Zodiac Project: Astrolabe
(Eingestellt am 30. Oktober 2025, 00:00 Uhr von Sotehr)
White Kropki: Cells separated by a white dot have consecutive digits.
Black Kropki: Cells separated by a black dot have one digit double the other.
Astrolabes:
- Each golden circle is an astrolabe that contains a different digit.
- Each astrolabe has two arms that extend into two neighboring cells at an angle of 45°, 90°, or 135°. Some arms are already given, but the remainder and their orientation must be deduced. Arms do not share cells.
- Each astrolabe indexes one other astrolabe, with its arms containing the row and column number, in any order, for that astrolabe. No astrolabe is indexed by more than one other astrolabe.
- Each astrolabe's entropic set determines the angle of the arms for the astrolabe it indexes, with low {1,2,3}, middle {4,5,6}, and high {7,8,9} corresponding to a 45°, 90°, and 135° angle respectively.
- For any three astrolabes in an index sequence (where A indexes B, and B indexes C), no two astrolabes may have arms with the same angle.
- A clue in the top right corner of an astrolabe (if given) indicates the sum of the digits on itself and its two arms.
Astrolabe Index Example: an astrolabe with {4,5,6} at its center with arms containing a 2 and 8 in a 45° angle indexes an astrolabe with {7,8,9} at its center in r2c8 or r8c2 with arms in a 90° angle.
NOTES
I was very excited to be nominated by Ratfinkz to be the 25th setter for ViKingPrime's Zodiac Project series, and thankfully I only took 3 weeks to come up with an idea and create the first draft! Many thanks to Marty Sears for his help with the rules and the steampunk inspired border. And many thanks as well to ChinStrap, Scojo, sanabas, Matt Y DDraig, and aqjhs for testing!
I'll be nominating aqjhs to be the 26th setter of the series! This will be their disjoint set:
by ViKingPrime
- All previous puzzles can be found at the above link! -
Chapter 21: Libra" ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
by Scojo
Chapter 22: Leo" ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
by ChinStrap
Chapter 23: Sagitta Speakeasy" ⭐
by Katie Splendor
Chapter 24: (Chinese) Zodiac Project: Rat" ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
by Ratfinkz
Lösungscode: The astrolabe index sequence that starts and ends with the astrolabe that contains the 1. (If the 1 astrolabe indexes the 6, and the 6 indexes the 8, and the 8 indexes the 1, then the sequence would be 1681 for the solution code.)
Kommentare
am 22. November 2025, 20:52 Uhr von QuiltyAsCharged
Astounding! I got stuck and had to put this puzzle aside. Today I came back and found the way through, and it's so satisfying to discover
am 15. November 2025, 08:19 Uhr von Norkas
A lot of unique logic in this one. Loved it.
am 3. November 2025, 19:47 Uhr von thephantomplayer
Took me forever to break through but very good solve path once I did. Very hard but very satisfying.
am 31. Oktober 2025, 03:28 Uhr von Lyouke
The example also has all astrolabes indexed by another astrolabe. Is this some that’s meant to be in the rules too?
- I misunderstood what you were asking and have clarified the rules. - Sotehr
am 30. Oktober 2025, 19:19 Uhr von ViKingPrime
This puzzle feels so unique in its thinking and so interesting to unwind. An incredible challenge but very rewarding. The logic, the aesthetics... everything, you've really outdone yourself with this.
am 30. Oktober 2025, 19:11 Uhr von eladv
what a fun ruleset and execution! Thank you Sotehr!
I loved that there was intricate logic that needed finding out, but not a lot of sudoku needed: mostly just needing to think carefully. For me it was a solid 4*: lots of thinking needed, but I was never quite stuck, and always could make progress if I just thought about what the next deduction might look like. (Then there was a bout of sudoku coming all at once near the end, but it was lovely since it was easy sudoku and just allowed to disambiguate things). This is really my favorite type of puzzle, and among those, it's one of the most fun ones I've solved.
One comment: the solution code description confused me a ton. I couldn't figure out what "the disjoint 2" refers to, and what "the sequence of astrolabe indexing" means. I now understand the solution code, but to me it seems way too confusing even if it's part of the riddle of the puzzle.
am 30. Oktober 2025, 16:40 Uhr von ChinStrap
A lot to internalize but the path felt very well designed and purposeful. You can tell when you've got it. Great addition to the series.
am 30. Oktober 2025, 02:40 Uhr von yellow
very cool!
i assumed that every astrolabe contains a different digit because it was this way in your example although it is not mentioned clearly in the rules.
thanks for setting
- That was a rule that got lost in the many, many revisions. I have re-added it, thank you for bringing it to my attention! - Sotehr
