placed in each region. [In the example, the upper given piece is Rook-like, and the lower given piece is Bishop-like.] Pieces of the same type are not in each other's lines-of-attack. The lines-of-attack of a Rook-like piece are horizontal and vertical from it's position. The lines-of-attack of a Bishop-like piece are diagonal from it's position. (A piece between two others prevents their lines-of-attack from reaching each other.) [The shapes of the pieces is similar to that of Shogi (Japanese Chess). Consulting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogi : The Kanji used as labels are the first character of each name. The Rook-like piece is a "flying chariot", pronounced hisha. The Bishop-like piece is an "angle mover", pronounced kakugyo (long o).]

houi (.html only) - Orientation Place. Place a direction (East, West, South, or North) in each empty cell. The clues for each line indicate the "sum" of the entries along that line. The "sum" is the direction, from the starting point, of the final position when [equal-sized] single steps are taken for each entry in the line. For Example, given the entries "North East West North", this is one step North, one step East, one step West, and one step North, with a final position ("sum") that is North. "Sums" such as "North" and "North East" are located in those specific directions. "Sums" such as "North North East" mean that the resulting position is both North and East, but is more North than East. If the "sum" is represented by a symbol like the one on the last row of the example, it means that the resulting position is at the starting point. [Clicking in the applet gives the entries in the order East, West, South, and then North.]

form - Trance form. [? Transform ?] Following the dotted lines, the board is divided into pieces such that the next condition is satisfied. Each piece can be divided along the remaining dotted lines so that the resulting pieces can be rearranged into 3x3 squares. This rearrangement is done without rotating any pieces.

divi - Division. Some cells are painted black so that black cells do not touch each other horizontally or vertically. The black cells do not divide the full board into pieces. [The remaining white cells form a connected region] The number in each outlined region indicates how many white regions it is divided into by the black cells. There are no 2x2 blocks of white cells. [Rule 3 in both the .pdf and .html seems to actually say "black", but this is obviously an error or mis-translation.]

kura - Cluster. Place one of two types of markings (pdf: black and white circles. html: red and blue.) in every cell so that no symbol touches [on edges] only symbols of the other type. The symbols that are already given are all of the symbols that touch only one symbol of their own type.

work - Framework. ["Framework" may refer to the style of logic puzzle where a known list of words (or other strings of characters) is entered into a diagram that shows where words of each length are to be entered. In these diagrams, words cross in crossword fashion, and are entered with one character per square. These puzzles have been known as "Kriss Kross" in some magazines published by Dell (magazine company).] Reconstruct a "skeleton" that could be used for a Framework. Some portions of the "skeleton" are already given. There are no blocks of 2x2 cells inside the "skeleton". [All locations that would hold characters are outlined without seperating adjacent cells that would both hold characters. All cells inside the skeleton form a single connected region.] When considered as a framework, there is no place inside the "skeleton" where words of the same length cross.

inv - Walls are placed along some [single segments] of the grid lines. Walls do not touch. Each number outside represents where an "intruder" enters the board. "Intruders" starting from circles (html: red) turn right when they encounter a wall. "Intruders" entering from squares (html: blue) turn left when they encounter a wall. The number where any "intruder" enters the board indicates the quantity of turns that it makes before exiting the board. Every wall is encountered by some "intruder".

shorte - Short edge. A non-branching loop is made through some of the vertices. Each straight part of the loop has a length of 2 segments or less. The numbers are located inside the loop. Each number represents the count of the four sides visible from that location that are above, below, to the left, and to the right which have a length of one segment.

meta - Meta place. [The desired solution represents the "Maximum" or "Best" solution out of many.] Condition: all cells are marked in one of three ways (.pdf: A, B, C. .html: red, blue, yellow.) so that cells with the same mark do not touch along edges. The cells with squares are marked so that there is only one way to satisfy the listed condition. The remainder of the cells are marked to satisfy the listed condition.

topo - [topology ?] A non-branching non-intersecting loop is drawn through all the vertices. There are 2 or fewer turns between each pair of successive stars along the loop. The two groups of segments that connect each star to it's neighboring stars along the loop have different shapes after rotations, reflections, and stretching or contracting segments are taken into account. [All straight groups are considered to be the same. All groups with single turns are considered to be the same. Some possible groups with two turns are actually different.]

friend - All circles are connected along the given lines so that a single network is formed without having any loops. Any circle connected (by a single segment) to another is considered to be it's friend. The numbers indicate the quantity of "friends of a friend" that a circle has, excluding itself. [In other words, the quantity of circles that are 2 segments away.]

rapid - Rapid cube. The locations of some cubes are shown. Each cube is assigned a different number from the listed range. Each number indicates the [relative] "speed" of each cube. Each cube has the size of a cell of the board and slides continuously across the board at that assigned speed. The cubes move across the board simultaneously in the directions of their arrows and do not encounter each other before they completely exit from the board.

pcount - Point count. A single digit from 1-3 is placed in each cell. The numbers outside indicate the sum of the "scores" along that line. A group of successive cells "scores" the value of one of it's cells when all cells in the group have the same numeric label and the quantity of cells in the group equals the value of that label. [and otherwise "scores" nothing.] [in pdf:] (For example, Three successive "3"s in a line scores 3.) [in html:] (For example, 1122131 gets [0+] 2 +1 [+0] +1 = 4 points.)

face - Face to fence. Circles are connected in pairs by walls (straight lines along grid lines). The walls are considered to be of 3 different types, which could be thought of as colors, based on the different combinations (white-black, white-white, black-black) of circles which form their ends. Walls of the same type do not face each other. (From any cell the first walls encountered in opposite directions, either horizontally or vertically, are of different types.)

exit - EXIT. Symbols representing either Left or Right are placed in some of the cells. [In the first column of the example, from top to bottom, the symbols are the Kanji characters for Left and Right.] The arrows on the outside indicate that for a path entering the board from that position which side of the board the path exits from. Each path turns right or left as indicated by any symbols encountered, and proceeds straight through any empty cells.

yoki - Container division. Show where the the board is to be cut into regions following grid lines. The regions containing stars can be folded, along grid lines, [and without overlapping] into boxes which are in the shape of a cube that is missing the top square. In these boxes, the stars always occur on the bottom square. Some cuts are already shown. No unnecessary cuts are made.

escape - Escape. Arrows pointing each of up, down, left, and right are placed in each row and column. Starting at each arrow and proceeding in the directions the arrows point, a path can be followed from one arrow to the next that leads out of the board.

strings - A loop is made with a thick line through all of the vertices. Character "strings" are those successive groups of letters inside the loop and bounded by it. No letter occurs more than once in any string. Strings are read from the top down and from the left to the right. All strings of length 2 or more are different.

pave - Single digits from 1-3 are placed in each cell. Numbers in cells marked with squares indicate that both horizontally and vertically there is a connected group [including the instance in the square] of that same value and of the length indicated by that value. Numbers in other cells indicated that there is a group of that value of cells with a length of that value in one direction, but not the other. [For example a "2", that isn't in a square, indicates there are two "2"s in one direction, and one, three or more "2"s in the other.]

sloop - Squares or triangles are placed in some of the cells so that one loop, connected horizontally and vertically [by edges], is created. Each figure is connected to [exactly] two others. Where it passes through a square, the loop does not make a turn. [The rules do not have any restriction on the loop touching itself at corners.]

slope - Slope place. Place a slope (diagonal line) in some of the cells. Slopes are not placed in edge-connected adjacent cells. Numbers represent the quantity of slopes that a ball dropped from that position encounters as it travels through the diagram, where the side with the number is considered to be up. [Slopes deflect the ball by one column.]

fill - Filling polygon - In each cell fill in a triangle or a square. The filled in areas form convex polygons (polygons whose angles are less than 180 degrees) with an area the size of 2 cells.

hitp (.html only) - Hit points. Each diagram has a side of a specific length. Place digits, one per cell, from 1 up to that length in each row and in each column. The clues are the sum of the entries in that line that have a certain property. This property is that, from the location of the clue, the entry is in the same position (Nth) as it's value (N). [For example, 5 is 5th.]

petori (.html only) - Outline a region consisting of 3 cells around each circle. Regions do not contain more than one circle. [Nor do regions overlap.] The lines connecting two circles indicate that those two regions have a common edge. If two circles are not connected by an edge, the two regions do not have a common edge. [Although the example shows the regions being colored, and all dotted lines being removed, the applet only requires the outlines.]

quad (.html only) - Fill in exactly one of the two parts of each square. The [edge-connected] areas formed by the filled in parts are quadrilaterals (4-sided polygons).

tate - Length and breadth link. Connect each number to a distinct star with a line along the grid lines. All verticies are part of some line. The numbers represent either the total length of the horizontal segments or the total length of the vertical segments along the line connected to that number.

[berni]

Bei den "Magnetplatten" scheint noch eine Regel zu fehlen. Mir ist aber derzeit nicht klar, welche.

[berni]

Bei Wurmloch (http://puz.hp.infoseek.co.jp/honkaku/hole.html) ist entweder die Anleitung oder das Beispiel fehlerhaft. Beim Beispiel stimmt meiner Meinung nach die 4 oberhalb des Diagramms nicht; alternativ kann man auch in der Lösung das Wurmloch rechts unten um ein Feld nach links verschieben.

[berni]

Bei Zahlenring (http://puz.hp.infoseek.co.jp/honkaku/ring.html) fehlt wohl was in der Anleitung... Ich hab' jedenfalls eine Lösung, die dieser entspricht, die aber nicht akzeptiert wird.

[cuucw]

Re: the 3 recent queries by berni.

Note: the links in berni's posts do not work. They are accidentally including a final ")".
http://puz.hp.infoseek.co.jp/honkaku/hole.html
http://puz.hp.infoseek.co.jp/honkaku/ring.html

mono: Yes, there is a rule missing from the currently listed translation. Adjacent signs of different types would attract each other, so they would touch.

ring: The applicable condition is probably that each group of identical cells forms a straight line. Specifically this means that "3"s do not form an "L" shape.

(Auto-translation of the query into English is confusing, so this may not be an appropriate answer.)
hole: The wormholes are alternately entered and exited (without re-entering). After the second of each pair, cells are encountered normally.
Some example lines, showing what is counted:
O--- => 1---
--O- => 123-
O-O- => 1-23 (this illustrates the point above)
-O-O => 12-3


Possible reinterpretations of the rules:

mono - (Mono poles) - Place one North pole (N) and one South pole (S) in each region. In a line, when two successive poles are the same, they do not touch. In a line, when two successive poles are different, they are not separated by any empty spaces. [They touch.]

ring - Number Ring - Place single numbers, 1 to 3, in cells to form an edge-connected loop. The loop does not touch itself along edges. (Touching at corners is allowed.) The loop can be thought of as being divided into groups of cells. Each group has cells of only a single value, and has a quantity of cells equal to this value. Each group of cells is in a straight line. Groups with identical values do not touch along edges.

hole - Wormhole - Place wormholes [represented by circles] in some of the cells. The clue numbers represent the quantity of cells an imagined thing encounters as it enters the board at the position of the number and moves along the associated line until it has exited beyond the end of that line. When the thing encounters a wormhole and there is no subsequent wormhole, the thing jumps beyond the line [and does not count any remaining empty cells]. When the thing encounters a wormhole and there is a subsequent wormhole, the thing jumps to that next wormhole [and does not count any intervening empty cells] and then moves either to the next cell, if there are remaining cells, or off of the board, if there are no remaining cells.

[cuucw]

This post tries to list all the items that do not occur in any of the current lists.


Typographical corrections to existing items:
battleship - the link is bulleted, unlike any others
bay - there is a spurious character after the link


Miscellaneous comments on existing items:

tloop - listed twice [ Tsuton-Rundweg (Tsutonrupu) ] [ Zwei-Farb-Rundweg (Two Tone Loop) ]
When auto-translated to English, the second entry seems to be better. While the colors are red and black in the .html, they are black and white in the .pdf.


Rule corrections for existing items:

[The currently listed translation incorrectly talks about the different squares of the dominoes rather than dominoes of different types.]
cdomi - Color Domino (.pdf: ABC Domino) - Taking the given hints into account, place dominoes (rectangles of size 2x1) of three types (html: red, blue, yellow. pdf: A, B, C) on the board. Dominoes of the same type do not touch along edges. Each domino touches, along an edge, [at least] one domino of each of the other types. Considered together, the dominoes do not fill any 2x2 blocks.


The following entries are not mentioned anywhere in the current listings.

Three of the entries (boin, doko, frame) are annotated as "needs Japanese vocabulary". These are included so that the list is complete. Solving these items requires an ability to recognize what is or is not a word in Japanese. Access to appropriate word-lists, such as for Scrabble, might allow these to be solved. [Of course, by their intrinsic natures, it is impossible to prove that these puzzles have unique solutions.]
Two of the entries (answer, hosi) are annotated as "needs extracted text". These have text-based clues embedded in the diagrams. Unfortunately the text can not be extracted for translation by ordinary means from either the applets or .pdf files. However, once this has been done, the puzzles are solvable. Appropriate translations for these puzzles are included in attached files.


answer - O X answers - [needs extracted text] Each cell makes a statement regarding how cells are marked. Any statement which is correct is marked with an "O". Any statement which is incorrect is marked with an "X". [Every cell is marked with one of these symbols.] Phrases such as "even numbers", "3-fold numbers" (multiples of 3), etc. refer to the numeric labels of the individual cells.
[A translation in English is included in the attached file. answer-english.txt]

boin - (.html only) [needs Japanese vocabulary] Place a letter (A, I, U, E, O) in each cell so that a completed crossword puzzle diagram using Romaji is formed. [Romaji is Japanese rendered with Latin letters.]

doko - [needs Japanese vocabulary] Place a (katakana) letter in each empty cell so that a completed crossword puzzle diagram is formed. Each letter in a black cell indicates that it occurs somewhere in the adjacent group of white cells in the associated direction.

doublet - (Double Letter Link) - (.html only) Place each of the words listed on the right-hand side into an empty square. A single line between squares indicates that there is exactly one character position [first, second, or third letter] where both associated words have identical letters. A double line between squares indicates that there are exactly two character positions where both associated words have identical letters. Squares which are not connected with lines may have common letters.

frame - Word Frame - [needs Japanese vocabulary] Make a loop through all the vertices. Inside the loop, every continuous group of multiple letters, either horizontally or vertically, forms a valid word which is a noun. Words are read from the top to the bottom and from the left to the right.

hosi - Earth Path: Hoshino's miracle - (.html only) [needs extracted text] Place routes on the map so that the listed clues are satisfied. Each route is between two locations. A clue such as "Japan ~ United States : 3 intervals" indicates that in order to get from Japan to the United States, 3 routes are traversed. (In this case passing through two other locations which are connected directly to each other by a route.) The routes do not form a loop. (Once a location is departed from, it is not possible to return to that location without re-tracing routes in reverse.)
[All clues have the general form used above. Both locations use the same text as displayed on the maps.]
[A translation in English is included in the attached file. hosi-english.txt]
[The associated note file (note_country.html) seems to use an early form of the puzzle's name.]

number_auto - Generated Sudoku (improved) - (.html only) <standard sudoku rules, on a standard size grid>
[A new puzzle is generated whenever "Make" is selected.]

pm - (Plus and Minus Place) - Place one "+" and one "-" in each outlined region. Separate counts are maintained for each row as it is traversed from the left to the right and for each column as it is traversed from the top to the bottom. Numbers at the top and left indicate the initial values of the associated counts. Numbers at the bottom and right indicate the final values of the associated counts. When a "+" is encountered during a traversal, the count is increased by 1. When a "-" is encountered during a traversal, the count is decreased by 1. Every square on the outside actually contains a value, but the ones that are blank have had their values hidden. Before, during, and after each traversal, the associated count stays in the range 1-3.

[berni]

hole: The wormholes are alternately entered and exited (without re-entering). After the second of each pair, cells are encountered normally.
Some example lines, showing what is counted:
O--- => 1---
--O- => 123-
O-O- => 1-23 (this illustrates the point above)
-O-O => 12-3

Ah thanks. For me now everything is clear, but I don't know anymore, what was wrong before... And sorry for writing in german...

[Naoki]

New puzzles I designed lately are below.
http://puzzle.gr.jp/show/Japanese/hima

[Naoki]

Could I use the translated rules here?
I want to add the explanations to Inaba's puzzle laboratory.