Can you solve the "artist's dilemma" problem?

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/31/can-you-solve-the-artists.html

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This one’s actually fairly easy.

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Yes I can. The rules are a bit vague: I would probably add the rule that it’s okay to land on the same vertex (the point at which the shapes cross) without it being considered either crossing or retracing.

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Agreed.

Starting from the far left, draw right, then down, then right (you’ve made the lower left side and bottom of the square), then up, then left to the circle, draw the lower half of the circle, then right to form the intersecting line, then draw the upper half of the circle, continue drawing left, then up, then right (now you’ve made the upper left side and top of the square), then down, then right.

And then you’re done!

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Surprisingly simple (for this simpleton anyway)

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Nuh-uh. You did it backwards AND upside down.

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Starting from the far left…

I started from the far right. Your way is stupid. Let’s internet fight!

/s

ETA: Looks like I owe @mcsnee a coke. Or maybe I’ll fight them, too!

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Behold my crappy mouse-drawing skills!

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I have finally cracked the political code of BB!

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These usually take me a few minutes, but this one took only a few seconds.

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These considerations drove me nuts as a kid.

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I recently used this as a puzzle in my D&D campaign. The party got in the instructions in typical verse format, then had to draw it out in a sandbox to open up the Mystery Gate. It was lots of fun watching them work it out, which they did a lot faster than I. Fun thing is, you can add as many concentric geometries as you like along that line, and it can still be solved.

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That’s interesting, everyone’s approach so far is to draw half the square, fill in the circle, then finish the square.

My approach was to draw the line through where the circle will be, draw the circle, finish the line as far as the square, then draw the square followed by the final tail

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I did it the same way!

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At least it has an actual answer. So many of these are based on cultural assumptions or logical fallacies that I usually just skip them.

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Then you end up crossing a line.

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Your drawing skills are not what impresses me, it’s that you are capable of screenshotting that whole process! Feel like talking about your workflow there?

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Yours is even better than the original, none of your lines touch even once!

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Screen recording via Windows 10 (via the XBox game bar / Win-G), then ffmpeg for mp4 -> gif

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Oh me too! That’s why I never ever solved puzzlers like that because I quickly wrapped myself around the axle over what constitutes this or that.

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