Tip of the Iceberg (FOW)
(Published on 16. September 2023, 17:28 by gdc)
This is an updated Version of LMD#EUP. The main difference to version 1 is that I reworked some parts of the mid-solve to make the overall solve experience more flowy and less mathsy.
- Normal sudoku rules apply
- Fog of war: The grid is covered in fog. Placing correct digits reveals clues in the surrounding 3 by 3 area.
- Rotational Pairs: If the grid is rotated 180 degrees, the matching cells add to 10 i.e. R2C3+R8C7=10.
- Arrows: Digits along an arrow sum to the digit in that arrow's circle. All arrows have a single digit total and cannot branch, cross or share a cell with another arrow.
Rules Clarification
Here is an example of "rotational pairs" that add up to 10.
I decided to be very specific with the wording for arrows overlapping/branching etc. Some of those specifics are not necessary for the solve but included to reduce the cognitive load of the puzzle. The following arrow-shapes cannot occur based on those rules.
Remarks
Thanks tiwe, chetchetterson, dandyspoodle, waffles_the_dog, cornishjohn, kenglue and emphyrio for the feedback on this or earlier versions via discord. This puzzle was renamed from Just the Tip (v2) to make it more family friendly.
Difficulty
This puzzle was rated as a 2 star puzzle in the discord puzzle archive. The exact difficulty-votings at the time of posting are as follows: 1 Star (1 votes), 2 stars (31 votes), 3 stars (6 votes).
Solve Video
Click here to see a live solve of this puzzle on the youtube channel BremSter Puzzles.
Solution code: Row 1 (9 digits)
Comments
on 12. January 2025, 07:28 by TheNineElements
Solve Time: 28:55
I rated this 1/5 difficulty.
Very fun & approachable puzzle with a neat rule that I haven't seen before! I placed the first digit quite quickly, but spent a little bit of time during the break-in trying to figure out how the rules actually worked together, but once I figured out how the first three arrows worked I felt like the rest of the puzzle went smoothly.
This took me longer than normal for a 1* puzzle, but that is mostly because I was unfamiliar with this rule set and I spent a lot of time coloring cells. In hindsight I didn't need to color anything, and I think it made the puzzle take me quite a bit longer than it otherwise would have. Even though the solve took me longer than normal, I felt that it was quite easy/approachable - and it would definitely be approachable for beginner solvers.
I think this puzzle struck a very nice balance of being approachable without being trivial or uninteresting. I consider my Sudoku (variant) experience/skills to be high-intermediate, and can sometimes find 1* puzzles uninteresting/trivial, but this puzzle was a pleasant surprise and was very engaging. This is a great puzzle for a solver of any skill/experience level - and I definitely recommend giving it a go!
Thanks for sharing!
on 12. August 2024, 01:11 by fajoogaloo
Beautiful logic with the symmetry. Very nice fog puzzle with satisfying solution path :)
on 13. March 2024, 02:54 by cozoq
Great puzzle! The blank start is unique!
on 11. March 2024, 12:06 by ninjamunk
Nice and simple idea. Well set puzzle. But I don't feel like it is a one star puzzle. I put it as a two star.
on 23. November 2023, 20:37 by KingIsulgard
Great symmetric puzzle!
on 9. October 2023, 01:08 by gdc
Add link to solve video (BremSter)
on 21. September 2023, 12:07 by gdc
change puzzle name
on 21. September 2023, 02:18 by abadx
Definitely a 1 star puzzle for me. Once the break in is found, the flow is quite smooth
on 18. September 2023, 16:34 by filz
Thank you, very nice puzzle! (And perfect explanation and hint system :)
on 17. September 2023, 16:35 by Syzygy
Really enjoyed this, I loved following the 10 logic around the board!!!
on 16. September 2023, 20:09 by mihil99
Very fun! After the fog clears it's pretty straight forward, but very fun to think about the rotations. Thanks!
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Thank you! Yes, after the last foglift it quickly transitions into a classic. I couldn't avoid that without compromising the minimalism tough :)
on 16. September 2023, 19:28 by Golden_Agent
Felt amazing to solve!!! thank you for setting!
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Thanks! I am so happy the changes to version 1 had such a strong impact on the difficulty (1 star at the moment!)
