Walking the Strip
(Published on 16. September 2025, 22:05 by vitaminz)
I made this puzzle as part of Scojo's imposter challenge, which as of this posting you can still watch! I was tasked with imitating DubiousMobius which entailed going through a catalog of very challenging and very enjoyable puzzles. It was pitted against Checkered Grin and fooled almost but not quite half the audience - not enough to steal their identity. Please leave a comment if you enjoy it!
RULES:
Create 5 orthogonally connected 5-cell regions each containing the digits 1-5. Digits may not repeat in any row, column, or region. Regions may wrap around the border of the grid.
Woven Mobius Strip: The grid is a Mobius Strip. The last column is attached to the first column one row down and the first row is attached to the last row one column to the left. Each border wall of the bottom right and top left corner cells attach to the other border wall of the same cell. This is reflected in the coloring. It is impossible to travel through the four corners of the grid.
Distance Sightline Arrows: The digit in a cell with an arrow gives the total distance one can travel in its region in the direction the arrow points before reaching a cell in another region. The distance starts at 1 and increases by one each time it reaches a cell in the same region. Entering a cell it has already traveled through still increases the distance traveled. If a cell contains multiple arrows, each individual arrow's path will meet the above criteria. For example, an arrow pointing left in r1c2 would begin at 1. If r1c1 were in the same region it would go to 2, then wrap around the grid to the same cell to get to 3. If r2c1 were in the same region it would increase to 4, etc. The green arrow (in r2c1) cannot be 1.
A moat has been provided for taking notes. Clues in the moat are duplicates of the clues in the grid, and are included to help track the grid geometry.
click on the puzzle image to play
RULES:
Create 5 orthogonally connected 5-cell regions each containing the digits 1-5. Digits may not repeat in any row, column, or region. Regions may wrap around the border of the grid.
Woven Mobius Strip: The grid is a Mobius Strip. The last column is attached to the first column one row down and the first row is attached to the last row one column to the left. Each border wall of the bottom right and top left corner cells attach to the other border wall of the same cell. This is reflected in the coloring. It is impossible to travel through the four corners of the grid.
Distance Sightline Arrows: The digit in a cell with an arrow gives the total distance one can travel in its region in the direction the arrow points before reaching a cell in another region. The distance starts at 1 and increases by one each time it reaches a cell in the same region. Entering a cell it has already traveled through still increases the distance traveled. If a cell contains multiple arrows, each individual arrow's path will meet the above criteria. For example, an arrow pointing left in r1c2 would begin at 1. If r1c1 were in the same region it would go to 2, then wrap around the grid to the same cell to get to 3. If r2c1 were in the same region it would increase to 4, etc. The green arrow (in r2c1) cannot be 1.
A moat has been provided for taking notes. Clues in the moat are duplicates of the clues in the grid, and are included to help track the grid geometry.
Solution code: Row 4, with a "-" between digits where the region changes (example: 12-3-45)
Last changed on -
Solved by DubiousMobius, sehringdipity, Neumino, tuturitu
Comments
on 16. September 2025, 22:12 by DubiousMobius
Thanks so much for the puzzle! Excellent imposter work and a fun and resilient solve!
