Melon s Puzzle Packs Volume III: Hidato By Palmer Mebane MellowMelon; http://mellowmelon.wordpress.com May 7, 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Rules and Tips : Standard Hidato (1 1) : 4 Cipher Hidato (11 14) : 6 Straight Hidato (15 18) : 7 Diagramless Hidato (19 ) : 8 Wide Hidato (3 6) : 9 Sum Hidato (7 3) : 1 Hints : 11 Solutions : 13 Introduction This pack contains 3 Hidato puzzles. 1 of them use the standard set of rules. There are also five variations, each with four puzzles. For those solvers who are less experienced or unfamiliar with Hidato, the first section goes over the rules and a lot of strategies for solving these. Hidato is one of the simplest puzzle types around, so it should be easy to pick up. Each puzzle has a certain number of melon icons at the top right indicating the difficulty of the logical solution as estimated by the author. The more melons, the harder the puzzle. But keep in mind that your experience may vary. Also, the indicated difficulty means little if you attempt to solve any of these with intuition or guesswork rather than logic. If you are struggling with a puzzle, the Hints section provides a tip for each puzzle that may help, usually describing how to get past a sticking point near the start. Solutions are in the back if you get really stumped or want to check your work.
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page /15 Hidato Rules and Tips 9 4 In Hidato, you are to fill in the white squares with numbers from 1 to N, each number used once, where N is the number of squares 1 8 not 3 shaded 6 black. You must do so in a way so that any two consecutive numbers are placed in touching squares. It is permitted for these squares to touch 14only 11at7 a single point. Some numbers will be given to you. 1 1 9 4 5 13 1 1 One can think of a Hidato puzzle as placing a chess king, which can move in any of the eight directions, on a square and having it move until each square has been visited exactly once. The number k in a square means that is the kth square that the king visits. Below is a small example puzzle. We will walk through how one would solve this puzzle logically. 9 4 8,1 8,1 1 1 To start, notice that the 9 in the top left corner needs to touch the 8 and 1. The only two squares available for this are RC1 and RC, so one of them is 8 and the other is 1. Now notice that the 1 and the 4 are three rows apart. So the has to be in the third row and the 3 has to be in the second row. Given that RC1 and RC are taken and that the 3 has to touch the 4, this only leaves RC3 for the 3. 9 4 5 8,1 8,1 3 6 1 1 The 4 is almost trapped, so the 5 and 6 must escape out through the top right.
9 4 5 1 8 3 6 14 11 7 Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 3/15 13 1 1 Now the 6 and 9 are very far away. There is only one way to place the 7 and 8 to connect them: on R3C3 and R3C respectively. We immediately deduce where the 1 and are after this. The rest is easy. The 11 must go between the 1 and 1, and then there is just one way to place the 13 and 14. General Strategies Here are some techniques and methods for solving Hidato puzzles. The two most common techniques in Hidato, as seen from the example, are to find the only way to extend the path from a known number, or to find the only way to connect two numbers which are close in value but distant on the grid. A square which is so boxed in that only one empty square can have a consecutive number must be either 1 or N. For any square that is not 1 or N and can only be consecutive to two touching squares, that square must be consecutive to both. You should always be trying to figure out the general location of 1 and N so that you may better apply this rule. Drawing in a small line between two squares that you know have consecutive numbers is often quite helpful. For some of the variations in this pack it is almost a requirement. If you have a long string of squares that you know are consecutive but have none of the numbers for, it will often be useful to keep track of the difference between the two ends. In tougher puzzles, be on the look out for empty squares that are very far away from any given numbers. At some point the path of the numbers will have to take a large detour to fill that number with a square; there may only be one time when that is possible.
14 11 7 1 113 1 1 Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 4/15 Standard Hidato The puzzles in this section use the standard rules (see page ). III.1 4 8 9 3 11 Example 1 13 18 15 III. 15 3 19 (1 ) III.3 11 19 4 3 III.4 (1 5) 1 6 15 (1 5) (1 19)
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 5/15 III.5 III.6 III.7 (1 1) III.8 (1 44) 1 8 5 4 1 (1 36) (1 48) III.9 35 6 34 3 8 4 9 63 1 39 4 4 54 19 17 53 16 III.1 (1 64) (1 56)
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 6/15 Cipher Hidato C DE5 8 1 6 7 9 In addition to the usual Hidato rules, each digit 9 has been replaced by a letter. Same letters represent the same digit, and different numbers represent different digits. III.11 F OI OH HO OW W Example O III.1 LX (1 5) (1 5) III.13 BB BG A H CC III.14 CE CT CO E CI PH ER DD DF FF E CP HA HI DA T FC DC TR (1 48) (1 64)
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 7/15 Straight Hidato 3 3 1 3 1 69 7 8 9 5 1 11 1 4 13 15 3 1 14 16 In addition to the usual Hidato rules, a number in a row or column gives a number of pairs of touching numbers which are consecutive in that row or column. (You can think of it as indicating the number of horizontal/vertical king moves.) Example III.15 3 1 11 1 9 III.16 17 3 (1 1) (1 5) III.17 1 1 1 III.18 3 1 33 3 4 (1 56) (1 5)
3 1 1 33 1 1 3 1 18 6 7 8 5 4 Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 8/15 Diagramless 1 Hidato 3 1 3 1 In addition to the usual Hidato rules, the black squares have been hidden from you. A number in a row or column tells you how many black squares are in that row or column. III.19 Example 4 3 9 1 15 4 III. 3 1 8 1 1 1 (1 15) (1 19) III.1 1 4 6 4 6 1 5 1 6 4 9 1 7 3 4 14 5 3 17 35 3 III. 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 18 1 3 3 14 3 1 3 3 7 39 3 3 5 37 (1 35) (1 4)
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 9/15 Wide Hidato In addition to the usual Hidato rules, two numbers which touch but are not consecutive must differ by at least four. 14 Example 3 5 3 9 4 1 III.3 8 III.4 (1 15) (1 19) III.5 III.6 4 34 9 5 1 4 5 4 5 1 (1 48) (1 56)
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 1/15 Sum Hidato 8 13 15 1 8 8 16 1 11 9 In addition to the usual Hidato rules, some cages with number clues are given in the grid. The cage 36 clue is the 35 sum of all the numbers appearing inside the cage. 46 Example 6 95 18 3 III.7 III.8 97 16 (1 3) (1 5) III.9 11 64 63 11 37 III.3 97 68 11 7 1 86 55 11 14 75 18 46 8 14 66 43 19 146 18 (1 64) (1 5)
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 11/15 Hints III.1: If you re having trouble continuing the path from one number, try looking at a different one. III.: There are a lot of pairs of numbers where the distance between them is the same as their numeric difference. Make use of them. III.3: Both chains of numbers from the 15 have to cut straight across the diagonal. III.4: Since the 1 and 19 are given to you, you should be able to build long paths between the empty squares on the top and bottom. III.5: Be especially careful of trapping whatever number goes in the corner spaces. III.6: Use the 1, 6, and 1 first, then follow the puzzle around clockwise. III.7: Draw as much of the path as you can, and ask yourself what the difference of the two numbers in the center two spaces must be. III.8: The spaces in the top center and bottom center are difficult to fill. When is the range of ungiven numbers big enough to make those detours? III.9: You need to make detours to fill those empty corners. Multiple times, in fact. III.1: Traffic through that diagonal is very congested. The 15 and are the key. III.11: What three numbers must be F, O, W be? III.1: Think about the single digit numbers and the numbers beginning with L at the same time. Which one should the middle space be? III.13: What numbers must A and E be? The 11 must be one of the given double letter spaces; which one? III.14: The six letters beginning the center six spaces spelling CIPHER HIDATO are the digits 1 6. III.15: The in the left column makes things very tight. The 1 is given to you; the left column can t work without using the 1. III.16: First show that RC, RC4, R4C, R4C4 can t have diagonal paths, then use parity to show there can t be any diagonal moves at all. III.17: Turn the paper 45 degrees and treat it as a simple loop puzzle. III.18: The 3 in column 4 gets you started; make sure it doesn t seal off both quadrants on the left. If you get stuck, try using a clue to make deductions in different quadrant. III.19: You should be able to mark several black squares immediately. Where do the 1, 3, 8, and 1 have to go? III.: You can only pass through columns and 4 twice each. Make sure you
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 1/15 visit everything before you leave. III.1: Use the 5, 6, 6, 7 clue system to separate the puzzle into nine sections. III.: You only get fifteen numbers to use in the top/bottom three rows/columns. Make all of them count. The top row in particular has three givens whose values are not close to each other. III.3: Wide Hidato has some new rules about how the path can work. Think about what RC4 and R4C can do. III.4: The bottom left corner is the easiest way to get traction here. A lot of the squares can t have the 19. III.5: The black square configuration makes it exceptionally difficult for the path to turn around. Yet it has to in the top. III.6: The top left and bottom right have the ends of the path. You will have a lot of traffic through the center, but you ll probably only be able to write numbers near the edges until the end. III.7: Add up all the givens to figure out the center number. Then think about how high the numbers in the 95 cage must be. III.8: The 6 and 16 are your start, but you probably want to figure out the 6 before the tough 31. III.9: Not a whole lot of number combinations can sum to 11. III.3: Consider the top-right/bottom-left corner cage clues mod 3 and the top-left/bottom-right corner cage clues mod 4.
Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 13/15 Solutions III.1 III. III.3 III.4 3 4 6 7 5 8 18 19 1 1 9 17 14 11 16 15 13 1 III.5 1 1 6 19 3 5 7 18 4 8 16 17 13 1 9 15 14 1 11 III.6 3 3 31 34 3 3 35 36 9 8 7 5 6 1 4 1 3 1 III.7 35 36 7 1 33 34 8 6 3 3 3 9 5 4 31 9 1 8 11 13 4 5 7 1 14 3 6 19 16 15 1 18 17 III.8 1 4 5 37 36 19 3 6 38 35 18 3 7 34 39 17 1 4 33 8 4 III.9 16 5 3 9 48 41 15 6 1 31 47 4 14 11 7 3 46 43 13 1 8 9 44 45 6 1 3 59 61 36 58 37 6 57 38 6 56 1 39 6 55 18 4 54 51 19 1 5 53 5 4 III.1 34 33 5 51 54 55 56 III.11 III.1 35 15 3 53 5 5 6 36 14 16 31 4 49 7 37 13 17 3 3 48 8 38 39 1 18 9 47 1 11 4 6 19 1 46 1 5 41 7 45 3 4 9 8 4 43 44
38 33 3 3 37 36 35 34 31 1 4 7 45 5 49 3 55 43 44 6 5 51 5 53 54 Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 14/15 III.13 III.16 3 1 19 3 1 18 1 4 5 6 17 5 8 7 16 3 4 9 1 15 14 13 1 11 III.14 III.17 III.15 1 9 7 5 47 49 8 3 6 46 4 48 5 31 3 1 45 3 51 1 4 3 4 1 44 5 33 5 41 9 43 11 53 19 6 34 8 4 1 18 54 35 7 37 13 39 15 III.18 55 17 36 38 14 16 56 3 3 31 3 9 1 34 33 37 8 35 36 38 7 39 43 4 41 4 3 44 45 46 5 49 47 4 5 51 48 III.19 4 1 3 9 1 8 3 1 11 15 7 4 1 13 14 6 5 III. 3 3 1 8 9 1 15 1 7 11 14 16 1 6 13 1 17 III.1 5 18 1 4 3 1 19 1 4 6 3 18 19 1 1 8 7 4 11 9 7 1 13 6 4 14 15 5 5 16 4 3 17 1 III. III.3 III.4
39 6 4 44 4 41 1 43 4 7 5 55 48 3 1 51 5 49 56 Melon s Puzzle Packs Vol. III: Hidato Page 15/15 III.5 III.8 5 16 4 5 7 9 3 4 6 1 31 8 3 16 15 11 1 17 14 1 6 18 6 19 1 13 III.6 III.9 III.7 11 37 35 64 34 63 31 3 11 1 37 11 1 38 36 3 33 19 1 13 14 68 39 9 7 11 8 3 7 15 57 55 8 4 11 6 14 4 6 75 16 58 18 56 7 41 5 61 17 59 55 5 46 6 4 8 18 6 54 14 53 51 66 1 5 43 19 43 45 19 63 48 146 5 3 4 18 44 64 46 III.3 47 49 97 17 18 16 46 16 19 45 15 47 44 14 4 97 43 13 4 1 1 1 41 86 11 3 4 39 38