Feeding Friendsy: A Slither of Cake
(Eingestellt am 16. September 2026, 00:30 Uhr von Laake)
Oh uh intro time yay! I was one of the lucky setters invited to be a part of this project for Marty's birthday, This is the fourth puzzle in this series, and supposedly they're roughly ordered by difficulty. Which is probably a scary sign of things to come.
But lets not worry about the future, that's future you's problem. Present you has a puzzle to solve here and now, with the main character being Snaake the Snake (yes a very inspired name I know), will you be able to help him reach the birthday cake?
Normal sudoku rules apply. Fill the grid with the digits 1-9 so that digits don't repeat in a row, column or 3x3 box (marked with dotted lines).
#FRIENDSHIPGOALS: It's time to party like it's 1997! Help Snaake the... snake to take the cake by finding a path that is not fake! The path must not visit any cell more than once, cross itself or pass through any thick maze walls.
As well as moving orthogonally, Snaake may move diagonally — if there's a 2x2 space in which to do so — but may never pass diagonally through the squared end / corner of a wall.
WORMHOLES: Entering a Wormhole will cause Snaake to be instantly transported to the matching coloured Wormhole. From there he can continue his journey. Wormholes are not required to share digits.
ONE-WAY DOORS: Snaake may only pass directly through a dark green arrow if moving in the direction the arrow is pointing. An arrow always points to the smaller of the two digits it sits between.
WHITE PELLETS: Digits separated by a white diamond contain consecutive digits. Not all possible white pellets have been given. ALL white pellets in the grid must be consumed along Snaake's path.
BLACK PELLETS: Digits separated by a black diamond have a 1:2 ratio (one is double the other). Not all possible black pellets have been given. They do not need to be consumed.
TRIALS and TRAILS: In this test of friendship, box borders and wormholes divide Snaake's path into segments. A segment total is calculated by summing its digits. For two segments that are visited adjacently along Snaake's path, their totals always have the same difference; to be deduced. Good luck!
Lösungscode: Row 8 please if you don't mind!
Kommentare
Heute, 06:57 Uhr von GrouseHound
My first 5 star puzzle!!!
I'm insanely happy I was able to do this one, as I wanted to be involved in this emerging series!
Heute, 01:34 Uhr von mscha
Snake Slither!
A beautiful break-in, but I must admit that I hadn't cracked it by myself yet over the past few days. But only one small hint from Simon was all I needed.
After the break-in, it was relatively smooth sailing, and an hour or so later, the puzzle was finally finished!
Not sure if I'm still looking forward to the rest of the series, if it gets even more difficult...
am 19. September 2026, 08:13 Uhr von Norkas
Wow, I really enjoyed that. This was the most original break in I have seen in some time and the remaining solve was the right mix of smooth and crunchy.
am 18. September 2026, 21:58 Uhr von sorryimLate
Thank you very much for this extraordinary 4* puzzle!
However, "wormholes divide the path into segments" is unclear. I would suggest adding: if a path segment enters or exits a wormhole, the digit in the wormhole cell is included in that segment's sum.
am 18. September 2026, 15:57 Uhr von kasperd
Nice puzzle. Difficulty 4½ stars.
am 18. September 2026, 06:33 Uhr von The Pi Guy
I’ve finally got my head around the opening following some Discord help and a lot of hard thinking. Much as it’s super clever, it is undoubtedly a 5 star difficulty step and the puzzle should be rated 5 stars, not 4. Look forward to the rest of the solve. ❤️
Edit: Managed to solve it in just under 2 hours. Some seriously interesting logic in there but it was really tricky trying to keep track of everything as you had to draw over the diamonds yet not forget to use them. A solid brain workout.
am 17. September 2026, 21:10 Uhr von cybers
Phew!! That required quite the effort. Had some wonderful moments and never gave up its secrets entirely. An enjoyable challenge.
am 17. September 2026, 18:58 Uhr von heliopolix
Tricksssy! Thanks for setting, mate!
am 17. September 2026, 15:00 Uhr von amirs
Such a beautiful interesting puzzle. The break-in deductions weren't easy but they were clever and fair and felt obvious once you saw them, so 4* feels reasonable to me.
am 17. September 2026, 12:13 Uhr von AshBrown
Proud if myself for breaking into that. One of the routes was very Martyish.
Seems a lot of people just didnt read the rules on this...
am 17. September 2026, 10:51 Uhr von bboom
Great puzzle! Truly felt like a rat run to me in the way the deductions came from all sort of different places, and in the way it made me think "well this path is clearly impossible" about 5 times.
am 17. September 2026, 08:38 Uhr von switzerjw
Beautiful puzzle, although I think the dots are too small. I got stuck for a while not noticing a lot of the dots. They are barely bigger than the line tool (especially r34c4 blends into the box border under the line).
am 17. September 2026, 04:06 Uhr von The Pi Guy
I see that the reason I wasn’t able to solve the puzzle before was because of the wormhole issue. Thanks for the clarification, I’ll give it another go.
Nope, still no good. This is a 5 star puzzle by the way, how is anyone rating it 4 stars?! It’s insanely hard!
am 17. September 2026, 01:10 Uhr von ViKingPrime
For the clarification of future solvers, until the wordings can be updated: the wormhole divides the path into segments, those segments are adjacent to each other.
am 16. September 2026, 23:59 Uhr von Christounet
Great puzzle! Awesome opening sequence.
Indeed the line division and how wormholes affect the same difference rule could be more clearly formulated. I assumed that the line worked as if it were continuous, ie not interrupted by the wormholes, and therefore the 2 segments joined by a wormhole are considered adjacent.
Also, that puzzle deserves a higher rating. Looking forward to the next puzzles! Thanks :)
am 16. September 2026, 23:52 Uhr von LunchEntity
I think I need some clarity on how wormholes affect the line division. Say I crossed a box border, pass through cell A and cell B, and then enter a wormhole (call it C), come out in another wormhole (D), enter one more cell (E), then cross another box border. What are the segments from that stretch of five cells? I have been assuming A/B/C is one segment and D/E is the other; is that correct? Or are A/B and C in different segments because they're separated by the wormhole?
am 16. September 2026, 22:09 Uhr von blackjackfitz
Huzzah! What an awesome break in that is.
am 16. September 2026, 14:33 Uhr von vukkarak
I won't be very popular here, but I did not like this one. The design was bad for me, after drawing parts of the path I didn't see the small white dots took unnecessary time to continue. I know it is my fault that I did not read the description carefully, but I do not like changing rules, e.g. teleports should have same numbers.
am 16. September 2026, 11:06 Uhr von Snookerfan
Brilliant puzzle! I really liked the 2 part break-in, which defined the sums. Thanks!
am 16. September 2026, 10:36 Uhr von marty_sears
@Saltintensity: yes :p
am 16. September 2026, 08:26 Uhr von Saltensity
Quite a hard but brilliantly constructed puzzle, if this is only the 4th puzzle and sorted by difficulty, is the last one gonna be monstrous?! Anyways, this puzzle requires you to be quite sharp so I'm happy I solved it. ^w^
am 16. September 2026, 08:05 Uhr von Laake
Try the rules now, idk how we missed that
am 16. September 2026, 07:32 Uhr von QuiltyAsCharged
Taake a bow, this is a gorgeous puzzle! It's certainly not a caakewalk. I'm feeling shaaky thinking about the chapters to come in this series.
(Edit: Thanks for updating the rules regarding wormholes.)
Also I just wanted to add, there is a deduction early on in this puzzle that really baaked my noodle (in a good way!)
am 16. September 2026, 04:11 Uhr von alconja
"Box borders divide the path of the snake into segments" => do wormholes also divide the path? (Or is that a deliberate ambiguity that resolves itself during the solve?)
am 16. September 2026, 03:42 Uhr von Thanos13
Wow that was a rough journey (2 hours)! Very difficult but fascinating logic to start the puzzle. There were a few times where I couldn't see the dots resulting into me getting stuck (maybe thats just me though lol). Other than that I loved it! Thank you!
am 16. September 2026, 03:03 Uhr von raaaaa
The puzzles are interesting, but I think the rule descriptions need to be a little clearer.
am 16. September 2026, 01:52 Uhr von The Pi Guy
Sorry Lake, I love wordplay but this puzzle was above me. I found one very clever deduction though so at least it was worth the attempt. ❤️
am 16. September 2026, 01:27 Uhr von ViKingPrime
Snaake the Snake? That's the silliest name one could make.
