Shifter Dots 101: Introduction to Shifter Dots
(Published on 10. December 2023, 21:51 by gUBBLOR)
I felt restricted in what kind of puzzles I could create with shifter lines, because dragging lines on top of other lines can be a mess. But there's no issues placing dots over or next to lines, so this constraint is much less restrictive to construct with. If you've solved Shifter Lines puzzles this won't feel new to you at all, because a Shifter Dot does basically the same thing as Shifter Lines do, but between cells instead of while crossing borders.
I was thinking of just merging this in to a full shifter series, but it's been pointed out to me that some people may like the lines and not the dots, and vice versa, so two different series it is. I'm guessing we're gonna see both of these series combined become roughly the size of the Equality Cage series.
The next puzzle in the series:
Shifter Dots 102: Flüsternde Punkte (Whispering dots)
All my series:
Equality Cages
EquaLite Cages
Shifter Lines
Shifter Dots
Rules:
Normal Sudoku rules apply. Place the digits 1 through 9 in each empty cell. Digits must not repeat within the same row, column, or box.
Shifter dots: Digts on different sides of a shifter dot must always share either parity (even/odd) OR polarity (high/low) - never neither, never both. Shifter dots can never have 5 on it.
Kropki dots: A black dot between cells indicates cell values with a 2:1 ratio. A white dot between cells indicates cells with consecutive values. Not all dots are shown.
XV: Adjacent cells connected with an X must sum to 10. Adjacent cells connected with a V must sum to 5. Not all X's or V's are shown.
Solve here:
Sudokupad
Video featuring the puzzle:
Sudoku Sleuth
Solution code: A completion message with the solution code will be available when the puzzle has been solved on Sudokupad!
Comments
on 23. April 2025, 13:09 by Richard
Thx for six nice puzzles with this interesting constraint.
I solved all of them around Christmas.
Since I am a paper+pencil solver, I wasn't happy with the change of the solution codes, that forced me to enter the solutions of all six puzzles in the SudokuPad app too to get a random chosen word as solution code.
Fortunately I found that out afterwards, so it didn't spoil the fun while solving. :)
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Sorry about that, I did get so many comments about people complaining about the solution codes being too long before, and I wasn't even aware that people were solving anywhere other than Sudokupad so I figured the completion message were making it easier for everyone. Guess you can't make everyone happy. :/
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Thanks for your reply and explanation. Solution codes are indeed quite a 'thing'; mainly because they should be too long (when 2 rows/columns are asked) and my only thoughts are: players just should be happy with all the free puzzles provided here by all setters who put precious time and efforts in it!
Anyhow.
As long as the WSC, the WPF Grand Prix and national championships are held on paper (or writeable pdf's) + being in charge for the Dutch championship, I will continue solving puzzles on paper, just to stay in tune of how that solves for contestants. Although I realise that this will be completely different in 5-10 years.
on 18. April 2025, 06:18 by Richard
@gUBBLOR: Can you still answer my question from last week? Thx!
on 12. April 2025, 06:54 by Richard
@gUBBLOR: I have created a shifter dots sudoku too, to include in SVS in two weeks time and I was wondering what is the exact color of the dots in terms of Red-Yellow-Blue-coding (or other coding), so I can use uniform graphics. '
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Hey Richard, sorry for the late reply. The hexcode for the color is #d8ee25ff. Would love to give it a solve when you've published it!
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Thanks for your reply. That was still just in time! My take on your ruleset will appear today at noon. Hope you will enjoy it! :)
on 28. January 2025, 09:30 by gUBBLOR
Changed solution code
on 8. September 2024, 21:23 by wuc
Refreshing rule. Looking foreward to the other sd puzzles thx.
on 24. March 2024, 16:30 by gideon
Very enjoyable. The 'never neither' part of the shifter dots rule threw me off.
on 9. March 2024, 18:39 by gUBBLOR
Added links
on 17. December 2023, 11:34 by Kiiyora
It's an interesting concept. Once you get the hang of the rules, it's quite easy. It was my first shifter lines/dots puzzle so I had to start over at some point but overall I really enjoyed this one
on 15. December 2023, 09:11 by gUBBLOR
Added video link to the puzzle being solved
on 13. December 2023, 23:45 by Niveous
Fun puzzle! Shifter dots seem a lot less constraining on diguts than shifter lines and therefore harder to narrow down options.
on 12. December 2023, 23:46 by gUBBLOR
Added some links
on 11. December 2023, 18:51 by br3akingp01nt
Very nice puzzle it flowed very smoothly. Hope to see more with these dots
on 10. December 2023, 23:22 by michael_787
Interesting rule, nice and easy puzzle. However, I counted no less than 11 yellow dots which I didn't need for the solve (I used box 9 for the break-in).
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That's on purpose, since its an introductory puzzle I wanted it to be easy, so after it was done there were extra clues filled in. Three times. It's so people can attack it from plenty of angles and still get through it, and it removes the need for sudoku :)
