The Equalizer
(Published on 11. September 2024, 10:00 by Playmaker6174)
The following puzzle is a refined version of my entry from round 2 of the special March Madness SSC (speed setting competition) held by Mr.Dumediat, which occurred few months ago in Skunkworks channel. In that SSC, two particular persons were grouped into a match and required to set a puzzle within 90 minutes with the combination of rules using one rule that was initially selected from each person, and the entire thing was operated in tournament bracket style.
During round 2, I got to duel against my dear Agent and the combo of the round was Equaline and X-sum. Ultimately, I won by the power of choices even though both entries did very well, so kudos to Agent, Dumediat and also everyone else in the tournament for contributing some great times there :)
Ironically, I had set with this rule set combo a long while ago before the duel and that was a fun one to do. For this SSC one, I took the original version and tweaked a few bits, including the start and the mid solve that would still lead to the sweet ending of the original version. I hope this refined version is entertaining overall x)
Rules:
- Normal Sudoku rules apply within the 9x9 grid: every row, column and 3x3 box contains digits from 1 to 9 each once.
- For all lines that belong to the same color (in this case, red or gray), all digits along each of those lines must have the same sum, which needs to be deduced for each color.
Different colored lines may or may not share the same sum.
- An outside cell that contains a line segment is an X-sum clue, which shows the sum of the first X digits from that clue's direction in its row/column, where X is the first digit placed from that direction.
- Numbers along a line can repeat if allowed by other rules (including both inside and outside the 9x9 grid).
Setter's note: For further clarifications:
1) R4C4 only counts once for its corresponding line.
2) It's possible that an X-sum clue can be two digits number, since nothing prevents it at the end.
Puzzle: F-puzzle - Penpa plus - Sudokupad
Good luck and have fun solving!
During round 2, I got to duel against my dear Agent and the combo of the round was Equaline and X-sum. Ultimately, I won by the power of choices even though both entries did very well, so kudos to Agent, Dumediat and also everyone else in the tournament for contributing some great times there :)
Ironically, I had set with this rule set combo a long while ago before the duel and that was a fun one to do. For this SSC one, I took the original version and tweaked a few bits, including the start and the mid solve that would still lead to the sweet ending of the original version. I hope this refined version is entertaining overall x)
Rules:
- Normal Sudoku rules apply within the 9x9 grid: every row, column and 3x3 box contains digits from 1 to 9 each once.
- For all lines that belong to the same color (in this case, red or gray), all digits along each of those lines must have the same sum, which needs to be deduced for each color.
Different colored lines may or may not share the same sum.
- An outside cell that contains a line segment is an X-sum clue, which shows the sum of the first X digits from that clue's direction in its row/column, where X is the first digit placed from that direction.
- Numbers along a line can repeat if allowed by other rules (including both inside and outside the 9x9 grid).
Setter's note: For further clarifications:
1) R4C4 only counts once for its corresponding line.
2) It's possible that an X-sum clue can be two digits number, since nothing prevents it at the end.
Puzzle: F-puzzle - Penpa plus - Sudokupad
Good luck and have fun solving!
Solution code: Enter the values of all such given X-sum clues in the ascending order, then enter three more digits from these three cells in the given order: R1C6, R2C6, R3C6.
Solved by h5663454, loat, bansalsaab, tuturitu, Mr_tn, marcmees, cybers, Vodakhan , killer_rectangle, SKORP17, Maxius, Muhammad, lmdemasi, meixia, peacherwu2, lerroyy, interesting thing
Comments
on 11. September 2024, 22:28 by cybers
Complex, but beautiful and absolutely fascinating. Highly recommend.
Last changed on 11. September 2024, 21:26
on 11. September 2024, 18:31 by marcmees
Well traced solution path. never at loss . Very nice. thanks
on 11. September 2024, 16:51 by bansalsaab
This was beautiful. Amazing interactions of the ruleset.
