Sep 22, 2011 One Word Wonder Puzzle

Had to copy/paste this into Paint to solve. Nice one!

Nice one, I really like these logic-puzzle types. Thanks for making it!

[1] I drew a 5x5 set of boxes, and did my logic on that. :)

Nice one - again!

not getting it.....it's logically impossible to keep them separate with a blank sqaure between them

I really liked this one!

I see a "bit-fit" coming on...

[5] Slightly different interpretation of 'separate' needed. A solid grid line between them should suffice.

[5] just ignore the first sentence of the instructions (all it means is that each space can only have one shape).

never a fan when solving has to be done off screen (e.g. printed, ms paint, etc.), but it was still a fun logic puzzle.

I did my solving on the back of the envelope ... for me it was literally a back of the envelope problem :)

[5] I was distracted by the separation idea as well. Once I realized this was impossible, I was able to concentrate on the basic puzzle logic. Really liked it once I got on track.

Solved it - WITH SCIENCE! Ok, and logic...

Wow! Really, wow! This puzzle was simply amazing. I had a question about what was the right path to take, but the puzzle itself told me to take a different path. Plus the answer fit the solve method perfectly.

Thanks ArmyKnife!!

Wow. Very, very nice but I'm still a bit stunned at how many different ways I misinterpreted and then just plain screwed up. I was beginning to think I had lost my ability to solve a logic problem!

First, I thought what [5] did but realized right away that wouldn't work, so dropped that constraint. Then I wrongly assumed that if there were two of the same color next to each other in the key, then they were next to each other in the grid - tried that twice before I realized that was an artificial rule of my own making. Then, even after that, I think I messed up 2 or 3 more times! Sheesh.

The puzzle was great. The solver was sorely lacking tonight. :)

[9] Ditto.
Arggh. This took me too long.
I liked the puzzle but got a little bogged down in it and my scratch paper was such a mess I couldn't see anything.

Meh.

The "bit-fit" has hit....Back in the AM before I shoot myself.....

I expected the oil and water to remain separate, but no.

woo hoo!!! made it under 100....#99!!!

[18] Ummm... water and oil don't mix. Oil does mix with itself and so does water. Go read http://www.amazon.com/General-Chemistry-Linus-Pauling/dp/0486656225/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316746019&sr=8-2 and then try the puzzle again. =)

BTW, I'm only half-joking about the book. It is an excellent introduction to chemistry and it explains the solution to this puzzle in the first chapter. Buy it, read it!

You solved this puzzle in 1 hour, 13 minutes and 0 seconds and were the 109th Tanga member to solve it. You earned 10 points for solving this.

Gee, I don't even know how to give salt. It's a straight-forward (though not simple) logic problem. It's easier, I think, if you start with the bottom row and work your way up. The second column can be locked in fairly early which will help. Good luck!

Wish I'd been here earlier instead of talking on the phone. I'm usually pretty good with these kinds of puzzles.

Nice one, armyknife!

I have no idea how to solve this, but it looks pretty.

So lost... has it been a long week?

I totally just guessed at the answer and got it right. Now I know how to solve it.

[25] Believe it or not, that did it for me.

[26] Really, that comment helped you solve it? Or that comment just allowed you to guess it too without really solving it? :)

[22] You weren't the only one but I agree with your assessment that the puzzle disabuses you of the notion pretty quickly.

[23] You have to apply logic to where the blue circles and yellow squares can and cannot be. I'll send you a TG with a good place to get started.

[27] It's hopeless. You tried, and I appreciate your kindness. I printed your TG out and have been reading it while looking at the puzzle, going back and forth, and it's still not clicking. I really think my brain is just not wired to do this type of puzzle, and that's okay! At this point I just sort of want to get on with my day. ;) I look forward to seeing what the answer is once it's posted.

I have tried to just guess what the word might be. No luck there either. I'm assuming that it is composed of letters present in the puzzle, but that may not even be right.

I was able to place the patterns in a handful of ways where the rules were never broken (this was on a printed puzzle) and yet the letters in the free spaces did not make any usable words, neither did the letters in the circles nor the squares.. Are the empty spaces in the given patterns part of the order? Do the patterns have to start over on their same row/column? Those are the only two methods I thought of that I didn't try. Oh well, my time's up too. I'll see what I got wrong tonight. Thanks in advance!

[28] :-) At least you tried. It's really a pretty tricky logic problem and if you aren't good at them, I could see it getting frustrating.

[29] If you found more than one way to put them where the "rules were never broken" as you seem to be implying, then I would argue that you probably were breaking rules on at least all but one of your ways because there should be only one unique way to place them. Once you have that one unique way, then yes, the letters in one of those options (free, circles, or squares) will give you the answer.

[29] [30] Actually, I think the problem is that the author left out (or left the solver to infer) some information needed to solve the puzzle. Namely that each row and column has exactly the number of squares and circles as in it's respective key. I know this was probably obvious to the majority of solvers here, but I'm sure a different type puzzle could be created that didn't use that assumption. In other words, one where the 'items' have to 'load' in the stated order for a given row (column) but where additional items from a cross column (row) could also populate that row (column).
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Maybe it was just me (and I'm guessing jester747), but it took me longer to figure out that I needed that assumption than to solve the puzzle once I did.

[32] Bingo! Exactly what you said, but on top of that I was assum- um, er, supposing that the keys could not have spaces WITHIN them either! I was using an incorrect set of rules which allowed me to move things all over the place "legally" and yet get nowhere. :-) Don't really know how I could have been informed of this fact, for sure it will be having experienced this type of puzzle for this first time that will help me the next time around. Thanks again!

Ah, this is a nice one, armyknife! Well done!

[33] You made a faulty assumption with respect to no spaces between the 'key' items. That's on you and you can learn from it. But the author had a 'requirement' that wasn't stated and that you didn't pick up on. Even if most others made the necessary assumption, I see that as a 'shared' issue between you and the author (or maybe I'm just rationalizing the fact that I didn't pick up on it right away either lol).

Very clever puzzle, with a thematic answer, which I always like to see, as I feel it's more rewarding than a completely random OWW answer.