Voïvod
(Eingestellt am 24. Mai 2026, 01:23 Uhr von Kafkapharnaum)
Random Call is a four people collab group comprised of 99%Sneaky, AnalyticalNinja, Chad and myself. We've made two creations together, Quadrophenia and All Four One, and are aiming for four. Incidentally, big thanks to AnalyticalNinja for testing this one here. He puts it at 2/5, but being the brain that he is (see here), I think we can call it a 3, if not a little more – you be the judge!
RULES
Normal sudoku rules apply: Place the digits 1 to 9 in each row, column, and 3x3 box.
SPIRAL GALAXY
– Divide the grid into galaxies, defined as orthogonally connected groups of cells that have 180 degree rotational symmetry about their centers, as marked by either a circle or a diamond. Every cell of the grid must be part of a galaxy.
– 1x1 galaxies can be valid, but they must have a center; all Galaxy centers are given.
ZIPPER
– Galaxies clued by a diamond are 'Zipper' galaxies, in which each pair of rotationally symmetrical cells sum up to the total size of that galaxy, as measured by the number of cells it takes up in the grid. Where a galaxy's size clued by a diamond covers an odd number of cells, the center cell must represent the size of that galaxy by itself.
– Galaxies clued by a circle have no special sudoku variant properties.
Lösungscode: Read from left to right, top to bottom, the digits in the third galaxy encountered in column 4
Kommentare
Heute, 03:15 Uhr von Silverscree
I have a query:
"Where a galaxy's size covers an odd number of cells, the center cell (diamond or circle), must represent the size of that galaxy by itself."
This implies that, though circle galaxies need not follow the zipper rule, their centre cell (if applicable) must still display their size. However, the solution checker in SudokuPad disagrees with this. I assume that instead I should just apply no constraints to circle galaxies except for the symmetry rule (and total cover of the grid)?
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Argh, you are correct to be perplexed! In wanting to add the requested clarification, I just outright broke the rules, sorry! Let me fix that real quick
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Thanks for the quick response! I have now finished the puzzle and it was truly lovely! I find that nowadays I often "anticipate the joke" of a sudoku like this, but that wasn't so in this puzzle. There was a moment in the middle of my region-building that made me laugh. Thanks!
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Haha, glad to hear that, as I rarely resist the temptation to add silly things in my puzzles, whether they are unexpected or expected. Glad you had fun with the puzzle, and thanks again for alerting me of that ridiculous contradiction I had introduced in the rules! :O
Gestern, 18:58 Uhr von QuiltyAsCharged
It's amazing how this resolves so nicely even though most of the galaxies have circles, so they have no special properties. It's a lovely puzzle.
I disagree with Icy.30 - the ruleset needn't mention things that can be deduced by the solver
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Thank you so much for the kind words and the overall feedback, much appreciated!
Regarding Icy's point, I think it's a valid one, as generally, the 'unwritten' rule on LMD is to write the puzzles' rules as if the solvers had never encountered them before and were totally new for them, and so should be as clear and unambiguous as possible, so I made the change, even if it's a little late now... But I'm glad that didn't affect your enjoyment of the puzzle on your side! :D
Gestern, 17:54 Uhr von lcy.30
It should be mentioned in the ruleset that if the diamond is on a cell, the digit in the diamond represents the sum of the zipper line.
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Ah, that is a most valid point, darn... Normally this special case is mentioned in Zipper puzzles that mix odd and even-length lines, but here I must have unconsciously assumed that everybody is familiar with this variant, when the rule is to think of newcomers first, my bad!
Gestern, 14:22 Uhr von Christounet
Excellent fun! Thanks :)
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Many thanks for sharing, that is always a most pleasing thing to hear, and all the more so when coming from revered setters! Glad you had a fun time with it :D
Gestern, 02:36 Uhr von iEtsh
Fantastic!
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Thank you so much for sharing, always super appreciated -- glad you enjoyed the puzzle! :D
am 24. Mai 2026, 23:49 Uhr von RedBarchetta
That was a fresh take for me on galaxy puzzles - fun restriction with the ruleset. Thanks!
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That's always awesome when a hybrid puzzle makes solvers discover a new puzzle type, or at least become a bit more familiar with it through a fun experience -- glad to hear it was the case here, and many thanks for the feedback!
am 24. Mai 2026, 19:39 Uhr von Qodec
Fantastic!
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Big thanks for sharing Qodec, thrilled to hear you enjoyed the puzzle like that! :D
am 24. Mai 2026, 18:11 Uhr von CitrusGremlin
Very fun puzzle! I don't have much experience with galaxy constraints so it took me a good amount of time. Can't wait to see more collabs.
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Yes, it's rarely used as a hybrid with sudoku, and as its own puzzle type (Tentai, I think?), these can get *very* hard just by themselves! Happy to hear you got through it and had fun with it -- thanks for the feedback!
am 24. Mai 2026, 18:08 Uhr von marcmees
wonderful construction, a pleasure to solve. Thanks
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And likewise to count you amongst its solvers marcmees -- many thanks for the kind words, I'm thrilled to hear you enjoyed the puzzle!
am 24. Mai 2026, 08:30 Uhr von Piatato
Awesome! Smooth and a lot of fun! Happy to see you back!
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It's a strange situation, where I'm back and not really back, and also at the same time, retired and not really retired -- it all hangs on these collabs I'd been talking about, but a certain mystery "puzzle" today seems to indicate that at least one of them will be revealed soon hehe
Anyway, back to this one here, glad you enjoyed, and thank you for the kind words!
am 24. Mai 2026, 06:42 Uhr von mellowrobinson
Beautiful!
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Ah, many thanks for sharing, happy to hear you thought so! :D
