Having A Goodlaugh
(Published on 3. December 2023, 02:38 by HalfBakedLunatic)
• Normal Sudoku Rules Apply.
• A black dot between cells indicates cell values with a 2:1 ratio. A white dot between cells indicates cells with consecutive values. All dots are shown.
• Digits along each arrow must sum to the digit in the circled cell.
Solve Online here (right-click and open in new tab):
Having A Goodlaugh (Cracking The Cryptic)
Note: While authoring my prior puzzle Living The Goodliffe, I discovered that using the Kropki negative constraint with a single black dot in any corner box, it required at least one distinct cell branching into the neighboring boxes (both horizontal and vertical) in order to resolve with a unique solution. In the prior puzzle, the "10 cage" isn't actually needed, but I put it in to alleviate some steps in the solution path that were almost impossible. In this puzzle, I purposefully compacted it down so that the arrows only breach ONE CELL in boxes 2 and 6.
This does make the "Goodliffing" even more drawn out. This is a minimalist grid - and a long, difficult slog to get through ... but that's the intention of the construction. It's not a 'fun' puzzle, so if you're not up for a very tedious task, it's probably best to move on to a different challenge!
Puzzle by David Workman (aka "HalfBakedLunatic")
Solution code: Row 9
Comments
on 4. December 2023, 06:26 by Bankey
"Tedious" was a fair warning, and was still an enjoyable process. Thanks, @ HalfBakedLunatic :).
-- Glad you appreciated the warning :-)
on 4. December 2023, 04:14 by RedBarchetta
I love these brute force type sudoku puzzles! Well constructed. I laughed when I saw it thinking there was no way it would solve with that little amount of given information. While not terribly difficult, (and the break in was quite fun), it was a long, hard, and repetitive process - just the kind I like! Thanks for setting!
-- Thanks @RedBarchetta, I love feedback like this :-)
on 4. December 2023, 02:08 by femto113
This felt more like a 2 star than a 4 star to me, but a lot of the solving was just trial and error or simple bifurcation (this cell can't be an N because two steps later you hit a conflict). Would love to watch a pro solve it.
-- Hi @femto113, I do appreciate the feedback. All the steps are solvable with pure logic - without trial and error. But you're probably right, it may be much easier to solve that way (I never even thought to test it!) The nature of the consecutive digit negative constraint (no white dots) will always create some form of 'roping', so I'm assuming that it would be much easier to try the most likely digit, once you see the pattern, and use that for the trial and error.
on 3. December 2023, 23:36 by econtrout
Kind of amazing that it all works out! Thanks for the setting.
on 3. December 2023, 11:56 by mbrandtwls
I'm not sure how you keep coming up with these, but the whole series is amazing, each one more interesting than the last. Now that I understand the logic behind the madness, I don't struggle quite as much - so it took less time to solve this one even though it was a more difficult - and beautiful - construction. Well done my friend.
-- Thanks Mark, I'm always happy to see when you've managed to work your way through one of my puzzles. I missed seeing you at NAB NY!
