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For those who don't know how Hexologic works:

You can place one, two or three dots in each blank space and the rows that end in arrows must all add up to the number in the arrow.

Here is Level 45 (easy mode) in Hexologic, which I have been trying to solve for about a week:

enter image description here

For those who don't know what those colored cells mean, if I click a cell that is colored cyan, then every other cell that is colored cyan is automatically filled in.

Also, about those greyed out cells with numbers already in them, that's already a part of the level

Now, the reason I hate this level so much is because there are so many ways that everything can be satisfied. On top of that, there's honestly so much going on that it just hurts to look at.

Is there anything that we can tell is correct right away? Yes, actually:

enter image description here

Here's a brief explanation:

  • First of all, there is only one way to satisfy the 13.
  • Then, we can notice that since we cannot satisfy the 3 if we put 3 dots in one of the cells, that means that there must be a 2 there, and obviously, we can satisfy the 13, 6, and 3 right away.

Then we can do this because there's only one way to satisfy the 4 and the 8:

enter image description here

And then we can satisfy quite a bit more automatically:

enter image description here

Now this is where I am currently stuck because I don't know what to do from here. This is mostly because now this obviously leads to a bunch of Diophantine equations that I am stuck trying to solve so I can deduce the solution logically. (although I hopefully don't have to do so) So my question is:

How can I solve Level 45 (easy) in Hexologic from here?

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  • $\begingroup$ Could you clarify what you mean by "if I click a cell that is colored cyan, then every other cell that is colored cyan is automatically filled in" Do you mean that all cyan cells must have the same amount of dots? $\endgroup$ Commented Dec 19, 2023 at 16:00
  • $\begingroup$ @SembeiNorimaki Basically yes $\endgroup$
    – CrSb0001
    Commented Dec 19, 2023 at 16:07

3 Answers 3

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Next step is the row with 27 sum, so far the remaining sum is 6.

There are two blue cells here, it can't be 3, since there is still one other cell. It can't be 1, since the other cell will need to be 4. So the blue cell is 2, and the other cell is also 2. Then the rest is forced.

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  • $\begingroup$ Yeah I actually just figured that out by accident lol whoops but thanks for the answer $\endgroup$
    – CrSb0001
    Commented Dec 18, 2023 at 15:21
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    $\begingroup$ Yep, no worries. I experienced this too last time I was stuck with a Slitherlink puzzle. Apparently there was still an obvious step that I somehow missed. It happens to all of us! :D $\endgroup$
    – justhalf
    Commented Dec 18, 2023 at 15:22
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Another way to solve it is to look at the 8 and 4-long 7. The 8 has to be 3-2, and the 4-long 7 2-1-1. So, the intersection needs to be 2. The 11 then needs a 3. Which leaves 4 to be divided 2-2 on the 27 line.

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Next, the 6 row on top has a 2, so the other two cells must be 1 and 3, or 2 and 2.

If the 6 row is:
$1 + 3 + 2 = 6$
then the 8 column is:
$8 = 1 + x + 3$
$8 = x + 4$
$4 = x$
which is impossible.

If the 6 row is:
$2 + 2 + 2 = 6$
Then the 8 column is:
$8 = 2 + 3 + 3$
And the 7 column is:
$7 = x + 3 + 3 + 2$
$7 = x + 8$
$-1 = x$
which is impossible.

So it must be:
$3 + 1 + 2 = 6$
$8 = 3 + 2 + 3$
$7 = x + 3 + 2 + 1$

After that, there's a couple of columns with only one missing value. And lastly:

$27 = x + 2 + 3 + 3 + 5 + 2 + 3 + 5 + x$
$27 = 2x + 23$
$4 = 2x$
$2 = x$

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