The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[urhegyi]

I unfortunally tried for a long time to remove the clue at R9C1 and find a valid sudoku with only 22 clues and the same pattern.
Can anyone do better?

Code: Select all

.---------------------.-------------------------.---------------------.
| 378    1     9      | 237     2347    234     | 5       6      478  |
| 2      67    7      | 8       4679    5       | 17      14     3    |
| 4      678   3578   | 2367    1       236     | 278     2      9    |
:---------------------+-------------------------+---------------------:
| 6      4789  1478   | 13579   34789   13489   | 139     13459  2    |
| 17     3     1247   | 125679  24679   12469   | 169     8      1456 |
| 18     5     1248   | 12369   234689  1234689 | 1369    7      146  |
:---------------------+-------------------------+---------------------:
| 13578  278   6      | 1239    2389    12389   | 4       12359  1578 |
| 1358   28    12358  | 4       23689   7       | 123689  12359  1568 |
| 9      2478  123478 | 1236    5       12368   | 123678  123    1678 |
'---------------------'-------------------------'---------------------'

.19...56.2..8.5..34...1...96.......2.3.....8..5.....7...6...4.....4.7...9...5....



[JPF]

Yes, here's an example:

Code: Select all

.12...34.4..5.6..76...3...89.......5.3.....2..7.....9...9...6.....1.7.......4....


There are numerous similar examples to this pattern posted on this forum.

JPF

[m_b_metcalf]

Code: Select all

 . 1 9 . . . 2 6 .
 2 . . 8 . 5 . . 3
 4 . . . 1 . . . 9
 9 . . . . . . . 2
 . 3 . . . . . 8 .
 . 5 . . . . . 7 .
 . . 8 . . . 4 . .
 . . . 6 . 7 . . .
 . . . . 5 . . . .  r1c2 redundant

.19...26.2..8.5..34...1...99.......2.3.....8..5.....7...8...4.....6.7.......5....     



As jpf notes, hearts have been a favourite theme. Here's your original puzzle with the four values r1c7, r4c1, r7c3, and r8c4 so modified that the resulting puzzle is valid but not minimal. A broken heart?.

Mike