carlotes Daily subscriber Rated puzzle: Hard Completion time: 26:23
I am so happy!! It's the first Hanjie I've been able to solve! I understand it's going to be the easiest, but... it starts with it!
Posted 18th Jan 2020 at 13:33
carlotes Daily subscriber Rated puzzle: Hard Completion time: 26:23
The first Hanjie I've been able to solve without any help.
Posted 18th Jan 2020 at 22:30
rhodri2112 Daily subscriber Completion time: 1:38
Hey, Carlotes, here are a few hints from someone who loves Hanjies.
1. Always go from the biggest numbers to the smallest. What you are looking for are what I call bridges. These are instances where a number is big enough to automatically occupy interior spaces. In this puzzle, for example, you have the 8 and the 6 horizontally. You know automatically on the 8 line that the middle six squares must be filled. On the 6 line, you know the middle 2 squares must be colored in.
This can be extended to include a line that has multiple numbers. For example, picture a 30x30 where one line is 4 13. If you count out the 4, add a space that must be between the two numbers, then you are left with 25 empty spaces on that row. The middle square must then be part of the 13.
Side note, I use Gareth's easy interface to help with this. I will routinely mark a box temporarily blank so I can count out things easier. On the above example, I'd count out 4, mark the next square blank, then count out the 13. This is especially useful on lines that look something like 2 2 3 2 9. If you count that out, the 9 will bridge the last bit with one filled square. It's hard to see, though, unless you mark the blank squares to help visualize the numbers.
Second side note: Remember to remove the temporary marks or they'll confuse you later. Ask me how I know.
In general, bridging is crucial.
2. The one exception to rule one is a zero. Clear those lines immediately. Rule 3 explains why.
3. Blank squares are usually more important than filled squares to solve puzzles. They serve as limiting marks. For example, there's a puzzle called Fighter that I've never been able to solve without help until yesterday. The reason was I finally found a square I could specify as blank. That created a bridge for a 14 on the bottom row and boom, it was done. Been fighting that one for years.
4. Use the boundaries. They create limits that will help. For example, if you have a line that is 2 5 7 9 and you know square three on the row is filled, then you also know that square 1 is empty. There's a new limit. In the case of Fghter I filled a square six up from the bottom. The bottom number on that line was a 5. That meant the bottom square had to be empty.
Likewise, if you have a line that is 15 in a 30x30 and you know square three is filled, then you know squares 3-15 must be filled, which then means that squares 18-30 must be blank. If you can't quite visualize it here, which I understand, try it and you'll see.
5. Keep pecking away. Like in Fighter, it can sometimes be one square. Take the obvious stuff first. Then look for bridges. Find any blank ones you can be sure of. Keep nibbling here and there. Sooner or later, it will open up.
I sometimes work out which squares must be shaded in a row by colouring in both forwards from the start of a row and then backwards, shading as tightly as I can. Then any squares which are shaded as part of the same region in both directions must be shaded in the final puzzle.
Some pictures will be make this much clearer. For example, in this puzzle, you can solve the 6 forwards (red) and backwards (green), and then observe that the squares in the middle overlap in the same region so must be shaded (black): Click here to see
This is most useful with rows/columns with lots of numbers. Here is the same thing with the 2 1 1 2 row from this puzzle. As you can see, this forces two squares to be shaded, which is not immediately obvious if you're not familiar with hanjie: Click here to see
Gareth, puzzlemix
Posted 19th Jan 2020 at 15:50
carlotes Daily subscriber Rated puzzle: Hard Completion time: 26:23
Thank you very much for your tips, rhodri and gareth, which will help me and many other puzzlemix people.
Posted 19th Jan 2020 at 19:44
jhield Rated puzzle: Easy Completion time: 3:50
I love Hanje and sometimes buy the books from WH Smith. I had never thought of filling in from either end, thanks Gareth for this tip!.
Posted 19th Jan 2020 at 22:04
rhodri2112 Daily subscriber Completion time: 1:38
Thanks, Gareth, for giving us a visual representation of my term bridging. It's often hard to describe without seeing it in action.
And yes, Jhield, you always have to go from all sides of a puzzle. In fact, I'm usually more comfortable going from the bottom and from the right than what might seem more obvious to others. I don't know why, they just feel more comfortable to me.
Posted 27th Jan 2020 at 20:15
Kokoo Completion time: 6:02 Used 'show wrong moves'
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1. Always go from the biggest numbers to the smallest. What you are looking for are what I call bridges. These are instances where a number is big enough to automatically occupy interior spaces. In this puzzle, for example, you have the 8 and the 6 horizontally. You know automatically on the 8 line that the middle six squares must be filled. On the 6 line, you know the middle 2 squares must be colored in.
This can be extended to include a line that has multiple numbers. For example, picture a 30x30 where one line is 4 13. If you count out the 4, add a space that must be between the two numbers, then you are left with 25 empty spaces on that row. The middle square must then be part of the 13.
Side note, I use Gareth's easy interface to help with this. I will routinely mark a box temporarily blank so I can count out things easier. On the above example, I'd count out 4, mark the next square blank, then count out the 13. This is especially useful on lines that look something like 2 2 3 2 9. If you count that out, the 9 will bridge the last bit with one filled square. It's hard to see, though, unless you mark the blank squares to help visualize the numbers.
Second side note: Remember to remove the temporary marks or they'll confuse you later. Ask me how I know.
In general, bridging is crucial.
2. The one exception to rule one is a zero. Clear those lines immediately. Rule 3 explains why.
3. Blank squares are usually more important than filled squares to solve puzzles. They serve as limiting marks. For example, there's a puzzle called Fighter that I've never been able to solve without help until yesterday. The reason was I finally found a square I could specify as blank. That created a bridge for a 14 on the bottom row and boom, it was done. Been fighting that one for years.
4. Use the boundaries. They create limits that will help. For example, if you have a line that is 2 5 7 9 and you know square three on the row is filled, then you also know that square 1 is empty. There's a new limit. In the case of Fghter I filled a square six up from the bottom. The bottom number on that line was a 5. That meant the bottom square had to be empty.
Likewise, if you have a line that is 15 in a 30x30 and you know square three is filled, then you know squares 3-15 must be filled, which then means that squares 18-30 must be blank. If you can't quite visualize it here, which I understand, try it and you'll see.
5. Keep pecking away. Like in Fighter, it can sometimes be one square. Take the obvious stuff first. Then look for bridges. Find any blank ones you can be sure of. Keep nibbling here and there. Sooner or later, it will open up.
I sometimes work out which squares must be shaded in a row by colouring in both forwards from the start of a row and then backwards, shading as tightly as I can. Then any squares which are shaded as part of the same region in both directions must be shaded in the final puzzle.
Some pictures will be make this much clearer. For example, in this puzzle, you can solve the 6 forwards (red) and backwards (green), and then observe that the squares in the middle overlap in the same region so must be shaded (black):
Click here to see
This is most useful with rows/columns with lots of numbers. Here is the same thing with the 2 1 1 2 row from this puzzle. As you can see, this forces two squares to be shaded, which is not immediately obvious if you're not familiar with hanjie:
Click here to see
Gareth, puzzlemix
And yes, Jhield, you always have to go from all sides of a puzzle. In fact, I'm usually more comfortable going from the bottom and from the right than what might seem more obvious to others. I don't know why, they just feel more comfortable to me.
You can however view other players' statistics and comments in the tables above.