Sudokle

[JoeP]

Sudoffle #967 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 14m22s
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Got tired & guessed

[slimshady2357]

Sudoffle #967 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 55m10s
Sudoffle

I stopped to make dinner (and eat it), but honestly I was stuck anyway. I came back to it and was still stuck So I made a lucky guess and it was easy after that.

[ceptimus]

I found this browsing in a charity shop this morning, and bought it for three quid.



Looks difficult. The "description" exploded view on the box, though, looks like it might show at least part of the (a ?) solution - though it may also be a red herring. The 6s and 9s on the puzzle seem to be identical to each other - which I guess is intentional?

I may end up writing a computer program to solve it for me, if I get stuck.

[ceptimus]

Sudoffle #968 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 12m42s
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[Ensign Steve]

Sudoffle #968 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 11m12s
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[JoeP]

Sudoffle #968 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 7m49s
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Unaided, quite fast for me. Finger on wrong key, doesn't count.

[slimshady2357]

Sudoffle #968 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 7m33s
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Same as JoeP on all counts

[ceptimus]

I took an initial look at the magnetic 4D Sudoku puzzle.

All the little cubes have magnets, so I wondered if some faces would attract and some repel. But providing you always assemble the cubes in a white/orange checkerboard fashion they always stick together - any orange face to any white face. The orange cubes must have, say, all the north poles facing outwards, and the white cubes the opposite way.

Obviously the cubes only have six faces, but there are nine numbers in Sudoku - or only eight in this variation as 6 and 9 are identical. So some numbers are missing from each cube. Sometimes the same number appears on two different faces of a cube. I've not noticed any cubes yet with three of the same number, but I've only made a cursory inspection.

Nine of the cubes have one blank face, which, I assume, forms the bottom of the base layer of the solution. I don't know why the manufacturer did it that way, unless to make the puzzle easier.

The orientation of the numbers on the faces isn't random. You can always place a cube down on a face such that all four numbers on the sides are the right way up. I thought this might be a clue to which way up the cubes have to be in the solved puzzle, but curiously, when you stand a 'blank face' cube down on its blank face, the side numbers aren't the right way up - to get as many numbers as possible upright, the blank faces have to face sideways.

I think writing a computer program to solve it will be much more interesting than solving it by hand - and will also make it easier to check that there exists a solution, and only one solution.

First problem is to choose a standard orientation of the cubes to enter the cube data. I assume right-way-up numbers on sides, with the number on the top face with its base facing you - but what if the top number is a 6/9 ? Maybe there is a fixed relationship between the top and bottom number orientation, but what if both are 6/9 ? I need to check that first...

[ceptimus]

Sudoffle #969 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 8m41s
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[JoeP]

Sudoffle #969 Sudoffle
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⏲️ 7m59s
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woo hoo