Rollercoaster Deconstruction
(Published on 3. April 2023, 20:36 by tallcat)
(The initial Penpa link had an error in. Apologies if you got stuck on that version. This has been corrected and the grid should now be the same as the image here)
Deconstruction: Within the grid are nine non-overlapping 3x3 square regions which must be located. Each region contains the digits 1-9 once each such that no digit repeats in any row or column. Cells outside regions do not contain digits.
Roller Coaster: Draw a non-intersecting loop that travels orthogonally between the centers of some cells in the grid. Clues on the left give the sum of digits on horizontal loop segments in that row in the correct order. Clues above give the sum of digits on vertical loop segments in that column in the correct order. A "?" may replace any value from 0-9 but for double digit numbers, the first digit may not be 0. For each row or column, either all or no clues are provided.
On a single round trip of the loop, every region must be visited exactly once. The loop may pass through empty cells, which count as zero towards the sum(s) they are part of.
Can be solved at Sudokupad or Penpa
(Answer Check on Penpa with green line and blue sudoku digits)
Solution code: Row 3 (left to right) and column 4 (top to bottom). Use X for empty cells.
Comments
on 17. October 2024, 13:04 by Playmaker6174
Really interesting how the solve becomes much more engaging till the very end after the pleasant start, and there're also quite a few traps along the way while deducing the loop. Thanks for this cool puzzle :)
on 28. September 2024, 21:57 by Lucx
Fantastic! What a marvellous construction. I really love it. Thanks for sharing this one!
on 28. August 2023, 17:03 by Snookerfan
Excellent, don't know why I missed this one before. Thank you
on 23. May 2023, 22:28 by madhupt
Fascinating puzzle! It was so easy to forget the roller coaster rule but very satisfying in the end.
on 9. April 2023, 19:08 by Christounet
What a great puzzle !
I was stuck at the beginning, hitting a contradiction because I wrongly assumed that no ? could not have a leading 0 as in usual japanese sums... Then I read the rules again...
Thanks for setting this !
on 8. April 2023, 10:49 by ddx01
Superb! Really nicely done. Thank you, tallcat! ^_^
on 7. April 2023, 19:18 by peacherwu2
Gorgeous plan!!!
on 7. April 2023, 16:32 by henrypijames
I'm kind of shocked that this puzzle has already been solved by this many people.
on 6. April 2023, 21:39 by Niverio
Very clever puzzle! Tough one to crack, but never frustrating and the next step is always clear where to look!
on 6. April 2023, 18:21 by Xendari
I absolutely adored solving this. I didn’t find the puzzle to be that difficult, but I will admit I stared for quite a while before understanding how the roller coaster sums interact with the boxes in that gorgeous opening sequence. The logic throughout was really fresh and fun. Thank you for setting and sharing! :)
on 6. April 2023, 13:53 by Piatato
Very nice puzzle, loads of fun! :)
on 5. April 2023, 23:02 by Agent
Superb puzzle!
on 5. April 2023, 12:18 by abed hawila
Fascinating puzzle!
on 4. April 2023, 03:32 by Leonard Hal
I carefully framed it for an hour, but this artwork was worth it
on 4. April 2023, 02:31 by karlmortenlunna
Very nice puzzle!
on 4. April 2023, 00:56 by KNT
Fantastic puzzle!
on 3. April 2023, 21:19 by the_cogito
Really cool puzzle, with a clever mix of deductions throughout, thanks tallcat!
on 3. April 2023, 21:17 by wooferzfg
Really fun puzzle! The "every region must be visited exactly once" rule was used really well. It was also really nice how the regions, digits, and loop were all resolved at approximately the same pace.
