Unusually Hot
(Published on 16. July 2026, 11:42 by marty_sears)
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply.
Divide the grid into two orthogonally connected regions; one green and one orange. No 2x2 area may be fully within one region.
In the green region, the value of a cell equals its digit, as normal. In the orange region, the value of a cell equals its row number plus its column number, regardless of what digit appears in the cell.
Values along a thermo strictly increase from bulb to tip.
If a black dot sits between two cells, the value of one is double the value of the other.
Solution code: Column 1 reading downwards
Comments
on 26. July 2026, 20:46 by firespire
Skipped over that the regions needed to be connected and it was a Yin Yang until I got stuck. Kicking myself that I could have made quicker progress as I do like a Yin Yang.
on 26. July 2026, 00:33 by PancakePie
Somehow, you always seem to take the seemingly impossible and make it tangible and fun! Thanks for this, it was a joy to solve!
on 23. July 2026, 17:23 by ThymePass
I noticed the shadows on the black dots just now!
A very enjoyable puzzle. Thanks Marty :)
on 22. July 2026, 17:29 by davidz32z
A nice puzzle to distract me from this UK heat!
on 21. July 2026, 20:29 by mixus minimax
I'm always down to yin my yang.
I'm a sucker for global rules, not just yy but also global entropy, it's always very fun. Well made!
on 20. July 2026, 22:48 by LisaFr
Amazing puzzle! I often struggle with yin yang, but this tied in so nicely with the other constraints, might go down as one of my favorite puzzles ever :)
Thank you so much for setting and sharing!
on 19. July 2026, 10:51 by Crusader175
Very nice!
on 18. July 2026, 20:23 by Elker
Very fun and creative. Thanks for setting another gem.
on 17. July 2026, 20:21 by Klausku
That was great. Fun with thermos. Loved it. Thanks Marty.
on 17. July 2026, 19:51 by blackjackfitz
Huzzah!
on 17. July 2026, 16:32 by Tortugo
Absolutely adore this puzzle. Something about it is exactly my favorite style, even among other Marty-puzzles. I especially like the little shadows of the blackcurrants baking in the sun.
on 17. July 2026, 12:38 by varbrad
Great puzzle, loved it.
on 17. July 2026, 11:02 by sparkymanu
Only Marty can make a thermo sudoku so fun! Thank you as always for sharing those lovely puzzles! :D
on 17. July 2026, 10:55 by vukkarak
What a treat!
on 17. July 2026, 04:38 by kayqm
Marty doing Marty things.
on 17. July 2026, 02:13 by PatternSpren
This is my first ever Marty Sears puzzle that I solved all by myself! It was such a treat, thanks!
Please keep creating more yin yang puzzles :)
Marty: I will do, I love yin-yang! I've done quite a few yin-yang puzzles before - I made one called Cake by the Lake which was quite similar to this, check that out. Also Two Tone Totals and Zippery When Wet.
on 16. July 2026, 23:42 by Nylimb
Very nice!
I'm curious about the ID number. Did you create the puzzle and somehow arrange to get the right ID (as I suspect you did with 000RAT and 000RUN), or did you start to publish a different puzzle, notice the ID, and then create this one (as I did with 000JAM)?
Marty: haha GREAT question! The truth is, I saw when SUM and SUN were coming up so I thought I'd bag them, without any idea what I'd do for them. I've had them a while. Then this month CTC released a prompt to make a puzzle with the theme of temperature / hot weather, so i made this, and put the sun in the corner. Only then did I remember that I had the 000SUN ID, which made me smile a big smile...
on 16. July 2026, 18:16 by kasperd
The difficulty of this puzzle is suitable for solving on an unusually hot day such as today.
on 16. July 2026, 17:50 by amirs
Hot and fun!
on 16. July 2026, 16:46 by Miatc
Your unique rulesets never fail to impress me, they make even easier puzzles like this feel intellectually engaging and challenging.
on 16. July 2026, 16:13 by abw
Another fantastic puzzle Marty! I don't know how you do it, but you never fail to disappoint.
The yin-yang shading worked so well with the thermos and black dots. It's a really interesting combination of rules. I hope to see more like this.
Marty: hehe thanks, I am choosing to believe you meant that I never disappoint, rather than I never fail to disappoint ;)
on 16. July 2026, 15:56 by Arheus
Classic Marty :) Loved the rule btw, I hope to see it featured in more puzzles!
on 16. July 2026, 15:38 by Franjo
Thank you very much for creating and sharing another brilliant puzzle. Fresh thermo-logic!
on 16. July 2026, 15:26 by Montikulum
Not 2* in my universe, but definitely hot and as always an excellent logical path.
on 16. July 2026, 13:52 by dellC
Nice puzzle ID: "000SUN"
on 16. July 2026, 13:35 by nunc
Got stuck in the middle, then thought about doing Sudoku (how outrageous), and it all kept coming together quite quckly. Lovely idea, great execution!
on 16. July 2026, 13:21 by Remps
I loved the new thermo logic- almost made me ignore the sweat dripping down my forehead... almost.
on 16. July 2026, 12:58 by Qodec
Cool ... I mean hot idea!
on 16. July 2026, 12:31 by mscha
Very nice and topical puzzle!
I got started surprisingly quickly, and thought this was a 2 star puzzle at most. But halfway it got a bit trickier, so I gave it 3 stars after all.
on 16. July 2026, 12:24 by Chaka
Amazing puzzle!
