SudoCue Users

I had believed the blue puzzle was center-dot, same as the 9 puzzles with clues.

I can't get this one to solve with that assumption? I've got 6's in 3 of the center dots?

Thanks,

Amy Grace

Hi Amy

The only grids which are centre dot are the 9 outer ones. The blue one is solvable by standard techniques.

On the Explosion page Ruud quotes each of the 9 Sudokus is also a Center-Dot Sudoku, because the 9 blue cells must also contain digits 1 through 9

Note he didn't say ten grids.

On the blue grid it's locked rows and columns that are helpful in spotting where to apply centre dot techniques in the outer grids. I usually go to the outer grid each time I see one of these locked states come up, while they are fresh in my mind.

I didn't make a note of the solution when I transferred it from Helper so you may be correct anyway. Just check all you grids are consistent with the program. If each Nonet in the blue is correct the outer grids are sure to be centre dot correct for an Explosion.

All the best.

Glyn

Many of the previous explosions used center-dot in the blue square. Not the one from last week, but the week before. Many of the early ones.

Maybe somebody with better vision could do a quick count of how many blue grids have been center dot vs. standard?

However, this would explain why there were a couple weeks I never did get solved, ha ha! I thought they had to be center-dot!

Amy Grace

Your Grace,

Upto last month, I used 2 programs to create the Clueless Explosion puzzles. The first program generated a batch of center-dot sudokus with a specific pattern, and the second program randomly arranged them into a valid Clueless Explosion. As a result, the blue grid was also a center-dot sudoku.

I now use the same program that I also use for the "regular" Clueless, Samurai and the large overlapping puzzles. This program creates the complete puzzle in a single process.

The center-dot constraint is only the result of the way a blue box is positioned in a constituent sudoku. The blue grid does not require a center-dot constraint.

I never realized the people were actually using this "hidden" center-dot in the blue grid. My apologies if this change caused any problems.

Ruud

No apology necessary, Ruud!

These are my all-time favorite puzzles, no matter how you create them.
If you ever do go back to making the blue puzzle center-dot, will you add that to the instructions?

Thanks for creating these fantastic puzzles!

Amy Grace