Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

Colorful Christmas Time

(Published on 6. January 2026, 06:51 by PhoenixAki)

This puzzle was made as a 1* difficulty gift for fellow setter timotab's son, FastSandals, who is a very talented solver considering he is only 12 years old! They have given me permission to post this as a standalone puzzle here now, which I'm excited to do. This doubles as my obligatory "I'm a sudoku setter now, I guess I should make a German whisper Christmas tree" puzzle.

Rules:
  • Normal sudoku rules apply. Place the digits 1-9 in each row, column, and 3x3 box without repetition.
  • German Whispers: Adjacent digits on a green line must have a difference of at least 5.
  • Killer Cages: Digits in dotted-line cages must sum to the number in the top left corner of the cage.
  • Entropic Lines: Any set of three sequential cells along a beige line must contain a low digit (123), a middle digit (456), and a high digit (789).
  • Non-Repeating Symbols: Each cell that contains a symbol (the colored dots + stars) must not repeat digits with other symbols of its type. For example, if a cell with a red dot has a 3, no other cell with a red dot can contain a 3.
Solve on SudokuPad here!
Visual impairment friendly version: here. This version has text abbreviations in cells that contain a symbol, clarifying what that symbol is. W for white dot, G for green dot, R for red dot, B for blue dot, and S for star. As further clarification, the German whisper line starts in R7C4 and goes left, then up and around the perimeter of the tree, ending in R7C6. The entropic line is the portion of the tree that also starts in R7C4, but going downwards in a U shape and ending in R7C6.

To increase accessibility to my puzzles, I post solution videos on on my YouTube channel. If you'd like to solve this in your own video, go ahead! But ideally, let me know here or via Discord (same username) if you do ^.^

Solution code: Box 3's digits in normal reading order (left to right, top to bottom). 9 digits.


Solved by jalebc, Dermerlin, ragmat12, TeddieMilo, RickiFerrara, L00ping007, klizun, TVDK, paaaul019, casseena, proredfly, anthe95, jcgodart, zonny, flaemmchen, jhuijts, naggy, Testpilot Pirx, Postnormal, ... pzwack, nbdurie, Crabbsy Malone, DerRiese, varbrad, e5ten, PippoForte, scushuaishuai, dingledork, Saskia11, FibonacciCascade, Danekiller, W1n5t0n, kross, Vaurien, bugsduggan, Photyne, Komojtalan
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Comments

on 9. January 2026, 20:43 by nbdurie
That was a lovely puzzle!

on 7. January 2026, 04:40 by Aronana
fun

on 7. January 2026, 03:47 by johngardner
Really like the ornament mechanic, nice puzzle!

Last changed on 6. January 2026, 17:52

on 6. January 2026, 17:50 by Myfyr MJ
Probably nearer to 2 star difficulty for me. Fun 31 minutes though. The polarity of the German Whisper was quite easy to work out.

on 6. January 2026, 16:36 by VitP
level 1.
standard procedures. split the line. use the cage to resolve polarity. find the extreme digits. use the stars and dots. sudoku.

on 6. January 2026, 14:53 by superkinkel
Liked it a lot, but I think the break-in is more like two stars. Afterwards it flows very easily.

on 6. January 2026, 12:25 by zonny
That seemed like a fun game of 'hide and seek' - where should I look next?

Difficulty:1
Rating:93 %
Solved:137 times
Observed:0 times
ID:000QPI

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