The Bridge
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
If two digits are adjacent on a purple line, then those two digits must exist as a pair of adjacent digits somewhere on an orange line.
Digits joined by a white dot are consecutive. Digits joined by a black dot are in a 1:2 ratio. Digits joined by an X sum to 10. Digits joined by a V sum to 5.
Not all dots, Xs and Vs are necessarily given.
I’ve been following the Cracking the Cryptic channel for a while now. I usually load one of their videos on my phone, go to the puzzle link and try to solve the puzzle throughout the day. It’s fun! They always showcase a lot of fun rule variations for sudokus and it is really interesting to see what kind of variations and logical deductions puzzle setters come up with.
I have always admired the people who manage to design the puzzles that are showcased on the channel. It seems so difficult to design a puzzle that conveys some kind of idea, a puzzle with a specific solution path that can be followed to a completed puzzle. Sure, you might be able to add some clues that create a nice break-in sequence at the start, but how do you add clues that then direct the subsequent solution path to a complete solution without creating some sort of short cut in the logic, allowing solvers to bypass whatever nice idea you want to convey?
For this reason, I felt that I probably would never aspire to make a sudoku of my own. It just seemed very difficult. But then I had an idea for a rule variation that I thought could be quite fun to solve.
At this point I started writing out what caused me to have this idea and how it resulted in me making this puzzle, but I’m starting to realize that this requires Way More Writing than what I am able to embark on at the moment. I’ve had a small problem lately where I start writing posts for my site and quickly start expanding the scope of what I want the post to contain. And then I’m stuck with not enough energy to finish the post due to the effort it would take. So I’m going to finish up this post now and leave any further details to a future post if I feel like doing it.
Happy solving!
rykarn