Catch The Zippersnake
(Published on 8. January 2024, 01:41 by marty_sears)
Myself and Dorlir both love zipper lines almost as much as we love snake puzzles, so we thought it would be good to start 2024 with a Zippersnake collab :)
Rules:
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
- Draw a snake that starts and ends at a purple spot and has a purple spot exactly at its centre. The snake can only move orthogonally from cell to cell, and may not touch itself, not even diagonally.
- The snake functions as a zipper line; any pair of digits that are an equal distance from the central spot sum to the digit on that central spot.
- Any pair of cells connected by a clue (dot, diamond, X or V) must either both be on the snake, or both be off the snake.
- Cells connected by a white dot are consecutive.
- Cells connected by black dot are in a 1:2 ratio (one is double the other.)
- Cells connected by a green dot must have a difference of at least 5.
- Cells connected by a red diamond have the same parity (they're both odd or both even.)
- Cells connected by an X sum to 10.
- Cells connected by a V sum to 5.
Click here to play on the CTC app
Please leave a comment if you enjoy :)
Cell to cell, the Zippersnake
orthogonal, a path must take
with purple at its heart and tips
and equal pair sums on its zips.
No touching on this snake must be
(not even diagonally).
To solve this puzzle, you may use
the dominoes containing clues.
In each and every clue-bound pair
the snake is either wholly there
or wholly absent; and what's more,
each clue denotes a different law.
White dots prescribe consecutives,
while black a double ratio gives.
Green pairs, at least, are five betwixt
and diamond parities are fixed.
A V-pair sums to five, and then
an X-pair sums to total ten.
With just these clues, now draw the line
and add the digits one to nine
once in each column, box and row
(the standard rules we all should know).
How long, I wonder, will you take
to catch the hissing Zippersnake?
Solution code: Row 1 from left to right
Comments
on 25. April 2024, 15:31 by wuc
Awesome. Nice flow. Thx.
on 15. February 2024, 16:09 by Volkner
Fantastic puzzle. Well done.
on 4. February 2024, 15:58 by Prof.Dori
EmpyClaw: The version you tried wasn't wrong just had a bit different clue and the puzzle was a bit hard at one part which is probably the part you got stuck. We thought it was a bit out of blue to do that and we decided to make a slightly different clue where the most of the logic don't get removed and hence this is the final result.
on 4. February 2024, 15:50 by EmpyClaw
I had started this puzzle some time ago and then got completely stuck toward the end of the snake. I had given up and then saw it appear on Cracking the Cryptic and immediately noticed an additional clue that I didn’t remember being there at first. Not sure if it was a trick of the software or a later addition, but I went back in to my partially-completed puzzle, added a mark for the extra clue, and wrapped it up in no time. Brilliantly clever puzzle, if a bit disappointing to have to wait so long to finish it.
on 4. February 2024, 02:25 by heliosfant
Loved this puzzle very much.
Surprisingly I was never stuck, everything felt logic. Thanks for setting.
on 25. January 2024, 21:47 by Myxo
Lovely puzzle, very smooth!
on 9. January 2024, 04:32 by bansalsaab
Amazing construction. Thanks for this.
on 8. January 2024, 22:38 by TheBestThatICouldDo
wow, lovely work - as one would expect from this duo. Felt very novel. the roles of each digit, and their relationships felt very pronounced and coherent throughout - it has an almost narrative quality, to me.
on 8. January 2024, 19:31 by Leto
Very fun and clever! And I think you found the sweet spot in difficulty.
on 8. January 2024, 11:53 by Snookerfan
Great puzzle! Apart from one step I found it very smooth all the way. Thank you
on 8. January 2024, 08:04 by Laake
This is absolutely a puzzle that I can just tell was made by you two. Amazing stuff as always
on 8. January 2024, 02:03 by ViKingPrime
It's surprising how much personality comes through in a sudoku puzzle - this is very much a blend of Dorlir and Marty and if you've enjoyed their previous puzzles, there's a lot to savour here.
on 8. January 2024, 01:48 by Ratfinkz
Loved working on this on JoJo's twitch.... meeting of two marvellously mad minds
