Flaschenpost (Nurikabe Cipher Sudoku)
(Published on 4. October 2022, 09:00 by Agent)
While trying to find ideas for Nurikabe hybrids, I saw a puzzle by Sam Cappleman-Lynes where the island sizes were encrypted. It inspired the ruleset of this puzzle: a killer sudoku where the positions of cages obey standard Nurikabe rules, but the cage totals have been encrypted. I hope you will enjoy!
Rules
- Normal sudoku rules apply.
- Shade some cells in the grid such that all shaded cells are orthogonally connected. No 2x2 area can be fully shaded.
- Groups of orthogonally connected unshaded cells form islands, which do not touch orthogonally, but may touch diagonally.
- A number in the top left corner of a caged cell indicates the sum of digits on its island. Each island contains exactly one caged cell. Digits cannot repeat on islands.
- Clues outside the grid indicate the sum of digits in unshaded cells in that row or column.
- Each letter represents a different digit from 0 to 9, but all occurrences of the same letter represent the same digit. A double digit number cannot begin with 0.
Puzzle links
-
Penpa+ with cipher key (recommended)
SudokuPad (CTC)
f-puzzles
Have fun solving!
Solution code: Column 1 (top to bottom) then column 7 (top to bottom)
Comments
on 1. August 2023, 00:03 by Piatato
Nice and smooth one :)
on 31. July 2023, 21:59 by StephenR
Lovely stuff. Agent seems to have mastered the art of making elegant and quite intricate puzzles while keeping them relatively approachable.
on 14. July 2023, 22:09 by teff
second 5 star down! i think it took me 2 days to see where to start with the actual sudoku solving lol
on 30. December 2022, 20:12 by peacherwu2
Amazing puzzle! Thank you so much!
-- Thank you so much @peacherwu2!
on 29. October 2022, 01:43 by Christounet
Great puzzle ! Each clue had to be carefully analyzed to get forward and this felt really rewarding.
(Had to come back to it because I misread the rules. I thought the outside clues counted shaded cells, so I constantly ran into problems...)
-- Thank you @Christounet, glad you liked it! Indeed the puzzle probably doesn't solve the other way around :p
on 15. October 2022, 07:47 by Xendari
Amazing! The solve path was very linear but very enjoyable.
-- Thank you @Xendari!
on 15. October 2022, 03:49 by Agent
Thank you @bansalsaab and @Vebby!
on 10. October 2022, 21:44 by Vebby
Superb!
on 7. October 2022, 19:23 by bansalsaab
Like others said, hard but very smooth
on 7. October 2022, 13:53 by Agent
Thank you @MagnusJosefsson @Tilberg @Jesper @marcmees @thoughtbyte @KNT @Snookerfan @wenchang!
on 6. October 2022, 02:01 by wenchang
Very complicated but very enjoyable! Spoiler alert! https://youtu.be/qxQ_UPERIKA
on 5. October 2022, 16:04 by Snookerfan
Another superb puzzle with a really smooth solve path. Thank you!
on 5. October 2022, 05:41 by KNT
really impressive construction, enjoyed it quite a bit. thanks agent!
on 4. October 2022, 22:47 by thoughtbyte
Very nice, thanks.
on 4. October 2022, 21:33 by marcmees
Exceptional puzzle. The solution path shows the beauty of the minimalist construction. Thanks.
on 4. October 2022, 15:38 by Jesper
Great puzzle, smooth solve, thanks!
on 4. October 2022, 13:34 by Tilberg
Danke!
on 4. October 2022, 10:27 by MagnusJosefsson
Amazing puzzle! Very smooth, for me it felt easier than five stars. Impressive also to make it work with only these types of clues. Overall a very pleasant and satisfying solve!
