#86 - IPC 2023 puzzle collection

For the third year in a row I contributed some puzzles to the Indian Puzzle Championship. The author pool was fairly large this time and I had some other deadlines, so I only contributed 3 puzzles this time. These, along with a leftover, can be found in this post.

Like last year this post only contains the puzzles I wrote for the contest. The full IPC set can be purchased for a small price which helps LMI cover the costs incurred to organize the live event and continue to organize them in the future. 

The full set contains all 4 puzzle rounds, full of high quality puzzles, as well as bonus content like the PR Playoff puzzles and a giant interconnected puzzle gift. If you are able to, do consider purchasing the set. More information available here (IPC) and here (ISC).

Rules are included in the Penpa links, otherwise please refer to Puzzle Rules.

#1 - Skyscrapers - Round 1 - 35/450 points - Play on Penpa

My first skyscrapers! I tried keeping this one relatively easy and adding a logical theme throughout, which will become evident when you solve it.

#2 - Rule Pool - Round 1 - 30/450 points - Play on Penpa

I played around with a couple of rulesets and initially landed on a different combination (see the leftover puzzle at the bottom of this post). While I like that puzzle more, it was a bit too difficult, so on a second attempt I opted for a more straightforward combination of rules while still making sure I didn't repeat any combinations from the original PR round. 

Note: You won't need to download the ruleset sheet - full rules are included in the penpa rule field.

#3 - Masyu [Deformable] - Round 2 - 50/500 points - Play on Penpa

Both deciding what variant on a classic genre to go for and actually writing the puzzle took an absolute eternity, but I'm glad I stuck with my idea - I really like how this puzzle came out.

Leftover - Rule Pool - Difficulty 3.5/5 - Play on Penpa

The layout and theme of this puzzle came together beautifully, and I'm really happy with it. Unfortunately it was a bit too hard for the round, especially considering there was only one puzzle for rule pool in the entire contest this time, making it preferable to keep the puzzle on the easier side. 

Note: You won't need to download the ruleset sheet - full rules are included in the penpa rule field.