Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

Gerrymander

(Published on 11. October 2024, 22:29 by SenatorGronk)

For those unfamiliar, gerrymandering is the manipulation of political boundaries to give one political party an advantage over others.

I had posted a now-deprecated version of this puzzle a few months ago. That one provided most of the district boundaries, but I found a different constraint that would require the solver to draw all of the district boundaries which felt more consistent with the theme.

Everything necessary to solve the puzzle is given in the rules section. The backstory just provides some flavor text.

THE BACKSTORY

The state of Sudokia (pop. 405) is divided into 12 congressional districts and has two political par(i)ties (the Evens and the Odds).
Within each district, whichever political par(i)ty has the greater sum will win its congressional seat (there are no ties). Furthermore, the overall sum of each district must be of the same parity as that of the winner.
Example: a six-cell district with 456789 is valid because the sum of the Odd digits (5+7+9 = 21) is greater than the sum of the Evens (4+6+8=18) and the overall sum is Odd. 345679 is not valid because while the sum of the Odd digits (24) is greater than the sum of the Evens (10), the overall sum is Even.
The wily Evens comprise less than 45% of the population but have hired you to draw the district boundaries such that they will win 7 of the 12 districts.

RULES

Irregular sudoku rules apply. Place the digits 1-9 once each in each row, column, and outlined region.
Divide the grid into 12 districts (each cell must be in a district). A district is a set of orthogonally connected cells without repeated digits (like a killer cage).
Cells with a clue in the corner contain the size of its district, with the clue equaling its sum (with ? standing for any digit 0-9 and X a number to be determined).
Only 3 of the 12 districts cross a region border. These 3 districts create a single-cell wide loop that doesn't touch itself, not even diagonally.
In the seven districts with even sums, the sum of the even digits is greater than the sum of the odds. In the five with odd sums, the sum of the odd digits is greater.
Click to solve on SudokuPad

Solution code: Row 5 + Col 5

Last changed on on 14. October 2024, 17:18

Solved by SKORP17, lzjsy, WedgeOfCheese, marcmees
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Comments

on 14. October 2024, 17:18 by SenatorGronk
minor text change

Last changed on 14. October 2024, 17:16

on 13. October 2024, 20:22 by marcmees
A masterpiece. Glad you don't publish several a week. :-)
Thanks

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lol, thanks for the kind words. Cheers!

Difficulty:5
Rating:N/A
Solved:4 times
Observed:0 times
ID:000K2U

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Solution code:

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