A tilt at full rank
(Published on 8. February 2025, 19:16 by ralphwaldo1)
0-8 sudoku: Place a digit from 0-8 in each cell such that no digit is repeated in any row, column or 3x3 box.
Tilted 5x5 latin square: the digits in red circles are all from the same set of five of the numbers from 0-8 (which five are to be determined). None of these repeat in any of the diagonal lines of red circles.
Full rank: Each diagonal of the 5x5 latin square can be read as a 5-digit number and the 20 resulting numbers (each line is read from both directions) can be ranked in numerical order. The position in the rank (lowest is 1, highest is 20) of some of the diagonals are given by the blue cages attached to that diagonal. N.B. Two-digit numbers are read from left to right and do not start with 0. There are no tied ranks in this puzzle.
Kropki dot: the two digits separated by the white dot differ by 1.
For more 5x5 full rank not embedded in a 9x9 grid, see Rank Up: a series by ThePedallingPianist and bellal exploring the full rank constraint within 5x5 grids... SEE ALL PUZZLES
Solution code: 5th row
Comments
on 11. February 2025, 11:01 by TheNineElements
Solve Time: 48:58
I rated this 4/5 difficulty.
Really fun & unique puzzle! This is the first time I've seen/solved a puzzle involving 'Latin squares' (at least that I can recall), and I found it to be a really interesting rule! I really enjoyed each of the "major" logical steps that involved determining the (approximate) cage values based on the Latin square cells, and it was very rewarding to make those deductions.
The break in was fairly approachable for a 4* difficulty puzzle (IMO), and it was very fun to unravel the geometry during the early phase of the solve! The symmetry of the grid made this phase much more approachable. The difficulty of the break-in was probably around 3/5 difficulty - and using some simple coloring, I was able to make significant progress early on.
The midgame is where I got stuck a few times, and it felt somewhere around 4/5 difficulty. I took quite a long time (maybe ~10 minutes) trying to spot the first major deduction involving the rank cages that was required for disambiguating my colors, but once I spotted it I was able to color most/all of the cells in the Latin square. The remainder of the big deductions were a bit easier to find once I began to understand how the rank cages interacted with the relative size of the colored cells.
The puzzle felt like it had several distinct "major" deductions that led to different phases of the solve. I thought a few of the steps were fairly tricky to spot, but the payoff for discovering each 'idea' was wonderful and led to big leaps in progress each time I found one. Each of the major deductions seemed to have a common 'theme' which helped direct my attention to the right places on the grid, and the whole puzzle felt very well-constructed.
I think the overall difficulty rating was around 3-4/5, leaning slightly towards 4*. The ideas and logic were totally fair but still had some challenging ideas that felt a bit harder than is typical for a 3* puzzle.
Overall excellent puzzle! Thanks for sharing!
on 11. February 2025, 03:17 by goldennumber
Flowed very well, really thought I was going to have no luck at the start but as soon as the right solving idea started to have some progress, it kept just flowing really clean and smooth - exactly 40:00 on the timer, super enjoyable
on 11. February 2025, 03:17 by marty_sears
the first full rank puzzle i have solved alone, and what an experience it was. So innovative, so elegant... so many questions about how this was set! magnificent
on 11. February 2025, 00:01 by boykeauto
What an incredible sudoku experience. Thank you
on 9. February 2025, 14:13 by Snookerfan
Sublime puzzle! Very creative and fresh. Thank you
on 9. February 2025, 13:26 by ThePedallingPianist
This is probably my favourite puzzle of the year so far, and I haven't even been coerced into saying so!! The ending is a little sudoku-heavy, but that's understandable given the impressively minimal cluing. The first half has several deductions that on their own would make for a fascinating and fresh-feeling mini puzzle, all tied together very smoothly.
on 8. February 2025, 20:52 by mnasti2
Loved it, super smooth while playful and creative.
