Bonjour guzzleurs!
Today’s puzzle comes from France. It is called Garam, and provides some spice for the brain....
Like Sudoku, you need to write numbers in a grid. And the rules are self explanatory. Fill in the squares with single digits so that each line and column is a valid equation. Two digit numbers cannot begin with a 0.
I have four examples of increasing difficulty. You might want to print them out, and in that case click here for a printable version. Otherwise here are the first two:
The name Garam sadly has nothing to do with with Indian curry powder but is an amalgamation of Gaëlle and Ramsés: the latter, Ramsés Bounkeo Safo, is the 28-year-old French inventor of the puzzle; the former is his fiancée.
Garam has been fêted with a prestigious French award. The Concours Lépine, which has been going since 1901, is an annual competition for inventors. Its winning inventions include, for example, a machine for pureeing vegetables by the man who went on to found Moulinex. At the 2016 concours, Garam was awarded a gold medal.
I find Garam a very satisfying puzzle. It’s a mixture of logic and basic arithmetic. Here are the more difficult ones. Bonne chance!
If you are getting stuck, it can help to write down all the possible numbers in each cell as you proceed to the solution. Think Liberty, Equality and Parity!
I’ll post the solutions (with some extra hints) at 5pm today.
UPDATE: Read the solutions here.
I set a puzzle here every two weeks on a Monday. I’m always on the look-out for great puzzles. If you would like to suggest one, email me.
Thanks to Ramsés Bounkeo Safo for today’s puzzles. For more Garam puzzles check out his website.
My latest book is Puzzle Ninja, which includes more than 200 original, handmade Japanese logic puzzles, as well as background material about Japanese puzzle culture.
.jpg){kind=link}