Slither Cave
(Published on 20. March 2023, 16:00 by Blobz)
Normal sudoku rules apply.
Shade some cells (the walls) and leave some cells unshaded (the cave) such that:
(a) the cave is a single orthogonally connected area containing all caged cells.
(b) digits within cages indicate the number of cave cells (including itself) that are seen orthogonally from that position (walls block vision).
(c) each wall segment is an orthogonally connected group of cells where at least one cell touches the edge of the grid.
(d) each wall segment includes exactly one diamond, and contains the digits 1-N (with no repeats), where N is placed in the diamond.
(e) circles are wall cells where the digit indicates the number of orthogonally adjacent cave cells.
Have fun, leave a comment if you enjoy the puzzle!
Solution code: Row 4 followed by Row 6
Comments
on 25. January 2024, 17:37 by rich_27
I loved this puzzle too, really smooth. Great setting!
on 22. March 2023, 09:15 by abed hawila
Fun puzzle!
on 21. March 2023, 16:06 by halftime
Very cool puzzle, and fairly approachable once I got my head wrapped around the rules. Thank you for sharing!
on 20. March 2023, 22:18 by Lutterot
Lovely puzzle!
on 20. March 2023, 19:48 by Blobz
Clarified that digits do not repeat in wall segments.
on 20. March 2023, 19:44 by Allagem
What a fun and surprisingly approachable cave puzzle! There’s a lot of symbols to keep track of but it’s worth it. Great puzzle!
Minor tweak suggestion: mention in the rules that digits in a wall segment don’t repeat. The statement as is strongly suggests the digits 1-N don’t repeat so I did assume it, but I think it’s possible to interpret the rule as “wall segments contain digits SELECTED from 1-N”, possibly allowing repeats and possibly leading to multiple solutions.
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Thanks for the feedback. Description updated.
~Blobz
