Entropy Minimalism
(Published on 10. January 2022, 13:01 by Mad-Tyas)
It all started when I had the idea for the Entropy constraint and asked myself: "How many given digits do you need at least to get an unique solution with this constraint?"
I experimented a lot and ended up with only 9 given digits. I suspect that this is the minimum, but I'd be very happy to be taught otherwise.
I show this puzzle because I think the solution path is at least as fascinating as the minimalistic setup. I think it's a wonderful presentation of the diversity of this still new constraint.
You can find more Entropy sudokus as well as my other puzzles here
Rules:
Sudoku: Fill every row, column and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9.
Entropy: The low digits (1, 2, 3), middle digits (4, 5, 6) and high digits (7, 8, 9) are defined as three different groups. In the finished grid each 2x2 box has to contain at least one digit of each group.
Have fun solving!
After this puzzle I will take a little break from the Entropy sudokus to take time for other ideas.
I'm overwhelmed by how well it got started with this constraint. So well that other setters take up the idea and use it to create their own puzzles with. So I hope that as long as I don't create any more Entropy sudokus, there will still be more of them coming.
Here are links to the other puzzles that use this constraint:
The Miracle of Entropy (by SimiC)
Cupid's Entropy (by TheRiddler)
Another Kind of Entropy (by BellBear, modified Entropy constraint)
Solution code: Row 8 followed by column 2 (18 digits)
Comments
on 5. August 2023, 17:43 by ymhsbmbesitwf
In my opinion closer to a 3 difficulty for anyone used to entropy. There's one or two cool and perhaps tricky deductions to break into the bottom boxes and the coloring resolves in a very satisfying way. I wholeheartedly recommend!
on 17. March 2022, 13:46 by TsieLeMoswang
Used bifurcation a couple of times. Would love to see someone solve this logically.
on 17. February 2022, 09:42 by Bankey
Happy to tick another one off the pending list !! So many aha moments during the solve. Thanks, again, @ Mad-Tyas :-)
on 31. January 2022, 19:21 by Mad-Tyas
Added Entropy tag
on 14. January 2022, 17:14 by TheRiddler
Very cool entropy puzzle :-)
on 14. January 2022, 14:32 by DVFrank
Ganz schön knifflig! Hat aber trotzdem viel Spaß gemacht :^)
on 11. January 2022, 21:49 by aruvi
Brutal puzzle, took me nearly 4 hours but so worth it!!
-Reply: Thank you very much for not giving up. I'm glad the puzzle rewarded you for your effort.
on 10. January 2022, 16:51 by Tilberg
Sehr nett. Immer wenn ich feststeckte und das Rätsel zu verfluchen begann, merkte ich, daß ich einfach den richtigen Punkt zum Weitermachen übersehen hatte, und wurde wieder ganz demütig. Mir gefiel insbesondere die letzte Aufdröselung der niedrigen Ziffern.
Very nice. Whenever I got stuck and started cursing the puzzle, I realized that I just had missed the right spot to look at and got humble again. I also loved the last disambiguation of the low group.
-Antwort: Vielen Dank für das Lösen des Rätsels und den netten Kommentar!
on 10. January 2022, 16:16 by Raumplaner
Very cool constraint! Loved all the variation you managed to put into the solve path.
I highly recommend it.
on 10. January 2022, 16:03 by Chelo
Very very nice puzzle, I enjoy the entropy constraints so much!.. Thank you for setting, please keep on doing it!..
-Reply: Thank you very much for your kind comment!
I will definitely come up with more Entropy puzzles every now and then. I hope you will enjoy my other upcoming puzzles, too.
on 10. January 2022, 15:00 by SimiC
Great puzzle and, once again, a pleasure to test and see the best version of this minimalistic concept come to life!
