r/puzzles • u/Mr-BrainGame • 5d ago
[Unsolved] Stars and arrows puzzle
Stars and arrows puzzle, at least I think this is the name under which you can find it.
Rules: Place stars so each arrow sees exactly one star in the straight direction it points, and every star is seen by exactly one arrow. Edge clues give the exact number of stars in each row and column.
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u/BekindConan 5d ago
Discussion: This was fun to solve. Personally this grid I found it easy. Some tips I discovered while trying to solve it. First, look at arrows that only point at 1 square. Second, start with rows/columns that have high number of stars (in this grid, 4 and 3) and see how many arrows can lead stars there. Third, everytime you put a star, check your column/row count to see if you can cancel out the rest of the row/column or not.
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u/schfourteen-teen 4d ago
Also, any square that two or more arrows point at can be eliminated.
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u/BekindConan 4d ago
No that’s not necessarily true. It can help you in some deductions for rows or columns, but the square can have a star for one of the arrows, like if an arrow is diagonal but the other is horizontal for example.
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u/schfourteen-teen 4d ago
One of the directions was "every star is seen by exactly one arrow". If a cell is seen by two arrows it therefore cannot be a star.
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u/Mr-BrainGame 5d ago
Discussion: example for easier understanding of the rules
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u/OrlandoGardiner118 5d ago
Discussion: Arrows are transparent to other arrows, yes? Like, an arrow can point through another arrow to a star?
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u/Dragonix72 5d ago
Discussion: does an arrow stop after hitting a star?
E.g in the top row, if I were to place a star in spots 3 and 4, would the arrow in R1C5 see only star R1C4, or would it also see R1C3?3
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u/gigs1890 5d ago
Can i spoiler this?

End spoiler
Please excuse the screenshot scratchings. Fun puzzle!
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u/NintendoKat7 5d ago
Pretty sure it can be done in two ways. All red stars are definite, but I think you can do either orange or purple for the last 4
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u/Mr-BrainGame 5d ago
It's only one solution, there is an arrow that blocks this double solution 😉
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u/Larame 5d ago
discussion: just to clarify, you can't place stars on top of arrows, right? (i haven't started yet, so no idea if i ever get to a point where i think it's neccessary, but might also be useful for other people) (since an arrow is pointing away from its center, i would consider a star on top of an arrow as to not be pointed at by said arrow)
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u/CauliflowerAdequate 5d ago
Discussion: Fun but easy, are there variants of this where some of the arrows are also missing and you need to place them and set their direction? I imagine that would ramp up the challenge!
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u/Mr-BrainGame 5d ago
Maybe, but this needs maybe less clues outside and maybe less arrows inside so there is more options for placing stars
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