How To Solve A Masyu Puzzle

We take a look at a Masyu puzzle from last year's US Puzzle Championship. The puzzle was provided by Nikoli, the awesome Japanese puzzle-making company.
The US Puzzle championship website is here:
wpc.puzzles.com...
Otto Janko's puzzle page is here:
www.janko.at/R...
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▶SOFTWARE◀
We mainly use Duncan's Sudoku Solver, which is available at www.littlegogs....
▶ABOUT US◀
Hi! We're Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, two of the UK's most enthusiastic puzzle solvers. We have both represented the UK at the World Sudoku Championships and the World Puzzle Championships. We're also "cryptic crossword" aficionados. Mark is the eleven-time winner of The Times championship and Simon is the former record holder for most consecutive correct solutions to The Listener crossword. We hope we can help your puzzle solving while also introducing you to some of the world's best puzzles.
Thank you for watching!
Simon and Mark

[@MegaSmiley]

Love seeing different puzzles like this. Keep up the variety!

[@coffeedude]

I didn't know about this types of puzzles, they're really fun to complete. I'd love to see more videos about the other types of japanese pencil puzzles

[@sterling50]

never heard of this puzzle before, but looks cool!

[@jonasgleim7612]

Nice to see some other puzzle types! Very nice puzzle, with some interesting steps, took me 4:30.

[@MarcusAntonio.]

never heard of this puzzle. now i cant stop solving them

[@orsonzedd]

Wait we might get Picross? Sweeeeeet

[@QuyNguyen-xm4hf]

This type of puzzle is great , hope for more of these

[@ladybuggger]

I liked this video and would enjoy seeing more masyu or other unique puzzles mixed in with the sudoku

[@tomcollyer641]

I'm very glad you've sorted something out with Otto! And I'm also impressed that you went straight to this Masyu from the USPC for an introductory video - whilst not quite jumping in at the deep end, this is still a pretty good challenge.

[@malloryrobinson6418]

This style of puzzle reminds me of a circuit drawing. thanks for sharing a different style of puzzle :)

[@Kinkajou1015]

Yay! FLEB did a puzzle like this on December 12th of 2017, and he did Slitherlink on December 18th of 2017, and a Cave type puzzle December 4th 2017. Sadly FLEB hasn't done anything in over a year, but I loved the variety, so please keep it up. Crosswords and Sudoku can be the main focus, but branching out with new things helps to broaden your thought process, right? Still hopeful for a Picross. It can start with an easy one if you aren't confident about doing them.

[@freddiehand6551]

Thing is, picross logic is considerably less interesting than logic in other puzzles (the deductions are basic at best) so from the point of view of people who actually want to improve at puzzles it would be pointless. Sure there's a pattern at the end, but the whole process is extremely tedious and it really wouldn't be worth it.

[@Kinkajou1015]

@@freddiehand6551 In your opinion, but consider that it could be a starting point for people to become more interested in other puzzles. Everyone starts somewhere and sudoku and cryptic crosswords may intimidate some people while picross looks fun and relaxing to them. Diversification of content helps the channel be relevant to a larger pool of viewers.

[@jkid1134]

Freddie Hand you’ve never done a hard one, then. most of them sure are easy and even tedious

[@freddiehand6551]

@@jkid1134 I'm taking 'hard' to mean 'requiring deep logical insight'. In the case of picross (or nonogram or hanjie), there is only one kind of logic to be applied, which, to my mind, makes them uninteresting logically. I did use to do them for the aesthetic appeal though. In a sense, picross is less a 'puzzle' as such but a pastime much like that of crochet or colouring. Which makes it unsuitable for this channel.

[@jkid1134]

Freddie Hand I’m assuming that your one logical technique here is single line solving, which is enough to solve many, many nonograms. Here is a nice resource detailing several other techniques which are useful (if not required) for more difficult solves: webpbn.com/index.cgi?page=solving.html I too enjoy solving Picross puzzles as a hobby, and have finished many a book, and I can tell you that there are many interesting and complicated logical techniques, most of which are currently outside my grasp, and which are almost never needed unless very difficult puzzles are sought out.

[@nityantagarwal2532]

7 minutes for this very nice!

[@paulkolovich7547]

I love this channel!

[@Vonias]

this is a really cool puzzle, great video.

[@salfordnurse]

At 1 o’clock, I visited Ottos site 2 and a half hours later I have just managed to stop trying all the puzzles. (Nonograms are awesome)

[@HarshColby]

I've never seen Masyu before. Thanks!

[@petemagnuson7357]

I think I've seen people solving these in paper use Xs on the lines between cells to indicate that the line can't go in that direction, is that available in this program?

[@CatOnFire]

I believe so, because at one point in the solve he accidentally double clicked a square and an x appeared.

[@markdowse3572]

Love your puzzle solving, but PLEASE get a better microphone ! The echo is very distracting. Thanks. :)

[@ib9rt]

I keep seeing people complain about the quality of the audio, but I don't have any trouble listening to it. The spoken words are clear and intelligible and the level is fine.

[@FinetalPies]

What a neat puzzle type I really like this

[@Matthias-wm8zi]

I would like to see a Samurai Sudoku (5 overlapping Sudokus) on the channel

[@Andrewrb15]

Matthias there is at least one of those. I remember watching it.

[@Matthias-wm8zi]

@@Andrewrb15 yes but they gained a lot of new subs and I think it would be an interesting video

[@Andrewrb15]

Matthias I agree they should make another one. I was just letting you know they had one so you could watch it

[@mdawsss18]

This puzzle looks really good fun

[@StartTheDayWithKeele]

Hi, There is a truly wonderful puzzle game which I know you would enjoy. It is called "Baba is You". It uses a movement system like sokoban, where you push objects into certain positions to solve the puzzle, but the objects which you are pushing are either specific objects, or pieces of text. By pushing the pieces of text together, you can create different rules which affect those objects. I consider it as a truly unique puzzle experience, and it can be an extremely challenging test of logic and deduction.

[@professortrog7742]

This is lovely!

[@msolec2000]

Oh, I found that janko site for Gokigen Naname. Didn't know he had other types of puzzles!

[@BoyNextDoor1729]

Do you have any videos on harder masyu puzzle-solving techniques? I've been trying to speed solve them, but I find I am doing a lot of guessing and checking. I already know all of the tricks you have used this video (and more).

[@lancemc9298]

Great stuff!

[@timjmyall]

The KrazyDad site is excellent for puzzles like masyu and many, many others. Some puzzles can be solved online in an interactive way. The site is free to access and just asks for voluntary donations.

[@xSwitchB1ade]

Where can I try the puzzle myself online? I can't find it on ottos website.

[@glum_hippo]

What was that grunting noise at 20:02 ?

[@pz9907]

Is there a way for a regular person like me to get access to those puzzles you were scrolling through at the beginning?

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Yes! Go to this link and register. Then you'll get access to all the old US PC tests. wpc.puzzles.com/uspc2018/

[@Czeckie]

wait, am I blind? I don't see Masyu at the Janko's page

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

They're here: www.janko.at/Raetsel/Masyu/index.htm

[@Maric18]

i think you should play the computer game the witness

[@nicokuhne3255]

I tried this.never did any puzzle like that and I got really far , but somewhere in the middle I made a small mistake and everything was destroyed. Sadly I did it on paper and I couldn't save it

[@mountandew42]

Wow 1 view im early lol

[@JimmyLundberg]

I've never seen a Masyu puzzle before, and I just think the pace is really slow in this video. I think it would improve the viewing experience if you compressed the explanations as much as possible and allow slower viewers to use the pause & rewind functions if they struggle to keep up. I'm 11 minutes in as I'm writing this comment; I'm hoping the pace gets picked up for the rest of the puzzle, which does seem interesting by the way.

[@JimmyLundberg]

Well, I'm glad I sat through those slow, boring 11 minutes, because the following 15 were quite enjoyable. Definitely checking that website out now to have a go for myself. Cheers.