Feeding Friendsy: It's not Pea-sy Being Green
(Published on 2. September 2026, 01:00 by sujoyku)
It was a great delight for me to become part of a secret group of setters, all friends of Marty Sears. Together we created a Rat Run-inspired series as a birthday surprise for him. The idea was to have path-drawing puzzles in which the main character has to find a certain way to their favourite snack, the analogue of the infamous cupcake.
In this episode, the main character is Croakz the Frog. Will he manage to catch the fly? Go help him out!
Fill the grid with the digits 1-9 so that digits don't repeat in a row, column or 3x3 box (marked with dotted lines).
#FRIENDSHIPGOALS:
Croakz the Frog has noticed a delicious fly whirring around the pond; if that darn delicacy could only hold still for a second… help Croakz catch the fly by drawing his path from water lily to water lily!
MOVEMENT: The path must start at Croakz' current position [R7C2] and end at the fly on the water lily [R3C9]. The path must not visit any cell more than once, cross itself or pass through any sharp rocks (the thick grey walls). As well as moving orthogonally, Croakz may move diagonally — if there's a 2x2 space in which to do so — but may never pass diagonally through rounded rock on the corner of a cell.
WATER LILIES: The grid contains nine (9) water lilies that must ALL be part of the path (of which you must determine the order). No two water lilies may contain the same digit.
TWIGS: Digits separated by a brown, leafy twig sum to 5. Not all possible twigs have been given.
LEAVES: Digits separated by a green leaf have a difference of at least 5. Not all possible leaves have been given.
FROG EGG: Digits separated by a round frog egg have a 1:2 ratio (one is double the other). Not all possible frog eggs have been given.
TRIALS and TRAILS: In this test of friendship, water lilies divide Croakz' path into "split pea" segments.
A segment between two water lilies must sum to a two-digit number formed by the digits in those water lilies. For example, a segment of (3)463(1), where the digits in brackets represent digits on water lilies, would be valid as 4+6+3 equals one possible concatenation of 3 and 1, i.e. 13.
The segment from Croakz' starting position to the first water lily must sum to the single digit on that water lily. This sum includes the digit on Croakz' starting position itself.
Solution code: Digits visited by Croakz in Column 5 (top to bottom)
Comments
on 4. September 2026, 20:46 by mscha
Frog Forage!
Beautiful puzzle! Unfortunately, Croakz beat me. It took me a few hours over 3 days, and I've got almost all of the path and about half the digits (including all digits on water lilies). But there is still too much uncertainty to finish it off.
No idea why people gave this 3 stars on average; I'd give it 5 (at least) - if I could.
**
Hey mscha, if you like, you can find some help here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epbcrQT4a9o
Kind regards, sujoyku
**
Thanks, sujoyku! I didn't think of checking year-old CtC videos. ;-) (Worse, I watched, and commented on, the video last year and I didn't remember. :-$ )
Anyway, I (re)watched the video. Mark's solution matched mine (except quicker) up to the point where I missed something that should have been obvious. That was enough to finish it off.
I gave if 4 stars for difficulty in the end. Beautiful puzzle, looking forward to the rest of this series!
**
You are much welcome, mscha, great that it worked out for you! I also have this puzzle closer to 4* in difficulty, but as the setter it is always hard to tell.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 4. September 2026, 03:56 by ebulku
It’s a lovely but challenging path. I got stuck at the last three lilies.
on 4. September 2026, 01:04 by Nairurian
A nice puzzle, and a bit of balm to soothe our missing of Finkz.
I’m not sure if I accidentally jumped to some conclusion without proving it, or if it’s the way it’s meant to solve, but I got all numbers in place before I figured out the full paths.
on 3. September 2026, 21:36 by heliopolix
Beautiful and relaxing. Serendipitous swim in the pond. Thanks for setting.
on 3. September 2026, 21:13 by sujoyku
Vielen Dank für Eure tollen Kommentare!
Herzliche Grüße sujoyku
//
Thank you for all your kind comments!
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 3. September 2026, 20:52 by PrissyP
Very fun puzzle, loved the combination of rules which interacted very nicely and had interesting and fair steps all the way through. Looking forward for next week's feeding friend.
on 3. September 2026, 10:19 by Snookerfan
Brilliant puzzle! Some very rewarding and challenging steps in an overall smooth solve path. Thanks!
on 3. September 2026, 04:13 by RedBarchetta
Very Very cool! I am amazed at how clues just kept fitting together. Great design! Thanks!
on 2. September 2026, 23:57 by jubengo
Wonderful setting and fun puzzle :D
on 2. September 2026, 17:38 by amirs
What a beautifully constructed puzzle! I had lots of fun solving it. It definitely brought back memories from the Rat Run series, so big kudos
on 2. September 2026, 15:11 by Franjo
Wow, ein Split Peas Path! Das fühlte sich tatsächlich wie eine RatRun-Folge an. Nicht leicht, doch toll konstruiert! Vielen Dank dafür.
on 2. September 2026, 13:59 by Christounet
Great puzzle! This has all the qualities of a Rat Run puzzle. Thanks :)
on 2. September 2026, 12:02 by SennyK
Wonderful puzzle, sujoyku! I really enjoyed it. I am a bit surprised it landed on a 4* difficulty, as everything was very well telegraphed. Top class :-)
on 2. September 2026, 10:47 by marty_sears
Loved this puzzle! So smooth and brilliant combination of split pea logic with path drawing logic. Really enjoyed the unique waterlilies too. And what beautiful artwork. Glad I was able to help Croakz get that darn delicacy in the end! Yumyum
on 2. September 2026, 10:27 by Saltensity
Beautiful puzzle, thanks for this creation! :D
on 2. September 2026, 05:47 by Scojo
Ribbit
on 2. September 2026, 05:09 by Thanos13
It still amazes me how this puzzle is solved with such few non-path clues. Brilliant work from all of you!
on 2. September 2026, 03:42 by emoney1374
Great puzzle! Some surprising but fun steps!
on 2. September 2026, 02:52 by ViKingPrime
One of the cleanest solve paths for which you could ever ask. Impeccable setting.
on 2. September 2026, 02:28 by The Pi Guy
Absolutely brilliant! If that’s the level of the first present then I can’t wait to try the next one. Beautifully smooth first half, utterly genius second half! Thanks Sujoyku. ❤️
on 2. September 2026, 02:08 by raaaaa
Very nice puzzle! I think the difficulty should be 3/5
on 2. September 2026, 01:29 by SamuPiano
A nice peasful stroll to each lily pad! Thank you for this wonderful puzzle, sujoyku!
on 2. September 2026, 01:26 by blackjackfitz
Huzzah!
