Backfire (Negators/Killer/Search Nine)
(Published on 7. April 2023, 00:00 by dumediat)
The concept for this puzzle is something that Bremster accidentally gave me during one of his puzzle streams. I decided to make a "modifier"-style puzzle that is on the more approachable side of difficulty, and here is the result. I hope that you enjoy!
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.
- Negators: Nine cells (one in each row, column and box) are negators, and have values equal to the negative of their digits. Each digit appears in exactly one negator.
- Killer: The sum of values of the cells in a cage equals the total given in the top-left corner of the cage. Digits may not repeat in cages.
- Search Nine: The values in arrow cells indicate the distance (with respect to the number of cells) in the indicated direction from that arrow to the 9 in that row/column. Negative values mean that the 9 appears that many cells "behind" the arrows.
F-puzzles: https://f-puzzles.com/?id=2njo3avk
SudokuPad: https://tinyurl.com/ye27444r
Solution code: Row 5 (9 digits)
Comments
on 13. October 2023, 20:15 by wisty
Lovely! I found I had to be very careful not to miscount the arrows, but the logic was nice and easy.
on 5. October 2023, 12:01 by Crusader175
Super fun puzzle with very creative idea!
on 14. May 2023, 18:37 by Flycatcher
This puzzle was awesome - could you help me find more with the same or similar ruleset?
>>dumediat: Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I am not aware of any other puzzles that use both search nine and negators, but there are a few other search nine puzzles here on LMD. If you click the Search puzzles button and search for "Search nine" in advanced search you should find those :)
on 14. April 2023, 21:07 by dumediat
Changed solution code to row 5, thank you for the feedback.
on 14. April 2023, 20:55 by iioo
A really fun puzzle, but the solution code is too easy - i knew row 7 before i figured out all of the negators' placements
>>dumediat: I'm glad you had fun, and I appreciate the feedback!
on 12. April 2023, 20:28 by mathpesto
A super smooth puzzle and a lot of fun! Lovely interactions between the rules and I especially enjoyed the end :)
>>dumediat: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)
on 7. April 2023, 23:37 by Piatato
Very nice and fun! For no reason I first broke it horribly, but my second try went very smoothly :)
on 7. April 2023, 01:04 by halftime
I think this is the first "negator" puzzle that really clicked with me. In my solve at least, the special rules wound up being used right up until the end, which is always fun! Thank you for sharing.
>>dumediat: You're very welcome, I'm so glad you enjoyed! My goal was to make a modifier puzzle that was more accessible, so I'm glad I seem to have succeeded in that! :)
