We're back drawing whisper loops on the grid... but this time, appropriately enough for a whisper, you have to be sneaky about it! Don't let yourself be seen!
Sudoku: Normal Sudoku rules apply.
Creeping Around: Draw a one-cell-wide loop through the grid which moves orthogonally and does not touch itself, not even diagonally, and which visits every row, column and box at least once. Any two cells adjacent to each other on the loop must differ by at least 5. The loop may not enter any cell seen and/or occupied by any Security Camera, Policeman or Traffic Officer, as per the rules below.
Security Cameras: These are numbered clues outside the grid. They occupy no cells, and see cells according to skyscraper rules - they see all cells in their row or column for which there is no larger cell in between the seen cell and the clue.
Policemen: These are arrows inside the grid. They occupy the cell with the arrow(s), and additionally see D further cells in the direction of each arrow, where D is the digit in the policeman's cell, regardless of the digit the seen cell contains.
Traffic Officers: These are found around circles inside the grid. They occupy the smallest of the four cells surrounding the circle, and see no other cells. Furthermore, the circle is a roundabout; the digits strictly increase from the traffic officer's position going either clockwise or anticlockwise around the circle; you must determine in which direction for each roundabout.
Solution code: Row 5
on 1. January 2026, 20:21 by EdTheAlchemist
Updated rules and SudokuPad link to explain the rules more clearly! I'm sorry for any confusion.
on 1. January 2026, 19:48 by gdc
Very nice puzzle. I liked the themeing of a hidden path and the logic around that felt very fresh. Closer to 3* in my opinion.
Just like Acamaeda, I initially misread the rule about the squares. I would suggest to reword that; or give a short example.
on 1. January 2026, 19:44 by gdc
@Acamaeda: The police just have a vision in the direction of the arrow independent of any "skyscraper logic". So a 4 in r1c8 would block r2c8-r5c8 from the path.
on 1. January 2026, 19:32 by Acamaeda
It's not clear what the police are measuring, or what counts as blocking their vision. I tried testing some numbers and the correct answers didn't make any sense.