Bittersweet Candies 3 - A (Mostly) Regular 6x6 Sudoku Pack
(Published on 8. February 2023, 08:43 by Playmaker6174)
Another bag of goodies from me with 6 small 6x6 puzzles after weeks full of personal works in real life, and this one is the continuation of
Bittersweet Candies mini-series, which mainly focuses around 6x6 puzzle.
In the past,
Pack 1 actually received a lot more positive feedback than I expected, and
Pack 2 while still being good wasn't as much remarkable as Pack 1 and I feel like I could've done better in some of them. This pack 3, however, will surprise some of you there as it introduces quite a lot of interesting new concepts (that are also inspired by some of the old ideas in the past), including my first ever Chaos Construction puzzle, but I think it should still remain the fun throughout :)
After careful considerations, I finally decided to share the pack over here with also some bit of nervousness, since the amount of efforts that I spent for this one is quite immeasurable. I hope you enjoy all the treats here!
Rules: Normal 6x6 Sudoku rules apply to
puzzle 1 to 5: every row, column and 3x2 box contains digits from 1 to 6 each once. An exception for
puzzle 6 will be detailed later.
As the pack goes on, the difficulty this time will not follow any specific range, therefore this criteria may be different based on everyone's opinions. The overall estimated difficulty of entire pack is judged by the average of all 6 of them.
Variants included in this pack are:
1) Liar Sum Before 6: Each outside clue shows the sum of digit(s) before digit 6 in the respective direction of their row/column.
However, in each row/column with 2 outside clues, one of them must be true (gives a correct value) and the other one must be false (gives a wrong value), which one is which is needed to be deduced.
[a 'smaller than 5' means the value of that total is smaller than 5, and similar to the 'smaller than 8']
2) Parity Sandwich: Digits along a blue teal line must alternate between odd digit and even digit. A clue outside the grid shows the sum of digit(s) between 1 and 6 in their row/column. X is a number that needs to be deduced.
3) Distanced Relationship: 6-sum or consecutive: A cell with an arrow containing digit N means that the digit in the cell that's N cells away from that cell in the arrow's direction must contain digit that either adds N to equal 6 or is consecutive with N.
For a cell with two arrows, two result pointed cells must contain one of each type, i.e. one cell contains digit adding up to 6 and other cell contains consecutive digit.
For example, if R5C1 is a 4 then R1C1 is either 2 (to add up to 6), or 3 or 5 (consecutive with 4).
4) Border Indexer: Sum: Let X be the value of the cell that's next to an outside clue, that clue shows the sum of cells that share the Xth border counting from the direction of that clue. If X is 6, the clue is instead the value of the furthest cell from that clue.
An example of the rule set can be found in this image.
5) Portal Sum - Little Killer: The oval shapes in the grid are called "portals". Portals of the same color must contain the same digit and work as a pair of entry-exit points for little killer clues.
Little killer: an outside clue shows the sum of the digits in the cells along the indicated diagonal; digits can repeat if allowed by other rules (the limit a clue can reach to is the 6x6 bolder).
However, if a little killer clue points to a portal, then that clue is instead the sum of the digits before entering the portal PLUS the digits after exiting the paired portal in the same direction, NOT including the digits in the portals themselves.
An example of the rule set can be found in this image. In the image, 20 is the sum of the yellow cells and 15 is the sum of pink/purple cells.
6) Chaos Construction: X-sum Doubled Limit:
Divide the grid into 6 orthogonally connected regions so that each row, column and region contain digits from 1-6 each once. Two region borders have been given.
A clue outside the grid shows the sum of the first X cells from that clue's direction, where X is the value of the cell next to that clue.
BUT in addition, ONLY the Xth cell (the furthest cell in the sum) will be counted twice in such sum.
Moreover, those X cells must belong to the same region and the (X+1)th cell must be in different region.
A ? stands for any digit from 0-9, in case of a ? being the first digit of a number, it can't be 0.
For example, the 12 clue in the grid can be 4-1-3 | 12, since 3+1+(4x2) = 12.
Puzzle:
F-puzzle: LiarSumBefore6 -
ParitySandwich -
DistancedRelationship -
BorderIndexer -
PortalSum -
ChaosConstruction
Penpa+: LiarSumBefore6 -
ParitySandwich -
DistancedRelationship -
BorderIndexer -
PortalSum -
ChaosConstruction
CTC app: LiarSumBefore6 -
ParitySandwich -
DistancedRelationship -
BorderIndexer -
PortalSum -
ChaosConstruction
(If you solve in F-puzzle, make sure to turn off the "Highlight Conflicts" option in some of them)
Good luck and have fun solving!
Solution code: Four corners of the entire 6x6 grid from each of the puzzle in the order, specifically (r1c1-r1c6-r6c1-r6c6) from each of the puzzle in the order in the rule set, 24 digits long total with no space
Last changed on on 8. February 2023, 11:44
Solved by Piatato, lerroyy, Steven R, MicroStudy, abed hawila, Vebby, fjam, Qodec, Elliott810, Mrtn, ademjaz, jkuo7, zuzanina, Jaych, Niverio, mse326, Statistica, Kappa6174, dtoto, Paquet Voleur, Frutlop, Bobbobert, akamchinjir, marcmees, Mitsunari, BeeBoi
Comments
Last changed on 28. May 2024, 08:32on 27. May 2024, 22:27 by marcmees
Very nice. I couldn't resist to solve 3 as well after solving 4. Very nice series so far ... :-) Thanks
---
Thank you so much for your interests in these series! I'm very happy to hear so :)
on 11. February 2023, 20:00 by Niverio
In order, this is my verdict: Awesome puzzle, awesome puzzle, awesome puzzle, awesome puzzle, BURN IT IN THE FIRES OF HELL, awesome puzzle.
on 9. February 2023, 10:48 by ademjaz
Lovely little puzzles, each one felt special, thanks!
on 9. February 2023, 07:40 by Playmaker6174
Thank you all for the very lovely feedback! I'm very grateful to hear the enjoyment from all of you :)
on 9. February 2023, 02:29 by Elliott810
Impressive work! Thanks:)
on 8. February 2023, 21:43 by Qodec
Little polished works of art, every single one of them. Beautiful ideas!
on 8. February 2023, 17:08 by abed hawila
Brilliant! loved every puzzle!
on 8. February 2023, 13:24 by Steven R
Great pack, 6 top notch puzzles. Thanks!
on 8. February 2023, 12:32 by lerroyy
Very nice pack, really enjoyed the cc!
on 8. February 2023, 11:54 by Piatato
Very enjoyable, perfectly chewy little pieces of candy :-)
on 8. February 2023, 11:44 by Playmaker6174
minor fix for description