Doppelgangers of Parallel Universes
(Published on 14. October 2025, 01:06 by MathGuy_12)
This was set for Scojo's Setting Saturday prompts. ChinStrap redeemed this prompt to create a puzzle inspired by this year's Imposter Event, run by Scojo.
Many amazing puzzles came out of this event, but my main source of inspiration was this puzzle by Oddlyeven. It is an amazing puzzle that I highly recommend you check out!
Thanks to lmdemasi for testing!
Here is a an example puzzle that is logically solvable:
Example Puzzle SudokuPad Link
SudokuPad Link
Rules:
- Doppelgänger Sudoku:
- Place nine Doppelgänger cells so there's exactly one in each row, column and box.
- Each Doppelgänger cell contains the digit 0. The remaining eight cells in the row, column, or box contain eight out of the nine digits from 1 to 9 (i.e. it's missing one digit that is not 0)
- No two rows, no two columns, and no two boxes may be missing the same digit.
- For each 0 in the grid, the digits missing in its row, its column, and its box must be three different digits.
- In the outer regions, place the missing digits from the corresponding row, column, or box within the 9x9.
- Values along green German Whispers lines must have a difference of at least 5.
- Values in grey minimum cells must be strictly smaller than all orthogonal neighbors.
- Clues outside the 9x9 grid accompanied by arrows provide the sum of the indicated diagonal. Digits and values may repeat along a diagonal if allowed by other rules.
- Clues outside the 9x9 grid in squares are numbered rooms clues. The value in the cell closest to the clue indexes the nearest instance of the clue in the row or column. If the clued value does not appear in the row or column, the index will have a value of 0.
- Parallel Universes:
- Within this puzzle, four different universes exist simultaneously.
- In each universe, exactly one of the four instances of each clue type listed above is correct, and no clue can be correct in more than one universe.
- For a given Doppelgänger cell, its value is different across all universes.
- The value of the Doppelgänger cells in each universe are as follows:
- All Doppelgänger cells have a value of 0.
- All Doppelgänger cells have a value of the missing digit from its row.
- All Doppelgänger cells have a value of the missing digit from its column.
- All Doppelgänger cells have a value of the missing digit from its box.
Solution code: The nine digits from the column missing a 9, from top to bottom
Last changed on on 24. October 2025, 02:56
Solved by lmdemasi, SKORP17, yellow, Da Letter El, zhan, aqjhs, ViKingPrime, Scojo, palpot, wullemuus, SIGMA, ThePedallingPianist, Sotehr, ralphwaldo1
Comments
on 31. October 2025, 15:09 by wullemuus
Once I've understood the ruleset with the different universes, the solve was very smooth and interesting. The combination with the Doppelgänger rules was very creative with a lot of attention needed to stay focused on every single implication. What a masterpiece!
Last changed on 24. October 2025, 02:56on 23. October 2025, 23:53 by MathGuy_12
Added a given digit to improve solve path. Reworded rules for clarity.
on 22. October 2025, 19:46 by ViKingPrime
I have never had a puzzle make me feel more like a fool in my entire life, which is to its credit.
on 20. October 2025, 06:52 by zhan
Wonderful.
on 17. October 2025, 04:19 by MathGuy_12
Added example puzzle.
Last changed on 17. October 2025, 04:24on 16. October 2025, 07:25 by yellow
this was awesome.
i misunderstood the clue-universe interaction at first (not a native speaker, an example might have been helpful)
MG: Thanks for solving and that is a great idea!
on 14. October 2025, 01:32 by lmdemasi
A lot to unpack here.