June Patreon Reward - the Planets Suite

The original rules say there is only 1 special cell per box. And, they say that a cage can have a maximum of 9. That means a box must have more than 1 special cell.. which is a contradiction. I'm going with one per box

Got it, thanks

There are two types of cell mentioned: special cells and caged cells. Special cells sum up the digits in the caged cells in their row and column. Caged cells count the NUMBER of special cells in their immediate area (any cell they touch horizontally, vertically or diagonally, including themselves).

Cracking The Cryptic

I don't get it either

Hi guys. I've just started to play and the first problem has arisen. I don't really understand how the special rule (not thermo) works for the first puzzle. Would be delighted to get help to understand it. Thanks

Ahh okay, thanks! I didn’t realise they were paired grey sets and related to each other. I’ll give this a go now :)

i genuinely don't see how this is different than "guess and check"? i put in one puzzle's box 6 into jupiter (to make use of the only clue) and tested for contradictions with that box by seeing where i could put other puzzles' boxes. if you mean something other than this type of brute force, i don't see it.

Benny Ng

Thank you! It made sense to me after reading this.

ARDavis

just imagine copy and pasting the whole 2 by 2 square to the other one, and the same with the 1 by 2 to the other 1 by 2.

for example, if you found that row 4 column 4 is an 8, then row 8 column 8 would also be an 8. same for row 4 column 5 to row 8 column 9, and so on and so on.

Indeed, 360 compatibility checks of pair of boxes from different puzzles was a bit tedious... Once it was done, however, the puzzle itself was trivial.

Could someone explain the grey clones rule in the martian? I’m confused with where the clones would be located

Any clues on the right hand side of the Martian? I've got the red loop figured out on the left 2/3, but am having trouble forcing out any restrictions for the third column.

I'm also resorting to guess and check. I can't wait to see the logic behind it play out. I can't conceive of anything so I'm profoundly curious

So I actually solved the whole puzzle which was awesome thanks whoever designed it. There were some really head scratching moments but mostly pretty good. I do admit though, on the earth puzzle I half solved it and then just started going forward and backward till I found a solution. I'd love to see if anyone can show how this puzzle is solved with pure logic.

Sorry I'm way late on getting to these puzzles. I thought I'd drop a hint for those confused by mercury, as my cousin was also stuck there. Think about "The digit in a cage shows the number of special cells in the immediate vicinity" and that there is only 1 special cell in any row column or box, and what this means about the cages. Trying not to make it too obvious but hopefully this unsticks some people. Feel free to delete this comment if I'm stepping over the line.

No

Am also super stuck on this, I can't seem to identify any logic to it and don't know if I'm missing out something

in the mercury rising puzzle, can digits repeat on a thermometer?

I tried to mark, which boxes could coexist in the same row or column. Surprisingly this eliminated so many options, that no guessing was needed in the end

Markus Zocholl

Is there a better method for the By Jove puzzle than just lots of guess and check?

Really good reward this month, except for By Jove! I think that was a real let down.

Jason Veale

Thanks. That was just the reassurance I needed. I took another look at what was causing my 34 simultaneous cell and realized that I could arrange the special cells in a different order and, presto, it all unfolded nicely. Still think that throwaway “maximum of 9” in the instructions was a bit misleading.

Martin M

The cages count the special cells that they touch. There can be only one special cell in any row, column or box. So there are severe limits to the cages :)

Alexander Herges

I’m also having trouble understanding Mercury Rising. I’ve read down through some of the hints above and I’ll give them a go. My immediate conundrum is believing that a cage cell could have a value of anything more than 3 let alone 9. And yet, with that in my mind, I find that I have a cage that must simultaneously be a 3 and a 4.

Martin M

I am also confused by the rule set. Could someone just give a fabricated example? Thanks.