Colorful Christmas Time
(Eingestellt am 6. Januar 2026, 06:51 Uhr von PhoenixAki)
This puzzle was made as a 1* difficulty gift for fellow setter
timotab's son, FastSandals, who is a very talented solver considering he is only 12 years old! They have given me permission to post this as a standalone puzzle here now, which I'm excited to do. This doubles as my obligatory "I'm a sudoku setter now, I guess I should make a German whisper Christmas tree" puzzle.
Rules:
- Normal sudoku rules apply. Place the digits 1-9 in each row, column, and 3x3 box without repetition.
- German Whispers: Adjacent digits on a green line must have a difference of at least 5.
- Killer Cages: Digits in dotted-line cages must sum to the number in the top left corner of the cage.
- Entropic Lines: Any set of three sequential cells along a beige line must contain a low digit (123), a middle digit (456), and a high digit (789).
- Non-Repeating Symbols: Each cell that contains a symbol (the colored dots + stars) must not repeat digits with other symbols of its type. For example, if a cell with a red dot has a 3, no other cell with a red dot can contain a 3.
Solve on SudokuPad here!
Visual impairment friendly version:
here. This version has text abbreviations in cells that contain a symbol, clarifying what that symbol is. W for white dot, G for green dot, R for red dot, B for blue dot, and S for star. As further clarification, the German whisper line starts in R7C4 and goes left, then up and around the perimeter of the tree, ending in R7C6. The entropic line is the portion of the tree that also starts in R7C4, but going downwards in a U shape and ending in R7C6.
To increase accessibility to my puzzles, I include hints in my puzzle posts (see below) and also post solution videos which guide you through the hints
on my YouTube channel. If you'd like to solve this in your own video, go ahead! But ideally, let me know here or via Discord (same username) if you do ^.^
Hint 1: Fully pencilmarking the German whisper is helpful, but the only part of it you strictly need to pay attention to at the start is column 2. Given the 3 cage, there is only one way to make the polarity pattern of the German whisper work in column 2.
Hint 2: Box 2 has a digit that must appear on either R2C4 or R2C6, and that determines what R1C5 must be.
Hint 3: The entropic line is still mostly ambiguous, but you can work out whether R7C4, R9C5, and R7C6 are low/medium/high. When combined with the information from the star, you can deduce what R9C5 is.
Hint 4: At this point, you should have a pair of digits worked out on one of the types of dots. Use that and you'll be able to fill almost all of the perimeter of the tree, as well as the rest of the dots.
Lösungscode: Box 3's digits in normal reading order (left to right, top to bottom). 9 digits.
Zuletzt geändert am 14. Januar 2026, 11:10 Uhr
Gelöst von jalebc, Dermerlin, ragmat12, TeddieMilo, RickiFerrara, L00ping007, klizun, TVDK, paaaul019, casseena, proredfly, anthe95, jcgodart, zonny, flaemmchen, jhuijts, naggy, Testpilot Pirx, Postnormal, ... DerRiese, varbrad, e5ten, PippoForte, scushuaishuai, dingledork, Saskia11, FibonacciCascade, Danekiller, W1n5t0n, kross, Vaurien, bugsduggan, Photyne, Komojtalan, werhsdnas, emie, VeTaurus, fmacquar
Kommentare
am 14. Januar 2026, 11:10 Uhr von PhoenixAki
Added hints after learning recently how to do that in HTML. Wish I knew this last week when I went over all my posts...oh well.
am 9. Januar 2026, 20:43 Uhr von nbdurie
That was a lovely puzzle!
am 7. Januar 2026, 04:40 Uhr von Aronana
fun
am 7. Januar 2026, 03:47 Uhr von johngardner
Really like the ornament mechanic, nice puzzle!
Zuletzt geändert am 6. Januar 2026, 17:52 Uhram 6. Januar 2026, 17:50 Uhr von Myfyr MJ
Probably nearer to 2 star difficulty for me. Fun 31 minutes though. The polarity of the German Whisper was quite easy to work out.
am 6. Januar 2026, 16:36 Uhr von VitP
level 1.
standard procedures. split the line. use the cage to resolve polarity. find the extreme digits. use the stars and dots. sudoku.
am 6. Januar 2026, 14:53 Uhr von superkinkel
Liked it a lot, but I think the break-in is more like two stars. Afterwards it flows very easily.
am 6. Januar 2026, 12:25 Uhr von zonny
That seemed like a fun game of 'hide and seek' - where should I look next?