The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[r.e.s.]

[ Edit by Pappocom: In case someone should think that this Topic is a complaint about a bug of some kind in the Sudoku program by Pappocom, let me assure you it is not! ]

Last year a <sudoku gremlin> was being a minor nuisance by erasing all the single digits in my candidate grids ,
but now it's worse -- The gremlin is erasing all the single digits and also all the naked pairs (if there are any)!
Here's the latest vandalised grid:

Code: Select all

        347           | 3456   46            |        3567   37
        3478   468    | 1346          1346   |        3678   378
 268    38     268    | 3569          3569   | 568             
 ---------------------+----------------------+------------------
 1678                 | 14678  468           |                 
 678                  | 3678          367    |               38
        18     68     | 13689  689    1369   |                 
 ---------------------+----------------------+------------------
               248    | 45789         4579   | 58     5789   278
 128    189           | 5689          569    | 158    589       
 18     1489          |        489    479    |        789       

Can anyone recover the whole grid and solve the original puzzle [without guessing where any missing candidates are located, and without using brute- force T&E]?

[Edited to make the puzzle more interesting, and to make the intended humor a bit clearer.]

[Ruud]

I will post my solution in tiny text, not to spoil this nice challenge for others.

With the assumption of 180 degrees rotational symmetry, this would be your original puzzle:

901008200500020900000070041053000009029050410400000720360010000007030004005200306

After placing a few singles, the gremlins attacked. You were here:

901008200500020900000070041053002009029050410400000725360010000007030004005200306

The puzzle then solves with singles upto here. I advise you to use Gremlin Repel (extra strong) in this stage. Do NOT add water!

901068207570020908002070041053042009029050413400000725360010002207030104005200306

The next solving step requires a long hard look:

Unrecognizable rubbish >>>> XY-wing in R2C3. <<<< and more rubbish

It's all singles from here. So this is the solution:

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

.....

Uh-oh...

Ruud.

[gsf]

not done by hand
plugged 123456789 in each pilfered cell and let the solver at it
not sure if this would work for all pilfered pm grids

9 347 1 | 3456 46 8 | 2 357 37
5 3478 468 | 1346 2 1346 | 9 378 378
268 38 268 | 3569 7 3569 | 56 4 1
------------------+------------------+------------------
17 5 3 | 147 4 2 | 8 6 9
678 2 9 | 3678 5 367 | 4 1 3
4 18 68 |13689 689 1369 | 7 2 5
------------------+------------------+------------------
3 6 248 |45789 1 4579 | 5 5789 278
128 189 7 | 5689 3 569 | 15 589 4
18 1489 5 | 2 489 479 | 3 789 6

[r.e.s.]

Ok, guys .... I obviously should have chosen an asymmetrical puzzle to thwart that kind of guessing, and disallowed that kind of computering! (There's a more interesting way to solve it without guessing where any candidates are located, and without brute-force T&E.)

[ronk]

By hand using logic: When the gremlin hit ...
9.1..82..5...2.9......7..41.53..2..9.29.5.41.4.....72536..1......7.3...4..52..3.6

The solution ...
941368257576421938832975641753142869629857413418693725364719582287536194195284376

[gsf]

Ok, guys .... I obviously should have chosen an asymmetrical puzzle to thwart that kind of guessing, and disallowed that kind of computering! (There's a more interesting way to solve it without guessing where any candidates are located, and without brute-force T&E.)

solving from the pm grid with 123456789 entries required no guessing
my computer will abstain from future ones

[tarek]

Solving the grid is not a problem (as gsf mentioned, plugging the holes with 123456789 should do the trick without guessing), I would be interested to see how the original puzzle was recovered ??

tarek

[Ruud]

I would be interested to see how the original puzzle was recovered ?

I did this manually.
For every vandalized cell, check the 20 peers for each of the 9 digits. When 8 of 9 are candidates in any peer, the 9th digit can be plugged into the cell. A good place to start is R9C4, followed by other cells in houses with few holes.

The last 2 holes must be a naked pair, but you already have the original puzzle then. It is not difficult to find the naked pair using the original clues.

I finally removed digits until the symmetry was restored (only 2 digits needed to be removed.

Ruud.

[gsf]

Solving the grid is not a problem (as gsf mentioned, plugging the holes with 123456789 should do the trick without guessing), I would be interested to see how the original puzzle was recovered ??

solve the plugged pm grid
if there is only one solution then fill in each pilfered cell with the corresponding solution value

[tarek]

solve the plugged pm grid
if there is only one solution then fill in each pilfered cell with the corresponding solution value

I did (I have the candidate grid as it should be), I didn't know which combinations of clues at hand to use in the reproduction of the original puzzle.... furthermore some plugins would reduce to polyvalued cells....were these clues or were they blanks originally ???


tarek

[r.e.s.]

solving from the pm grid with 123456789 entries required no guessing
my computer will abstain from future ones

Sorry gsf! I misunderstoood what you meant by "plugged 123456789 in each pilfered cell" -- I thought you were just being lazy and let your machine do T&E on the possibilities.

[gsf]

Sorry gsf! I misunderstoood what you meant by "plugged 123456789 in each pilfered cell" -- I thought you were just being lazy and let your machine do T&E on the possibilities.

and I skimmed over the part where naked pairs could be pilfered
I think there was one set pilfered so my solution has at least 2 extra clues