Thermosnakes
(Published on 21. April 2022, 08:00 by Nordy)
This puzzle draws inspiration from two S-tier pathing puzzles—Hidden Thermo Sudoku by Prutsbeest and Snake Pit by DiMono. If you have not yet solved those puzzles, go do that immediately!
Short Rules:
Normal Sudoku rules apply. Gray circles are bulbs of hidden thermometers, which move through the grid like snakes (Thermosnakes!) and do not touch themselves orthogonally. Corner numbers give the total length of their corresponding Thermosnake. Different Thermosnakes may touch each other, but they do not cross, overlap, or share cells.
Long Rules:
Normal Sudoku: Place the digits 1 to 9 in every row, column, and 3x3 box.
Thermosnakes:
- Draw eight 1-cell wide snakes in the grid that move orthogonally and not diagonally. The snakes do not touch themselves orthogonally, but they may touch other snakes. Snakes do not cross, overlap, or share cells.
- Each snake has a head (first cell) and a tail (last cell). The head of each snake is given as a gray circle. The remaining cells and tail of each snake must be determined while solving.
- Digits along a snake strictly increase from head to tail.
- Each snake’s total length (measured in cells) corresponds to the number in the top left corner of its head cell.
Example: Here is a 6x6 example puzzle you can solve online (CTC, F-Puzzles).
And here is the puzzle. Solve online:
Solution code: Row 8
Comments
on 7. July 2023, 00:15 by damasosos92
Very cool one. Those snake are becoming really hot these days! Thank you!
on 12. July 2022, 01:17 by codewizard
Decided to do this as my first 4-star puzzle here. Took me a bit over 2 hours :) A very nice puzzle. As others have noted, mostly difficult in the middle. I had to resort to bifurcation in order to find some of the deductions, but once found I could understand them. Thank you!
on 25. April 2022, 21:01 by Nordy
Thanks all for solving and the nice comments! I'm glad the mid solve was challenging but not unfair.
@DiMono: Snake Pit was worthy of a shout out!
@Prustbeest: Hidden Thermo Sudoku was the first puzzle to land on my favorites list. Absolute gem of a puzzle :)
on 23. April 2022, 13:44 by Prutsbeest
Oh wow, I am honoured that my puzzle has inspired this beautiful puzzle! I really enjoyed it, thank you Nordy! :-)
on 23. April 2022, 11:37 by Tilberg
Quite challenging through to the end. Thanks!
on 22. April 2022, 00:24 by 10feet
This was fun. The logic was unusual and made me think it through, but wasn't overly difficult. Thank you.
on 21. April 2022, 23:05 by DiMono
Fun puzzle. A bit of tricky logic in the middle, but nothing I think was overly difficult. Thanks for the puzzle (and the shoutout ;) )
on 21. April 2022, 16:38 by Nordy
Clarified that Thermosnakes cannot move diagonally
on 21. April 2022, 14:05 by m0rkoli
Very lovely snaketouching
on 21. April 2022, 11:53 by Jreg
My goodness, this took me 80 minutes and a lot of trial and error. Not sure if the puzzle is that challenging, or I'm just not that smart.
--It is a tricky puzzle! The mid solve requires a series of deductions that are not necessarily easy to spot. I have included a video explanation as a hidden comment if you are interested in hearing my thoughts. Thanks for solving!
on 21. April 2022, 11:35 by kolot
Very nice puzzle! Quite challenging in the mid-solve. I enjoyed it.
on 21. April 2022, 09:40 by Elliott810
Beautiful puzzle with a smooth solving path! Thanks:)
