The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Joan Colom]

In my blog https://sudokuhexagonalsimetric.wordpress.com/ you will discover a new game: the Symmetrical Hexagonal Sudoku. SHS is a hexagonal sudoku 61 cells, but more fun than Hanidoku. Every Monday published a post with 6 printable SHS (pdf). Of course, all free. As the blog is bilingual Catalan and Spanish (Castillian), here is an English version of the brief explanatory text on the cover:

How do you play SHS?

Place empty cells in a number from 1 to 9 absent from the three concurrent rows, knowing that the solution has to be symmetrical with respect to one of the three diagonals of the hexagon formed by the group of 61 cells (only three rows of nine cells): that is, two symmetrical cells must contain the same number.

Thus, a SHS must be solved in two stages:
- Find which of the three diagonals is the symmetry axis. Is usually quickly identify false axes, for violation of the rules discovered by repeating the numbers stated in symmetrical positions, but sometimes this is not so and have to fill all the cells, resulting this stage as long as the second.
- Continue filling until all 61 cells

You have to work with pencil and eraser, not only because the first step is to probe three possibilities, and not always be right at first, but to add empty cells candidate numbers (consistent with the concurrent row) and delete as cease to be, until only one. You have to print your play: working on the first page of each post or use the hexagonal template and copy by hand the statement.

John Dove

In the pdf document in Spanish "Consideraciones sobre los SHS" (just translate the first 3 pages) you will find practical recommendations on how to resolve the SHS.

Joan Colom / Juan Palomo

[Joan Colom]

In the English version of the explanatory text on the cover, I had forgotten this warning:

(To access the posts, click on the [···] or [≡], to the right of the top title)

[bhimz]

Never knew about Hanidoku before.. (googling it up, one moment.. ok got it)
An interesting concept, but how is it different than hanidoku? Or am I missing something?

[Joan Colom]

Hanidoku numbers in a row are to be consecutive. That is, if a row of five cells have the numbers 3 and 7, must also have the numbers 4, 5 and 6 (you can see http://www.sudokulist.com/ordering/MMHome.asp?prod=10%20). In a SHS not: a row of five can have the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 ... but in symmetrical cells must have the same numbers.

[bhimz]

Oh i see.. Totally missed that bit. But if it's so, wouldn't itmean that SHS requires a lot of backtracking? What's the strategy for solving the puzzles?

[Joan Colom]

I do not understand you mean by "SHS requires a lot of backtracking".

[Joan Colom]

As today the data of 203 visits at this topic does not fit anything with statistics of my blog, I think there may be two reasons:

A) The link that I put here in date 2015-11-03 (https://sudokuhexagonalsimetric.wordpress.com/) is only operational for those connected to the internet via wifi and they have your browser configured like me. In this case, I invite you to try http://www.sudokuhexagonalsimetric.wordpress.com/.

B) They had reached the blog but they don't know how to locate posts. In this respect, I want to warn them that the structure of my blog is atypical. As SHS are an unpublished variant of hexagonal sudoku, instead of presenting directly post (the latter first), I found it better to present before a home page with the logo in the center and brief explanations on either side (Catalan and Spanish).



For English speaking visitors I drew, in blue-gray color and large print, text "posts" finished with an arrow pointing to the upper right corner. It is in that corner where a small square appears with three points, on which you have to click to go to the posts page. Once there, clicking twice on the post selected, finally it opens a two-page PDF document: in the first six SHS they appear, and second solutions.
If someone, instead of doing that, has remained on the home page, sliding down until you find the two JPEG images shown, you're wrong if you think you have reached a post: these and other images have only been there for Google robots can find them and use them to search mode "Images for ...".



If the instructions of my initial comment, translated blog, were not understood, I will try to make them even more concise:
1. Each cell must be completed with a number from 1 to 9.
2. Each cell is the intersection of three rows and the number contained may not be repeated in any of these rows.
3. The numbers are arranged symmetrically about one of the three possible axes hexagon, so that the first step is to locate the axis of symmetry, discarding the others.