Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

GoodCity and I set this puzzle as part of a setting competition, combining two great puzzles: Effervescence and Pseudoscience.

Rules:

• Normal sudoku rules apply.
• Counting Circles: A number in a circle indicates exactly how many times that number appears in a circle, adjusted for pseudo cells as described below.
• X-Sums: Numbers in circles outside the grid indicate the sum of the values of the first N cells, where N is the value in the closest cell to the clue.
• In each row, column and box there is exactly one 'pseudo cell.' The digits 1-9 each appear once in a pseudo cell. For the purpose of Counting Circles and X-Sums, the value of a pseudo cell, regardless of which digit appears in that cell, is determined by multiplying its row number by its column number, read as a look-and-say clue if the result is a two digit number. For example, if a pseudo cell was in R4C6, since 4x6 is 24, the cell’s value is two 4’s. If this cell was in a counting circle it would be counted as two 4’s (and the digit in the cell would not be counted). If this cell was part of an X-Sum it would count as 4+4=8. A pseudo cell in R2C3 would just have a value of 2x3=6.

The puzzle is available online via CTC-App – 9x9

The puzzle is also available online via CTC-App – 11x11 (leave outside clues empty for solution check)