Show HN: Clues by Sam – a daily logic puzzle using natural language in a grid(cluesbysam.com)

Show HN: Clues by Sam – a daily logic puzzle using natural language in a grid

https://cluesbysam.com

I created a daily logic/deduction puzzle inspired by Murdle, but with grid gameplay combining many different puzzle types.

It resembles Murdle in the sense that the puzzle is set using natural language instead of game specific rules. This way anyone can start playing right away without first internalizing a set of rules. But unlike Murdle, this game works on a grid, leveraging known solving techniques from puzzles like nonogram, starbattle and fill-a-pix. The game also has a kind of fog-of-war keeping the solve tree tight and approachable. To prevent mistakes from spoiling the solve path, behind the scenes there's a constraint solver that prevents you from doing "guesses". The only way to lift the fog-of-war, to reveal new clues, is to find the next 100% logical choice. Just like in real life, you can't convict someone on a 50/50 hunch!

The majority of the work for creating this game was making the level generator. Levels are generated and curated (not all levels end up fun, and there are still some quirks). The generator ensures the puzzle has a narrow solve tree, poses challenging deductions, and is always solvable using some "technique" instead of through a long chain of backtracking.

There's still some ambiguity that comes from using terse natural language. To counter this there are some clarifying details listed under the game. The two main sources of confusion are: 1) Neighbors include diagonal neighbors. 2) To the left/right/below/above means in the same row/column.

If you have challenges with the red/green colors, there's a button for toggling the theme.

Side note: The name "by Sam" is just something I started using for my games recently. Just a short gender neutral name I happened to like. My name isn't actually Sam.

I also posted about this in "What are you working on? (April 2025)" sparking some encouraging discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43821457

The daily puzzle is available here: https://cluesbysam.com

2 comments

cookie_monstatahun lalu

I found this game from a recommendation here and I have played it every day since. I think it's great. The rules take a bit of getting used to, but the dynamic of never having to guess (and getting penalised for guessing) makes it really interesting. It's just hard enough without being infuriating.

The page says that there are other Sam puzzles which can be played in html5, but the link only goes to the app store. Congrats on this one. Where can I find the browser versions of the others?

tikotustahun lalu

Awesome! Glad to hear!

I indeed have a couple of puzzle games. They are all very different from this one, but more like popular casual mobile games. They are available on iOS and Android, and I also have web builds but I haven't set up the links. Now that I know someone was looking for them, I have to put them up!