Consecutive Sudoku

Yet another Sudoku puzzle variation – it’s somewhat similar to “greater/less than” puzzles but completely new solving methods are required to solve it. It is called Consecutive Sudoku, although I’ve seen it under the name “Disallowed Number Place”. You start with very few givens (in fact I have created these puzzles with only a single starting clue), but you also have marks between cells that contain consecutive numbers. These are marked with a thick pipe symbol | between cells. Don’t think these are too easy. They can be made extremely difficult to solve! Apart from the obvious methods for solving these (if you have solved a cell with number 1, and there is a | symbol, you know that adjacent cell must be 2), here are a few hints to help you out: 1. Use pencil marks and apply “pipes” to them. If a cell, for one reason or another, can contain, for example, only 5 or 8, and there is a pipe, you know that the cell next to it can contain only 4 or 6 or 7 or 9. 2. Where there is no pipe – it’s also a clue! Don’t forget to use it! If you solved a cell with number 4 and there is no pipe, you know that the cell next to it can’t be neither 3 nor 5! The second hint is very important. In fact it is possible to make puzzles with no consecutive numbers in it – so the puzzle looks like regular sudoku, but there are only, for example, 8 clues! If you didn’t know that puzzle was “consecutive” you would think it is impossible to solve. More about that when I construct and post one such puzzle. 🙂 Okey dokey, here is the puzzle:

Consecutive Sudoku for Monday, April 24.

(click to download or right-click to save the image!)

To see the solution to this puzzle click here