A Most Sinister Serpent -- Sudoku
(Published on 22. June 2021, 05:48 by JeffWajes)
By Jeff Wajes
There lurks in the grid a sinister snake.
The snake is a one-cell wide path of orthogonally connected cells that neither branches nor touches itself -- not even diagonally!
You will have to deduce where the snake begins and ends, but know that the snake visits every cage at least once.
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
Digits inside a cage cannot repeat.
The small clue in the top left of a cage indicates the sum of the contained digits that are NOT on the snake MINUS the contained digits that ARE on the snake. You can think of it as the snake multiplying every digit it passes over by -1.
Good luck!
Solution code: Column 5
Comments
on 2. October 2021, 15:36 by Phistomefel
To me, the most amazing about this puzzle is that it solves uniquely despite the lack of given snake ends and the seemingly little information. The break-in is very nice and after it the solve goes rather smoothly. Don't let yourselves be disheartened by the lack of solves and the seemingly impossible difficulty - it is a very nice puzzle and not that hard, but all the more satisfying. Thank you, JeffWajes!
on 2. October 2021, 07:14 by Muhammad
Thank you Jeff for this masterpiece, This is the hardest and the most beautiful Snake-Killer-Sudoku I've ever played, and the logic is magnificent.
I haven't played Sudoku in the last six months, and I am happy that yours is the first one to solve, I was a bit slow but I am really satisfied.
on 4. July 2021, 02:11 by JeffWajes
Bumping up the estimated difficulty to 5/5.
on 29. June 2021, 10:56 by PixelPlucker
My goodness... what a beautiful, brutal puzzle! I personally found the logic incredibly involved at times, and reminiscent of some of the hardest killer sudokus around. It had a very distinct flow to it, and some very cool rule-specific ideas, which made it all the more satisfying upon completion. It took me 3 hours as I made a habit of checking difficult logic over and over again.
Thanks for the puzzle!
on 25. June 2021, 14:59 by RockyRoer
Whew! Finally got a start… I think I’m gonna make it! Need a break though…
on 23. June 2021, 03:10 by JeffWajes
Added the Sudoku tag. Not sure how I missed that!
on 22. June 2021, 07:45 by CJK
Since this is a sudoku puzzle, could you please add the sudoku tag? :)
