Calendar Puzzle "Rhombus"

(praxispuzzles.com)

53 points | by xyzzy_plugh 9 days ago

7 comments

  • zvr 7 hours ago
    I have the "A Puzzle A Day" https://www.dragonfjord.com/product/a-puzzle-a-day/ since a few years and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.

    All dates are possible and most (all?) have multiple solutions.

    • spencerflem 4 hours ago
      Was just about to link to this one!
  • seszett 5 hours ago
    Nice, but it's only available in English sadly, there's a link that says "see kalenderpuzzel "Ruit" for the Dutch version" (I'd prefer French but Dutch would do as well) but that page says "De maanden en dagen van de week zijn in het Engels".

    The "square" one is in Dutch but sold out and the Rotterdam one in English only.

    But I like that idea, apparently it's not the first puzzle of this kind but I didn't know about them.

  • racl101 3 hours ago
    Ooh, nice white elephant gift idea for work. I never know what to give.
  • rawling 9 days ago
    Have they made it so impossible dates are impossible, I wonder?
    • peterpuzzle 10 hours ago
      Creator here. No, you can arrange the puzzle pieces to make dates that don't exist, like Monday February 31. Actually there may be "impossible" dates, because I didn't check for them, but I guess all combinations of days of the week, day of the month and month are possible. And also many non-dates, like 1, 2, 3. But good point: alle possible dates have at least 1 solution. Disclaimer: I sell these puzzles for a little more than the raw material.
      • slig 8 hours ago
        So nice! Do you create them entirely algorithmically, or do you use the solver just to verify that every date is possible?
        • peterpuzzle 6 hours ago
          I wrote 2 solvers in Python. One that loops through all possible dates and searches for a solution. And one that loops through all solutions and checks if they form a date or not. And luckily both gave the same answers.
          • drivebyhooting 4 hours ago
            How did you select the piece shapes to ensure there was always a solution?
            • peterpuzzle 3 hours ago
              Actually I tried a lot of different combinations of piece shapes to find the "hardest" set of pieces that can still solve all possible dates. "Hard" is subjective, but I mean pieces with multiple protrusions.
      • seanhunter 8 hours ago
        Looks like a really nice puzzle. Congrats.
      • legedemon 8 hours ago
        Great puzzle. Do you ship internationally?
        • yapyap 7 hours ago
          not OP but yes
    • xyzzy_plugh 8 days ago
      Doesn't seem like it. Using the interactive board on the website I was able to produce a solution that only revealed numbers.
  • nonethewiser 4 hours ago
    Seems pretty hard! Even the easy example.
  • Y_Y 7 hours ago
    Those particular rhombuses are typically known as "squares"
    • RyanOD 3 hours ago
      Announcing new Diamond Shreddies!

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bccNH82DIo0

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF_2yHXD_CU

      (and...neat puzzle...nice job, creator!)

    • dfee 3 hours ago
      I thought the same thing, but it seems that certain dates would make it so there is one square ("rhombus") and one (non-square) rectangle (e.g. Feb 15).

      So rather than 3 rhombuses – or 3 squares – perhaps it's 3 squares of 1 square and 1 rectangle. (Perhaps the positions of the puzzle pieces make it such that it truly is 3 squares)!

  • ky_vulnerable 5 hours ago
    That's really creative. Did the creator come up with the design himself?