hi,

attached is the first version of a "Chain Link" puzzle solver (attempt :-)),
inspired by Kurtz le Pirate's posting an image etc of his Sudoku solver.  here
in the UK the "i" newspaper publishes these puzzles (daily), hence the 'icls'
prefix of the code.

the archive includes a pov/inc/ini "combo" and a zip with a small number of
example puzzles. installation is simply putting the code in one directory, the
puzzle files in another, then fixing a path (line 17) in the pov file, and the
output_file_name in the ini.  also included, for Linux users, a few lines of
BASH to automate running the solver.

there are Debug and Verbose options for text output, and a 'Solve' option which
can be overridden to render just the puzzle as published -- for printing out and
manual solving :-).

the code is fairly well commented but comes w/out documentation, and requires a
3.8 version to run.  the include files used are all available from
<wiki.povray.org/content/User:Jr>.

this version implements only one simple "strategy" and, consequently, does not
solve every puzzle.  a second strategy which takes the chain layout into account
is planned, but the prerequisite "divine inspiration" has not yet struck.

comments / discussion / participation welcome.

enjoy, jr.

Post a reply to this message

Attachments:
Download 'icls-1.zip' (9 KB)