Skyline
The puzzle
There are skyscrapers located in each cell. Try to find out the height of the skyscraper in the respective cell. There are heights of 1 to MAX in every row, every column, and in each of the two diagonals if indicated. Some cells may be empty (parks). The numbers around the grid indicate how many buildings you can see from this position when you look at the skyscraper lineup. Bear in mind that only those skyscrapers are visible which are higher than the ones in front. Here’s a little self-explanatory example:
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begin{center} begin{skyline} skylineB{3,{},3,1,{}} skylineL{{},4,3,{},{}} skylineT{{},{},2,{},3} skylineR{{},1,3,{},{}} skylinecell{1}{3}{2} skylinecell{4}{2}{3} end{skyline} hspace{1cm} begin{skyline} skylineB{3,{},3,1,{}} skylineL{{},4,3,{},{}} skylineT{{},{},2,{},3} skylineR{{},1,3,{},{}} setrow{5}{5,4,3,1,2} setrow{4}{4,5,1,2,3} setrow{3}{2,3,5,4,1} setrow{2}{1,2,4,3,5} setrow{1}{3,1,2,5,4} end{skyline} end{center} |
Options
rows (5)
defines the number of rows in the grid
columns (5)
specifies the number of columns in the grid
sudoku (false)
sets rows
and columns
to 9, in case true is specified. Additionally the classic Sudoku grid is drawn
width (6.7cm)
sets the width of the minipage, in which the grid is typeset
scale (1)
scales the size of the grid in the minipage
fontsize (Large)
specifies the size of the numbers next to the grid. Here, the usual LaTeX sizes are used. Possible values: tiny, scriptsize, footnotesize, small, normalsize, large, Large, LARGE, huge, Huge
title ()
sets the title of a puzzle
titleindent (0.75cm)
defines the indent of the title
titlewidth (5.85cm)
specifies the width of the box the title is set in
bgcolor ()
sets the background color of the grid
counterstyle (none)
defines the counter style. Predefined styles: none, left, right
cvoffset (-39pt)
sets the vertical offset of the counters in the margin
Environments
skyline
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begin{skyline}[options] end{skyline} |
The skyline
environment is the central core of the style file. With the optional argument of the environment, you can reset the options with local scope. Here, a blank grid is created.
puzzlebackground
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begin{puzzlebackground end{puzzlebackground} |
The puzzlebackground
environment allows you to place elements behind the main layer. This is for example usefull for the fillarea
command.
puzzleforeground
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begin{puzzleforeground} end{puzzleforeground} |
The puzzleforeground
environment allows you to place elements in front of the main layer. This is for example usefull for the framearea
command.
Commands
In the grid and around
skylineT
skylineT{csv list}
The command typesets the numbers above the grid indicating how many skycrapers are visible. It expects a comma-separated list as an
argument.
skylineB
skylineB{csv list}
The command typesets the numbers below the grid.
skylineL
skylineL{csv list}
The command typesets the numbers left to the grid.
skylineR
skylineR{csv list}
The command typesets the numbers right to the grid.
skylinecell
skylinecell{column}{row}{height}
The command sets the {height}
of the grid cell {column}{row}
.
setrow
setrow{row}{csv list}
The command sets the heights of {row}
. It expects a comma-separated list.
setcolumn
setcolumn{column}{csv list}
The command sets the heights of {column}
.
framearea
framearea{color}{tikz path}
The command frames the area given by {tikz path}
with color {color}
. The reference for coordinates is the bottom left corner of the cell.
framearea{green}{(2,2)--(2,3)--(3,3)--(3,2)--(2,2)}
This command will color the frame of the grid cell (2,2)
green. You should consider using this command in the puzzleforeground
environment.
fillarea
fillarea{color}{tikz path}
The command fills the area given by {tikz path}
with color {color}
. The reference for coordinates is the bottom left corner of the cell. You should consider using this command in the puzzlebackground
environment.
Presentation
definecounterstyle
The command allows you to define your own styles. For example, the style
left
is defined as follows:
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definecounterstyle{left}{ begingroupreversemarginparmarginnote{ tikznode[shape=rectangle,fill=yellow!40,inner sep=7pt, draw,rounded corners=3pt,thick] {Hugepuzzlecounter};}[LP@cvoffset]endgroup} } |
To typeset the counter into the margin we use the command marginnote
. We need to use the command reversemarginpar
to set the counter into the left margin. Of course, we must use this command in a group for local scope. Finally we use puzzlecounter
in a
tikz
node with a vertical offset set with the option cvoffset
.
puzzlecounter
puzzlecounter
The command provides the counter in textual form to use it for example in definecounterstyle
.
titleformat
titleformat{format}
With the command titleformat
, you can define the format of the title. By default, the definition is as follows:
titleformat{centeringLargecolor{blue}}
Miscellaneous
skylinesetup
skylinesetup{options}
With the command you can reset the options with global scope.
setpuzzlecounter
setpuzzlecounter{number}
With the command setpuzzlecounter
, you can reset the puzzle counter, for example before the solutions.
Supported variants
Skyline Sudoku
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begin{center} begin{skyline}[sudoku,scale=.46] skylineB{4,5,2,5,2,1,2,4,3} skylineL{4,2,2,2,1,3,3,3,2} skylineT{4,1,3,2,3,5,3,2,3} skylineR{3,3,1,3,4,2,3,2,4} setrow{9}{{},{},{},8,{},{},{},7} setrow{8}{{},{},4,{},{},6,{},{},8} setrow{7}{{},2,{},7,{},{},{},{},1} setrow{6}{{},{},{},{},8,2} setrow{5}{{},{},2,{},4,{},7} setrow{4}{{},{},{},3,{},{},4} setrow{3}{{},{},{},{},1} setrow{2}{{},3,{},{},{},{},1,2} setrow{1}{{},{},5} end{skyline} hspace{1cm} begin{skyline}[sudoku,scale=.46] skylineB{4,5,2,5,2,1,2,4,3} skylineL{4,2,2,2,1,3,3,3,2} skylineT{4,1,3,2,3,5,3,2,3} skylineR{3,3,1,3,4,2,3,2,4} setrow{9}{3,9,6,8,5,1,2,7,4} setrow{8}{1,7,4,9,2,6,3,5,8} setrow{7}{5,2,8,7,3,4,9,6,1} setrow{6}{7,4,3,1,8,2,6,9,5} setrow{5}{9,8,2,6,4,5,7,1,3} setrow{4}{6,5,1,3,9,7,4,8,2} setrow{3}{8,6,7,2,1,3,5,4,9} setrow{2}{4,3,9,5,6,8,1,2,7} setrow{1}{2,1,5,4,7,9,8,3,6} end{skyline} end{center} |
Skyline Sudoku (N*N)
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begin{center} begin{skyline}[rows=6,columns=6,scale=.65] skylineB{4,2,1,3,3,2} skylineL{3,3,4,3,2,1} skylineT{1,2,3,3,2,4} skylineR{4,1,2,2,2,3} skylinecell{2}{4}{1} skylinecell{4}{1}{4} skylinecell{5}{2}{3} begin{puzzlebackground} fillarea{Wheat}{(1,1)--(1,3)--(4,3)--(4,1)--(1,1)} fillarea{HotPink!30}{(1,3)--(1,7)--(4,7)--(4,6)--(2,6)--(2,3)--(1,3)} fillarea{GreenYellow}{(2,3)--(2,6)--(4,6)--(4,3)--(2,3)} fillarea{LightBlue}{(4,1)--(7,1)--(7,5)--(6,5)--(6,2)--(4,2)--(4,1)} fillarea{LightSalmon!50}{(4,7)--(4,4)--(5,4)--(5,6)--(6,6--(6,5)--(7,5)--(7,7)--(4,7)} fillarea{LightYellow}{(4,2)--(4,4)--(5,4)--(5,6)--(6,6)--(6,2)--(4,2)} end{puzzlebackground} end{skyline} hspace{1cm} begin{skyline}[rows=6,columns=6,scale=.65] skylineB{4,2,1,3,3,2} skylineL{3,3,4,3,2,1} skylineT{1,2,3,3,2,4} skylineR{4,1,2,2,2,3} setrow{6}{6,3,4,1,5,2} setrow{5}{5,6,2,3,1,4} setrow{4}{2,1,3,6,4,5} setrow{3}{1,4,5,2,6,3} setrow{2}{4,2,1,5,3,6} setrow{1}{3,5,6,4,2,1} begin{puzzlebackground} fillarea{Wheat}{(1,1)--(1,3)--(4,3)--(4,1)--(1,1)} fillarea{HotPink!30}{(1,3)--(1,7)--(4,7)--(4,6)--(2,6)--(2,3)--(1,3)} fillarea{GreenYellow}{(2,3)--(2,6)--(4,6)--(4,3)--(2,3)} fillarea{LightBlue}{(4,1)--(7,1)--(7,5)--(6,5)--(6,2)--(4,2)--(4,1)} fillarea{LightSalmon!50}{(4,7)--(4,4)--(5,4)--(5,6)--(6,6)--(6,5)--(7,5)--(7,7)--(4,7)} fillarea{LightYellow}{(4,2)--(4,4)--(5,4)--(5,6)--(6,6)--(6,2)--(4,2)} end{puzzlebackground} end{skyline} end{center} |
Examples & Solutions
You can download application examples and their solutions from the project page. The puzzles are originally licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA.