Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

Smoke and Mirrors

(Published on 22. February 2024, 20:05 by gdc)

This puzzle combines mirrored digits by Christounet, rellik cages by sujoyku and shenanigans by Jay Dyer. Mirrored cells act as modifiers and change the constraint type. See below for a 4x4 example puzzle.

  • Irregular Sudoku rules apply. Place 1-9 once in every row, column and region.
  • The grid is covered in fog. Placing correct digits reveals new clues.
  • In black killer cages digits don't repeat and values sum to the indicated total.
  • Red cages are rellik cages (digits don't repeat, no combination of values sums to the indicated total, e.g. an 8 cage can't contain 8, 17 or 125).
  • Pink lines are renban lines (values are contiguous with no repeats).
  • Sauerkraut lines are nabner lines (values can't repeat or be consecutive).
  • Nine cells (one in each row, column and region) are mirror cells. Each digit 1-9 appears in a mirror cell.
  • A digit in a mirror cell takes the value opposite its digit on the 1-9 scale. (In other words, 1 takes the vale of 9, 2 the value of 8 ... 9 the value of 1).
  • Clues with a mirror cell are read backwards (renban becomes nabner, killer becomes rellik and vice versa).
  • Lines do not branch or share cells with other lines.

Click on the image to play

4x4 Example Puzzle

Here is a filled grid that satisfies the rules mentioned above. Mirrored cells are highlighted in blue. The 4 in R3C4 must repeat in R4C1 because otherwise, the L-shaped regions would not contain each digit exactly once. All clues that don't contain a mirrored digit act normally. The 8-rellik cage turns into an 8 killer with values 4+4 because the mirror of 1 is 4. One renban line contains two fours which form a valid nabner line with values 1 and 4. the killer cage at the bottom contains the value 3 twice (3 is the mirror of 2). The nabner on the top turns into a renban with values 1 and 2. Note that cages can have repeated values and lines can have repeated digits but not the other way around.

Solve Video

Click here to see cornishjohn live solving this puzzle on YouTube.

Solution code: Column 7 top to bottom (9 digits)

Last changed on on 27. March 2025, 02:11

Solved by Christounet, Scojo, heliopolix , palpot, Myxo, SKORP17, jkuo7, apothycus, logik66, itweb, gfoot, lutzreimer, Kallor, h5663454, KyubiBoy, lmdemasi, Smoncko, kublai, ezil6.4, Wan00, ViKingPrime, ... saskia-daniela, Kekes, SamuPiano, jalebc, Sewerin, Geb, Flinty, vitaminz, Raistlen, oregan0, Roezaea, bansalsaab, PippoForte, widjo, martin1456, Kyriaas, Da Letter El, BabyfacedBard, SZCrow
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Comments

on 27. March 2025, 02:11 by gdc
Add link to solve video (YouTube)

Last changed on 31. May 2024, 05:04

on 31. May 2024, 05:04 by Roezaea
good lord, that was hard!

on 8. May 2024, 15:18 by oregan0
hour long solve. good

on 2. May 2024, 20:24 by vitaminz
Great puzzle as always gdc!

on 24. April 2024, 10:00 by Geb
Some quite novel thinking required to solve this one. That's certainly a good bit of exercise for the brain!

on 26. March 2024, 04:10 by SamuPiano
Amazing puzzle and combination ruleset!

Last changed on 3. March 2024, 02:16

on 3. March 2024, 02:15 by marty_sears
This was fantastic! Highly elegant fogwork as we have come to expect from gdc, and quite a few fun surprises to be uncovered. Took me a little while to get my head round the multiple overlapping rules, but once I did, the rewards were numerous

on 3. March 2024, 02:03 by Ratfinkz
Some stunning logic here! Enjoyed the group solve, thank you

on 3. March 2024, 02:01 by ViKingPrime
Quite the challenge! Well set (and a beautiful title to boot).

on 23. February 2024, 16:05 by gfoot
I enjoyed this, but found it very challenging even towards the end, irregular sudoku is quite hard for me

on 22. February 2024, 20:23 by Myxo
Very nice! Left me wanting for more with this ruleset.

on 22. February 2024, 20:21 by Christounet
(: sknahT ! eno siht gnitset deyojnE

Difficulty:4
Rating:91 %
Solved:43 times
Observed:19 times
ID:000H1U

Variant combination Online solving tool

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Solution code:

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