Dr. Sudoku Prescribes #84 – TomTom (Multi-Operation)

TomTom by Thomas Snyder

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)

This is a “Franken-Friday” puzzle variation.

Theme: Spiral

Rules: Variation of TomTom rules, using digits from 1-6. In this variation, equations start at the cell marked by the arrow and proceed cell by cell performing operations in the order they are encountered to equal the value indicated in the last cell. In other words, A+BxC = 18 could be A=5, B=1, C=3 as 5+1 = 6 and 6×3 = 18.

Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left to right, followed by a comma, followed by the 5th row from left to right.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 9:00, Expert = 18:00

Solution: PDF

  • Aaron Chan says:

    Huh, this didn’t feel as hard as the time standards suggest.

  • FoxFireX says:

    Is there a requirement that the interim answers not be negative? I feel like I have a valid solution, but the answer code is judged incorrect.

  • Giovanni P. says:

    Nice visual theme for this one, by the way (perhaps it could be called an Upward Spiral?). I also like how the cages play out a bit differently from each other logic-wise, especially the 8 cage. Nice bits of logic from a puzzle of this size.

  • I was a few minutes shy of the Expert time, which I’ll still take as a win given my general dislike for (and lack of apptitude at) TomToms. It was a pleasurable solve, and I’d be interested in seeing more of this variation in the future.

  • Isukada_sudokus says:

    I was wondering if it is possible to make a multi-operationless!
    I made a small but tough sample of what I mean.
    It has the same rules, but operations and directions are not given!

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByPCvDgDdEobR19BQU1sVEk4R1U/edit

    I am preeeety sure it is unique solution.

    • Avatar photo drsudoku says:

      You’ll need to change your document permissions if you want us to see your operationless example.

    • James McGowan says:

      Yes it has a unique solution, but it is very hard!

      • Isukada_sudokus says:

        thank you, I could not make anything much larger though, because I don’t make puzzles too often.

        I think it would be cool (if we can request puzzle types) if one of doctor/foxger tried to make a larger one

    • ralphmerridew says:

      I found only one answer, as far as digits goes, but the operations were changable.

      • ralphmerridew says:

        Also, you don’t need either of the =0 clues to get a unique solution, digitwise.

  • chaotic_iak says:

    06:11.

    Wonderful variation. It’s really different from usual TomTom puzzles; I think it might deserve its own name (instead of being a variation of TomTom). The logic is really fun, and the theme fantastically doesn’t affect the logic (like, my puzzles tend to either pursue aesthetics or difficulty; I am rarely able to do both, yet this one has both).

    Also, for the multi-operationless puzzle, what’s the range of the numbers? 1-4?

  • skynet says:

    close to 20mins .Nice Puzzle

  • Naama says:

    For some reason, in my PDF all times symbols appeared as blanks. I thought it is part of the game as sometimes in TomTom you don’t get all the symbols. I managed to solve the whole outer frame and got stuck so checked again the special directions and since there were blanks too where X should be, I figured that all the missing signs are times (and finished the rest pretty quickly).
    Thanks for the puzzles!

    • Avatar photo drsudoku says:

      I’m sorry to hear of your difficulties with the file. I’ve received a similar comment on another TomTom PDF a couple weeks ago with a single missing multiplication symbol. It seems some PDF viewers, particularly FireFox’s, have problems with the multiplication glyph I’ve used in these which may not exist if the Helvetica font is being replaced. We recommend using Adobe Reader for 100% compatibility. But without needing to make a software change, please be aware that I’ve not posted a TomTom with only some operations (they either are all there or none are there) so if you are missing a couple in the future it is probably worth rechecking the puzzle image online to see what is going on.

      I hope you continue to enjoy the puzzles.

      • Naama says:

        Thanks for the tip!

        I found your website a short time ago and I got to say that I sleep less ever since 😉

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