Kurodoku
(Published on 27. July 2024, 02:27 by yttrio)
This puzzle, a Kuroclone/Sudoku hybrid, is a collaboration with Malrog set for the July monthly setting prompt on the CTC Discord.
Rules:
Chaos Construction: Place the digits from 1 to 9 exactly once in every row, column, and region. Regions consist of a set of nine orthogonally connected cells and must be determined by the solver.
Shade two groups of orthogonally connected cells in each region. These groups can consist of a single cell or multiple cells. Both of a region's groups must have the same size and shape, but may be rotated or reflected. Shaded groups may not be orthogonally adjacent.
Cells with arrows are not shaded, and indicate the size of a group of shaded cells which occupies the adjacent cell in the indicated direction(s).
For each region whose shaded groups consist of multiple cells, one shaded group must contain a set of consecutive digits in any order, and adjacent digits within the other shaded group must differ by at least 5. The solver must determine which is which.
Solution code: Shaded cells in row 3 (left to right) followed by shaded cells in column 5 (top to bottom)
Comments
on 7. August 2024, 05:26 by krytolandros
Very elegant puzzle. Excellent setting.
on 4. August 2024, 15:04 by Black_Doom
Absolutely insane, and I mean this in the best way possible. Just such a good puzzle!
on 3. August 2024, 20:01 by Agent
Very nice! The renban / GW resolution was really fun.
on 31. July 2024, 03:10 by Hazem-77
Incredible puzzle, thank you both!
I recorded my solution and provided it with a soundtrack. hop you enjoy it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjVe9YyYC5M
on 29. July 2024, 00:17 by samuel1997
First, thank you for the reply! That helps a lot!
Second, this is a spectacular puzzle! I love how the shaded groups determined the boundary of the regions! That is clever! Thank you!
on 28. July 2024, 20:25 by Nordy
Incredible! Every step had me thinking, “How could anyone possibly set this??” Straight to my favorites!
on 28. July 2024, 18:07 by Black_Doom
Absolutely insane, and I mean this in the best way possible. Just such a good puzzle!
on 28. July 2024, 18:00 by samuel1997
Are the shaded groups not allowed to be orthogonally adjacent even if they are in different region?
Also, if a cell contains 2 arrows, do the arrows count the shaded cells combined in both directions, or they count separately? Thank you.
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To answer your first question: no, groups of shaded cells are not allowed to be orthogonally adjacent even if they are in different regions.
For your second question, if a cell contains multiple arrows, then each arrow points to a region the size of the digit in that cell. For example, if the cell digit is a 2, then each of the cells being pointed to belongs to a shaded group of size 2. Note that it may be possible for for the two arrows in the cell to point to the same shaded group as well.
Hopefully this clarifies things
~yttrio
on 28. July 2024, 15:22 by Snookerfan
Fantastic puzzle! I enjoyed that very much. Thank you
on 28. July 2024, 13:18 by Franjo
Wow! To solve this extraordinary CC was a great pleasure. I cannot imagine how you could set such a thing. Thank you so much for creating and sharing this masterpiece.
on 27. July 2024, 23:30 by vfig
really enjoyed this! thanks.
on 27. July 2024, 22:01 by marcmees
very satisfying solve. Great puzzle. thanks
on 27. July 2024, 21:38 by bansalsaab
Phew. That was a monster. Very satisfying in the end
on 27. July 2024, 20:12 by Voidslime
Amazing puzzle! So much fun! I’d love to see more puzzles with the same ruleset. There feels like a lot more that can be explored here
