Dr. Sudoku Prescribes #101 – Battleships (Minesweeper)
or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools; use tab to alternate between ship placement and shading modes. In ship placement mode, right click gives sea, left click gives circle/square, left click and drag for rounded ships.)
This is a “Franken-Friday” puzzle variation.
Theme: All Mine
Rules: Variation of standard Battleships rules. Instead of exterior clues, clues inside the grid indicate the number of adjacent squares, including diagonally adjacent squares, containing ship segments. Ships do not sit on cells with numbers.
Answer String: For each row from top to bottom, enter the number of the first column from the left where a ship segment appears. If the row is empty, enter 0. Enter these numbers as a single string with no separators.
Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 4:30, Expert = 9:00
Solution: PDF
1:30. The 4s in the bottom are key to the solution.
06:15 sigh.
Apparently I don’t follow Anuraag’s solution. I was stuck for about three minutes, thinking of a good opening. I finally made it starting from the 5.
Great variation, great puzzle, great opening.
If I had left a hint in the comments, I would have pointed to the two center clues and saying figuring out how to satisfy those will get the whole rest of the puzzle started. The rest sort of flows from there so I wouldn’t draw particular attention anywhere else.
I didnt say 4s were the opening.They influenced how the left–middle worked out in the end.