Crypto Japanese Cave with Three Extraterrestrials
(Published on 21. February 2023, 04:18 by KNT)
Clues outside the grid indicate the sums of connected groups of numbers in the respective row or column, in order, where shaded cells serve as delimeters between groups.
The clues have been written by three extraterrestrials, each of which is familiar with only one number base, which might not be our usual 10. However, it is unknown which extraterrestrial wrote which clue. A letter can replace any number from 0 to N-1, where N is the base of the clue, and no two letters replace the same number. No clue may have a leading zero.
A 1-7 example with two extraterrestrials is provided. In this example, one extraterrestrial uses base 11 and the other uses base 4, with clues marked in red and blue respectively. The clues marked in green could have been written by either extraterrestrial.
Solution code: Row 11 then Row 12, with S for shaded cell
Comments
on 27. December 2023, 18:35 by lerroyy
Very fun and smooth solve, thanks!
on 21. August 2023, 14:49 by AnnaTh
Fantastic puzzle! I finally made it (thanks to a little help from @KNT). So happy I was able to finish it.
on 27. April 2023, 21:12 by cornuto
Thank you very much for this phantastic puzzle.
on 17. March 2023, 16:06 by Agent
Fantastic puzzle, filled with beautiful and rewarding deductions until the end! The alien bases make it a lot more challenging but it was well worth it.
on 26. February 2023, 22:47 by Myxo
Great puzzle!
on 21. February 2023, 23:13 by Jesper
Fantastic, loved it! Thanks KNT :)
on 21. February 2023, 21:24 by ONeill
This is such a brilliant puzzle, the deductions were really satisfying and I learned a lot :) Thanks!
on 21. February 2023, 11:10 by ibag
A true masterpiece!
on 21. February 2023, 09:44 by RJBlarmo
The concept of having ciphered clues in three different unknown bases sounds like it would be impossible to solve but surprisingly this ended up a bit easier than expected. Still a very challenging puzzle, and great fun to solve as always.
on 21. February 2023, 08:51 by Koalagator2
Wow, what a puzzle. Extremely satisfying to figure out the bases and use them. I've been very impressed with this series of puzzles, and how you've managed to knock it out of the park 13 times.
on 21. February 2023, 08:51 by Niverio
As polar said, it's getting harder and harder to find creative comments about these puzzles :)
on 21. February 2023, 07:03 by KNT
For anyone interested in this puzzle but perhaps a bit intimidated by the idea of clues in alternate number bases, I recommend first solving the “Extraterrestrial Japanese Sums” puzzle I posted as it would likely serve as good practice.
on 21. February 2023, 06:48 by Vebby
Wonderfully crafted, this was my first Alien puzzle and I thoroughly enjoyed the logic around different bases.
on 21. February 2023, 05:38 by polar
Starting to run out of superlatives for your puzzles :)
