The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[motris]

In a recent post, I created a Paint By Sudoku puzzle that combines the visual elements of Paint By Numbers puzzles and the solving of a sudoku. One part of this puzzle is that it is basically a compromised 16x16 puzzle where 7 squares in every row/box/column have been colored-in leaving places just for the digits 1-9.

I'd like to hear what people think of a new variation for 16x16 puzzles (or larger 25x25 puzzles) where you basically blacken in all of the squares that correspond to the double digit clues 10-16 and then just place givens and solve for the digits 1-9. The puzzle would be a simplification of the 16x16 puzzle in the same way an even/odd puzzle is a simplification of the 9x9, but should be able to be constructed to be fairly difficult, and would have some unique row/box interactions because the necessary grids are often fairly irregular. This kind of variation was a forced consequence of how I constructed the Paint By Sudoku, but I think even aside from the Paint By Sudoku style, it is in and of itself an interesting way to have a >9x9 grid that still solves with just 9 digits that is different from the standard ways people combine grids in butterfly/flower/other geometries.

I encourage anyone who has a good generator of 16x16 puzzles and wants to try to make a couple of "shaded" 16x16 that fit my criterion to experiment with this format.