Aim High! (YY)
(Published on 17. January 2026, 18:01 by SennyK)
Puzzle has been featured on CTC YouTube channel: link
I am close to finish my hard puzzle pack with growing grid and Yin-Yang in the fog :-)
Before that, I have prepared another hard Yin-Yang puzzle for you!
I hope you will enjoy and I would be really grateful for all the comments and ratings.
Normal sudoku rules apply.
Yin-Yang: Shade some cells in the grid so that all shaded cells are orthogonally connected, all unshaded cells are orthogonally connected, and no 2×2 region is entirely shaded or entirely unshaded.
Values: A value of a shaded cell is equal to the highest digit within its all (up to 4) orthogonal neighbours; a value of an unshaded cell equals its digit.
Killer: Values in a cage sum to the total given.
Recommended for you: Modified Flat Mates
If you liked this puzzle, I recommend trying out my other puzzles: The Erica Series:★☆☆☆☆: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 12, 15, 17, 23, 26, 27
★★☆☆☆: 3, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 29, 30
★★★☆☆: 9, 19, 21, 22, 28 Shading/Ying-Yang:
★★☆☆☆: Pretty Odd Shaded Area
★★★☆☆: (+5)-Yang, Negative 8 YY
★★★★☆: (Yin)German Pairrows
★★★★★: Why-Why? Modifiers:
★★★☆☆: Modified Flat Mates, Neighbourhood Watch Fog of War:
★☆☆☆☆: Erica 12, Erica 17
★★☆☆☆: It's What You Do in the Dark That Puts You in the Light, Find It All, What the Fog?, Erica 20, Erica 29
★★★☆☆: Broken Flashlight in the Dark Pencil Puzzle/Sudoku Hybrid:
★★☆☆☆: Masyu (Short) Sudoku
★★★☆☆: Tetromino Sudoku
Various Puzzles:
★☆☆☆☆: Blown Fuses in Electrical Installation, Let Me Introduce Myself, French Wrench, GAS Regional Constraints
★★☆☆☆: Symmetrical Fan, Night Club, Important Hour on the Clock, What Was the Sum Again?, Disgroup Joints, 10-Arrows, Antiking Dutch Skyscrapers, (Not so) Little Killers, Indexing Sword
★★★☆☆: Cops & Robbers, Positive Symmetry, Doppelgänger Killer 1-25, Region Whisper Line, Christmas Chaos
★★★★☆: Liars. Liars Everywhere., Sandwiched XV Squishmates, Fireworks 2025, (Yin)German Pairrows
Solution code: Eighth (8th) row of the grid from left to right (with the symbol "/" marking borders between shaded and unshaded cells, e.g., 123/4/5/67/89).
Comments
on 2. February 2026, 05:40 by virus_dave
Very fun and interesting, and when the shading suddenly all snapped into place it felt magical :)
Edit: just watched the CtC solve. Like Simon, my first reaction upon seeing box 5 was literally "this is ludicrous!", and it just kept getting better!
When he called this "Marty Sears-esque", i have to agree, and that is indeed high praise :)
on 1. February 2026, 09:13 by Titus Adduxas
Wow! What a remarkable puzzle. Keeping track of the cages was quite challenging but beautiful logic throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed it even if it took just under 2 hours!
on 1. February 2026, 00:19 by mir85
Really enjoyed it! Found it quite surprising, in a good way :)
on 31. January 2026, 18:17 by PsyMar
Very excellent puzzle, I struggled a bit with the break-in and also the 11-cage, but I eventually got there. Extremely clever!
on 21. January 2026, 07:39 by Aronana
Had to take a long break, then it seems like the entire puzzle unfolded in minutes upon return. Beautiful setting, and a wonderful break-in!
on 21. January 2026, 03:48 by War
Amazing fun! 3* difficulty if you read the shaded values rule perfectly the first time. Love a good logic puzzle with no bifurcation
on 19. January 2026, 15:55 by Firebird
Very nice puzzle!
on 18. January 2026, 11:56 by Snookerfan
Fabulous puzzle! Very confusing ruleset for me at first, but after it sank in, it was an amazing solve. Thanks
on 18. January 2026, 11:09 by erml
This is a masterpiece, what a joy to solve it!
on 18. January 2026, 07:20 by chinesemaster
Very fun breakin. Thanks!
on 17. January 2026, 22:42 by Exigus
Incredible. That was very very cool. Thanks!
