Miscellaneous: Logic Puzzles Two

I love my subscription to Dell Logic Puzzles. I used to get the Pencil Puzzles and Word Games at one time. So my miscellaneous post today is to get you familiar with a few puzzles from those magazines that I enjoy and two of the more challenging traditional logic puzzles.

The first puzzle is called "Dicey Words" by Sandra J. Frey or Georgena S. Sil. (and possibly others) The picture shows four blocks that supposedly have six letters (none repeated) on each of the six sides. Listed next to the blocks are four letter words that can be spelled with the blocks. Your logical task? Figure out which letters belong on which blocks. I love this one, often doing it first when I get my newest magazine. It took me a long time to figure out how to do it well, but after I did I understood why the rating was 3-star and not 5. A simplistic, non-visually appealing version is here.

The second puzzle is "Dominoes" by Stitch. It looks like a grid filled with numbers. However, they are actually dominoes arranged in a rectangular shape...missing the domino lines. Your logical task? Figure out how the dominoes are placed and put in the lines. These are also labeled as 3-star. Sometimes it goes smoothly and other times it is more challenging. The magazine places a starting hint at the bottom if you get stuck.

The third puzzle is new to my puzzle book, Logic Art. Penny Press calls them Pic-a-Pix. There is a link here because it is really hard to describe how it looks. Your logical task? Make the picture using the number clues on the sides of the grid. I've only done a few of these...ah, with a little cheat help. But they are fun and I hope to get better at finding the patterns.

There are two types of logic puzzles that usually challenge me, the 5-star puzzles and the truthtellers versus liar puzzles. The 5-star puzzles usually involve no grid (like I talked about before) and ten or more complicated clues. It will take me days or weeks to solve them. I actually need the puzzle out of my mind to get a new perspective.

The truth/lie puzzles are hard because they are mental twisters. The puzzles are composed of statements made by three or more people. Some tell the truth, some lie, and there are often some that alternately tell the truth and lie. Your logical task? Figure out who is lying, who is telling the truth, and who does it sometimes. Like I said these always trip me up. Although here is an easy one.

My next miscellaneous puzzle post will be about a popular favorite that I was doing in my puzzle books back in the 1980s.