
Show HN: A curated list of great puzzles - sharkdp
https://github.com/sharkdp/great-puzzles
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kej
A small suggestion: instead of just puzzle.md and solution.md, it'd be nice to
have hint.md or even hint1.md, hint2.md, and so on. Right now your options are
either solve it completely yourself or have the answer given to you, and
providing various levels of hints help people get some of the enjoyment of
solving it even if they don't have that initial eureka moment.

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sharkdp
I like this idea. For some of the puzzles I can certainly come up with some
hints which are helpful and not too revealing. Thank you for the feedback!

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krick
I've read the first one ("Grouped by Color") and isn't the solution more
complicated than it needs to? It seems to me, that essentially the same
process could be described by one simple rule: every dwarf should take place
directly to the right of the rightmost dawrf with blue hat or to the left of
the leftmost dwarf with red hat.

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sharkdp
Indeed, this looks like an easier description. Beware, however, that "directly
to the right" could be misunderstood. If the first two are B and R, the third
has to go between them... but I still like your rule. Will think about it,
Thanks!

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krick
> first two are B and R, the third has to go between them

Yes, exactly, and that is directly to the right of B. I assume that dwarfs can
always "fit in" between the others.

Actually, the rule "directly to the right of the rightmost blue one" would be
enough if not the possibility that the first one can be R and then second one
doesn't know where to stand and can take the place to the right wearing blue
hat himself, which would fuck up the whole algorithm. Hence "to the left of
the leftmost red one" part.

And it still a little bothers me that, strictly speaking, separation will
never happen, as the last dwarf will stand just on the right place, but will
never know himself if he wears red or blue hat (others will know though).

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sharkdp
> > first two are B and R, the third has to go between them > Yes, exactly,
> and that is directly to the right of B. I assume that dwarfs can always "fit
> in" between the others.

I'm okay with that, just saying that it could be misunderstood/disliked
because some people would probably prefer a scheme which works for actual
dwarves instead of pointlike :-)

> Actually, the rule "directly to the right of the rightmost blue one" would
> be enough if not the possibility that the first one can be R and then second
> one doesn't know where to stand and can take the place to the right wearing
> blue hat himself, which would fuck up the whole algorithm. Hence "to the
> left of the leftmost red one" part.

Yes... or if the first k ones are all red.

> And it still a little bothers me that, strictly speaking, separation will
> never happen, as the last dwarf will stand just on the right place, but will
> never know himself if he wears red or blue hat (others will know though).

True, but from a observer perspective, they definitely managed to order
themselves into groups.

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orodley
My favorite site for these kinds of puzzles is
[https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/riddles/intro.shtml](https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wwu/riddles/intro.shtml)

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sharkdp
Thank you for the reference. I have never seen this page. Looks very
promising.

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tgb
A pretty good list you might find things from:
[http://wiki.xkcd.com/irc/Puzzles](http://wiki.xkcd.com/irc/Puzzles)

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sharkdp
Yes, "Ants on a meter stick" is from this page - it's a really good
collection. I should add a list of resources. Thanks!

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sharkdp
In short, the idea behind this list is the following: Puzzle solving is great
fun, but often it is really hard to tell if it is worth to invest time into a
particular puzzle (without seeing the solution).

For the puzzles on the list, I definitely think it was worth to invest some
time thinking about them. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

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wesd
I'm not sure if I understand the Rational pirates puzzle or it might need
clarification. Specifically "the oldest pirate alive will propose how the
coins will be distributed among the pirates,......"

"Otherwise, the pirate proposing the scheme will be thrown overboard".

I read this as the pirate who proposed the breakdown (the oldest remaining
pirate), but in your solution, it sounds like the person who voted against it
thrown out.

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sharkdp
No, you read that correctly in the puzzle description. The oldest pirate will
be thrown overboard. My solution was written in a slightly misleading way. I
just updated it. I hope it is clear now. Thanks for your feedback!

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corbinpage
Awesome list. I have a couple I'll add as well.

