Precious Stones In Murky Waters
(Published on 23. July 2026, 17:50 by Kjupatrick)
Precious Stones in Murky Waters by Patrick Junke
Rules:
Place each of the digits from 1 to 9 in every row and every column.
Two orthogonally adjacent cells have a sum:
- of 3 if there is a Emerald between them (green symbol).
- of 10 if there is a Sapphire between them (blue symbol).
- of 12 if there is a Ruby between them (red symbol).
- of 17 if there is a Diamond between them (white symbol).
- different from 3, 10, 12, and 17 if there is no gem between them.
Cells are either 'river' or 'land'. No 2x2 block can be entirely river or entirely land. All river cells are orthogonally connected.
An arrow indicates a cove, a river cell that is orthogonnaly adjacent to only one other river cell, and is pointing to it. A cell without an arrow cannot be a cove.
Land cells form 'islands' of seven orthogonally connected cells each. Islands do not touch, even diagonally. All islands contain the same set of seven different digits.
Two orthogonally adjacent cells are of opposite types - one is river, the other is land - if they have a Sapphire between them (blue symbol). (All combinations of types are allowed for two orthogonally adjacent cells without a Sapphire between them.)
Negative rules reminder:
- All arrows are given.
- All gem symbols are given.
Here is a link to a SudokuPad version of the grid.
Solution code: The 9 digits of the first row from left to right
Comments
on 24. September 2026, 19:59 by yuripuppies
Very different ruleset from my usual! I found it quite challenging but very fun. It took me a few tries to figure out the best approach -- finding the islands was easy enough, but putting out the first numbers was a struggle. Once I got the hang of it, and like 5 coloring schemes later, it once again became very fluid and smooth (heh, fluid)
Patrick> Hey, hello yuripuppies and thank you for your feedback !
on 3. September 2026, 08:54 by Kjupatrick
- An obvious rule for my usual labyrinth constructions was missing: the fact that the arrow POINTS to the only adjacent cell it touches.
- Words "connected" and "adjacent" was equally used. Now, "connected" is used more to refere to extended notion of orthogonnaly reachable thru the same area/group, "adjacent" to immediate neighbors.
Corrected here and in the linked app.
Huge thanks to Bremster.
on 24. July 2026, 07:39 by QuiltyAsCharged
That was superb! Mapping out the islands was fun, and then placing all the digits was quite the challenge
Patrick> Thank you! Glad you are here to give a review.
