Every Which Way But Up
(Published on 19. January 2025, 19:03 by HalfBakedLunatic)
The Rules:
• Each row, column, and box contain the digits 1-9
• All cages contain the digits 1 to 9
• Purple Renban lines contain the digits 1 - 9
• The marked diagonals contain the digits 1-9
• Disjoint Sets - each distinct cell position across the boxes contain the digits 1-9
• The four 3X3 square "Windoku" killer cages are also Disjoint Sets - distinct cell positions within the four cages can not contain the same digit
• Cells surrounding a Quad Circle must contain the indicated digits
Solve Online here (right-click and open in new tab):
Every Which Way But Up (Cracking The Cryptic)
Note: No X-Wings, Y-Wings, Fishes or even 'elimination by contradiction' are required for this puzzle. It is entirely based on Hidden / Pointing / Naked groups (Singles / Doubles/ Triples / Quads) as restricted by the various constrained sets.
Please leave a comment and let me know how you like it!
Puzzle by David Workman (aka "HalfBakedLunatic")
Solution code: Row 6
Comments
on 26. January 2025, 15:36 by psninn
When another set of hidden 1-9 is found, this puzzle is easily solved.But it still took me a lot of time to find it. it's a great puzzle.
on 22. January 2025, 06:43 by lmdemasi
Good construction and very fun!
I struggle to see how this is anywhere close to a 5* puzzle.
on 21. January 2025, 03:31 by HalfBakedLunatic
Thanks for the great comments! The basic layout came together fairly easily, with the cages, diagonals, renban lines, disjoint sets ... but at that point, any digit can be interchangeable with every other digit. From there, I had to create a 'unique solution' using some other restriction ... I tried given digits, Kropki dots, XV, and finally settled on the 'quad circles' as the best way to structure it. Each quad digit is carefully selected, and they all play off each other. It took about three days to massage the digits and placements - also struggling with deciding whether to make an 'easy' puzzle or a 'very difficult' one!
on 20. January 2025, 14:25 by Killer-Ly
It took me more than 2 hours, but I love every minute! Thank you!
on 20. January 2025, 07:42 by askaksaksask
Wow, very nicely executed. I loved how each region was essential to the solve at at least one point during the solve. I found the break in and early maneuvers to be pretty smooth, but there were certainly some tricky deductions to be made, all of them fair (my scanning eye is quite poor at disjoint sets). Great fun, thank you!!
on 20. January 2025, 00:19 by Justalilguy
Wow, that was a lot of regions to keep track of. I enjoyed the start and end. I was stuck at one point mid-solve, which is where the difficulty comes from. Overall it was really fun!
