Crabulous Frustacean
(Published on 26. May 2024, 22:45 by Mr Toffee)
Normal sudoku
Slow-Thermo
(O) Bulbs ≤ Tips ( I )
Digits mustn't decrease along thermometers from bulb to tip.
Where flows meet, flow must be determined.
There is only one solution.
A hint can be found on the Sudokupad link.
Try the puzzle here
Solution code: R1 left to right
Comments
on 10. May 2025, 18:03 by DiMono
"There is only one solution" is not a catch-all to rule out anything with a deadly pattern. If there are multiple ways to complete the grid, then BY DEFINITION there is more than one solution, so saying otherwise in the rules is false.
You cannot simply "legislate away" a puzzle having multiple solutions by declaring it to be so and expecting the solver to unwind anything that would prove otherwise. Either you add a clue or rule to prevent the other solutions logically, or you accept that the puzzle doesn't work in its current state and go back to work on it further.
In this case, you could just make the hint that one of the long thermometer bulbs flows to every endpoint into a rule, and that would solve it. Otherwise, the puzzle in its current state is broken.
on 27. May 2024, 05:51 by sanabas
This has 4 valid solutions. First 75% of the puzzle is very easy, last 25% uses much longer chains to find contradictions that remove options.
If the r5c6/r4c7/r3c8 segment flows in one direction, there is a single solution. If it flows in the other direction, there are 4 valid solutions.
So it appears the intended path is to use a uniqueness argument to determine which way that segment flows.
