Space Filling Snake
(Published on 21. July 2021, 05:15 by SirSchmoopy)
Standard rules:
1. Normal Sudoku rules apply.
2. Normal arrow rules apply: digits along the arrow sum to the digit in the circle.
3. Normal antiknight rules apply: Digits must not repeat in cells that are a knight's move apart.
1. Create a snake that forms a single, continuous loop of orthogonally connected cells that satisfy the following conditions:
- There is at least one snake cell in every 2x2 region on the grid
- The snake does not touch itself, even diagonally
2. Blue cells are knight cells that satisfy the following conditions:
- Knight cells are not part of the snake.
- Each digit from 1-8 appears in exactly one knight cell.
- The digit in a knight cell is equal to the number of snake cells that are exactly 1 knight's move away from it.
Example:
Solution code: Column 8 + Row 2 (e.g. 123456789987654321)
Comments
on 23. July 2021, 00:39 by SirSchmoopy
Updated name. Thanks for the feedback @SudokuExplorer and @Uvo!
on 22. July 2021, 22:00 by SudokuExplorer
@SirSchmoopy: I agree with uvo regarding the rules not being related to Nurikabe.
In Nurikabe, each 2x2 square has an unshaded cell (so a snake cell in your case). The shaded cells are orthogonally connected in Nurikabe (however the the non-snake cells are not connected).
An example of a sudoku with Nurikabe rules is: Nurikabe Killer Sudoku (id=00050G) by udukos
See this video for an introduction to the rules of Nurikabe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrFvqjnlkY
Your rules are more like a space-filling snake.
on 22. July 2021, 21:09 by uvo
I understand, but don't think the similarities go very far.
One of the most important rules in Nurikabe is that the cells not covered by the islands (or in your case, the snake) are connected, which isn't the case in your puzzle. Also, in Nurikabe the sizes of the islands are given (which often leads to some balance between spreading out the islands to reach all parts of the grid vs. fitting several islands into a small space); the length of your snake is unknown.
Since many puzzle types have a "no 2x2" rule, I consider the idea of treating this puzzle as some kind of Sudoku / Nurikabe hybrid a bit far-fetched.
Mainly, I'm a bit annoyed (not specifically about your puzzle) that apparently many puzzle authors take the Sudoku aspect of a puzzle for granted. This site is a puzzle portal, not specifically a Sudoku portal; Nurikabe is a puzzle type in its own right, not just another Sudoku variation. If "Nurikabe [something]" denotes a puzzle that is mostly Sudoku, what name would you give to a Nurikabe puzzle?
on 22. July 2021, 19:02 by SirSchmoopy
@uvo the snake forms a single region of orthogonally connected cells and every 2x2 region must contain a snake cell, and in that sense the snake forms a region that would be the solution to a nurikabe puzzle. That logic was the inspiration for this puzzle, but sorry if that wasn't clear enough or if it isn't similar enough in practice.
on 22. July 2021, 18:35 by uvo
Please don't edit my comment, write a comment of your own instead.
on 22. July 2021, 11:52 by uvo
I'm wondering: Why do you name a Sudoku variant (or maybe a combination of Sudoku and Snake) after a completely different puzzle type that has barely anything to do with this puzzle?
on 21. July 2021, 21:30 by GBPack
I enjoyed solving this once I got it figured out after a little while. I liked the every-2x2-region-must-have-a-snake-cell rule. I would probably say there are too many unusual rules, though.
--[Sir Schmoopy] Thank you for the feedback! I'll work on using fewer atypical constraints if i make another knight+snake puzzle.
