5 ms·

RegEx Crossword

60 points by a022311 1y ago

a022311 1y ago
Yesterday, I discovered regexle [1] and today found out that this was the inspiration for it. I think I've seen this puzzle before, but I really enjoyed myself gradually solving it while doing other things in the last two hours. I'm sharing this for anyone else who wants a way to spend their afternoon! [1]: https://regexle.com https://regexle.com
- hdjrudni 1y ago
  I like that one better. Smaller. More manageable. I don't want to spend 2 hours deciphering the big one. Took 4.5 min to solve #519. Would have been quicker if I started with a better strategy but it was my first time.
  - Levitating 1y ago
    I got #520 in 3m 8s with some practice on the big one. I thought the bigger one was more fun though, I'll continue with that one now.
  - hughes 1y ago
    519 seems to have at least 3 solutions... feels a little underconstrained!
  - GordonS 11mo ago
    Got 3m 32s on #519! #520 seems much harder tho! What a great game, just wish the colours were configurable (colour blind)!
    - C1arkgable 11mo ago
      Checkout the high contrast mode in settings, it should be colorblind friendly!
- C1arkgable 11mo ago
  Thanks for posting about Regexle! My buddy and I made it last year, inspired by Jimbly, but we regularly forget it's still up. Stoked that folks are enjoying it. If you have any suggestions for improvements, we're open to em! https://gitlab.com/Nathaniel.Belles/regexle/-/issues https://gitlab.com/Nathaniel.Belles/regexle/-/issues
Levitating 1y ago
It seems impossible? On the left a horizontal must start with F: F.[AO].[AO].* However, the diagonal for that cell may not include an F (aside from the start): [^X]*(DN|TE|NI)
- throwaway019254 1y ago
  [^X]* means anything but X as many times as you want. So F will match this part.
- glxxyz 1y ago
  [^X] means any character other than X, so [^X]* matches zero or more of any characters, so long as none of them are X.
  - Levitating 1y ago
    Ah my bad! I did misinterpret [^X] as X or the line-start.
- rzwitserloot 1y ago
  BIG EDIT: Because it's so trivially unsolvable, I had a quick look at the posted solution. We're reading it wrong. Take the first regex on the top row, one you included in your example: [^X]*(DN|TE|NI) You're supposed to fill that in from the bottom to the top. In other words, the first letter goes immediately to the right of [^c]*[^R]*III.* - that square has to be a 'not X'. The hex immediately below it has to be an E, I, or N.
mcpherrinm 1y ago
https://blog.nelhage.com/post/regex-crosswords-z3/ https://blog.nelhage.com/post/regex-crosswords-z3/ was posted a few days ago here and is an interesting way to solve these
- a022311 11mo ago
  Yeah, that's how I found regexle, which eventually led me to this!
padolsey 1y ago
For something a bit simpler I made redoku a while ago: https://padolsey.github.io/redoku/ https://padolsey.github.io/redoku/
jxf 11mo ago
I tried this for over 20 minutes and made almost zero progress because I thought the expressions also had to be words, like a crossword puzzle. Oops. It might be worth clarifying that somewhere.
ratmeadow 11mo ago
This is a really cool idea! It seems really hard though, I tried for a while and didn't get far. Would be keen to see one that's a little easier, maybe with less * qualifiers and more + or ?
leddt 11mo ago
That was pretty hard! It took me a bit over 2 hours. It took me a long time to get started, it felt impossible. But I found a lot of satisfying "ah ah!" moments that kept me going. Really well done, but now I don't ever want to do one of these again.
- aeonfox 11mo ago
  The worst is when you're an hour in and there's some crucial wrong assumption you've made at some point that's cascaded across the board and you have to start again. Had to come back to it a day later, but very satisfying to complete. I must be a masochist because I want to do another.
  - g4zj 11mo ago
    I'm down to just one unmatched expression, but it's going to require undoing many others to fix. With so many wildcards (`.*`) involved, it feels as though making a few assumptions along the way is unavoidable. If I start over and only make moves I can prove are correct, I don't get very far. Edit: Solved! :)
    - aeonfox 11mo ago
      > Edit: Solved! :) :)
heatpump5n 11mo ago
Great puzzles! Didn't have so much fun puzzling for a long time.

60 points by a022311 1y ago

Yesterday, I discovered regexle [1] and today found out that this was the inspiration for it. I think I've seen this puzzle before, but I really enjoyed myself gradually solving it while doing other things in the last two hours. I'm sharing this for anyone else who wants a way to spend their afternoon! [1]: https://regexle.com https://regexle.com

hdjrudni 1y ago
I like that one better. Smaller. More manageable. I don't want to spend 2 hours deciphering the big one. Took 4.5 min to solve #519. Would have been quicker if I started with a better strategy but it was my first time.
- Levitating 1y ago
  I got #520 in 3m 8s with some practice on the big one. I thought the bigger one was more fun though, I'll continue with that one now.
- hughes 1y ago
  519 seems to have at least 3 solutions... feels a little underconstrained!
- GordonS 11mo ago
  Got 3m 32s on #519! #520 seems much harder tho! What a great game, just wish the colours were configurable (colour blind)!
  - C1arkgable 11mo ago
    Checkout the high contrast mode in settings, it should be colorblind friendly!
C1arkgable 11mo ago
Thanks for posting about Regexle! My buddy and I made it last year, inspired by Jimbly, but we regularly forget it's still up. Stoked that folks are enjoying it. If you have any suggestions for improvements, we're open to em! https://gitlab.com/Nathaniel.Belles/regexle/-/issues https://gitlab.com/Nathaniel.Belles/regexle/-/issues

Levitating 1y ago

It seems impossible? On the left a horizontal must start with F: F.[AO].[AO].* However, the diagonal for that cell may not include an F (aside from the start): [^X]*(DN|TE|NI)

throwaway019254 1y ago
[^X]* means anything but X as many times as you want. So F will match this part.
glxxyz 1y ago
[^X] means any character other than X, so [^X]* matches zero or more of any characters, so long as none of them are X.
- Levitating 1y ago
  Ah my bad! I did misinterpret [^X] as X or the line-start.
rzwitserloot 1y ago
BIG EDIT: Because it's so trivially unsolvable, I had a quick look at the posted solution. We're reading it wrong. Take the first regex on the top row, one you included in your example: [^X]*(DN|TE|NI) You're supposed to fill that in from the bottom to the top. In other words, the first letter goes immediately to the right of [^c]*[^R]*III.* - that square has to be a 'not X'. The hex immediately below it has to be an E, I, or N.

mcpherrinm 1y ago

https://blog.nelhage.com/post/regex-crosswords-z3/ https://blog.nelhage.com/post/regex-crosswords-z3/ was posted a few days ago here and is an interesting way to solve these

a022311 11mo ago
Yeah, that's how I found regexle, which eventually led me to this!

padolsey 1y ago

For something a bit simpler I made redoku a while ago: https://padolsey.github.io/redoku/ https://padolsey.github.io/redoku/

jxf 11mo ago

I tried this for over 20 minutes and made almost zero progress because I thought the expressions also had to be words, like a crossword puzzle. Oops. It might be worth clarifying that somewhere.

ratmeadow 11mo ago

This is a really cool idea! It seems really hard though, I tried for a while and didn't get far. Would be keen to see one that's a little easier, maybe with less * qualifiers and more + or ?

leddt 11mo ago

That was pretty hard! It took me a bit over 2 hours. It took me a long time to get started, it felt impossible. But I found a lot of satisfying "ah ah!" moments that kept me going. Really well done, but now I don't ever want to do one of these again.

aeonfox 11mo ago
The worst is when you're an hour in and there's some crucial wrong assumption you've made at some point that's cascaded across the board and you have to start again. Had to come back to it a day later, but very satisfying to complete. I must be a masochist because I want to do another.
- g4zj 11mo ago
  I'm down to just one unmatched expression, but it's going to require undoing many others to fix. With so many wildcards (`.*`) involved, it feels as though making a few assumptions along the way is unavoidable. If I start over and only make moves I can prove are correct, I don't get very far. Edit: Solved! :)
  - aeonfox 11mo ago
    > Edit: Solved! :) :)

heatpump5n 11mo ago

Great puzzles! Didn't have so much fun puzzling for a long time.