The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Len]

Here are my candidates for a puzzle which I copied down wrong. I think I found a solution by trial and error but it wasn't easy. Any better ideas?

1349 6 1389 248 5 128 79 13789 137
14 7 18 468 3 9 2 168 5
1359 13589 2 68 7 168 69 13689 4
8 4 367 236 9 5 1 2367 2367
2 13 1367 368 4 68 5 367 9
369 39 5 7 1 26 4 236 8
7 1259 169 59 8 4 3 1269 126
39 2389 4 1 6 37 789 5 27
13569 13589 13689 59 2 37 6789 4 167

[Carcul]

Hi Len.

You could start by presenting the puzzle in such a way that other users can easily read or copy/paste it. Read this post.

As written, your puzzle have 7 solutions. What is the point in solving a puzzle that you copied wrongly?

Carcul

[Len]

Thanks Carcul here is the puzzle I meant to solve:

x6x/x5x/xxx
x7x/x39/2xx
xx8/xxx/xx4 instead of xx2/xxx/xx4

8xx/xx5/1xx
2xx/x4x/xx9
xx5/7xx/xx8

7xx/xxx/3xx
xx4/16x/x5x
xxx/x2x/x4x

I didn't find out about the problem until I entered my solution into the solution grid. The correct problem seems to be simple Sudoku. Maybe I should have something to test for a valid puzzle before I try to solve it. Was I lucky that the wrong puzzle had any solutions at all? If it didn't I might have caught on eventually - who knows.

[QBasicMac]

Was I lucky that the wrong puzzle had any solutions at all?

Heh. Well, multiple solutions are the same as no solution, namely wrong. So it would be nice to have such a test as you envision. What I do is enter a puzzle horizontally and then test it (by eye) vertically.

So solving singles gets you to here

Code: Select all

+--------------+-------------+-------------------+
| 39  6    239 | 4    5  128 | 789   13789  137  |
| 4   7    1   | 68   3  9   | 2     68     5    |
| 5   23   8   | 26   7  126 | 69    1369   4    |
+--------------+-------------+-------------------+
| 8   4    37  | 236  9  5   | 1     2367   2367 |
| 2   1    37  | 368  4  368 | 5     367    9    |
| 6   9    5   | 7    1  23  | 4     23     8    |
+--------------+-------------+-------------------+
| 7   25   269 | 59   8  4   | 3     1269   126  |
| 39  238  4   | 1    6  37  | 789   5      27   |
| 1   358  369 | 359  2  37  | 6789  4      67   |
+--------------+-------------+-------------------+


This puzzle has only one solution.

I started with the locked 9 in box 1 and the locked 8 in box 9 in order to place r1c7=7.

Mac