Japanese Sum Cave Cipher #12: Pentominous
(Published on 26. January 2023, 04:41 by KNT)
This puzzle is a combination of a cryptic Japanese Sum Cave and a Pentominous, with one grid lying on top of the other.
Japanese Sum Cave: Clues outside the grid give the sums of connected digits between empty cells in the correct order. No digit may repeat in a row or column. Same letters stand for same digits, different letters for different digits, and ? stands for any digit 0-9, but no clue may have a leading zero. (Point of clarification: Digits placed in the grid are 1-9). The filled cells of the Japanese Sums puzzle form a cave: all filled cells are connected and every empty cell is connected to the edge by other empty cells.
Pentominous: Every uncircled cell in the grid must belong to exactly one pentomino, and no two pentominos of the same shape may touch. Rotations and reflections of the same pentomino are the same shape.
Interaction: For all circled cells, the letter corresponding to its digit indicates the shape of the pentomino at that location. If a circled cell has no digit, then no pentomino may enter the cell. Clarification: the only cells that may not have pentominos are empty circled cells.
Example: If R1C3 is is a 7, and T=7, then R1C3 must belong to a T pentomino.
Note: Two of the twelve pentominos do not have digit assignments, but these pentominos may still appear in the Pentominous. Each digit from 0-9 is assigned exactly one letter, as standard.
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It may be useful to study (or solve) the example presented below. This puzzle uses digits from 1-6, and letters may only replace values from 0-6. It can be solved here.
Below are the two grids corresponding to the main puzzle:
Solution code: Row 9 of the Pentominous, then Column 8 of the Japanese Sums, S for empty cell.
Comments
on 29. July 2024, 16:23 by Snookerfan
Brilliant puzzle, loved it very much! Thank you
on 25. July 2024, 14:30 by Piatato
Great fun! Awesome ruleset, executed brilliantly :)
on 25. May 2024, 02:04 by zzw
Great puzzle! Really cool ruleset idea too, using pentomino letters as the cipher.
on 6. May 2024, 00:33 by Christounet
Phew !
on 20. September 2023, 07:23 by Agent
Exceptional puzzle, the logic was crisp and fun all the way through. I thought I had reached a contradiction multiple times but the perseverance was well worth it.
on 12. February 2023, 03:33 by ONeill
Gorgeous puzzle, it was not so easy for me either, but very enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks :)
on 10. February 2023, 06:46 by wooferzfg
A slow and steady solve with a lot of fun deductions throughout. The example puzzle wasn't a pushover either! Thanks for the wonderful puzzles.
on 9. February 2023, 07:00 by Alex
Another great one!
on 4. February 2023, 18:58 by Myxo
Amazing puzzle, as usual. Unlike other people, I found this one to be more difficult than most of the puzzles in this series so far.
on 3. February 2023, 19:12 by KNT
Fixed rules in example puzzle link. Thanks @stayal!
on 31. January 2023, 20:51 by stayal
First time I've tried a linked grid puzzle and I loved it! Long solve but every bit of logic was progressive and genius.
on 31. January 2023, 20:50 by stayal
First time I've tried a linked grid puzzle and I loved it! Long solve but every bit of logic was progressive and genius.
on 29. January 2023, 21:43 by ibag
Sehr schön mal wieder!
on 27. January 2023, 11:41 by MagnusJosefsson
Fantastic puzzle! Very fun and creative combination.
on 26. January 2023, 22:35 by Jesper
Loved it, great addition to the series, thanks!
on 26. January 2023, 21:07 by Niverio
UwU quality puzzle.
on 26. January 2023, 14:09 by Xendari
amazing puzzle, U WU is my favourite clue of the series
on 26. January 2023, 06:27 by Vebby
Superb idea to incorporate pentominoes! A long, enjoyable solve. I'm all for more linked grid puzzles in the series :)
on 26. January 2023, 04:23 by KNT
I must note, for each in this series, the examples are not just diagrams, they are real, tested puzzles, and I would feel comfortable posting almost all of them as standalones. So, once again to those interested, but maybe without the full confidence to take on the real ones, the example puzzles should provide adequate fun as well, at an easier level.
