Limitless Potential #2: The Wanderer's Path
(Published on 12. May 2023, 16:49 by Playmaker6174)
The following puzzle is the 2nd entry of my mini-series Limitless Potential, where I explore some interesting ideas that have great potentials for making cool and beautiful puzzles. For this one, I looked at pathfinder type of puzzle and kind of stepped away my comfort zone for a while. I know that I haven't solved such type that much but at least I've gained some basic knowledge from watching some people's attempt at doing them. This one also features the idea of changing the rules as the path gets to certain points, for the sake of my first learning experience I'll just do it simple.
The solve path may be quite tricky at certain points but I think nothing should really feel unfair here. I hope you enjoy!
Setter's note: It's important to ask the right questions related to which cells are on the path and which cells are not.
Rules:
- Normal Sudoku rules apply: every row, column and 3x3 box contains digits from 1 to 9 each once.
- Draw a one cell wide orthogonally connected path that goes from the green circle - which must contain an odd digit - to an unknown endpoint in box 9 that needs to be deduced, this endpoint must contain an even digit.
- The path mustn't branch (or intersect itself) and it has to go through the checkpoint marked as a yellow star. For the sake of this puzzle, the path can touch itself (either orthogonally or diagonally) and will be divided into 2 phases (and each phase will include both mentioned endpoints):
+ From the green circle to the checkpoint: along this path, adjacent digits must have difference of at least 5.
+ From the checkpoint to the required endpoint in box 9: this path must be able to be divided into contiguous groups/segments of cells such that each group/segment has a total of 15.
- For each killer cage, digits can't repeat within and its small number in the corner shows the total of all cells that are NOT on the overall path.
Puzzle:
F-puzzle - Penpa plus (alt. link) - Sudokupad (alt. link)Good luck and have fun solving!
Solution code: The digits on the path in row 7,8,9, write from left to right in the order of row 7-8-9
Comments
on 30. July 2023, 01:47 by Silverstep
It's unfortunate that the first three rows feature such good logic. The bottom parts feels ordinary compared to the top.
on 28. May 2023, 03:34 by Xendari
Very cool puzzle!
on 17. May 2023, 19:46 by Niverio
Very fun pathing puzzle, a litttle grindy at the end for me but still very enjoyable overall :D
on 16. May 2023, 18:25 by Playmaker6174
extra addition for the wording regarding to the rules
on 16. May 2023, 12:55 by gfoot
What an amazing puzzle, I love the way the rules change partway through, and the second half was much easier for me than the first half. And the solution code requiring a full path solution was a nice touch too!
I felt the "path may touch itself" rule was a little vague, it'd be nice to clarify that it may touch itself orthogonally as that is unusual.
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Thank you so much for the lovely feedback, glad you had a great experience!
Yeah I meant "touch itself" as for the sake of touching the path itself either orthogonally or diagonally, I shall add them in for extra clarity then.
on 15. May 2023, 13:20 by Piatato
Fun puzzle, with varied logic due to a fun ruleset and clever setting :)
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Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the fun :)
on 15. May 2023, 11:38 by Playmaker6174
Thank you both for the lovely feedback! I'm happy to hear y'all enjoyed the solve path in this one, I kind of hope more people will give this one a try too :)
on 13. May 2023, 14:02 by Elliott810
Absolutely brilliant puzzle! Take a bow and thanks:)
on 13. May 2023, 12:30 by erml
This is a masterpiece! Very hard but never unfair, as you write, with many stunning deductions. My absoltue recommendation for a solve on CTC.
