Circled Killers
(Published on 12. December 2023, 15:11 by SparkNights)
This puzzle is a combined ruleset of counter circle and killer. This time, circles are not the digits filled in the grid but the killer values.
Rules:
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
Along a thermometer, digits must increase from the bulb end.
Digits cannot repeat in the killer cage and sum to a number (in the circle) at the top left corner.
A digit that appears in a circle (killer value) indicates how many times that digit appears in all circles. A circle may contain a single-digit or double-digit number but cannot contain a multiple of 10. If it's a double-digit number, then each digit will be separately counted. For example, if a killer value of a cage is 35, then another two 3s and four 5s must be contained in the other killer values; this could be via either a single-digit 3 or 5, or double-digit totals that contain 3 or 5, like 13, 15, 25, 36, etc.
No two killer cages of the same size can contain exactly the same combination of digits.
Solution code: Column 7 (Downwards)
Comments
on 23. January 2024, 14:57 by Bankey
Just to be sure - say, a killer cage has a value of 33, so that would mean that only one other 3 can appear in the killer values of the remaining cages?
on 2. January 2024, 14:30 by SparkNights
Congratulations for be featured in CTC! For the ruleset to be easier undersand, I've changed the link and description of the rules to the CTC version. Have fun solving!
on 1. January 2024, 15:08 by madhupt
What a great puzzle! Fantastic logic. Never thought I would be able to solve it but just going over the underlying reasoning, it felt so natural in the end. Thanks for creating and sharing this masterpiece.
on 1. January 2024, 08:42 by zhall12570
Brilliant!!
on 16. December 2023, 06:27 by pms_headache
Wonderful puzzle. Stewed over it for several days on and off. Had some new thoughts tonight and solved it in about an hour. I have no idea how you set such a puzzle with such a beautiful, complex, and subtle solving path. Brilliant!
on 15. December 2023, 19:21 by GertVonnegut
This is an incredible puzzle! Lots of hard-won deductions to get started and then a beautiful flow once you find the path. Thanks so much for setting!
on 13. December 2023, 19:46 by mihel111
What a great puzzle. The notepad was mandatory for me. And, a deduction after another, it unfolds so nicely.
Well done SparkNights
on 13. December 2023, 11:17 by marty_sears
wow, really brilliant use of counting circles! If I had thought of it myself I probably would have tried to make this. I would suggest removing the line from the rules about the killer clues can't be a multiple of 10. This would be a nice thing to deduce based on the fact that 0 can't appear in counting circles.
SparkNights: Thanks. I found you are the first setter to publish puzzle about counting circles. This line is for clarification because there is an old puzzle where 10s are in the circles.
on 12. December 2023, 21:39 by samuel1997
This ruleset is ridiculous! It is the ruleset that can only be come up with genius, and the way it works is really wonderful!
