Russian Dolls
(Published on 27. November 2023, 04:09 by ThePedallingPianist)
Solution guide, kindly created by vitaminz
In this puzzle, a Latin Square is defined as an NxN grid of cells that contain only the digits 1 to N where N>1, in which digits do not repeat in a row or column. This puzzle contains exactly three Latin Squares: one within another within another.
Antiknight: Cells a knight's move apart (in chess) may not contain the same digit.
Kropki: Digits separated by a white dot are consecutive; digits separated by a black dot are in a 1:2 ratio.
Solution code: Column 1 (far left), top to bottom
Comments
on 16. February 2024, 16:46 by rich_27
This is a phenomenal puzzle, probably one of my favourites on the site!
Such an interesting ruleset. It was such a journey, bouncing between "surely this will be easy" to "surely there's no way it can be done" and the realizations that bring you back to "ah, so clever and such an elegant path forward". I loved that pivotal disambiguation step too, golden
on 30. November 2023, 03:31 by marty_sears
This is a quintessential PedallingPianist puzzle; mathsy, sneaky, perplexing and original.
What a brilliant idea, and the positioning of the dots was perfect. You would expect that once you find the Latin squares, the rest would be trivial... but even after that discovery there are still several lovely moments left to come, including a particularly beautiful disambiguation. You'll know the one I mean when you get to it.
Loved it!
on 29. November 2023, 23:32 by applesauce
beautiful puzzle! the break-in was creative and elegant - I loved deriving the general principles forced by the rules, and then seeing how the dots constrained the solution was absolutely delightful. after that, the puzzle flowed extremely smoothly.
on 28. November 2023, 19:29 by vitaminz
With permission, I've made a walkthrough video, in case you are stuck and want to see the beauty of this puzzle!
https://youtu.be/Z9wJRqnAkM8
on 28. November 2023, 16:05 by ViKingPrime
This is the kind of puzzle that benefits from reflection; it's rated fairly and it's absolutely beautiful once you're ready to dive-in. If your logic is sound, it might take only a few minutes of actual digit placement.
on 28. November 2023, 13:17 by giladooshlon
At first glance this puzzle seems a bit daunting for a 3★ (which is why I guess it has so few solves despite being so good!), but if you start thinking more practically about the implications of the Latin square rule the path becomes clearer and there is a satisfying final step. Be patient and don't forget the other rules! I would imagine this can be a 20-30 minute solve on CtC.
on 28. November 2023, 00:45 by RJBlarmo
Very nice idea and execution!
on 27. November 2023, 23:12 by marcmees
nice logic at the start. Thanks.
on 27. November 2023, 20:55 by vitaminz
Very nice little puzzle. Takes a minute to think through the implications of the Latin Square constraint (this was the best part for me) but the solve path is very smooth once you internalize it, though a final seeming ambiguity almost tricked me into thinking I had botched it somewhere
