Japanese Cave
(Published on 29. August 2022, 05:29 by KNT)
Clues outside the grid indicate the sums of connected groups of numbers in the respective row or column, in order, where empty cells serve as delimeters between groups. A question mark can be any number from 0 to 9, but no clue may have a leading zero. A pound sign can be any number. An asterisk indicates obscured information; in place of an asterisk may be zero, one, or multiple groups of numbers.
A 1-5 example is provided:
Solution code: Row 10, Column 4, with 'X' in place of empty cells.
Comments
on 25. April 2024, 20:42 by The Book Wyrm
Very nice puzzle. Not too difficult once you get started, and a lot of fun deductions in here.
Just have to make sure to read the rules properly.
on 11. December 2023, 14:12 by StephenR
What a corker, thanks. On several occasions I was stumped and struggling to see how I could progress, but something always showed itself eventually.
on 8. April 2023, 18:35 by Piatato
Lovely puzzle! The ending was quite thrilling due to the fact that I had made a very silly mistake in the very beginning, that luckily turned out to be easily fixable. :D
on 26. December 2022, 01:52 by ONeill
Incredibly smooth solve and beautiful logic throughout. Thanks!
on 12. December 2022, 17:02 by peacherwu2
Unexpected and joyful structure deductions. Never seen anything like this!
on 18. October 2022, 00:26 by Christounet
Loved it ! Having solved some of your lastest harder puzzles, this one felt quite easier. The final disambiguation of the "almost deadly" pattern was very naughty, and it came as a very fun endpoint !
on 2. October 2022, 04:24 by kjholt
I'm assuming ?* denotes that the Japanese sum clue corresponds to exactly one digit in the grid? Is that a correct reading of the rule? The usage of "clue" here confused me but that might just be my inexperience.
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Hi @kjholt, that is not a correct interpretation of "?*". Apologies for the lack of rigor in the definition, but it is essentially saying that the clue could have either a single or double digit total. If it was given to be just a single digit total "?" would be written, and for double digit, "??".
Here's a quick image illustration I made with sums for a row: https://imgur.com/a/GG0LLA5 (obviously not valid, as no circle clue can be empty, but I think you can get the point here)
Hope this helps :)
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Oh that makes sense! Thank you for your prompt reply; I just got to a spot in the break-in where it was clear I was incorrect so I came back here :) --kjholt
on 29. September 2022, 08:33 by Phistomefel
A superb puzzle. Thank you so much, KNT!
on 18. September 2022, 08:50 by AnnaTh
Absolutely amazing!
on 12. September 2022, 04:59 by KNT
Changed rules to be more clear/concise for future solvers
on 31. August 2022, 14:34 by tuace
Very nice solving path :)
on 29. August 2022, 23:29 by marcmees
Thanks for this puzzle. the wording confused at first but I finally got the ?, ... and * where they were needed. 5*
on 29. August 2022, 23:20 by RJBlarmo
Really cool hybrid idea and a very fun solve!
on 29. August 2022, 22:00 by Agent
Absolutely brutal and amazing puzzle! Solving this on my phone was a scary experience, but well worth the trouble.
on 29. August 2022, 19:11 by Dandelo
And I'd recommend first to solve the example, it's also a very good puzzle and helps a lot to get familiar with the rules.
on 29. August 2022, 18:55 by KNT
Edited a line of the rules as per polar and Dandelo's suggestion
on 29. August 2022, 18:52 by Dandelo
But I agree with polar that the rules (leftmost/rightmost etc.) are not correct. I've read it as intended, and the example also gives a hint, but the actual text allows to switch the inner groups, IMO.
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both of you make a good point. that section just serves to confuse, so i'll omit it
on 29. August 2022, 18:43 by Dandelo
Aargh, I still had the old solution code description in a tab...
Great puzzle.
on 29. August 2022, 18:00 by polar
Felt totally spoilt solving a KNT japanese sums puzzle (my personal fave type)! Beautiful construction & a joy to solve. Hope to see more of them! Thanks :)
on 29. August 2022, 17:08 by KNT
Edited solution code
on 29. August 2022, 14:08 by Vebby
Fabulous! A treat to solve. Thanks KNT! :)
on 29. August 2022, 10:15 by Niverio
Very enjoyable!
on 29. August 2022, 09:53 by Jesper
A wonderful puzzle! So much fun.
on 29. August 2022, 05:35 by the_cogito
Fun puzzle! Tricky start, but flowed really nicely after that!
