Puzzle #16

This is a Cipher Hashiwokakero puzzle, a variant of Hashiwokakero. In addition to the rules of Hashiwokakero, each number has been replaced by a letter. Different letters refer to different numbers, and the same letters refer to the same number.

Difficulty: medium (not actually an Evil Zinger)

Theme: Bridge X-tension

Puzz.link link. (Note: Because Puz-PRE does not use letters in Hashiwokakero, all Xs in the puzzle have been replaced by blank islands in the link. Puz-PRE does not have the "same letters refer to the same clues" constraint programmed in, so the solver may mark incorrect answers as correct.)

Puzz.link does not support letters in Hashiwokakero, I had to manually add all the Xs in Paint.NET.

So yeah, this puzzle isn't quite as EZ as a normal Evil Zinger as I would have liked. Shame.

Puzzle #6

This is a Hashiwokakero puzzle.

Difficulty: medium

Theme: Clue overload and logic.

Puz-PRE link.

This puzzle is dedicated to my friend Akira, who hates Hashiwokakero puzzles after he was forced to speedsolve them in a ridiculously short amount of time.

How ridiculous? 100 puzzles in 20 minutes.

That equates to 12 seconds per puzzle. Maybe Ulrich Voigt might be able to do that on one puzzle or two. But I doubt even he could keep up that pace for a full 20 minutes.

Anyway, the 3-2-3-2 pattern in the centre is surprisingly common in Japanese-made Hashiwokakero puzzles. In any case, enjoy.

Rules of Hashiwokakero

Draw horizontal and vertical lines (bridges) connecting circles (islands) such that:

1. Between any two islands, there are at most two such bridges connecting them.
2. Bridges may not cross each other or pass over an island.
3. A number on an island indicates how many bridges connect it to some other island.
4. All islands are bridge-connected; i.e. it is possible to move from any island to any other island by only moving across bridges and islands.

Below is an example and its answer.