Dr. Sudoku Prescribes #33 – Skyscrapers
Theme: Either/or — a hard solving theme despite so many clues.
Rules: Standard Skyscrapers rules.
Answer String: Enter the 3rd row from left-to-right, followed by a comma, followed by the 4th column from top-to-bottom.
Time Standard: Skyscrapers Grandmaster = 3:00, Master = 5:30, Expert = 11:00
Note: Advice on solving this puzzle, and also constructing Skyscraper puzzles, has now been posted in “Ask Dr. Sudoku #6”
Well this is good practise in understanding the 2 clue. Done enough skyscrapers, so the Grandmaster time was easily beaten.
On a minor note, there will be a week where I don’t have to resolve any puzzles to get the “solved” check mark.
Kudos to Para. I wasted so much time (probably 7-8 minutes) before focusing on the power of the 2 clues. Broke down shortly after that kicked in. Solid puzzle though. Good practice, good design.
Thanks.
TheSubro
Nice clue layout, good solution path, and no bifurcation needed – what more can a puzzler ask for? Thanks a lot!
Wonderful construction. I particularly enjoyed the fact that, despite the heavy restrictions from the layout, each clue seems to have a fair share of the solving path.
RV
I’m not gonna lie. This one took me a while to get the hang of. But I know that Skyscrapers isn’t one of my strongest puzzles, and feel like I learned (or more fully internalized) something about 2′s in the process. And I definitely enjoyed the solve and appreciated the design.
15 : 21 s
Got to understand one golden rule whose efficacy cannot be understated in this puzzle
“When a 2 is given outside as a clue the second cell nearest to the clue cannot be 5″
This golden rule is what helped me break this puzzle.After 5-6 mins of fruitless search suddenly hit on this and finished it in the end.
Really hard theme to construct.I have not run into such a bizarre solve ever.The use of 2s was quite constraining,as it also caused the filling in of digits as small as 1s early on.Great puzzle