Thermo Princesses
(Published on 12. July 2020, 22:58 by cam)
This is the third in a series of puzzles with a constraint I call princesses. If you like this variant, feel free to check out the others.
Ordinary sudoku rules apply. In addition, the number in a box tells you the minimum diagonal distance between another of the same number. In the below example, I have marked the boxes that cannot be 3's in magenta. You'll notice that 1's have no additional constraint and 9's will act like queens. Every other number will behave like something inbetween.
In addition, thermo-sudoku rules apply: numbers in thermometers must increase starting at the bulb end. It was suggested to me (by RockyRoer) that using the princesses constraint would be slightly nicer if the grid had a light checkerboard pattern. This is for convenience and is not part of the puzzle clues.
Here is the puzzle. Enjoy!
Solution code: Column 4 followed by Row 4
Comments
on 25. September 2020, 01:33 by cam
Removed puzzle link
on 3. September 2020, 15:37 by SudokuExplorer
That was a lovely challenge! I do prefer this less restrictive constraint more than the anti-queen constraint.
Thanks cam for this interesting puzzle :-)
on 25. August 2020, 05:20 by cam
f-puzzles link
on 14. July 2020, 15:38 by RockyRoer
yay! I finally got one! (not necessarily because it was easy though... I just finally think i understand how these princesses work... Now if I could only figure out how my little princesses at home work (ages 3,8,10). As always, fun puzzles!
Response: This comment is adorable. Thanks for playing the puzzle and for your kind words :)
on 14. July 2020, 05:46 by cam
Transposed the image
on 14. July 2020, 05:14 by Narayana
Re: stephane's suggestion. It is not too late to reflect the image along the main diagonal and ask for C4 followed by R4. That way the solution code stays the same. :)
Response: Thanks for the suggestion! It's done :)
on 14. July 2020, 04:58 by cam
I added the princess and princesses tags
on 14. July 2020, 01:35 by stephane.bura
All your thermometers could have pointed up ;)
Response: I've never slapped myself in the forehead as hard as you just made me.
