When solving logic puzzles (sudoku, akari, any of the stuff in Artisan of Glimmith, etc) is it okay to assume uniqueness as part of the solve?

@amy oh no it depends. but i’ll say yes since i think most of them are conventionally constructed for uniqueness

@amy @alyssa sudoku puzzles are only considered to be “correct” starting positions if they produce a single answer but despite this some people think its gouache to use uniqueness to solve

never really got that one personally (though i am against bifurcation as a solve method for similarly nebulous reasons)

@Satsuma @alyssa In 14 Minesweeper Variants, if you make a deduction that happens to be true but can't be proved with the information currently available to you, the game treats it the same as being wrong

And in that game, you explicitly aren't allowed to use uniqueness. There are things I've figured out must be true in a puzzle but I'm not allowed to click them or use them for further logic, because they only must be true if I assume the puzzle is uniquely solvable. That's true, but I'm not allowed to assume it

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@amy @Satsuma i would find that limitation annoying.

re bifurcation in sudoku: it is unsatisfying to me but i am not skillful enough to avoid it sometimes.

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