Serpents in the Shadows
(Published on 13. May 2023, 05:00 by XeonRisq)
- The digits 0 to 9 must appear once in every row, column, and region. Regions (12 in total) are to be determined by the solver, and must be a set of ten orthogonally connected cells in the form of a snake that cannot touch itself orthogonally (but diagonally is allowed).
- Black cells are to be left out of all regions and will contain no values.
- Since regions are in the shape of snakes, the regions act like lines for the purpose of the remote sums clues.
- Remote Sums: A digit X in a cage points to a second digit Y located X cells away on its line (in its region). The number in the top left corner of the cage gives the sum of X+Y.
- Black cages act as the head of a snake (or endpoint of a region).
- Red cages can appear anywhere along a snake. All red cages will have the same total, which must be deduced by the solver.
- F-puzzles link - link to solve online
- SudokuPad link - link to solve online
Solution code: Row 11 followed by Column 2 (Ignore black cells)
Comments
on 25. August 2023, 10:09 by marcmees
I had to put the puzzle aside for a long time after breaking it on several attempts. Now, many months later I discovered my mistake in R3C3 to finally catch all snakes. great puzzle. thanks.
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Awesome, I'm thrilled you were able to conquer this monster. Those snakes are a slippery bunch, but in the end they were all wrangled and the puzzle beaten. Thanks for the perseverance, solve, and feedback..
on 15. May 2023, 14:48 by marcmees
Now I am confused. There should be 12 snakes or 10 cells each ? Not 10 snakes of 12 cells each.
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Yes sir, suppose to be 12 snakes-10 cells each. I updated the rules, and the links this morning. Sorry about that.
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as such the rules should have stayed "a set of 10 orthogonally connected cells." :-)
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It did, but people keep confusing me in the comments. It says 10 again, and I'll just explain in the comments moving forward. Ugh, it's early, and Monday!!
:-)
on 15. May 2023, 05:34 by peterkp
Sorry to repeat, but I'm confused about snake and black cage numbers too. The rules say 10 snakes, and one black cage per snake. But there are 12 black cages...
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My apologies, you are correct, its suppose to be twelve. This is the downside of having cookie cutter templates and rewriting the rules a bunch of times. Should be corrected now, thanks for the heads up.
on 15. May 2023, 01:24 by Myxo
Neat! :)
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I'll take "neat", but I was shooting for righteous and kick ass! (Joe Dirt reference if you're not familiar)
on 14. May 2023, 08:58 by giladooshlon
The snakes part was relatively straightforward, but I found the sum logic quite difficult. It was very enjoyable.
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Thanks for the solve and glad you enjoyed the puzzle. The region building (snake wrangling) is the easier part of this puzzle, I agree. Afterwards, it gets a bit more dicey as the remote sums plus irregular/deconstructed grid does some wonderful things.
on 13. May 2023, 18:45 by tutuism
Hello, Xe. I am confused about if a region may haven't any black cages, in other words, if a region may have two black cages. And same with the red cages. Could you explain me pls
Thaks u, uwu!!!
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One black cage per snake, no restriction on how many red cages (to be determined by solver), but both must follow the remote sum clues.
on 13. May 2023, 16:28 by laky
Does a snake may have two heads? sorry，I mean does a snake has two black cages
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No, a snake only has one head. This is just sudoku, not some oddity of nature =P
