Water, Ice, Vapor
(Published on 27. July 2026, 16:00 by Blobz)
Normal sudoku rules apply.
Digits in cages do not repeat and must sum to the small clue, if given.
Digits in cages are either "water" (7,8,9), "ice" (4,5,6), or "vapor" (1,2,3). Cages may be a single type or a mix of types. Any row within a cage must be a single type and types must be ordered based on their density. Water is heaviest and must be below ice and vapor; ice is heavier than vapor.
Have fun, leave a comment if you enjoy the puzzle!
Solution code: Row 4
Comments
on 30. July 2026, 22:40 by scottgarner
I love this! Especially because I didn’t have to make even digits orange, which is synesthetically incorrect.
on 30. July 2026, 03:38 by KyleBaran
I think some of the easy difficulty comes from digit groups, eg low/mid/high. Water and oil puzzles use even/odd which includes high and low digits in each.
For example, a modulo-based solid/liquid/gas rule would probably be more difficult in nature
on 29. July 2026, 07:50 by voidsea
Great contruction, but a little too easy.
on 28. July 2026, 23:01 by cannonmatthews
This was great, interesting variation on the oil and water idea.
There only being 3 of each color was more powerful than I expected and was able to do the initial coloring much faster than I expected, but got stuck for a bit later with some ambiguity I was finally able to resolve via the cage sums in rows 7&8 and it all came together.
Look forward to more in this vein!
on 28. July 2026, 18:57 by KyleBaran
I'll admit, for oil and water puzzles I dont use green and blue coloring. I use orange (odd) and blue (even). So instead its more like a "dirt and water" puzzle since orange odd sinks
on 27. July 2026, 22:37 by thomamas
Love this constraint! I had to do a little bifurcation near the end after I had everything colored, but probably just missed something obvious.
on 27. July 2026, 20:18 by CarnacTheMagnificent
Fun coloring puzzle. Very similar to the Oil & Water series. Thanks for sharing.
on 27. July 2026, 20:10 by barnacle
Loved the coloring and backfill!
on 27. July 2026, 20:02 by Franjo
Thank you very much for creating and sharing this funny coloring exercise.
on 27. July 2026, 17:33 by HeyItsErin
Lovely mix of entropy-esque constraints mixed in with oil & water. I would be delighted to see more of this!
