Chaos Construction: Battlefield
(Published on 16. December 2021, 13:25 by Jesper)
Rules
1. Divide the grid into nine orthogonally connected regions, each containing nine cells.
2. Each row, column and region must contain the digits 1 to 9 once each.
3. All four cells surrounding a white circle belong to the same region. All white circles are given.
4. For any row or column with a clue outside the grid (number or ?), the following applies:
- Consider the first X and last Y cells, where X is the digit in the first cell and Y is the digit in the last cell
- The clue outside the grid gives the sum of the digits where these groups overlap, or the sum of the digits in the gap between these groups
- The entire overlap/gap belongs to a single region, and any cells immediately before or after the overlap/gap within the row/column do not belong to this region
- A question mark can stand for any positive integer (but cannot be zero)
Example (7x7):
The puzzle follows:
Penpa+: Chaos Construction: Battlefield
The solution check requires that all digits are entered in the grid.
SudokuPad: Chaos Construction: Battlefield
-------
Solution code: Row 2 followed by row 3
Comments
on 13. February 2024, 21:35 by Myxo
Awesome puzzle!
on 13. October 2023, 20:09 by Snookerfan
Magnificent! Thank you
on 14. May 2023, 04:32 by dennischen
Everyone (including me) is loving how you worked with the Battlefield clues but can I just say, it's amazing just how powerful the white dots are :)
on 5. March 2023, 22:12 by Niverio
Fascinating puzzle!
on 14. September 2022, 21:34 by StephenR
An epic struggle for me. I first attempted it about 3 months ago, broke it twice and gave up. Came back to it today, broke it again (in a different way, just for variety) before being able to backtrack and finally solve it. Brilliant puzzle.
EDIT @StephenR: Congratulations on finishing the solve! I am happy to hear that you liked it /Jesper
on 11. July 2022, 22:56 by Christounet
Wonderful ! You are a true master of chaos ! And a chaotic battlefield is kinda pleonastic, but double the fun nonetheless !
on 20. June 2022, 19:15 by KNT
An awesome puzzle. This makes me want to play around with battlefield..
on 4. April 2022, 09:09 by Statistica
Großartig! Hat eine Menge Spaß gemacht.
on 3. January 2022, 21:31 by Jesper
@zetamath: Thanks! Sure, I do not mind at all if you solve this (or any other of my puzzles) on your stream.
on 3. January 2022, 19:38 by zetamath
A beautiful looking puzzle. Can I have your permission to do this (and perhaps other puzzles by you) on my stream?
on 23. December 2021, 01:42 by filuta
Omg this was intense, perhaps for someone exeperienced (maybe with this battlefield ruleset) this is 4 stars, but for me this was a huge struggle and I broke it like five times and was on the verge of giving up.
I must say, the puzzle is really beautifully constructed and I felt extrmely happy after finishing it. Thanks.
EDIT @filuta: Thank you for the kind words! I am happy to hear that you persevered and managed to complete the solve. Well done! /Jesper
on 22. December 2021, 12:20 by SirWoezel
I might as well start putting your puzzles on my list of favourites before I even start solving them. This is a fantastic puzzle again.
EDIT @SirWoezel: Thank you very much, I am thrilled that you find my Chaos Constructions enjoyable! /Jesper
on 19. December 2021, 15:55 by Jesper
@glum_hippo, @marcmees, @Phistomefel, @SudokuExplorer: Thanks for solving, and for the nice comments! I'm really glad to hear that you enjoyed the puzzle.
on 19. December 2021, 14:04 by SudokuExplorer
Great puzzle! Very enjoyable and smooth solve, thanks! :-)
on 19. December 2021, 11:09 by Phistomefel
Just a wonderful puzzle! Thank you so much for setting another beauty, Jesper!
on 18. December 2021, 21:58 by marcmees
extremely beautiful, and extremely tricky near the end of the construction phase. thanks.
on 18. December 2021, 18:40 by glum_hippo
I got stuck in the middle and hereby acknowledge that PixelPlucker saved me from having to start over. This puzzle is nothing short of incredible.
on 17. December 2021, 10:48 by Jesper
Thanks everyone for the nice feedback!
on 17. December 2021, 09:58 by PixelPlucker
Beautiful! I have actually been wondering for some time how a combination of Chaos Construction and Battlefield might work. Needless to say I was very excited to see this puzzle! Great construction! :)
on 17. December 2021, 08:50 by henrypijames
Great construction. I got stuck in the irregular sudoku part (again) until I re-read the rules and realized that I didn't utilize their full potential.
on 17. December 2021, 01:34 by polar
Two of my favourite variants - wonderful!
on 16. December 2021, 20:45 by Lizzy01
Awesome!
on 16. December 2021, 20:17 by Playmaker6174
This is the hardest 4/5 puzzle that I've ever done xd (lol)
I broke it so many times I might be at one point totally confused by such possible solution, yet every logic was extremely clever, truly tested my limit. ;)
on 16. December 2021, 17:22 by Vebby
Superb!
