The Spindle (An intro to Knightmare)
(Published on 17. January 2023, 13:23 by riffclown)
This puzzle is designed to introduce the new Knightmare ruleset in an approachable puzzle. No advanced techniques are required to resolve.
Rules
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
Knightmare - Cells a Knight's move apart in chess may not sum to 5 or 15.
Links
Solution code: Row 9 No Spaces
Comments
on 29. April 2024, 00:22 by chain.reader
tough, but I liked it.
on 10. July 2023, 01:43 by asp1310
Nightmare is sadly right. While any and all new rules are worth initially looking into, ones that aren't actually fun to solve are usually worth discarding from a setter's toolbox.
This is just too much work for the solver; maybe limit it to only pairs which sum to five OR fifteen, not both at once? That would be less scanning work, while still keeping the ultimate conceit there.
--from riffclown. I'll fully acknowledge that this is a scan heavy constraint and it isn't for everyone. Like Anti-knight it will have both advocates and critics. Both are valid and welcome. I will point out that the CTC Knightmare Pack got really good reviews and even some reports of Knightmare being some individual's new favorite constraint.
---That's fair! Looking back, I think it could work just as well simply condensing the total to 10 rather than both 5 and 15 though. You're still looking for 4 pairs of digits that way (1&9, 2&8, 3&7 and 4&6), but only one total, rather than 4 pairs AND 2 totals (1&4 and 2&3 being 5, and 6&9 and 7&8 being 15). So would need just as much scanning (where every number except 5 needs to be scanned for) without adding a second layer of mental overload via a second total.
on 18. January 2023, 02:30 by Perladel
I still have to find my technique for this ruleset, but I'm happy I was able to scan and solve it!
on 17. January 2023, 16:13 by sof
I've really enjoyed solving this one, even though at first I couldn't find the break in. I had to get used to the knightmare rule and because of this solving took a full 30 minutes T^T
--This is indeed mostly a scanning exercise but it is intended to introduce the logic. The most common pitfall is trying to apply Anti-knight logic which isn't truly applicable in this variant.
