Mediocrity
(Published on 17. July 2021, 08:12 by fuxia)
- Normal Sudoku rules apply.
- Cells with small arrows pointing inwards are smaller than all orthogonally adjacent cells, cells with outwards pointing arrows are larger.
- Blocks of the same shape and color are clones: They have the same digits at the same positions.
- Cells connected by a white dot are consecutive. Not all possible white dots are given.
- Have fun!
Links:
This puzzle has been featured on Cracking the Cryptic. Watch Simon's solve after you have solved the puzzle for yourself.
License: CC BY 4.0
Solution code: Column 5
Comments
on 26. April 2022, 03:32 by ako
I have to be sooo greatful for this puzzle. Spent almost 20 hours on it. I'd been knowing all the advanced techniques from CTC, but most of them I'd never applied on my own. Now I have and have studied each and every one profoundly. Would never have done that with a sudoku less fascinating at its break-in. Pity, it had to be a forced chain to yield the solution. On this I'm with Simon and prefer more direct logic. Dulls off a bit an otherwise perfect puzzle. I'd have rather seen a fourth kropka. Great work ntl.
on 15. August 2021, 19:46 by fuxia
Updated links, added link to CTC feature video.
on 28. July 2021, 16:51 by fuxia
Added tags.
on 19. July 2021, 09:27 by Qodec
Fantastic placement of white kropki clues! Loved this one, thank you! (Edit: that last trick took me some time to spot but felt completely fair.)
on 18. July 2021, 23:45 by fuxia
Thank you all for your kind comments! I spent quite some time thinking about the last trick and if I should just add a fourth dot instead. Then I decided that this is still in the range of the difficulty you can expect when you start this puzzle. And once you see it, it seems to be very obvious. :)
on 18. July 2021, 18:10 by Crystal Phoenix
Like other commenters, I love how minimalistic this is. It's amazing that it has a unique solution. The break-in is quite nice. I did spend quite a while trying to resolve the last dozen digits or so (it was difficult for me to find exactly where to look), but still a very nice puzzle.
on 18. July 2021, 06:05 by DiMono
Excellent minimalistic puzzle. I found the end difficult, but it may have just been me being bad at finding patterns in standard sudoku.
on 17. July 2021, 11:48 by Cane_Puzzles
I really liked how minimalist this was. The interactions at the start were very nice.
on 17. July 2021, 10:42 by kolot
Very nice puzzle with such a little information.
