Hitori

Just about the only puzzle I never attempt to do in Xtra is Hitori - I have had done this puzzle type in the past, but this is one puzzle that doesn't interest me. I just wondered how everyone else feels about Hitori and if anyone would like to jump to its defence!!

May I hasten to add that I am in no way being criticall of the content of Xtra (the best puzzle mag on the market by a mile) - I know we all have different likes and dislikes and was just curious to know what others thought of hitori.

I don't mind Hitori. Actually, Hanjie is my least favorite puzzle. It's just so boring to me! The only Hanjie-like puzzles I can tolerate are Grant's "Cross the Streams" variant which are actually really fun, but plain Hanjie is just not my thing.

Hitori is a funny sort of puzzle - it is definitely more limited than some other types because there is so much visual 'noise'. Hanjie is one of those puzzles that divides people - there are many people who REALLY love it; it is by far the most popular puzzle on puzzlemix, by an order of magnitude! Although to be fair it is less frequent which does account for some of the extra hits on each puzzle.

Personally I quite like my own Hanjie, which never require you to cross-reference rows and columns in a single move or make complex deductions about multiple rows/columns at once, but for myself I don't enjoy the Conceptis ones (other than their 'easy' ones) that Puzzler and others use which need you to literally just recursively guess. Nearly all their puzzles are like this I presume because it allows much more complex and fiddly images, and similarly for other Hanjie makers too. The evidence from Puzzlemix is that most people who solve tougher Hanjie consult the solutions when solving - they check what they're doing as they go and fix mistakes they've made. I think it's a different kind of puzzling activity.

I can't think of puzzles I really dislike. In fact those I used to dislike have become my favourites. A long time ago I didn't like Heyawake or Numberlink - now they're two of my absolute favourites! I think that's because for heyawake the easy puzzles tend to be tedious - the book-keeping bits without the fun logic parts - and for numberlink you need some practice to find them anything other than nightmarishly hard! (Although the ones in Sudoku Xtra are much easier than average)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2010 11:30AM by gareth.

I must admit, hanjie is not my thing - the easy ones you put in Xtra Gareth are just about my limit, but my husband does hanjie and nothing else and has done almost every day for the past few years without feeling the need to branch out into other puzzles! He gets the Super Hanjie magazine and any other large puzzles he can get his hands on. Some of the really difficult ones he does over a few days and I am fairly sure he doesn't look at the solutions for any help. Occasionally a puzzle is sat there for a few days until inspiration comes! He is not interested in puzzles where you have to guess - just ones that are solved completely by logic. The only other puzzle he does is labyrinth which follows similar lines.

Annoyingly (since he doesn't do other puzzles!) if I am stuck on a new puzzle type he can just look over my shoulder, quickly read the instructions and say you need to do that, that and that! Actually it's quite helpful as I find it easier and quicker to assimilate all the rules with someone talking me through a puzzle rather than trying to fathom out the rules from written instructions. (Rather like me throwing an instruction manual for some electrical equipment at him and asking him to read it and just tell me what I need to press!). Strange how brains work in different ways.

I haven't done any heyawake yet. Must have a look at that one and see how I get on. At least Xtra (and now the new community section) encourages you to have a go at new puzzles, some you really take to and some you don't. Mind you I'm not holding out any great hopes for the crazy slitherlinks that are in this month's issue although I'll give them my best shot!

practice makes perfect

look 4 Hitori FAQ ON GOOGLE.COM, WIKIPEDIA.ORG, ASK.COM.

note to Gareth: I have your whitish Japanese puzzle book. Cool. sudoku, kakuro, hanjie in one book! And some of the hanjies were done by someone else so I can follow what they did!!

Jeff

Chris, (and others)

Is there a "Hitori FAQ" somewhere???

Try google.com, ask.com, wikipedia.org

-Jeff

Hi Jeff, needless to say there are several hitori tutorials to be found on the internet if you have a good look round, but the point I was really trying to make was that of all the interesting puzzles out there, that one isn't on my list! Since Gareth says in his Xtra editorials that we can mention our dislikes as well as likes, I was simply curious to see how popular hitori actually was. What's your take on the puzzle?

I have never tried Hitori, Hanjie. Depending on "my inspiration level" I might never try them.

I (will have) NINE(!) of Xtra. I have 1 of "Pro" and 1 of "Beyond Sudoku". I think that that is more than enuf.

lulu.com ran a come-on for 07/04/10. Seventeen dollars of on a $76 order. 1776. Catchy??

jl

I hope you're enjoying the mags Jeff - you have enough there to keep you going for a year at least I'm sure, if you try them all!

My feeling is that Hitori is not a vastly popular puzzle, but just yesterday I had an email asking for more of them on PuzzleMix (and had other recent requests) so it's not as unpopular as you (and indeed I!) might imagine...


Gareth

For what it's worth - Hitori's leave me cold too but am with Christine's hubby on Hanjie. Love them and usually do one over a morning cuppa to start the day. SuperHanjies bore me a bit as take too long and too much counting squares. I like the hard ones in the small mags but would rather leave a hard one unfinished that look at the solution tho, Gareth. How very dare you suggest such a thing!

Viva all our differences.....

Well obviously not everyone consults the solutions when solving tough puzzles, but if you look at the puzzlemix stats you can see that the majority of people do. Particularly on tougher Hanjies. People place stuff they think is right, but sometimes make a mistake and they pick those up by checking the solutions as they go.

Perhaps it is the case on the tough intricate Hanjies that Puzzler publish you get quite good error correction as you go, so you realise pretty rapidly if you're wrong? Is that true? Often that doesn't necessarily apply to my easier ones - so that could be the difference here. I'd be fascinated to watch a few people solve the tough Puzzler/Conceptis ones, although preferably on fast forward since I imagine it must take a while! Or maybe not when you get really good - perhaps you can see patterns in the numbers that you recognise?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2010 11:35AM by gareth.

speaking of tough puzzles, there is a toughpuzzles group at groups.yahoo.com

:-)

I used to enjoy Hitori. Can't remember how I first got into them, but I had some books from Nikoli and a couple of books were also published in the UK. For some reason, I've now gone off them a bit now.

Hanjie, though, I will never go off them. Have been addicted for years. I get Hanjie magazines imported from Japan just to get really huge puzzles like 190/80 and 175/110 in size! They take ages to do but the pictures are stunning.