Japanese Sum Cave Cipher #8: 25
(Published on 9. December 2022, 00:00 by KNT)
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Rules:
Clues outside the grid are Japanese sums, i.e. they give the sum of the digits between empty cells in the respective row or column in the correct order. The filled cells of the grid form a cave, they are all orthogonally connected and all empty cells have an orthogonal connection through other empty cells to the perimeter of the grid. In any row or column, the digits 1-9 may be placed at most once, except the digits 2 and 5, which may be placed at most twice.
Clues are mostly ciphered, same letters stand for same digits, different letters for different digits. However, the cipher of the clues within the grid is different from the cipher of the clues outside the grid. More explicitly, A may not equal B, and E may not equal N, but A may equal E. The letters I and R occur both inside and outside the grid, and they both appear 10 times in the puzzle, each time as a different digit from 0 to 9. As standard, a question mark represents any value from 0 to 9, and for any multi-digit clue, the tens digit may not be zero.
Clues inside the grid are twilight cave clues. If an internal clue is filled, it gives the correct cave clue at that cell, which is the total number of filled cells seen in all directions where empty cells block vision. If an internal clue is empty, then it indicates the size of the orthogonally connected block of empty cells it belongs to.
In the case for a filled clue cell, the number that must be placed in the cell must differ in value from the clue itself by one, which may be a double digit number. If a double digit number is placed, it contributes to any relevant Japanese sums, and one must not worry about the digits comprising the double digit value repeating in the row or column. That is, if in a cell is the number 12, this has no effect on the 1s and 2s in the relevant rows or columns.
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Last week I have posted an simpler example puzzle for this complicated ruleset, if that may help to get acquainted. If not, here is an example diagram of how the ruleset may work.
And now comes the puzzle:
Solution code: Row 4, column 9, S for empty cells
Comments
on 28. January 2024, 15:59 by Piatato
Awesome puzzle! Very engaging throughout!
on 27. September 2023, 20:33 by Christounet
The first conclusion I am drawing after solving this puzzle is : you are the devil !
The second conclusion I am drawing is : you are a genious devil !
The question I am asking myself is : how more "devilicious" can the next one be ?
on 17. March 2023, 13:17 by ffricke
What a wonderful puzzle !!!
At first I had to overcome a hard contradiction to find the entry into this puzzle. After that everything was running fine (even it took long for me) and fully without any assumptions or T&E. Really a masterpiece.
on 12. December 2022, 21:33 by Niverio
Words cannot describe how grateful I am for this awesome puzzle gift. Enjoyed it immensely while breaking my brain multiple times. It was an absolute pleasure and honor to solve it in front of you too! Payback will be there in April ;)
on 10. December 2022, 13:41 by marcmees
glad to offer you a perfect score so far. thanks.
on 9. December 2022, 18:40 by marcmees
@ibag: I should have read the comments :-)
on 9. December 2022, 18:32 by ibag
@marcmees: You are right. I asked the same question for the former example.
on 9. December 2022, 18:30 by ibag
Phantastic! Congratulations to Niverio - really nice we all get a present, too!
on 9. December 2022, 16:05 by MagnusJosefsson
What an incredible puzzle! Quite an achievement to set this, and that is without even considering the need to make the clues spell out anything :). Thank you KNT, and happy birthday Niverio!
on 9. December 2022, 14:57 by polar
@marcmees
Unless the filled digit is a 2 or 5, then no further repeats of single digits are allowed.
on 9. December 2022, 14:34 by marcmees
Q: if the digit +/- 1 from a filled clue cell is NOT a double digit but a single one, it can not reapeat in the row/column, I suppose.(?)
Happy Birthday Niverio.
on 9. December 2022, 12:56 by ONeill
Spectacular! Thanks for the puzzle, and happy birthday, Niverio!
on 9. December 2022, 12:22 by Niverio
I cannot wait to tackle this on Monday live :) Thank you so much for this wonderful present already!
on 9. December 2022, 12:02 by Jesper
A wonderful puzzle, so much fun!
Also,
happy birthday, Niverio! :)
on 9. December 2022, 00:15 by polar
Happy birthday Niv - a totally bonkers ruleset is entirely fitting for such an occasion ;)
My favourite of this series by a long way. As I said before, going overboard suits you. Thanks :)
on 9. December 2022, 00:11 by KNT
I would also like to thank the numerous people that tested this puzzle despite the scale of the undertaking. If not for people scrutinizing my overabundance of mistypes and oversights, setting larger puzzles like this (as well as the next) would be near impossible.
on 9. December 2022, 00:10 by Myxo
Happy birthday Niverio! And really great puzzle.
