Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

Ratsnake (Loop/German Whispers/Parity/X Sums)

(Published on 19. August 2024, 13:06 by damo_89)

When a setting prompt involved German Whispers and Parity Lines, I immediately thought of yttrio's excellent series of loop puzzles, and the use of whispers, parity and x-sums. I have therefore smashed those rules together into this mutant hybrid. There are some meaty deductions in here, so good luck!

  • Normal sudoku rules apply: Place the digits 1 to 9 once each in every row, column and 3x3 box
  • Loop: Draw a loop, a 1 cell wide series of orthogonally connected cells that does not otherwise branch or touch itself, even diagonally. Box borders divide the loop into segments.
  • Circles: Circles are on the loop, and a digit in a circle is the number of cells in that loop segment.
  • Each segment follows the rules of either a German Whisper or a Parity Line:
    • German Whisper: Adjacent digits must differ by at least 5
    • Parity Line: Adjacent cells must contain one odd digit and one even digit
  • Each time the loop crosses a box border it switches from one type to the other. (Adjacent digits that are in different segments have neither restriction.)
  • Loop X-Sums: Clues outside the grid are loop X-Sums. They give the sum of the first X digits on the loop, where X is the first digit seen. X may or may not be on the loop. X is never greater than the number of loop cells in that row or column.

Play on Sudokupad

Solution code: Cells on the loop in row 7


Solved by Piff, Niverio, Gilliatt, Tilberg, bansalsaab, yttrio, cybers, han233ing, PierreTombal, sarabtx, Calesch, Allagem, lmdemasi, meixia, Bankey
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Comments

on 17. September 2024, 19:42 by Bankey
Very creative ruleset, and well-executed. Thanks for sharing, @ damo_89 :).

on 29. August 2024, 11:21 by lmdemasi
Fantastic puzzle.

on 20. August 2024, 01:25 by yttrio
It's always an honor when someone gets inspired by my puzzles, and I really enjoyed solving this one! There were definitely a couple of somewhat tricky steps, but ultimately everything felt very fair and I never found myself stuck. Thanks for setting this gem!

on 19. August 2024, 14:20 by Niverio
Fun loop puzzle :D

Difficulty:4
Rating:92 %
Solved:15 times
Observed:0 times
ID:000JFL

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