Problem Description

Each circle in this diagram is connected to several others by straight lines.  The objective of the puzzle is to insert one of the digits 1 through 6 into each of the circles in such a way that no number is connected by a line to a numerically adjacent number. For example, 1 cannot connect to 2; 2 cannot connect to 1 or 3; 3 cannot connect to 2 or 4, etc.
               Stuck again!

Background & Techniques

I ran across this puzzle the other day in my "Future Projects" folder, one of the hundred or so residing there.   I don't remember where it came from, probably one of my puzzle books.  If any viewer recognizes it, I'd appreciate feedback so i can give proper credit. 

To play my version, click a circle, then enter a digit 1 though 6 using the keyboard. Clicking a circle already containing a number will remove it. Clicking a number that makes a "forbidden" connection will give an error message.  If you give up, hints for either of the two related solutions can be displayed by clicking on the appropriate display line.
 

Non-programmers are welcome to read on, but may want to skip to the bottom of this page to download executable version of the program.

Notes for Programmers:

Here are the major sub-problems to be solved:

1. Find the solutions:.  This is the only part of the puzzle that had been solved when Io resurrected.  "Adjacents" is an array of integer pairs indentifying the endpoint circles for each connecting line.  Recursive function Permute is called from the FormActivate exit to generate all 720 permutations of the integers 1 through 6.   Procedure ProcessValue is called for each to check against all 20 connections to make sure that no number is connected to an adjacent number.     
2. Draw the puzzle image: TImage Image1, is used to draw six circles and the connections between them.  Array of points, P,  holds the centers for the six circles.  The Adjacents array defines the connections and those lines are drawn first so we can draw lines from circle center to circle center.  We can then draw the opaque circles (using the canvas ellipse procedure) so that the connection lines appear to end exactly at the circle boundaries.    
3.  Handle user input::  A TImage control will handle mouse clicks but does have exits for key presses.  To allow user I decided on a a two stage "select" and "input" strategy.   A mouse click within a circle (tested by the InCircle function), triggers a redraw of that circle with a 3 pixel wide line to highlight it.  Value is an array of 6 integers which contains the current entered values for the 6 circles, 0 value indicates a circle with no value entered.   The mouse click zeroes the Value for that circle and sets a Selected integer value to the clicked circle number.  

When  a circle has been selected and the user presses a key, it is handled by the OnKeypress exit for the main form, Form1.   Setting the form KeyPreview property to true allows  it to examine every key press before being passed on to the control which currently has the focus.   If the key entered is "1" through "6"  and does not cause a forbidden connection, the Value entry indexed by the value in Selected is set to intereger value for the key pressed.   If that number appeared in any other circle, that Value is set to zero to remove it.   When all six circles have been filled, a "Congratulations" message is displayed.

4. Provide hints:  I originally simply searched for and displayed the 2 puzzle solutions when the user clicked a button, but that seemed to be too much of a spoiler.  My 2nd attempt displayed solution digits one at a time, one additional digit for every use hint click.  Even that seemed to make it too tempting to see the entire solution with a few clicks.  The final version implemented displays one or more random circle's values for 1 second with each click.  

Running/Exploring the Program 

Suggestions for Further Explorations

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