Santa Claus Sudoku
(Published on 6. December 2020, 08:24 by Phurba)
Ho ho ho, Santa Claus is here. And since you have been nice this year, he brought you a green gift box. Inside the box you find a killer cage which allows you to solve this puzzle.
Rules:
- Standard Sudoku rules apply: Every row, column and 3x3 box contains each number from 1 to 9 exactly once.
- Standard Killer Sudoku rules apply: Digits in a cage sum to the small number in the top left corner without repeating a digit.
- Standard Thermometer Sudoku rules apply: Digits along a thermometer must increase from the bulb end and may not repeat.
- Standard Arrow Sudoku rules apply: Digits along an arrow may repeat and sum to the digit in the connected circle.
Colors are for aesthetics only and have no impact on the solving process!
Hints, in case the opening seems impossible:
1) The inspiration for this Sudoku stems from this Sudoku, the solution can be found here.
2) Use a version of the "Phistomefel-ring".
Enjoy!
This is the first puzzle that I post here. Feel free to give feedback, constructive criticism etc.
Solution code: Row 6, column 4 (18 digits, no spaces)
Comments
on 8. December 2020, 23:42 by Phurba
Thanks for the feedback, Wecoc! I realized now that the beginning was just stupidly hard. I will make sure that my next Sudokus won't require any brutal solving steps so that they are more enjoyable for the solver.
on 7. December 2020, 10:29 by Phurba
I guess the puzzle is too hard. I changed the difficulty to "very hard" and added two hints to the description.
on 7. December 2020, 02:41 by Wecoc
Are you sure this is Santa and not Satan? This one seems impossible to me...
[Edit] Thanks for the hints, I coundn't even start without those... and even with that it was brutal!
