Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

This puzzle combines Killer Sudoku, Minesweeper, and Snake rules.

1. All cell contents obey normal Sudoku rules: no repeated digits in the rows, columns, or 3x3 boxes.
2. There is a snake in the grid. It starts in a corner cell (R1C1, R1C9, R9C1 or R9C9), and visits all 9 boxes at least once. The snake never crosses itself, nor does it touch itself — not even diagonally.
3. Pale red cells, which do not lie on the snake, contain accurate 'snake-sweeper' clues. They indicate the number of orthogonally OR diagonally neighboring cells that are occupied by the snake (compare the popular 'Minesweeper' game). These 14 snake-sweeper cells contain 2 lots of the digits 1-7. (By definition they cannot contain an 8 or 9). Filling these cells and placing the snake must happen simultaneously. The sweeper values are the final sudoku values.
4. The snake is 35 cells long, and can be broken up into 7 unique 'linear' pentomino segments: one each of I, L, N, U, V, W, and Z (i.e., all the ones without branches or 2x2 regions, see illustration). For the U, N, and W pentominoes a cage sum has been provided.
5. The contents of these linear pentomino segments obey certain restrictions:
   • Two segments contain one repeat digit each. All others, including the N, are true 'killer cages' (no repeat digits).
   • For three segments (not the N), the parities of the head/tail cells differ from those of the middle (e.g., 1-2-4-6-5 or 8-5-7-9-6).
   • NOTE: Any pentomino could be in both these categories.
6. The nonlinear pentominoes F, P, T, X, and Y must also fit into the grid, without overlapping one another, the snake, nor the red cells. Some snake-sweeper clues are provided here, too (two in the F and one each in the P and X), which help to further narrow down the position of the snake. However, most of these are not the final sudoku values. If the snake-sweeper value of a pentomino cell does happen to match the final sudoku value —and only then! — it has been marked blue.
7. All 12 pentominoes can be freely rotated or reflected in order to take up their final positions in the grid.

Once these pentominoes are placed and the values of the blue cells applied, it's just normal Sudoku with cage sums! Enjoy, and thanks for trying my new puzzle!