did you say walkies!?
(Published on 27. June 2025, 09:27 by aqjhs)
Thanks to ThePedallingPianist for testing this puzzle.
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
-
Doppel-Dög loop:
- Draw an orthogonal non-branching closed loop that doesn't cross or touch itself, not even diagonally.
- The loop "starts" at the cell marked with the dog and is considered to be oriented in the direction indicated by the arrow (i.e. r1c9 and r1c8 are in the loop).
- A cell in the loop with a digit D will have a value equal to the cell D steps away along the loop in the orientation given by the arrow.
- Cells not on the loop will have a value equal to the digit in them.
- Adjacent digits (not values) along the loop must have a difference of at least 5.
- Full Rank:
- Values on columns and rows, read in both directions, make a total of 36 nine-digit numbers.
- Clues outside the grid show the rank in ascending order among those 36 numbers for the indicated column or row in the direction of the cell.
- Lowest number has rank 1 and highest number has rank 36.
- Cells marked with a circle are not part of the loop and have a digit that equal to the count of the, up to 8, neighboring loop cells.
- Cells joined by a ball have the same value.
More Doppel-Dögs:
- can i pet that dog!?
- please, can we keep him!?
- nopil nahual
- Convection Currents by ThePedallingPianist
- Doppel-Dög Sandwich by phil_the (hat)
- Tentropic Terrier by Scojo
- a changed man
Solution code: Values on column 6, top to bottom.
Comments
on 18. July 2025, 22:39 by Geb
That's very challenging! Several points along solving this I was sure I must have made a mistake. It's complex enough that you can easily convince yourself there's a contradiction because you haven't seen the loophole to resolve it yet.
on 4. July 2025, 20:49 by peacherwu2
Very cool idea, thank you so much!
on 1. July 2025, 13:37 by Black_Doom
The ruleset may look terrifying, but this puzzle holds so many fun secrets once you get past that. Took me over 2.5 hours, but worth absolutely every second!
on 29. June 2025, 11:37 by ralphwaldo1
I was hoping for a virtual thermo on r5c38 which didn't materialize but plenty of awesome logic packed in otherwise! Thanks to TPP for hinting how to pencil-mark this.
on 27. June 2025, 23:19 by wenchang
very interesting full rank rule with values as digits.
on 27. June 2025, 22:38 by ThePedallingPianist
Really beautiful logic in this one! This Doppel Dog ruleset is so fresh and full of potential, and the combination with Full Rank felt a lot more natural than I was expecting. Loved it :)
