Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

The idea copies from RockyRoer

• Standard sudoku rules applies. Fill the grid with numbers from 1 to 9 so each digit occurs exactly once in every row, column and 3x3 box.
• [Median Quads]Each circle represents the median of the four surrounding cells. Recall, the median of an even number of cells is the average of the middle two numbers when numbers are written in order:
  • ex: 1469 has a median of 5.
  • ex: 2558 has a median of 5.
• All possible integer circles are give.

This puzzles is made by Old Miles from China. Honestly, the first idea I think of when I saw the median quads was, why that disambiguate 4 and why no negative restraint. Obviously, it made the puzzle harder but also it shows that 4 part is touched last, kind of linear if you asked me. For me, I just want a puzzle that can utilize all the tricks it has. If negative restraint is possible, then of course I want it.

Another thing I was not ok with the original puzzle is the edge clues. That’s way too few for a quads variants. It’s not forcing the solvers to consider the repeated digits in the quads. It could be a lot breaky.

SpoilersI’m going to talk about this puzzle, It’ll spoil the fun figuring the tricks yourself.

The thing is, this variant probably has the most complex negative restraint. The easiest way to use it is to make sure all 4 cells don’t have the same parity. However, as it needs the middle two to be different parity to use it properly, you have to make sure it is the middle two. That’s a lot of brain work. But the good news is nobody would dare to parity the whole grid like the type good series, because it is useless, and you might notice median has a parity side. It’s probably one of the few instance where negative restraint is more complex than what’s before. It’s not easy to use, but kind of want to.

In a word, I still think the original one is more fun to solve, except the 4 part. However, if you enjoy this kind of negative restraint, you’re going to like the next one (still not mean quads)