Feeding Friendsy: One Tough Cookie
(Published yesterday, 22:47 by blackjackfitz)
At the time I was asked to contribute to this pack I wasn't setting much. Life with a newborn was really dominating my time. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a somedoku for Marty's birthday. I knew immediately that I wanted to pay homage to one of my favorite somedokus, Some Kind of Chaos. by Marty Sears. I hope I did it justice.
My deep gratitude to VikingPrime for both organizing this pack and for doing the graphics of this puzzle. I have, reluctantly, modified the original artwork in order to make this more accessible to the largest possible audience. But, if you would like, you can still play this puzzle with the original design.
Fill the grid with the digits 1-9... there's more to it but we'll get there.
#FRIENDSHIPGOALS
If you give blackcatfitz a cookie... he's going to ask for some milk! Help him reach the milk by finding a path through the maze of sweet treats. The path must not visit any cell more than once, cross itself or pass through any thick caramel walls.
As well as moving orthogonally, blackcatfitz may move diagonally — if there's a 2x2 space in which to do so — but may never pass diagonally through the rounded end / corner of a wall.
SOMEDOKU
Fill every row 'n' and column 'n' with exactly 'n' different digits, chosen from the digits 1-9, repeating as necessary.
CHAOS CONSTRUCTION
Divide the grid into nine (9) regions, each containing nine (9) orthogonally connected cells. Given caramel walls always separate two different regions; however, any isolated, rounded wall pillars may exist wholly within one region.
COOKIES
The digit in a cookie indicates how many different digits appear in its region. For example, a digit 6 in a cookie indicates that the region includes 6 distinct digits (and therefore 3 repeats). No two cookies contain the same digit.
DARK CHOCOLATE CHIPS
Cells sharing a dark chocolate chip must belong to the SAME region. Digits separated by a dark chocolate chip have a 1:2 ratio (one is double the other). Not all dark chocolate chips are given.
WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS
Cells sharing a white chocolate chip must belong to DIFFERENT regions. Digits separated by a white chocolate chip are consecutive. Not all white chocolate chips are given.
CRANBERRIES
Note that blackcatfitz is allergic to cranberries — you must not include them on his path! If a cranberry sits between two digits one will be even and one will be odd. Not all cranberries have been given.
TRIALS AND TRAILS
In this test of friendship, blackcatfitz must retrieve each of the nine cookies in numerical order (from 1-9) before returning to enjoy the milk. Good luck!
Solution code: Column 5 top to bottom
Comments
today, 17:39 by mscha
Cat Carnage!
Easy start, then gradually getting tougher, but always fair. Beautiful interaction between the somedoku, chaos construction and path finding.
Took me hours, but loved every minute of it.
5 stars for me, but not as hard as some of the earlier Friendsies.
today, 10:33 by Snookerfan
Very nice! No spoilers, so thanks!
today, 09:05 by XuanZzz
First time trying a somedoku, the path is just remarkable and elegant! Thank you for the great puzzle!
today, 08:42 by by81996672
At first, I was highly confused by this puzzle because there were no path constraints at all. Only after solving it did I understand what was going on. It's really a wonderful puzzle.
today, 06:42 by Saltensity
Wow, this puzzle really shined out from the other puzzles in this series with your own constraint Somedoku and Chaos Construction! Well done blackjackfitz, you really constructed a beautiful and purrfect puzzle! :D
today, 05:00 by hamosphere
Huzzah!! - Best puzzle in the series so far AND this one was the most RatRun-like to date as well. Great puzzle.
today, 04:01 by monsen
Lovely puzzle. Although I hate them being released just as I should get some sleep. You can probably guess what won out. I never could wait till the next day.
today, 01:15 by Thanos13
There have been so many beautiful puzzles so far in this series, but in my opinion this one takes the cookie ;)
I was left speechless at the end by the way the path was formed since at first glance there were so many different possibilities.
Thank you, blackjackfitz for this work of art!
today, 01:11 by gdc
Very nice and creative take on the theme of the pack! I love chaos construction and somedokus. This one was a treat.
today, 00:58 by marty_sears
I remember this being a jaw-droppingly clever puzzle, which almost defies belief. I still think somedoku is a brilliant and underrated / underexplored invention, and this is one of the best and most fun I've seen.
When I was making season 3 of Rat Run, I knew I was definitely going to have a somedoku episode (which later turned out to be called 'Alternating Currant'.)
When solving this, I knew I would have a tough job coming up with something better than this for it.
today, 00:54 by marty_sears
@monsen
I don't think there's any such thing as an invisible cranberry... If there's no cranberry there then it is not a problem for the cat's allergies. So we know nothing about the parity of the cat's path.
The rules just mean that potential legal cranberries that could have been placed, haven't necessarily been.
today, 00:50 by ViKingPrime
Me like cookies.
today, 00:29 by monsen
I have a question for the rules on this one. The rules state that cranberries always sits between odd and even digits, and that all cranberries have not been given. Normally, I would just interpret this as no negative constraint. But here, the rules then go on saying blackcatfitz cannot include any cranberries on his path, and the rules do imply there are "hidden" cranberries between every even and odd digit ("not all cranberries given"), so that would mean blackcatfitz's path cannot cross between odd and even numbers? Do I interpret that right? My gut feeling says it is not intended to be interpreted that way, but my gut has been wrong before.
(I have a black cat named jack btw....)
bjf: It just means no negative constraint. It should read something like, "If a cranberry sits between two digits one must be even and one must be odd."
yesterday, 23:07 by Christounet
Hmm hmmm, this IS a tasty cookie!
