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Greetings and happy New Year to all! The reason for this post is because I need to find help with a logic puzzle known as "ABC Box" or also "ABC Letter Box." We don't have any examples of this puzzle here, but it can be found at crocopuzzle.com and also some external links at Otto Janko's site. The idea is to insert the letters A, B, and C into a square grid, and the lines outside the grid show a pattern of letters with question marks used as variables that can represent any letter. An example might be a 6 x 6 grid with a line showing "? ? B A ?" Because the instructions for these puzzles are usually in German or a language other than English I just can't figure out exactly how to insert the correct letters! Any help that anyone can offer regarding this puzzle I would greatly appreciate! This might be a fun puzzle to add in the future here at Puzzle Picnic! Thanks!

Every row and column has string of letters/question marks as a clue. These show which letters appear in that row/column, and the order they appear in.

If a letter in the grid is repeated, it will only show once in the clue string. (So, if a clue for a 6x6 puzzle reads: "a b c a b", one of those letters will appear twice in a row.)

Question marks can by any of the allowed letters. They respect the rule that repeating letters only appear once in the clue.

I hope this is clear.

Thanks for your advice on these puzzles. I've played a few of these at the Croco Puzzle site and have been able to figure out some useful tips. A line of clues like "A ? ? B ?" needs to have A at its first symbol, and the last question mark -- following the B -- cannot stand for B, so it has to be either A or C. A line such as "? ? C" needs to have C as its last symbol. If you have a line such as "B ? C ? ?" the first question mark (in between the B and C) can only be A. Very intriguing puzzle. I wish there were more examples of it avaiable for on-line play. maybe in the near future we'll see it here at Puzzle Picnic.