The Zodiac Project: Orion's Belt
(Published on 1. February 2024, 21:00 by ViKingPrime)
PUZZLE:
RULES:
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
Yellow stars mark a DISJOINT set of the digits 1-9.
White KROPKI dots separate consecutive digits; Black Kropki dots separate digits where one is double the other [1:2].
INTRODUCTION:
The idea with this puzzle is to create a grid with a unique disjoint set and then tag a fellow setter to solve. You then pay it forward, by providing them their own grid with a disjoint set, wherein they can build their own puzzle and pay it forward once again.
First to be tagged is none other than Marty Sears (or "Marty the Mad" as he's becoming known as, given he is the very definition of a madlad).
This is the layout I've sent him - let's see what he makes of it!
- "Chapter 1: Orion's Belt" by ViKingPrime
- "Chapter 2: Counting Castles" by Marty Sears
- "Chapter 3: Derezzed" by heliopolix
- "Chapter 4: Rodd Stevens" by 99%Sneaky
- "Chapter 5: Phase Shift" by meggen033
- "Chapter 6: Cage Decoder" by sujoyku
- "Chapter 7: Star Chart" by Flinty
- "Chapter 8: Parity Expedition" by palpot
- "Chapter 9: Suguru's Surge" by gdc
- "Chapter 10: Minefield Maneuvers" by SamuPiano
- "Chapter 11: Ponta Delgada" by Florian Wortmann
- "Chapter 12: Lost in Space" by lerroyy
- "Chapter 13: Gemini" by Christounet
- "Chapter 14: Sagittarius" by MaizeGator
- "Chapter 15: Kyklos" by sfushidahardy
- "Chapter 16: Original Sin" by Nordy
- "Chapter 17: Cluster of Galaxies" by Dorlir
- "Chapter 18: Taurus" by ThePedallingPianist
- "Chapter 19: Isolation" by vitaminz
- "Chapter 20: Space Hotel" by juggler
Solution code: The digits along Row 7, left-to-right.
Comments
on 16. January 2025, 14:37 by Titus Adduxas
I just spotted this series and decided to start at the beginning. Beautifully constructed though a bit too hard for a 1⭐️ in my eyes.
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@Titus Adduxas - fair to say! I know that a lot of people's enjoyment of a puzzle is also based on how well their expectations are met in terms of difficulty. I do think it's a good base-line indicator of the difficulty for the rest of the series; I wasn't expecting every future setter to the up the difficulty so vociferously! -- VKP
on 2. November 2024, 09:55 by Clementi
Really nice puzzle. A lot harder than I was expecting from the one star rating, definitely a two for me.
Looking forward to tackling the rest of the series.
on 1. November 2024, 13:31 by Clementi
Suggested rule clarification: specify that not all dots are shown. Because it says "white dots separate consecutive digits", I assumed that all consecutive digits would have a dot.
on 1. November 2024, 12:10 by davidz32z
Makes me wish I knew more about constellations! Excited to dive into the rest of these.
on 28. August 2024, 09:09 by AsgarArn
Lovely, great idea for an series!
Logic conclutions by the set rules and dots mixed with normal sudoku
Overlooking the soduko part made this a bit harder for me. Still quite easy but maybe 1,5 star or so.
Great construction,
on 28. June 2024, 14:08 by Christounet
Fun puzzle. Can't wait to try the others in the serie. Thanks :)
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@Christounet - So glad you found the series! I look forward to someone tapping you to set one someday. A lot of the later entries will be your cup of tea (heliopolix, gdc and Samupiano's entries in particular, I think) <3 -- VKP
on 18. February 2024, 19:59 by ThePedallingPianist
This hit that lovely spot of being easy and fun, whilst not being at all trivial. Lovely puzzle and a really cool idea for a series, thank you!
on 2. February 2024, 18:40 by dingledork
Fun puzzle! The stars made it impossible to see pencil marks on my phone, though - shaded cells might be better, though less thematically coherent :)
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@dingledork - I actually didn't have stars initially but was advised to put them in by my tester to add to the aesthetics; hopefully it didn't detract too much from the puzzle <3 -- VKP
on 2. February 2024, 01:03 by ave
First look, this will be easy.
But it took quite some time for me.. My first disjoint set sudoku, perhaps that's why.
Also the white dots in box 8 confused me a bit. ;)
The harder it was to find the next step the more revarding it was.
Thanks, ViKingPrime, it was fun!
on 2. February 2024, 00:22 by Twan2797
Very nice setting. Nice consistency with smooth logic
on 2. February 2024, 00:18 by MarthaB
Fun puzzle!
on 1. February 2024, 23:22 by Ryx
So, what constellation did you give Marty, or is that not something that carries through the "project"?
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@Ryx - It's the one in the description (squares instead of stars, supposed to resemble Cassiopeia); he's a busy fella but hopefully we'll see something pop up in the next couple of weeks! -- VKP
