Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

This puzzle is dedicated to my puzzle buddy, sfushidahardy. His creativity, artistry, meticulous attention to detail, and unwavering commitment to perfectionism continually inspire me to grow as a setter. Words cannot fully capture how grateful I am to have him as a collaborator.

The title “Bonsai” reflects the beautiful “branches” of the yin-yang, which are doubled in this puzzle. It also symbolizes friendship—a common meaning associated with bonsai gifts—and pays homage to sfushidahardy’s Japanese heritage.

The ruleset for “Bonsai” also aligns with Scojo’s weekly setting prompt, which I learned about through sfushidahardy. I am also deeply grateful to Christounetfor his invaluable assistance in refining this idea to its final form.

Rules:

• Sudoku: Place the digits 1-9 into every row, column, and 3x3 box

• Yin-Yang: Choose your two favorite colors, and color each cell in the grid such that each color is a single orthogonally connected region. No 2x2 area may be fully one color or the other.

• Ciphered, Ambiguous Japanese Sums: Clues outside the grid indicate the sums of contiguous cells (of the same color) in that row/column, in the correct order (read left-to-right). For each row/column, one set of clues corresponds to one color, and the other set refers to the other color (the solver must determine which).

  Each letter represents a different digit 1-9 (not 0). A ? clue can stand in for any digit (A "?" in the tens place cannot be 0). A “...” clue can represent any number of clues, including none. The colors of the clues are strictly cosmetic. For all rows/columns either all clues are given, or none are given.

• Doublers: The value of a cell that borders 3 or 4 cells of the same color is doubled, while the value of a cell that borders 1 or 2 cells of the same color counts normally.

Main Puzzle: Bonsai

Links:
Penpa+
SudokuPad

Playable Example Puzzle, to illustrate the rules (without the cipher, and 6x6 instead of 9x9)