Dr. Sudoku Prescribes #149 – Cave
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to shift between shading mode and the linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s)
Theme: Grouped Clues
Answer String: Enter the length in cells of each of the cave segments from left to right for the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 4:15, Expert = 8:30
Solution: PDF
Note: Follow this link for other classic Caves. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Cave Puzzles to get started on.
I wonder if anyone will try to solve it as a Fillomino…
Before I saw this comment, as a goof I actually did try to solve it as a Fillomino (almost certainly solvable but non-unique), then edit it into a working Fillomino (no luck, but I’ve never constructed one before).
I heard about Grandmaster Puzzles this weekend. I’m no where near expert level (though thanks to the anti-checkerboard tip, I did solve this one in twice expert time). Just want to say I appreciate this site.
Do people like to fill the cave or fill the walls when doing Cave puzzles?
Personally, I mark inside and outside the cave (filling both with different colours in software, similar to what the doctor does (http://www.grandmasterpuzzles.com/images/11/corral-2007.jpg) on paper).
If I shade, I tend to shade the outside (walls). On the other hand, I’ve also started thinking them as loop puzzles more than I used to (which is how the genre started). That means sometimes I don’t really shade at all, though putting little dots in “confirmed interior” and X’s through “confirmed exterior” cells is still often handy.
I use the same notation as the good doctor, except I use X’s to cross out numbers. I used loop edges in the past, but I find the shading method more useful in deducing logic.
I agree that this puzzle is usually most suitable for shading, unlike most other loop puzzles. I’d be curious though to hear about see some puzzles which force you do do both – these are one example: http://thegriddle.net/ppp/.
I do both shading and loop-drawing for some Slitherlink variants, like sheep and wolves, or the “Outside Knapp Deneben Slitherlink” that went up on Croco this weekend.
14:42