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| One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku http://www.rcbroughton.co.uk/sudoku/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=857 |
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| Author: | simon_blow_snow [ Sat Dec 25, 2010 10:59 am ] |
| Post subject: | One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
Merry Christmas all!  Mystery Symbols Sudoku  Note: this is a straight forward paper solvable Sudoku puzzle (with a simple variant rule). I am not that mean to post an evil puzzle on the Christmas Day!  I will not reveal too much for now but I hope the smart players here will not need any of the extra spoilers and will have solved this by the time I come back a few days after Boxing Day! 
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| Author: | enxio27 [ Sat Dec 25, 2010 4:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
Thank you, Simon! I will give this one a try.
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| Author: | dyitto [ Sat Dec 25, 2010 9:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
Highlight below to see what I wrote: Each nonet is a mini-3x3 latin square with respect to the options - no cross - small cross - big cross Also each nonet is a mini-3x3 latin square with respect to the options - one big square - one big square and one little square - nine little squares Also it's a Windoku. |
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| Author: | enxio27 [ Sun Dec 26, 2010 12:15 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
Ok, I'm already in over my head. Maybe it's sleep deprivation (midnight Christmas Mass, and I didn't get to bed until nearly 3am). We had our big Christmas celebration yesterday (24 December), and I've been dragging all day today. 
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| Author: | simon_blow_snow [ Sun Dec 26, 2010 2:23 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
dyitto Correct symbols, incorrect rule, incorrect solution. (But an excellent try nonetheless! )Note I said "a simple variant rule". It seemed you used 3 rules (2 if combining the first two). My rule can be written out in one simple sentence. enxio27 Do take a good rest, there is no hurry. This little puzzle was meant to give you all some Christmas fun, not to strain your brains!
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| Author: | enxio27 [ Sun Dec 26, 2010 5:56 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
simon_blow_snow wrote: Note I said "a simple variant rule". Hmmm. . . Now that I'm more coherent, I will give this more thought. Quote: Do take a good rest, there is no hurry. This little puzzle was meant to give you all some Christmas fun, not to strain your brains! Thanks, Simon! I initially thought, from your description, that perhaps I could knock out the puzzle fairly easily and quickly, but I was wrong. Not sure whether it was because of my sleepiness or my lack of puzzling experience.I'm not Catholic, so I had NO IDEA Christmas Eve Mass would be so long! I attended with a Catholic friend when I found out that another friend would be one of the musicians at the Mass. Due to some family obligations, we did most of our family Christmas celebration the day before Christmas, so I spent most of Christmas Day alternately napping and watching some new videos. |
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| Author: | simon_blow_snow [ Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:40 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
enxio27 Ah! This puzzle is indeed very easy and can be solved within 2-3 minutes, if you can figure out the correct variant rule. But it might take some wit to spot the rule! I guess in a sense this is more a conundrum/brain teaser rather than a puzzle? One thing I am sure - when one sees the correct answer, one would have to agree of the simplicity about it. |
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| Author: | dyitto [ Mon Dec 27, 2010 9:49 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
simon_blow_snow wrote: Correct symbols, incorrect rule, incorrect solution. But is only the mini-3x3 latin square part correct? |
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| Author: | HATMAN [ Mon Dec 27, 2010 11:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
Following on from Dyitto I think a solution is: +-------+-------+-------+ | 8 3 4 | 5 9 1 | 7 2 6 | | 6 7 2 | 3 4 8 | 5 9 1 | | 1 5 9 | 7 2 6 | 3 4 8 | +-------+-------+-------+ | 3 4 8 | 6 7 2 | 9 1 5 | | 7 2 6 | 1 5 9 | 4 8 3 | | 5 9 1 | 8 3 4 | 2 6 7 | +-------+-------+-------+ | 2 6 7 | 4 8 3 | 1 5 9 | | 9 1 5 | 2 6 7 | 8 3 4 | | 4 8 3 | 9 1 5 | 6 7 2 | +-------+-------+-------+ no X 123 small x 456 big X 789 one box 147 two boxes 258 all boxes 369 within a nonet each row and column has one of each of Xs and boxes I'm not sure if it is unique as my first attempt to fill in N1379 completed |
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| Author: | simon_blow_snow [ Mon Dec 27, 2010 1:16 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: One for the X'mas - Mystery Symbols Sudoku |
HATMAN If dyitto was 50% on the way to the correct answer, you were about 66.67%. Under your constraint you will not get a unique solution. As a matter of fact it would give you about 16 solutions from my initial givens. And no the solution you found was not the correct solution. So you need to look harder for the correct variant rule!  Just to save you all from wasting more time, the property spotted by both dyitto and HATMAN was not part of the variant rule. Even if it features in the correct solution, it would be there as a result/by-product rather than a cause/factor. Hint 1: the variant rule can be expressed in very few letters, and I will show the initials in the following spoiler box: Abbreviation of the variant rule: Hint 2: did it occur to anyone that if one actually prints out the puzzle image and attempt to solve it on the actual paper, it might be easier to spot the underlying logic? (I even put it in Christmas colours for the holiday flavour!) |
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