We Have Palindromes at Home
(Published on 7. July 2024, 07:13 by Kafkapharnaum)
Technical tip for a smoother solve (highlight to reveal): A useful technique for special cell puzzles is to color everything, including and especially the cells that can not be either S-cells or Doublers
RULES
S-CELLS
– Fill the grid with the digits 0-9 such that no digit repeats in a row, column, or box
– In each row, column, and box there is exactly one S-cell. S-cells contain two digits instead of one, and their value for the purpose of other clues is the sum of those digits
DOUBLERS
– In addition to S-cells, nine more cells in the grid must be marked as 'doublers' such that each row, column and box must contain exactly one doubler cell, and that no doubler cell overlaps with an S-cell
– Each digit from 1-9 must appear once in the set of doublers. The digit 0 cannot appear in a doubler cell
– A doubler cell's value is twice the value of the digit in that cell
pALinDRoMeS
– The grey lines are... palindromes, in that the *values* must read the same forwards and backwards, eg: (3-4)-9-2-(1-8)-7
– Digits may not repeat on a palindrome...
KROPKI
– The values of cells separated by a black dot are in a 2:1 ratio
– The values of cells separated by a white dot are consecutive
Solve on Sudokupad
Solution code: The doublers, in order when reading the grid from top to bottom (ie, row after row)
Comments
on 6. August 2024, 16:02 by The Book Wyrm
Very fun (and rather funny) puzzle.
Neat concept, and executed well. Not too tricky, but took a while since the doublers and s-cell make a lot of options to check, and it's easy to miss one.
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Thank you so much for the solve and comment, much appreciated, and happy to hear you had fun with it -- I certainly had fun making it myself (maybe a little too much XD). You would definitely like the puzzle that inspired it, I'm sure (by sanabas - linked above; and most likely his other puzzles too, although these I haven't tried). Anyhow, thanks again!
on 13. July 2024, 17:20 by 3good5you
Cool ruleset and excellent execution!
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Thank you so much! I had a blast making this one, glad you enjoyed it! :D
on 12. July 2024, 16:37 by bodemeister
Yeah, another puzzle! Super fun as always. Thought at one point I had broken the puzzle, then realized I was okay. You're right there are at least multiple dots that aren't necessary, but they help the "palindrome" effect and don't distract from the solve. Looking forward to your next puzzle!
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Indeed! Seeing Sanabas get in the setting game got me back in, if only for a little while (Open World was its own thing and an exception, that one had been brewing forever). It's unclear whether I'll fully get back to setting, though, like maybe you've seen in my reply to wullemuus, I've also been posting other puzzles on Discord. It's unfortunate you can't access it where you are, but I can always send you the links if you want, and you can find the links to the first two in the above-mentioned reply :-)
Anyhow, thanks a lot for solving this one here and for your comment -- glad you enjoyed the puzzle!
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Unclear... that word looks familiar! I spent a little time looking at Open World on a few separate occasions, have a couple ideas that I feel are probably wrong. I have no experience solving that type of puzzle. If it's not too inconvenient for you to email me links, I'd love to look at your discord puzzles!
Edit: just saw the message you referred to. Links are already there!
on 7. July 2024, 17:47 by davidemsa
"Digits may not repeat on a palindrome..." is an hilarious rule because of how contradictory it would be on a normal sudoku.
I love the combination of two kinds of special cells on a single puzzle, they interact in interesting ways.
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Haha, glad to hear you liked the humor in this puzzle :D Also, if you like these kinds of combinations, check out Scojo's Doubled Reflections, with doublers and mirror cells (AND slow thermos), that one is wild!
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Thank you for the recommendation, that sounds like it will lead to weird stuff. I like weird, I will check it out.
on 7. July 2024, 15:48 by sanabas
Great fun. Having the two different types of special cell certainly adds to the depth of it.
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Ah, thank you! I'm happy you liked it -- a lot of credits goes to you with this one, and I hope it'll help drive a bit of traffic your way to help your puzzle get the few more solves needed to push it over the rating line
on 7. July 2024, 14:18 by wuc
The fact that the solution checker says ok whatever you enter is kind of unfair.
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Well, I wasn't going to add any solution check as I dislike this feature, but I figured I could add verification on the 'tough cells' and leave the easy ones empty, as there would be no reason to use the checker after these cells. There'll definitely be 'Uh, oh!'s on errors made on the 'key' cells
on 7. July 2024, 12:45 by lmdemasi
Great puzzle. The logic flows nicely as long as you're thinking carefully about the special cells.
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Thank you for your solve and comment! Glad you enjoyed the puzzle. Indeed, the "as long as" is a big part of whether the puzzle will be seen as either on the easier side of special cell puzzles, or on the harder side, so I think I'll add a technical tip. Thanks again!
