RAT RUN 17: Trapdoors
(Published on 4. December 2024, 01:32 by marty_sears)
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
- AIM OF EXPERIMENT: Finkz the rat must reach the cupcake by finding a path through the maze. The path must not visit any cell more than once, cross itself, or pass through any thick maze walls.
- As well as moving orthogonally, Finkz may move diagonally if there's a 2x2 space in which to do so, but may never pass diagonally through a round wall-spot on the corner of a cell.
- TRAPDOORS: Each rectangular trapdoor has a different total (the sum of its two digits.) Finkz should not step on a trapdoor without first locking it shut, making it safe to cross.
- BUTTONS: To make it safe to step on a trapdoor, Finkz must first press all the circular buttons that match the colour of the trapdoor. A digit on a coloured button indicates how many buttons of that colour contain that digit.
- TEST CONSTRAINT: In this experiment, the correct path will be entropic, ie; every group of 3 adjacent cells along the path must contain one low digit (1, 2 or 3), one medium digit (4, 5 or 6) and one high digit (7, 8 or 9).
Solution code: Digits on the path in column 8 (reading downwards)
Comments
on 30. December 2024, 09:13 by novato
Very, very nice! I found this one easier to get stuck into (probably because of no Schrodinger cells!) but still challenging and fun.
on 10. December 2024, 05:47 by tallcat
Great flourish at the end!
on 9. December 2024, 23:55 by ChristopherStanlake
Brilliant! I spent hours trying to break-in to the puzzle; I was stuck on the entropic rule. I wrongly assumed from the rules that by ‘every group of 3 adjacent cells on the path’ it meant distinct groups of three cells next to one another such that 471358 could be possible on the path as (471) and (358) are two separate groups of three adjacent cells! Admittedly, I had to watch Simon explain the rules in his Friday video to clear up my misunderstanding of the entropic line rule… Once that was cleared up, Finkz made her way to the cupcake pretty quickly!
on 6. December 2024, 17:05 by kagiso
I'm so glad to have found this easier than the last one, but it was so enjoyable as always.
on 6. December 2024, 17:03 by Godrick
As always very nice! This series is a real joy. Thanks a lot.
on 6. December 2024, 14:29 by Klausku
Brilliant puzzle, again! Had to start over once because I ruled out a possibility for the path and went wrong. But Finkz found the right path in the end. I think she is now so experienced that she can find these paths blindfolded. Thanks, Marty!
on 5. December 2024, 16:27 by Chaka
What a beautiful puzzle! As a biologist I fell in love with that series from the very start. Thank you so much for the countless hours of fun in those brillant mazes, and please keep going as long as Finkz is alive!
on 5. December 2024, 10:28 by Angara
Awesome! Thank you! You're a genius
on 5. December 2024, 10:13 by davidemsa
The buttons are a great idea. They created fresh consideration to think about in regards to the path building.
on 5. December 2024, 08:19 by oyyq99999
forgot one rule at very end of the solving which costs me ages to finally sort it out!
on 5. December 2024, 08:07 by Reid
Took me 43:44. Would have been a lot faster, but I messed up the path towards the end, and it took me a while to figure out where things went wrong. This is another beautiful puzzle, Marty!
on 4. December 2024, 23:40 by antiknight
Amazing ideas with the circles and the trapdoors! That ending was kinda nasty :D
on 4. December 2024, 23:38 by droidstr
3 hours for me. This was a tough one.
on 4. December 2024, 23:31 by davidz32z
Toughest one yet for me as it felt like a lot of proving the path by ruling out many convoluted options. Still such a treat though, I love it so much
on 4. December 2024, 22:58 by AshBrown
Toughy this one. But always a way out
on 4. December 2024, 22:42 by sujoyku
Another incredible puzzle! I felt so stuck at one point, but there is always a way out. And you really teach us to find the most beautiful tricks. Thank you, Marty!
on 4. December 2024, 21:55 by Andrewmi3
Apparently this was my 250th puzzle solved on LMD, and what a treat! Thanks for the delightful series!
on 4. December 2024, 20:29 by Samoth
I had some difficulty early on in the middle but once I managed to find a way to break through it all solved itself quite neatly. Another phenomenal rat run as usual!
on 4. December 2024, 19:25 by konklone
I personally found this harder than last week's Schrodinger cell puzzle - it wasn't until maybe a third of the way through that I was confident I was on the right track. But no less fun! I like the real tricky ones the best, thanks for making this!
on 4. December 2024, 18:48 by misha
Incredible! I love this series.
on 4. December 2024, 18:39 by Angara
Awesome! Thank you! You're a genius
on 4. December 2024, 16:08 by jakestilesowen
I like that the path building requires a little bit of effort. And the buttons require a little thinking that comes over time as well.
on 4. December 2024, 15:39 by amchap
Beautiful once again. I loved the trapdoor total disambiguation.
on 4. December 2024, 15:09 by mscha
Wonderful! I like the new trapdoors.
Three or four points where I had to stare at the screen and finally figured out a way forward.
At the end I thought I had it solved, and SudokuPad agreed, but logic-masters wouldn't accept my answer. It took me forever to realize that I missed a blue button and my path was incorrect.
on 4. December 2024, 14:41 by Nairurian
Another lovely puzzle. It felt like a breeze compared to last week’s puzzle, but that might be because my brain works better with entropic lines than schrödinger cells.
on 4. December 2024, 14:25 by Franjo
I‘m about to copy the comment of samuel1997… I’m feeling very happy I could solve all of these mazes. Well, until now… Again, your beautiful puzzle made my (Wednes-)day. Thank you, Marty!
on 4. December 2024, 14:16 by HumanBirdsong
Gorgeous!
on 4. December 2024, 13:33 by Christounet
Just peachy ! Thanks :)
on 4. December 2024, 12:43 by ChinStrap
Clever girl...
And setter. Top notch as always.
on 4. December 2024, 12:39 by samuel1997
Sensational! This could be the hardest rat run puzzle I have ever solved, and it is brilliant!
on 4. December 2024, 11:42 by wuc
Awesome. How crazy that you still get me speechless after many hundreds of puzzle I solved. Masterpiece.
on 4. December 2024, 09:24 by AsgarArn
Nice one, easy flowing, once you wraped your head around the rules.
I really enjoyed the solve.
Great construction!
on 4. December 2024, 04:05 by askaksaksask
This was a blast. Only a slight reprieve from Schrödinger last week. What a treat! Thank you for all your hard work, and you certainly deserve the continual praise!
on 4. December 2024, 03:21 by kdkirby
Fun re-flavoring of circles! Nice and tame after the mind-boggling of last week's entry.
on 4. December 2024, 03:06 by ViKingPrime
Loved it! More of the mad science I always wanted from this series. So far you've been quite conservative, even protective I would say. Now, with a couple dozen puzzles under our collective belts I think we're all prepared for you to really start showing us the lunacy of which we know you're capable.
