The New Sudoku Players' Forum

by **PaulIQ164** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 4:51 pm

My brother came up with this variant upon a variant of sudoku. I'm having trouble getting much of anywhere with it, but he says it's doable, so I'm sure you lot (the phrase 'you lot' meant in the nicest possible way) will manage it. Have fun.

by **CathyW** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:04 pm

Think I'd need a clue for where to start - it sure looks impossible since the puzzle has 2-cell cages of 23 and 24 and a 5-cell 41 cage!

by **PaulIQ164** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 6:14 pm

Well, the point of the puzzle is that it's a normal Killer sudoku, except the digits being used aren't 1 to 9. So as well as filling in the numbers in the correct boxes, you have to first work out what the nine numbers are. (In practice of course, I'm sure you couldn't work out what all nine numbers are first, you'll work them out as you go along.)

by **Animator** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 8:51 pm

2 numbers can be found instantly.

But then I started cheating by using a computer... :/

Got it down to 3 combinations of 7 numbers that could be applied... Then started working on one box and immediatly found which of the 3 was the real one...

by **lunababy_moonchild** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:37 pm

PaulIQ164 wrote:Well, the point of the puzzle is that it's a normal Killer sudoku, except the digits being used aren't 1 to 9. So as well as filling in the numbers in the correct boxes, you have to first work out what the nine numbers are. (In practice of course, I'm sure you couldn't work out what all nine numbers are first, you'll work them out as you go along.)

Can this (work out what the nine numbers are) be done on any kind of logical basis?

Luna

by **Animator** » Mon Jan 16, 2006 11:54 pm

lunababy_moonchild wrote:Can this (work out what the nine numbers are) be done on any kind of logical basis?

Some logic can be used... (not sure how much since I cheated as I said earlier.)

What you should be able to do right from the start:

a) fill in 3 cells. (You know 2 numbers, so now you are only searching for 7)
b) find out what the highest possible number is.

by **PaulIQ164** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:42 am

There are some simple tricks you can use. Think about what techniques you use to solve normal Killers, and how they can be adapted.

by **Animator** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:46 am

I just re-done it (without cheating that is)... it turns out it's simpeler then I thought to find the numbers.

You can easily figure out all the numbers you need before you begin solving...

by **PaulIQ164** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 12:54 am

Can you? How's that then?

by **CathyW** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 8:19 am

PaulIQ164 wrote:Well, the point of the puzzle is that it's a normal Killer sudoku, except the digits being used aren't 1 to 9.

Doh!! Of course!! Start with boxes 2 and 5, then you can work out what each box, row, column needs to add up to and then what the 11(2) cage is.

Haven't done it yet, just clicked on the first step.

by **afjt** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 2:06 pm

I've completed it, without too much trouble.
Innies/outies give us some of the numbers. Various other constraints, such as the maximum/minimum of the largest number, and possible combinations in various cages lead us to the set of 9 numbers. After that, it is trivial.
I'm not sure how Animator ascertained the set of 9 numbers before he started solving !

by **lunababy_moonchild** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 4:47 pm

afjt wrote:I'm not sure how Animator ascertained the set of 9 numbers before he started solving !

Perhaps he'll explain

Luna

by **Bigtone53** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:39 pm

Could PaulIQ confirm the original link? It comes up on my machine as an unknown URL.

Thanks

by **CathyW** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 5:45 pm

Am pleased to report that I've solved it

Not sure how Animator managed to work out all the numbers before solving either - I certainly had to get them as I was going along. Six of the numbers are fairly easy to ascertain once you've worked out the box, row, column total. The other three took a bit of working out, but I've only got 3 'split' cages and one 'innie & outie' difference on my piece of paper, as well as a list of the numbers.

Cathy

by **PaulIQ164** » Tue Jan 17, 2006 6:05 pm

Bigtone53 wrote:Could PaulIQ confirm the original link? It comes up on my machine as an unknown URL.

Thanks

Well, the link works fine for me. But you could try going to the image file directly, which is at: http://www.apathysketchpad.com/images/uploads/doublekiller.png

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