Booked Out

Like Sudoku, Kakuro and pretty much every other puzzle, whether Futoshiki puzzles have multiple solutions or not is up to the creator of the individual puzzle. It’s certainly possible to create a very large number of Futoshiki puzzles that have only one single unique solution. It just depends on the selection of numbers and inequality signs you include in the puzzle. Good selection = one solution; bad selection = many solutions.

Puzzles with many solutions are generally considered bad because it means you can’t use “must” reasoning when solving the puzzle, since you inevitably get to a point where you can only decide that two or more numbers are possible in a square. This makes the puzzles less satisfying to solve.

Gareth

gareth moore    16 October, 02:53 AM   

I have just had a reply from the Guardian and as promised at link text I am reproducing it here:

As many of you have pointed out there have been multiple solutions to the
new Futoshiki puzzles we have been publishing in the Saturday paper. We
compounded the error by publishing the puzzle number two twice in
preceding weeks. Our puzzle scribes are now working on a new batch with a
single solution, and the first of these will be published on Saturday
October 28.
apologies and best wishes
Helen Hodgson
(Assistant Readers’ editor)

October 28th? So does that mean there’s no puzzle on the 21st? Will they publish any explanation in the newspaper?

Steve    17 October, 05:11 PM   

Just got this from the Guardian

Dear
As many of you have pointed out there have been multiple solutions to the new Futoshiki puzzles we have been publishing in the Saturday paper. We compounded the error by publishing the puzzle number two twice in preceding weeks. Our puzzle scribes are now working on a new batch with a single solution, and the first of these will be published on Saturday October 28.
apologies and best wishes
Helen Hodgson
(Assistant Readers’ editor)

BachgenB    17 October, 05:48 PM