Erica 15
(Published on 25. November 2025, 17:25 by SennyK)
Puzzle has been featured on Timotab YouTube channel: link
Another very approachable classic Erica ;-)
I hope you will enjoy and I would be really grateful for all the comments and ratings.
Normal sudoku rules apply.
German whisper: Neighbouring/adjacent digits along a green line have a difference of at least 5.
V: Digits in cells joined by a V sum to 5. Not all Vs are given.
If you liked this puzzle, I recommend trying out my other puzzles: The Erica Series:★☆☆☆☆: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 12, 15, 17, 23, 26, 27
★★☆☆☆: 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25
★★★☆☆: 9, 19, 21, 22 Shading/Ying-Yang:
★★☆☆☆: Pretty Odd Shaded Area
★★★☆☆: (+5)-Yang, Negative 8 YY
★★★★★: Why-Why? Fog of War:
★☆☆☆☆: Erica 12, Erica 17
★★☆☆☆: It's What You Do in the Dark That Puts You in the Light, Find It All, What the Fog?, Erica 20
★★★☆☆: Broken Flashlight in the Dark Pencil Puzzle/Sudoku Hybrid:
★★☆☆☆: Masyu (Short) Sudoku
★★★☆☆: Tetromino Sudoku
Various Puzzles:
★☆☆☆☆: Blown Fuses in Electrical Installation, Let Me Introduce Myself, French Wrench
★★☆☆☆: Symmetrical Fan, Night Club, Important Hour on the Clock, What Was the Sum Again?, Disgroup Joints, 10-Arrows, Antiking Dutch Skyscrapers
★★★☆☆: Cops & Robbers, Positive Symmetry, Doppelgänger Killer 1-25
★★★★☆: Liars. Liars Everywhere.
Solution code: Fifth (5th) column of the grid from top to bottom.
Comments
on 20. December 2025, 14:54 by elloschmello
Nice puzzle! What are you supposed to enter as the solution code? I think you accidentally pasted the YouTube link where the solution code was supposed to be.
SK: Thank you for catching it! I have indeed put the link in the German solution code description, so it was working for non-German users, but I guess German users saw only the link. Now you should see correct solution code desription in english!
on 1. December 2025, 02:51 by MTFlowCzq
1*? Really? I think it's 2* (at least) for me
on 30. November 2025, 16:50 by TomT
Took a minute for the break in. Smooth once I got rolling.
on 29. November 2025, 08:08 by timyoth
Nice! I do think there is an easy way to make it a big more challenging. The V gives an incredible amount of info, which is not needed. A single > in the grid would also resolve the puzzle while keeping a bigger challenge. Just a thought
SK: Thank you for a comment! I try to keep on posting some easy puzzles in this series so that everybody could find something for theiselves, so in some puzzles I do give extra clues to make them easier, while in others I limit the clues to the minimum :-)
on 28. November 2025, 17:52 by lsmooth
I think as well, this is a great puzzle. But I also think it is not 1 star. Yes, if you have experience, the break in should be easy. But I too think for a beginner it is not that obvious.
on 27. November 2025, 11:19 by maggers85
I'm fairly new to sudoku variants, but for what it's worth this is the first 1 star puzzle that I haven't been able to finish.
SK: Thank you for the comment! Difficulty was decided by solvers. You can check below comment of VitP with the hint. I also recommend solving first Erica 2 and then Erica 1, they are much easier :-)
on 27. November 2025, 06:35 by Cyprane
Very interesting puzzle. Surprised how much was possible with just that single V clue. Thank you.
on 26. November 2025, 16:25 by Winterbeard
Thank you, VitP, for the right hint at the right time. Adding to the star rating debate, I agree the rest of the puzzle is one star- so should the puzzle be rated by its hardest move or more generally? I don’t think I would have got it with out that hint
on 26. November 2025, 11:05 by Myfyr MJ
Very nice and easy, fun puzzle.
on 26. November 2025, 08:16 by Winterbeard
Thank you, VitP, for the right hint at the right time. Adding to the star rating debate, I agree the rest of the puzzle is one star- so should the puzzle be rated by its hardest move or more generally? I don’t think I would have got it with out that hint
on 26. November 2025, 07:16 by superkinkel
Very nice one, but I concur with the 2 star rating. The mere fact that polarity is obvious and you can exclude quite a few 4s and 6s only gets you so far. The next step isn’t so obvious.
I disagree with VitP: It’s not the hardest question obviously, but it’s harder than your typical one star question.
on 26. November 2025, 04:26 by VitP
in order for this puzzle to qualify for level 1, you need to be able to take a beginner, tell them to use the standard prescriptions of the gw variant plus basic sudoku, and let them run with it.
is that enough?
the critical question arises in rows 8,9.
where can you put 4s?
and, because there is a very easy answer, and the rest of the puzzle flows smoothly from that, this IS level 1.
on 26. November 2025, 04:00 by macintux
There’s one very subtle deduction that brought progress to a complete halt relatively early, so I guess I’d agree with the 2 star rating others have suggested, although the overall time was in line with a 1 star.
Loved the puzzle regardless.
on 26. November 2025, 01:34 by fishsaltyak
Tough one! 2 Star for me.
on 26. November 2025, 00:05 by GeorgeTheToad2
The series just gets better.
on 25. November 2025, 23:18 by wuc
The real break in is 2* to me. Very enjoyable. Great setting thx.
on 25. November 2025, 17:54 by hardline35
Very enjoyable to solve. Thanks!
on 25. November 2025, 17:42 by thomamas
Lovely flow, thank you!
