California skyscraper sudoku
(Published on 12. May 2021, 09:02 by Shinya)
this is an idea I had some time ago. I've never seen this rule set anywhere, but I'd be surprised if I was the first to come up with it. Does anybody know a similar puzzle?
The puzzle name is derived from California sushi rolls - it's an inside out skyscraper sudoku.
Have fun solving!
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply.
Clues in the top left corner of a cell indicate the number of cells that could be seen from that particular cell, if numbers in the grid indicated height of skyscrapers. Lower skyscrapers are hidden from view by higher skyscrapers.
Example:
Solution code: Row 5, Column 5
Comments
on 7. October 2021, 00:27 by cdwg2000
Very nice!
on 21. May 2021, 13:56 by Shinya
@ffricke
Thanks, great to hear that you liked it! :-)
on 21. May 2021, 08:51 by ffricke
Fantastic sudoko. I rated it with 4 stars, a bit hard, but not too hard.
on 14. May 2021, 18:24 by Shinya
Thanks for the feedback. I'm honestly surprised how difficult it seems to be. I know I have a tendency to underestimate my puzzles, but when I verfied the puzzle, it was just flowing. Other puzzles required much harder work. But maybe I had the ideas stewing in my head for so long that I became just too familiar with the logic.
on 14. May 2021, 10:59 by marcmees
had to stay up late to finish this puzzle and do agree with Henrypijames about the difficulty rating 5*, although wouldn't call the search tedious. Had fun.
on 13. May 2021, 22:15 by henrypijames
Difficult from start to finish, even though I understood the principal logic pretty quickly and didn't miss any special cases (which is rare for me). Elimination was still very tedious, even increasingly so towards the end. 5 stars difficulty for me.
on 13. May 2021, 17:39 by Shinya
@henrypijames
Exactly
on 13. May 2021, 17:37 by henrypijames
"[S]een from that particular cell" refers to the "found floor" (as opposed to the rooftop) of that cell, right? For example, in a 9-2-1 sequence, the 9 can't see the 1 even though it's much higher than the 2 between them?
on 13. May 2021, 00:22 by Shinya
@SudokuExplorer
Thanks a lot, these are indeed having a similar idea - but I still think that the mechanics are quite different. Will give it a shot.
on 12. May 2021, 17:58 by Shinya
@SudokuExplorer
Thanks a lot, these are indeed having a similar idea - but I still think that the mechanics are quite different. Will give it a shot.
on 12. May 2021, 16:40 by SudokuExplorer
@Shinya: You might be interested in the following puzzles (in chronological order) as they have a similar theme:
Chalb's 6x6 puzzle: id=00015K
My 8x8 Multi-way skyscraper sudoku: id=0004C7
Mark Sweep's 9x9 Panorama sudoku: id=0005RT
I look forward to trying this later on :-)
on 12. May 2021, 10:33 by cdwg2000
@Shinya
Ok，thanks.
on 12. May 2021, 10:29 by Shinya
Added example
on 12. May 2021, 10:18 by Shinya
It indicates the number of skyscrapers visible orthogonally (up, down, left, right, no diagonals, as you assumed correctly). The height is not indicated directly, but can be deduced.
Would it help if I added a little example?
on 12. May 2021, 10:14 by cdwg2000
Excuse me: Does the number of skyscraper tips indicate the total height of all skyscrapers observed from the cell (up, down, left, and right, excluding diagonals)?
