Ophiology
(Published on 20. January 2021, 20:29 by EliasKar)
--All thermos (shown in green) are snakes! The bulb is their head, and each snake has a forked tongue containing two digits. The head cell contains the difference between those digits, and the tip of the tail contains the sum of those digits. Some snakes are rudely sticking their tongues out, represented by red lines, so you can see what the tongue's numbers are. The more polite snakes have their mouths closed, so the numbers are hidden. The head/tail calculation is unaffected by whether the tongue is visible - it's always the difference/sum of the tongue digits. (Clarification: You don't need to "find" where the missing tongues are, they do not appear on the grid, they are hidden in the mouth)
--The two snake eggs must contain the same number.
Click here to play "Ophiology" on f-puzzles.
Solution code: Row 2 and column 2 (18 digits in a row, no spaces or commas)
Comments
on 4. February 2021, 21:08 by Mr.Menace
Liked the puzzle, like the way the snakes work.
@Thanks for trying it! I'm glad you liked it.
on 21. January 2021, 12:07 by Ours brun
Thanks! Excellent puzzle with some sweet deductions to make.
@Thank you and sorry for the inconvenience! I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
on 21. January 2021, 12:03 by EliasKar
There was a typo in the solution code! My sincerest apologies. Should be fixed now!
on 21. January 2021, 11:58 by Ours brun
Could you please check the solution code?
on 21. January 2021, 11:42 by Luigi
I really seem to have some problems with the given ruleset.
I found multiple solutions, none is accepted.
The only restriction with the polite snakes I see is, that head and tail have to have the same parity. (Even if the numbers are visible or not)
@That is the intended deduction. I just fixed the solution code which contained a typo, but as far as I know there is a unique solution!
on 21. January 2021, 11:22 by shudd
When you say the invisible snakes are not part of the grid, do you mean they do not count at all? e.g. if there was a 123 thermo, only way to get a 1 difference for the head and a sum of 3 in the tail would be if the tongue (invisible) was the cells 1 and 2. If the cells were visible that would break the puzzle as you couldn't make the 123 thermo work.
@Yes, that snake (123) would be valid. A two-cell snake of 1-2 would not be valid, because the numbers for the sum/difference would be 1.5 and 0.5, which are not digits.
on 21. January 2021, 10:25 by EliasKar
Rule clarification added.
on 21. January 2021, 09:34 by Bankey
Do all snake tongues have an internal angle of 45° or can it also be any possible angle ? For example, for the head in r5c1, can the tongue cover r5c2 and r6c1 (if otherwise possible as per the rules)?
Thanks for clarifying!
@The snakes tongues that are not visible are not part of the grid. They are inside the mouth and do not appear on the puzzle. However, every snake's head and tail digit is the sum and difference of the same two digits, whether those digits are visible or not. I hope this helps!
