Crypto Japanese Cave: Smörgåsbord for Niverio
(Published on 9. December 2022, 00:00 by KNT)
The letters are split into two distinct ciphers; one that consists of letters only outside the grid (A, B, D, H, P, T, and Y) and one that consists of letters only inside the grid (E, N, O, and V). Within a cipher, each letter replaces a unique number between 0 and 9 inclusive. The letters that appear both inside and outside the grid (I and R) take on a different value between 0 and 9 in each occurrence.
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, and for all clues, none may have a leading zero.
If a cell with a given clue contains a number, the given clue indicates the total amount of numbers seen in all four orthogonal directions, including itself, where empty cells block vision. However, the number placed in that cell must be exactly one greater or exactly one less than the given clue. A number placed on a given clue can be any positive integer. If a given clue is empty, then it indicates the size of the orthogonally connected block of empty cells that cell belongs to. A block of empty cells may contain multiple given clues as long as the given clues are identical in value.
SudokuPad
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.
