From the Foxger’s Den #13: Sudoku (Seek and Spell)
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools)
This is a “Twisted Tuesday” puzzle variation.
Theme: Doctor Sudo-Who?
Rules: Standard Sudoku rules except that instead of the numbers 1-9 this puzzle uses the letters in “WORD BATCH”. Also, clues in the grid represent typical “Seek and Spell/Kanaore” clues; specifically, it must be possible to read each of the words/phrases listed below the grid by starting at the indicated number, moving one cell in the direction indicated by the arrow, and then continuing to move one cell at a time up, down, left, or right to complete the word/phrase. No cell may be used more than once in a single path, but the same cell can appear in the paths of different words/phrases.
Answer String: Enter the 1st column from top to bottom, followed by a comma, followed by the 5th column from top to bottom. Use all capital letters.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 5:00, Master = 7:00, Expert = 14:00
Solution: PDF
I enjoyed this one, but found it a very straight forward and relatively fast solve.
Which makes me curious if there is something else hidden in there, especially with all the talk of puzzle hunts 🙂
It’s a Twisted Tuesday, not a Franken-Friday. You can usually expect Twisted Tuesday puzzles to be on the easier side of the scale than Franken-Friday puzzles.
This puzzle is a tribute to a TV show on BBC, and nothing more. No hidden puzzle hunt things. (By the way, shout outs to Alsek for introducing me to the show. Maybe someday I’ll watch more than that one awesome episode and become a genuine Whovian!)
Hmm, maybe I was thinking it should have been harder because of the times. I was easily inside of the Master time and was not trying to go quickly.
And the show is amazing, I’m assuming you were watching the new series?
The puzzle just takes time to get through but not necessarily difficult thought. The time spread was pretty small actually, but I boosted the Master and Expert times a bit since 5:00 for GM and 5:45 for M seemed too close.
I also may have forgotten it was Tuesday, I have a tendency to only be able to visit the site and solve puzzles in batches.
Regardless of any of my griping, I did like this puzzle, and would enjoy seeing more like it.
As a recent convert to the Doctor’s cause, I approve of this puzzle :D. Cute little tribute, especially with the show’s golden anniversary coming up.
Why do I have the hunch the “awesome episode” Grant mentions is “Blink”?
“The Eleventh Hour”, actually. To me, “Blink” is a level in Chip’s Challenge, and nothing more.
Back to our regularly scheduled logic puzzle?
How do you guys keep track of the letters efficiently? I ended up writing out the letters and having to check what letters is/isn’t there, costing precious time.
Personally, I kept the phrase “WordBatch” in my head while I worked through it, and used it the same way I would a numerical sequence when checking areas.
If there’s not a word or phrase to help me remember, I have been known to transcribe the entire puzzle into numbers instead of letters because I, too, take a big efficiency hit when trying to make sure they are all there. Sometimes a stray, random letter will even find its way into the puzzle when I’m not paying attention!
I didn’t need to convert to numbers today, but I did with the April 1st puzzle.
Maybe if I’d given “EARN KUDOS” as a phrase you wouldn’t have needed to transcribe there? One flaw I find with wordoku, which sometimes have an anagram to find a row or column gimmick, is that in trying to find a good way to remember the letter set in my head I stumble upon the special answer too soon. Here Grant gave me WORD BATCH so I went with it, particularly since it is probably the best of a rather small list of choices with just the two vowels. I guess BATH CROWD is a reasonable phrase too.
Well, that list below the grid is a word batch. 🙂
10:23!
Another one of fox’ special.Out of the puzzles thrown by the fox namely Masyu ,Cross the streams and then this one,my favourite is sudoku Seek and spell.The earlier seek was prescribed by the doctor i think.I managed to bisect master and expert times because of an accident.I initially placed a letter in a cell assuming it to be the only place.But as things turned out i had bifurcated and obtained a contradiction within 3 -4 moves and it helped me very much in the solve.
It would be very nice if i could solve puzzles too at a good pace as sudokus.
More seek and spell needed from the witty fox after cross the streams.
Maybe the answer string instructions should say “in capitals”. I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong.
Change made. I will also add case-insensitivity to a short list of things that might be nice to include in the answer checker.