Parity Snakes Sudoku 3a
(Published on 27. May 2020, 04:00 by Eggr)
Rules:
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
The highlighted cells are the heads and tails of the 3 snakes found within the grid:
1 Odd Snake (only contains odd digits) and 2 Even Snakes (only contain even digits)
Snakes do not touch. (orthogonality or diagonally).
Clues outside the grid show the total number of snake cells in the corresponding row or column.
Puzzle:
Disambiguation:
The ends of the snakes are given, but which ones are connected, and their parity, must be determined.
Each 'snake' is a 1-cell wide path of orthogonality connected cells, starting at the 'head' and leading to the 'tail'.
Snakes never touch each other. (Including diagonally)
Snakes never touch themselves. (Including diagonally)
Snakes never 'double-back' to cover a 2x2 region.
Digits outside the snakes have no special restrictions
Hints:
Don't forget the snake parities (2 Even Snakes, 1 Odd Snake)
If you're struggling to get started, highlight the text below to reveal some strategy recommendations:
[Hints] 1. The Odd/Even restriction on each snake is very powerful. Remember that basic Sudoku rules require exactly 4 Even digits, and 5 Odd digits to be in each row, box, and column. Many potential snake paths can be eliminated based on those restrictions. Many other paths can be eliminated based on the outside clues.
2. Starting this puzzle: It's possible to resolve the parity of all 6 endpoints very early on by first studying R9, and then C5. [/Hint]
Created by Greg Rodgers Powers
This puzzle has a second solution (with 2-Odd and 1-Even snake) Use this link to enter the other solution.
Solution code: (1 Odd and 2 Even Snake Solution) Row 6
Comments
on 25. February 2021, 09:25 by Daneel4
Link to solve in penpa-edit : https://swaroopg92.github.io/penpa-edit/?m=solve&p=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
on 7. June 2020, 07:04 by Eggr
Adding links to the second half of the puzzle. (Same puzzle but different solution)
on 29. May 2020, 05:02 by bob
Very fun; my favorite of the series (although I liked them all!)
on 27. May 2020, 22:06 by zhergan
@Eggr: You're absolutely right. Hint might help indeed:) I've copied the puzzle image and started to deal with it immediately. I've only noted that there will be one odd and two even snakes. Thanks for nice series. Hope to see more later on..
on 27. May 2020, 21:49 by Eggr
@zhergan this might deserve 4 stars, it's hard for me to judge. Perhaps it's only 3 stars if you use the white-text hints?
