Loop Limit
(Published on 24. September 2023, 13:49 by marty_sears)
After I created Circular Reasoning and Dorlir had a brilliant response to his circle puzzle Rising Circles, we decided to work together on a new puzzle which uses the circle counting rule but with a big twist! It was my first collab, and a thoroughly enjoyable process.
Rules:
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
- Draw a loop (one cell wide) of orthogonally connected cells, which does not touch itself, not even diagonally.
- Each digit on the loop indicates exactly how many times that digit appears on the loop. Eg: If there's a 5 on the loop, it means there are five 5s on the loop.
- The loop must pass through the bulb of every thermometer.
- Digits along a thermometer increase from the bulb end.
- Digits separated by a white dot are consecutive.
Click here to play on the CTC app
Please leave a comment if you enjoy :)
Solution code: Only digits on the loop in column 6 (reading downwards), then column 9 (reading downwards)... don't leave any spaces
Comments
on 23. October 2024, 17:03 by jakestilesowen
Incredible puzzle. Makes me wish I was better at Sudoku techniques.
on 1. July 2024, 13:23 by wuc
What a refreshing loop rule. Awesome break in. Loved it. So clever. Thx.
on 15. October 2023, 13:54 by RebelSystem
Lovely puzzle. It would have gone a lot quicker if I'd counted loop cells correctly rather than counting an extra one and not noticing for over an hour of frustration of trying to do the impossible! Oops.
on 15. October 2023, 00:58 by nunc
Very nice puzzle with cool logic, although not so hard as I'd expected. Thanks a lot!
on 1. October 2023, 19:06 by jellef
Phew, that was a tough solve. I love that you have to find the loop yourself :D
on 1. October 2023, 04:21 by aTree
GREAT puzzle
on 26. September 2023, 12:52 by Bankey
Very hard but great fun unravelling the clever twist to the circles variant. Thanks for setting and sharing, @ marty_sears and @ Dorlir :).
on 25. September 2023, 15:08 by Starlight
This is beautiful. Found the middle part harder than the break-in but glad I stuck at it to finish
on 25. September 2023, 13:17 by Snookerfan
Excellent puzzle with great new loop deductions! Thank you
on 25. September 2023, 12:49 by Franjo
The twist turned out to be GREAT! Thank you so much for setting and sharing this lovely puzzle.
on 25. September 2023, 03:24 by Nightingale's Code
Incredibly hard but gorgeous puzzle! So many beautiful little turns and bits of logic. Thanks for sharing!
on 25. September 2023, 01:01 by coreng
Seemed very unconstrained at first. But a couple "what if..."s and it was solved. Fabulous setting
on 25. September 2023, 00:20 by Jolly Rogers
Great fun, so many neat deductions to make along the way. Thanks for sharing :)
on 24. September 2023, 23:06 by MisterMediocre
Fun puzzle. Do hope the definition of the loop "not touching itself" can be cleared up because I was worried the whole time that I had misinterpreted it.
on 24. September 2023, 20:50 by Playmaker6174
This was a real mad puzzle, but in a good way!
Solving this with a half-conscious brain was probably not the best idea but luckily, I got to figure out all of the neat things in here, from the loop configuration to the digits being done one by one. Very lovely stuff! :)
on 24. September 2023, 20:14 by yttrio
Fantastic puzzle! There was a lot of really interesting logic required, and it was fun from start to finish!
on 24. September 2023, 16:19 by OutOfMyMindBRB
An amazing and challenging puzzle. Loved the logic & break-in
on 24. September 2023, 15:11 by Fool on Hill
What an original idea - I loved the logic in this one and had to keep my wits about me. Several cool things to uncover.
