7
$\begingroup$

This question is part of the best-puzzle award series.

What are your nominations for the best puzzles, here on Puzzling.SE, of the second quarter (April / May / June) 2017?

Suggested guidelines for nomination:

  • Nominate each individual puzzle in a separate answer, so they can be upvoted/downvoted separately.

  • No more than 3 nominations per person.

  • Don't nominate your own puzzles.

  • Before you nominate a puzzle, check to see if someone else has already nominated it. If they have, then add to that nomination as a comment (or edit it) instead of nominating the same puzzle again.

  • In your nomination, explain what it is that (in your opinion) makes the nominated puzzle such a good one.

Some lists to help jog your memory (your nomination doesn't have to be from these lists):

Meta-meta issues:

  • Is this kind of thing allowed on SE?

  • What's the point?

    • To highlight and encourage good practice in a way that goes beyond upvotes.

    • To work towards building a 'hall of fame' of some of the best puzzles on the site (perhaps to reside on a future puzzling.SE blog) - think of it as our 'greatest hits album'.

    • To prompt members to put forward their own reflections on what makes a high-quality puzzle.

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for keeping the spirit alive, Alconja. Seems Meta has fallen into the summer-hole through. Just one entry? $\endgroup$
    – BmyGuest
    Commented Oct 21, 2017 at 7:42

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
8
$\begingroup$

This puzzle's main portion is a piece of... cake? by Sp3000

This was a sumptuous treat for lovers of meta-puzzles and hunt-style puzzles. Ten beautifully crafted puzzles with novel answer-extraction techniques and satisfying solution-paths, replete with a common theme and a meta to tie them together were more than enough to keep the solvers entertained for hours. The wrap-up post also presents a delightful read on the sheer brilliance and effort that went into its making.

$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Yes! I was going to nominate this as well. IMO this puzzle is one of the best $\endgroup$
    – Wen1now
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 11:44
4
$\begingroup$

The Ludicrous Loop: over a thousand cells of circular logic! by TheGreatEscaper

A simple 4x4 logic deduction puzzle? Great, should be done in 5mins... or is it? The fact that this puzzle could stand against the community for 3 full days should tell you something. And maybe the best: Even looking at the "solution" might not be as satsifactory as you (-cheater!-) might think.

No way around going to solve it yourself....

Oh: And modifications for the colourblind are a nice detail on top.

$\endgroup$
4
$\begingroup$

A simple alien safe and Oh no, it's another safe! by BmyGuest

Here at puzzling, we folks are not too hard to please. Just make an okay puzzle with some pretty pictures, or maybe something with an interesting story, and you'll probably get a bunch of upvotes.

What we really can't stand is puzzles with too much of sublimity. I mean, did you have to squeeze in all of

  • spectacular details
  • artwork that leaves people speechless
  • meticulously crafted 3d models to play with
  • a gripping theme and back-story
  • enigmatic, mind-bending puzzles (encompassing much-loved genres such as )
  • a sense of satisfaction and completion after a successful solve

into a single puzzle? And to top it off, go and make another similar-but-completely-different puzzle with the same much-dreaded traits? This is simply unforgivable.

That's why we can't just passively hit the +1 button and forget all about it. We have to go out of our way to nominate that into our meta-curated lists, so that people don't easily forget.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .