How to Solve a Bomb

LEVEL 4: Defused! (Only cutting the first one was correct)

LEVEL 5: Nothing New
You will find that every 5th level will be similar to this one.
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SpoilerIs this format better? I increased the size so that the colours could be seen more clearly.

Hmm ok so 2 4 5 and 6 would normally be cut (Red).
4 5 and 6 are blue, 4 would normally be cut, 5+6 normally should not be cut because the wire above them are red.
1 2 3 and 6 are green and should not be cut. They affect wires 2, 3, and 4.

2 would normally be cut, so it is NOT CUT.
3 would normally not be cut, so it is CUT.
4 would normally be cut, so it is NOT CUT.

Cut 3rd wire, 5th wire, and 6th wire. If this is wrong then rule: Cut Red does not take priority over DO NOT CUT GREEN.

Hint: Wires are (and have been previously) solved from top to bottom.

pour pasta sauce all over the bomb and replace all the wires with spaghetti strings

Ngaaah ok Cut 2 + 3.

Wait no I fucked up if they're solved top to bottom then it's Cut 4+5+6???

Cut only the third one.

Okay. So we start at the top.

Wire 1 is green, so we don't cut it. We look at the wire below.

Wire 2 is green and red. "If the wire is red, cut it." If we're going through the rules in order of introduction, this means we would cut it normally before we evaluated its greennness, so we don't cut it.

Now Wire 3 is where the rules get a little confusing. We already evaluated Wire 2 in the process of evaluating Wire 1. However, Wire 2 is green. Does this mean we look at Wire 2 and its greenness, which would mean we cut this one? Or do we skip Wire 2 because we already figured out we don't cut it?

If we evaluate Wire 2, then we cut Wire 3 because we normally wouldn't. Otherwise we don't cut it.

Oh, but wait, that's what we'd have if Wire 2 was only green. Because it's red, if we evaluated it we'd conclude "cut it"... but do we still get as far as considering its greenness when that can affect a wire we haven't cut yet? Oof, this is confusing.

Whichever way things go: Wire 4 is below Wire 3. It counts as red and blue. We would normally cut it for being red, so we don't cut it here.

In regards to rule interactions on this step: we are either considering Wire 2's greenness even though we already worked out whether to cut it, so we should do the same for Wire 3; or we are skipping Wire 2 because we already worked out not to cut it (or we're not skipping its evaluation but we don't get to its greenness because it's red) and therefore we're evaluating Wire 4 based on Wire 3. It's not clear exactly what we're doing, but any possible interpretation of how the rules are to be applied means that we don't cut Wire 4 because Wire 3 is green.

Wire 5 is red, so we cut it.

Wire 6 is red, blue, and green. It's red, so we cut it.

So: Running through the rules in order of introduction, we definitely cut 5 and 6. The question is whether we cut 3 or not. This depends on a couple of rule interactions that aren't entirely clear:
-If we have already determined whether or not to cut a wire (which currently can only happen with the green rule), do we still evaluate it for its potential to affect the wire immediately below it?
-If a wire has multiple colors, once we have a rule that tells us whether to cut it, do we still consider other rules that may affect whether we cut the next wire?

If the answer to both questions is YES, then we DO cut wire 3. If the answer to either question is NO, then we DO NOT cut wire 3.

I could see if Reyweld will clarify the rules, but it's more fun to clarify through experimentation. So: cut 5+6 only. If this doesn't work, we know that we always have to evaluate a wire's ability to affect wires below it, even once we've worked out whether or not to cut that wire.

Cut 3rd and 4th wires.

LEVEL 5: Defused! (cutting only 5 and 6)

LEVEL 6: Buttons are not Wires

If the button is red, consider the following:
----If at least half of the bomb’s wires are red, press the button.
----Otherwise, don’t press the button AT THIS TIME.
(New button stuff will go here, in order of introduction.)
Else, don’t press the button at this time.

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Uh-oh, ambiguity!

Because buttons are not wires, we don't have to worry about the buttons being under green wires.

BUT! Does that mean the red wire is the "wire below" the green wire?

Let's find out.

Press both buttons and cut the wire in the fourth row.

Cut the red wire.

Only a third of the bomb's wires are red.

The explosion suggests that "the wire below" means "the next wire" and ignores buttons.

It's either that or the wires that buttons are attached to count.

Press both buttons and don't cut any wires.

no, I mean

there is one red, one blue, and one green wire, and two red buttons.

one third of the wires are red, there are two red buttons which go unpressed because less than half of the bomb's wires are red.

Actually it might be "do nothing"????

Buttons go unpressed because there are not enough red wires.
The green wire goes uncut, the red wire underneath it would normally be cut so it is not cut.
The blue wire has a red wire above it so it is not cut.

I eat the bomb.

Mmm. Tangy.

Hang on, gotta go to the washroom.

*enters washroom*

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Spoiler

Oh, right, it says "bomb's wires", I thought I read "button's wires" and was looking at the things beside the buttons.

In that case yeah, we don't press the buttons.

LEVEL 6: Defused! (by not doing anything)

LEVEL 7: Press Press Press

If the button is blue, consider the following:
----If there are any buttons above this one, press this button and each above button.
----Else, press this button.

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Press all the buttons and cut the red wire

(Numbering the wires would be a helpful addition? So far this is fun nonetheless, even if it makes my head hurt.)

Press all the buttons and cut the red wire

How many times are you pressing each button?