A Pipedream
(Published on 10. January 2025, 16:48 by gdc)
This puzzle was set as a gift for DreamLibrarian via the secret santa event on the CtC-fan-discord. It it a hybrid between a Reflect Link (pencil puzzle) and a whisper-loop sudoku. Thanks Flinty, ChinStrap and heliopolix for testing. Thanks DreamLibrarian for the permission to publish. Hope you enjoy!
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
- Reflect Link: Draw a single loop without branches by drawing lines horizontally and/or vertically through the centers of cells. The loop must pass through each straight pipe and each bent pipe. The loop must not re-enter the same cell, unless it is passing through a straight pipe. The digit in a bent pipe indicates the total number of cells that the lines coming out of it travel to before turning, including itself.
- German Whispers: Adjacent digits along the loop differ by 5 or more.
Example Puzzle (Parity Lines Instead Of GW)
A 4x4 example puzzle (left) and its solution (right). The path turns at every L-shaped ("bent") pipe and crosses itself at the X-shaped ("staight" pipe). The digits in the L-shaped pipes count how many loop cells are "seen" until the loop turns again. For example, the bent pipe in r2c3 sees 2 cells to the left, one cell above and itself which totals 4 (2+1+1) cells. Adjacent digits on the loop are alternating odd/even (in the actual puzzle they differ by 5). The example puzzle can be played here.
Solution code: Digits on the loop in row 5, left to right.
Comments
on 6. February 2025, 16:17 by ThymePass
Creative and fun. Cheers!
on 19. January 2025, 01:22 by DreamLibrarian
Thanks to gdc for a fantabulous secret santa puzzle. I love it in so many ways and am thrilled that he is publishing it so that others far and wide can love it too
on 16. January 2025, 12:02 by samuelsamjo
i got stuck at the very end. how do you resolve the ending, after the entire loop is drawn.
on 14. January 2025, 16:43 by puma17
Great puzzle, loved the logic. The rules were a bit confusing to me at first - I didn't know if the word "pipe" reference any part of the loop, or just the pipes that are given. Initially, I referred to the entire loop as "pipe"
on 13. January 2025, 18:34 by Davemack
Wonderful ruleset! I hope to see them again, thanks!
on 13. January 2025, 14:39 by Ol-Jay
Very cool! :)
on 11. January 2025, 14:29 by Franjo
Easy and funny puzzle. I‘d like to see more of this hybrid. Thank you very much for creating and sharing.
on 11. January 2025, 09:59 by FJL
Really enjoyable puzzle. Thank you!
on 11. January 2025, 07:05 by Karitsu
Loved every moment of this!
on 10. January 2025, 23:56 by amchap
That was a fun little ruleset. Lovely puzzle. Thanks for sharing.
on 10. January 2025, 22:32 by brightonsimon
Lovely logic to this, 28 minutes for me but I'm still a relatively new solver. Oh and a snappy solution code to boot, for which I'm sure everyone is grateful! Many thanks :-)
on 10. January 2025, 21:25 by ViKingPrime
Twenty minutes to understand the rules correctly and two minutes to find a solution - as it should be! Excellent loop puzzle.
on 10. January 2025, 21:20 by cozoq
Wow! This was a blast!
on 10. January 2025, 20:59 by dingledork
Oh man, I loved playing PipeDream as a kid! Thanks for the memories.
Maybe a harder variant in future on PuzzleTV with the ability to rotate the pipes??? That might be diabolically difficult though.
on 10. January 2025, 19:33 by wuc
Cool snack. Great fun.
on 10. January 2025, 18:59 by GeorgeTheToad2
Lovely GAS pipe-leak puzzle, thank you.
on 10. January 2025, 18:09 by gdc
@thoughtbyte: Thanks! This puzzle was designed as a "low 2 star or less", so I'm very glad to hear to hear that.
on 10. January 2025, 17:56 by thoughtbyte
Very nice, and almost a GAS, which is impressive for a fun loop puzzle. Thanks!
