Sq²ary Sq²orpion
(Published on 25. January 2023, 20:25 by Christounet)
This is the third and last puzzle of my squared digits and arrows serie afters Squaring things out and Squared roots?.
This time, I used shorter arrows to give a sense of ambiguity to where the squares may be located. I also kept the math very simple, because I know not many people really enjoyed the math in the last one. It was really really fun setting this one. I hope you'll enjoy it.
Thanks to ONeill and Mad-Tyas for testing it!
Rules :
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
- Arrows : Digits/numbers along an arrow sum to the digit/number in that arrow's circle. Digits may repeat on an arrow if allowed by other rules.
Note : The branched arrow in box 5 works as a usual arrow, i.e. R3C3 is the sum of R4C4, R4C5 and R5C4.
- Squares : Nine cells in the grid (one per row, column and box) are squares, which count as the square of their value on arrows. For example, a squared 9 will count as 81 if it's on an arrow.
Each digit is squared once in the grid.
The 2 one-cell cages have an equal value
The red outline has an esthetic purpose only, it has no use to solve the puzzle. I just wanted my scorpion to look scarier ! This outline doesn't appear on the solving grids
The puzzle :
Penpa link (with answer check)
CTC webapp (with answer check)
Enjoy ! And consider living a comment if you like the puzzle !
Solution code: Row 6 and column 8 (18 digits, no space)
Comments
on 29. June 2024, 19:45 by Piatato
Very nice!
on 23. April 2023, 16:28 by Paquet Voleur
Fist time I solve a puzzle with this type of value modifiers, and I loved it. Very cool design also, although it would have been nice to get the red in the app as well. Oh well! I just had to print it on paper I suppose. Thanks for yet another cool puzzle!
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@Paquet Voleur : Thanks ! I had the idea of this modifier rule after solving several puzzles with the "doubler" rule. I set 3 puzzles with "squares", and this one was really the one where I managed to use them with the most interactions between them :) And indeed, a sudokupad link with the same design would have been nice but I feared the digits wouldn't show on the red line. I shall try to make one with a bit of transparency on the red line for future solvers.
on 16. February 2023, 16:21 by topoi
Best of the three by far! Very cool puzzle, and great way of using the squaring idea.
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@topoi : Thanks! Glad you finished that one ! It was also my prefered setting of the 3, where I was able to use squared digits as I intended from the beginning.
on 5. February 2023, 22:47 by Nordy
Wooo melted my brain but in the best way :) beautiful puzzle!
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@Nordy : Brain melting can be a good thing sometimes, if it gets you some satisfaction during the process !
on 4. February 2023, 02:11 by Christounet
Clarified the rule about the branching arrow
on 4. February 2023, 02:02 by SSG
There's some very nice logic here; but, the rules really need to state that a branched arrow counts as a single arrow, rather than the standard interpretation where each branch is a separate arrow.
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Thanks SSG, you're right about that, I may have simplified too much when I removed the overcomplicated rule. I'll update again. Might get it right by the 3rd try ! Glad you liked it anyway !
on 3. February 2023, 11:37 by Christounet
Updated visuals and simplified rules.
on 26. January 2023, 12:34 by ONeill
My favourite of the three, lots of nice logic to be found :)
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Thanks ONeill, it was my favorite setting as well :)
on 26. January 2023, 04:13 by ScatterBrain
Never quite seen anything like it. Thanks!
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Thanks ScatterBrain. Glad you liked it and found it original :)
