Double Loop Japanese Sums
(Published on 26. February 2024, 09:00 by Agent)
Japanese Sums have always been near the top of my favourite puzzle genres, and I thought it was about time to have another go at it. This puzzle has two sets of partially overlapping sums, which I think leads to some unique logic. According to tester feedback, it could be a bit challenging.
Rules
- Draw two loops along the edges of some cells. The loops cannot cross themselves, but may cross each other, in which case both loops must go straight at the intersection. The loops may not otherwise overlap or touch each other.
- Place a digit from 1 to 9 into all cells that are inside at least one loop, so that no repeating digits occur in any row or column. Cells outside both loops do not contain digits.
- Outside the grid are two sets of Japanese Sums clues.
- Clues to the left and top of the grid refer to the first loop.
- Clues to the right and bottom of the grid refer to the other loop.
- Clues indicate the sum of digits in each contiguous sequence of cells inside the corresponding loop in that row or column, in the correct order.
- For a given row or column, either all clues or no clues are given for each loop independently.
- Each letter represents a different digit from 0 to 9. For double digit numbers, the first digit may not be 0.
Example Puzzle (7x7)
Main Puzzle (10x10)
Solution code: The digits in row 7 (from left to right) then column 7 (from top to bottom), ignoring empty cells.
Comments
on 25. October 2024, 20:42 by Piatato
Awesome and very trippy puzzle, thanks!
on 14. September 2024, 18:28 by ONeill
This is an incredible puzzle!
on 27. April 2024, 12:16 by ibag
Absolutely spectacular! I don't understand how I could have overlooked your puzzles for so long.
-- Thanks @ibag! And it goes without saying that I also enjoyed your puzzles that I've solved so far. Thankfully there's no shortage of great puzzles :)
on 25. April 2024, 08:16 by ddx01
Very challenging and very rewarding. I find it especially impressive that there were so many interesting moments during the (very long) solve, so I didn't get tired or bored with it for a second. And it was such a joy to finally complete it. Thank you, Agent, for a truly awesome puzzle!
on 18. April 2024, 17:23 by OGRussHood
This is definitely a puzzle where Rangsk would say, "The purples be purpling."
on 2. March 2024, 16:40 by Jesper
Fantastic puzzle, loved it!
on 1. March 2024, 11:44 by Vebby
Really enjoyed it! Great idea and execution!
on 28. February 2024, 09:45 by Christounet
Wow wow wow ! I loved this !
Don't want to spoil anything here, even if it would be very tempting to emphasize how very unique this solving experience was for me. The ruleset and its inner logic, the clues, the resolution... A masterpiece. Thanks :)
I strongly encourage future solvers to try the example first, because it helps elaborating an efficient notation system for the very challenging main puzzle.
on 27. February 2024, 11:46 by Niverio
Very nice puzzle! Flows surprisingly well for such a novel ruleset.
on 27. February 2024, 02:59 by zzw
Great puzzle! Such an interesting ruleset and its executed so well, its so satisfying all the way through!
on 26. February 2024, 22:48 by Myxo
Wow, awesome puzzle! Really smooth after making sense of the rules :)
on 26. February 2024, 13:49 by MagnusJosefsson
Amazing puzzle! A bit challenging to get started due to the novel ruleset, but once you get it everything flows very smoothly. Very original and cool idea!
