The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[m_b_metcalf]

It's surprisingly easy to generate X-sudoku puzzles that have clues on only three rows. Based on five such independent puzzles, I have constructed this X-samurai that has clues on only seven rows.

Code: Select all

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 8 2 1 . 4 5 9 . . . . . 5 . 3 7 4 . 8 . 9
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . 5 2 6 . 4 . . a . . . 9 . 5 1 . 2 4 6 .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 1 . . 2 9 7 . . . 9 . 8 . . . 5 7 6 . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . 7 . . . . . 4 1 . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 7 . . 4 6 8 . . . . . 5 . . . 9 8 1 . . 4
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . 6 b 2 . 1 . c 5 . . . 1 5 . 2 . 3 4 9 .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 4 . 9 . 7 3 8 . . . . . 5 . 2 . d . 1 . 9
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Code: Select all

00000000082104590000000000000000000005260400a000000000000000000100297000000000000  TL
000000000503740809000000000000000000905102460000000000000000000000576000000000000  TR
000000000000908000000000000000000000700000410000000000000000000000005000000000000  M
00000000070046800000000000000000000006b2010c5000000000000000000409073800000000000  BL
0000000000009810040000000000000000001502034900000000000000000005020d0109000000000  BR

By setting the values a, b, c, and d to blank you obtain a very difficult but minimal puzzle. By setting them to the values hidden below you obtain an easy puzzle.

Enjoy.

Mike Metcalf

Hidden Text: Show

a = 1
b = 3
c = 7
d = 4

[enxio27]

Interesting! I think I'll try the easy version first.

[enxio27]

Finally got the easy version of this puzzle finished up yesterday (after not having had much sudoku time for the better part of 2015). It took me a while to remember to check for conjugate pairs in the diagonals, and I made a mistake in grid 5 and had to restart it, but I finally got it. Thank you for the puzzle, Mike!