Queue hunting (Numbered Thermos)
(Published on 25. January 2023, 23:19 by dumediat)
This is the puzzle that I created for Qinlux's birthday using a new variant I thought up involving a conflation of Numbered Rooms clues and Thermos. They were gracious enough to allow me to share it here for you all to solve, and we both would be very interested to hear what you think about this variant!
Ratings, comments, and feedback are much appreciated! Please feel free to reach out to me on Discord if you have any comments or questions. Please also feel free to try my other puzzles here.
Rules:
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
- Thermo: Digits along thermos must increase from the bulb end.
- Numbered thermos: Clues outside the grid are each associated with one thermo bulb in their row/column, such that each thermo bulb is associated with one outside clue; the solver must determine these associations. These outside clues indicate the digit that must be placed in the Nth position after the bulb along its associated thermo, where N is the digit that is placed in that thermo's bulb.
For example, in the image below the thermo bulb in r1c3 is associated with the outside 5 clue, since that is the only one it sees in its row/column; likewise, the thermo bulb in r2c5 is associated with the outside 8 clue. If the bulb in r1c3 contained a 2, then the 5 would be placed 2 cells away from the bulb along the thermo (ie, in r3c3). Similarly, if the bulb in r2c5 contained a 3, the 8 would be placed 3 cells away from the bulb along the thermo (ie, in r2c8).
F-puzzles: https://f-puzzles.com/?id=2lv773b6
SudokuPad: https://tinyurl.com/359z6ns3
Solution code: Row 3 followed by column 2 (18 digits)
Comments
on 7. March 2024, 04:23 by chubnatty
Definitely a challenge to see the breakin on Sudokupad initially, but line tool did help. Flowed beautifully after that. Thanks for the fun!
on 13. February 2024, 02:52 by cascadeshiker
I found that quite hard.. mostly because I couldn't figure out how to pencil mark/color/letter the grid. Nice puzzle! Thanks. 2 stars for me.
on 1. September 2023, 02:08 by Knickolas
This was quite enjoyable for only being a one star sudoku. Not very tricky but still fun!
on 23. August 2023, 16:24 by pipedreambomb
Took me over an hour, but at least 20 minutes was me not realising every thermal had a matching clue.
on 23. February 2023, 05:42 by ParaNox
I made a Penpa version for myself because I thought being able to colour/draw outside the actual sudoku grid could be helpful here.
Link: https://tinyurl.com/2kotelz4 if anyone else wants to use it
Very interesting concept. Not sure if I would agree with the 1* rating, it took me quite some time to reach the break-in. But I actually enjoyed having to think a bit harder about how the new constraint works - perfect difficulty level for me :) Thanks for the puzzle!
>>dumediat: Thank you for adding the Penpa+ link! I agree, I think I had this provisionally rated as 2 or 3 stars, but solvers thought otherwise. I'm glad you enjoyed nonetheless! :)
on 9. February 2023, 08:33 by Rawcoder
Once I found the break-in, which took me a while and was so obvious, it went very smooth. Really nice puzzle. Thanks for setting and sharing.
>>dumediat: You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
on 31. January 2023, 20:53 by dumediat
Added visual example explaining the numbered thermos rule more clearly.
on 26. January 2023, 23:16 by Hvymetalcomrade
Very cool puzzle, took me a while to really "get it", but after that it wasn't too hard
>>dumediat: Thank you!
on 26. January 2023, 09:40 by Piatato
Is there some extra rule that each outside clue must refer to different thermos or something? I've stared at the puzzle for eight minutes without understanding anything, which is not what I usually expect from a 1/5 puzzle ...
Edit: Ahhh, nevermind, I reread the rules and figured that this is in fact the case. Just spent too much effort figuring out the bottom part and forgot about that first bit for a while.
In the end this caused me more trouble than several 3/5s that I've solved lately, but I have to agree with the 1/5 rating regardless. Very nice idea and a cute puzzle!
>>dumediat: Thank you very much! Sorry that I did not get to your comment but glad you figured it out. I will be adding an example to help with visualization. :)
on 26. January 2023, 07:09 by Nordy
Slick break-in and smooth finish :)
>>dumediat: Thank you! :)
on 26. January 2023, 02:39 by bensisko
I liked this one! I used SudokuPad's line drawing tool to make a mark at the edge of the grid as I used each outside clue.
>>dumediat: I am so glad you liked it! Agreed that is a good strategy to keep track of outside clues.
on 26. January 2023, 00:49 by dumediat
Changed provisional rating from 3* to 2*
on 26. January 2023, 00:37 by Crusader175
Very nice idea and very fun puzzle!
on 26. January 2023, 00:36 by Myxo
Very cute!
