Colossal Tapa and Chaos (ft. KNT)
(Published on 6. May 2023, 06:00 by wooferzfg)
This puzzle was a collaboration between KNT, Jakhob, and wooferzfg. It was inspired by tesseralis's Colossal Cave Sudoku and Jesper's Chaos Construction: Numbered Regions #1.
This puzzle is a combination of a 27x27 Tapa and a 9x9 Chaos Construction Sudoku with indexed regions. The two grids are linked together.
Tapa: Shade some cells so that all shaded cells form one orthogonally connected area. Clues cannot be shaded, and represent the lengths of the blocks of consecutive shaded cells in the (up to) eight cells surrounding the clue. No 2x2 region may be entirely shaded. A “?” can represent any non-zero value.
Sudoku: Divide the grid into regions, each consisting of 9 orthogonally connected cells. Each row, column, and region must contain the digits 1 to 9 once each. Every row, column, and region contains exactly one index cell. The digit in the index cell is the index of the region. Each region has a unique index from 1 to 9. If a cell with digit X in a region with index N contains an arrow, then the cell X steps away in the indicated direction belongs to the region with index N+1.
For all cells in the Sudoku grid except the index cells, the digit in the cell must equal the number of unshaded cells in the corresponding 3x3 box in the Tapa grid. The digit in each index cell must NOT equal the number of unshaded cells in the corresponding 3x3 box in the Tapa grid.
Solution code: Row 8 of the Sudoku (from left to right), followed by the length of the longest contiguous stretch of shaded cells in each of the bottom 9 rows of the Tapa (from top to bottom) (18 numbers total)
Comments
on 24. May 2023, 13:21 by Silverstep
400 minutes, but only because I broke the puzzle twice. Remember to triple-check your deductions. Not for the faint of heart. 10 stars difficulty.
on 17. May 2023, 00:20 by Jaych
I have been on the lookout for more colossal sudoku hybrid puzzles since doing the ones by Magnus and tesseralis, so the moment I saw this puzzle I knew I was going to love it. Four hours later, and yeah, I sure did. Instant add to favorites.
on 12. May 2023, 21:33 by Niverio
Very enjoyable journey! I loved every step of that, and it was never brutal, just a hard scanning exercise. Thanks a lot for this gem!
on 12. May 2023, 17:08 by henrypijames
Wow, this is the first 6+/5 puzzle since a long time. The audacity of setting a colossal CC!
Now what do we need to do to trick Simon into trying it?
on 12. May 2023, 08:22 by henrypijames
In the example puzzle, there's exactly one index cell in every row and column of the sudoku grid. But that's just a coincidence, since nothing in the rules says it has to be the case, right?
Reply from wooferzfg: That's not a coincidence - in the rules, it says "Every row, column, and region contains exactly one index cell".
<<< Yeah, my bad. Somehow missed that part despite of having read the rules at least three times over.
on 11. May 2023, 16:12 by Christounet
Extraordinary puzzle ! Enjoyed that a looot ! Very well done to the 3 of you. I think I did recognize the style of each setter in this one, with the CC setup, the connectivity stuff... I am not surprised to read it took you quite some time to put this together and refine things here and there. Thanks you so much for this great entertainment :)
on 9. May 2023, 09:28 by RJBlarmo
A fantastic and very challenging puzzle! The break-in took me very long to spot but I'm glad I stuck with this puzzle because there were so many wonderful deductions throughout the solve.
on 9. May 2023, 01:24 by Agent
Marvelous puzzle, my favourite of the colossal sudokus so far! So many clever moments until the end, I can't imagine how much time it took to create a puzzle this ambitious with so much precision.
on 9. May 2023, 00:21 by Playmaker6174
The ACTUAL mindbender. I literally fought tooth and nail from start to finish just to squeeze out the juicy logic, and most of the time it taught myself here how to be careful one-by-one spot and not just make bad assumptions. In the end I don't think I had that many hairs left. Truly mad, but truly epic and awesome at the same time.
(btw, I also recommend trying the example puzzle, it's also a nice gem)
on 9. May 2023, 00:02 by widjo
Spent almost 5 hours on this beast. Made a few mistakes but thankfully they were all only a few steps back each time. Some very exciting logic in this puzzle it was a blast the whole way through!
on 7. May 2023, 23:18 by Jesper
Great puzzle! Long and quite difficult, but very rewarding!
on 7. May 2023, 08:35 by Piatato
A really fabulous puzzle, very satisfying throughout!
on 6. May 2023, 19:31 by Myxo
A very long and very exciting solve path all the way through! Loved it.
on 6. May 2023, 15:37 by KNT
this was a super fun project to work on with you both over the past several months :D
I hope people here aren't intimidated by the size an give it a go!
on 6. May 2023, 10:28 by polar
Lovely combination of rules & a very enjoyable way to spend a couple hours. Thanks!
