Black mamba
(Published on 29. March 2026, 22:11 by Lithium-Ion)
This puzzle has been my third feature on Cracking the Cryptic (click here to see Mark solving it). I hope that you enjoy the puzzle, which is about finding a snake with consecutive digits that visits each box at least once. Constructive feedback is always appreciated. The rules are as follows.
Normal sudoku rules apply. Draw a one-cell wide snake, which starts in Box 5 and ends in Box 9, that moves orthogonally through the center of cells. The snake is not allowed to branch, intersect with itself or touch itself, even diagonally. Cells that are orthogonally adjacent along the snake have to contain consecutive digits. Within each box, the box number (1=top left, 2=top center, 3=top right, etc.) has to be part of the snake. Cells separated by a black dot contain digits that are in a 1:2 ratio. All black dots are given.
You can play this puzzle via the following link: https://sudokupad.app/f8ndB28nDT
Normal sudoku rules apply. Draw a one-cell wide snake, which starts in Box 5 and ends in Box 9, that moves orthogonally through the center of cells. The snake is not allowed to branch, intersect with itself or touch itself, even diagonally. Cells that are orthogonally adjacent along the snake have to contain consecutive digits. Within each box, the box number (1=top left, 2=top center, 3=top right, etc.) has to be part of the snake. Cells separated by a black dot contain digits that are in a 1:2 ratio. All black dots are given.
You can play this puzzle via the following link: https://sudokupad.app/f8ndB28nDT
Solution code: Digits in row 9, read from left to right.
Solved by SKORP17, efnenu, vi92, Mathemagier, Piff, GorgeousNicko, ManlyPebbles, EFlatMinor, stephan_71, pagedo, Dean, kehan628, GaviGuy, juggler, MalkoMann2, b413x, Dag H, wuc, Snookerfan, Qodec, ... sunny_sugar, smckinley, THef of Time, pmatos, trashghost, FullHouse07, Moonsinh, BG03, Joel Kaufmann, MrBrewer, Exigus, SudokuMuffin, blake, potatojuiceultra, SpecSheets, Johannes Quack, Norkas
Comments
on 31. March 2026, 20:33 by FullHouse07
That was not so hard if you find where you start. Thank you.
on 31. March 2026, 00:01 by dzamie
Pretty easy with a bit of thought to the kropki negative constraint. Still neat to watch the snake spiral out.
on 30. March 2026, 10:32 by Snookerfan
Excellent, easy and still interesting. Thanks!
on 30. March 2026, 10:29 by wuc
Brilliant. Best since quite some time to me. Awesome setting. Added to favorites. Great fun thx.
on 30. March 2026, 09:37 by juggler
Of course I forgot about the negative constraint. But after I remembered, it was very nice.
