Thror's Map
(Published on 8. September 2025, 16:00 by Blobz)
The Hobbit Puzzle Pack
III : Thror's Map
Illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien
The moon was shining in a broad silver crescent. Elrond held up the map and the white light shone through it. "What is this?" he said. "There are moon-letters here, beside the plain runes... they can only be seen when the moon shines behind them..."
Normal sudoku rules apply.
Begin by transcribing (cloning) Bill's digits from the previous puzzle into the Forest River.
In cages, digits do not repeat, and must sum to the given total.
Adjacent digits along the dragon motif must differ by at least 5.
Cells containing the same Rune contain the same digit.
Note: Shading is cosmetic only.
Have fun, leave a comment if you enjoy the puzzle!
- I : An Unexpected Party
- II : Roast Mutton
- III : Thror's Map
- IV : Goblin Cave
- V : Riddles in the Dark
- VI : Out of the Frying-Pan...
- VII : Beorn
- VIII : Flies and Spiders
- IX : Barrels Out of Bond
- X : Lake-Town
- XI : When the Thrush Knocks...
- XII : Smaug
- XIII : Mithril Coat
- XIV : The Dragon's Wrath
- XV : Barricade
- XVI : Beyond Price
- XVII : Battle of Five Armies
- XVIII : The Return Journey
Solution code: Row 1
Comments
on 17. December 2025, 06:18 by Symphony
Found myself having the strange wish for the software to let me pencil-mark in runes! Thanks for these, I've really enjoyed the first three puzzles in this pack and the way the themes are worked in.
on 12. December 2025, 20:02 by Quent'1
That's my first 3* !!! Really cool puzzle
on 10. December 2025, 20:25 by Vaaletee
Such a good puzzle, I've not a lot of experience with 3*s so I got stuck a lot and had to restart a couple of times, but managed to get it eventually :) thanks
on 4. December 2025, 05:37 by Totodex
Interesting puzzle and the first 3 star ive been able to finish... two two hours across a full day of coming back to it with one full restart.
on 20. November 2025, 11:01 by Aronana
Me and my lovely partner's first 3*! We were stuck for 30 minutes. Such a nice breakthrough though, better than heroin!
on 10. November 2025, 00:16 by NotSoMagnifique
I love how many details from the map you were able to keep for the puzzle!
on 28. October 2025, 13:00 by Snookerfan
Beautiful puzzle, thank you!
on 21. October 2025, 13:21 by marajade
Wow! What a fantastic puzzle, and I'm very impressed by the way you adapted the classic familiar image of this map to create it!
on 10. October 2025, 01:01 by dzamie
Wow, this was really a jump up in difficulty from the previous one! Still excellent, though.
Wound up getting out the coloring tool towards the midpoint.
on 8. October 2025, 15:45 by eap314
Note to solvers: Clone means every digit (in the cage) in precisely the same order. Thanks for the nice 3 star, I was getting caught up in the easy ones.
on 30. September 2025, 01:16 by Arti
I'm pretty new to variant sudoku but a big fan of Tolkien, so I was determined to finish this puzzle. I'm quite ashamed to admit how much time I actually spent on it though =) Very nice nonetheless <3
on 23. September 2025, 11:25 by Debrutsid
I was stack and thought there is no unique solution because I assumed I had to transcribe just bill's digit (single cell towards the Forest river). You have to transcribe all digits in the Bill cage towards the Forest River cage. I would make that more clear.
on 23. September 2025, 10:35 by zrbakhtiar
I don't know. Maybe should mention Bill's cages.
on 8. September 2025, 21:21 by Merdock
I really enjoyed this puzzle. A nice step up in difficulty from the previous puzzles, just like how a good journey gives you some challenges.
