Stickier Notes
(Published on 22. January 2026, 15:08 by jwsinclair)
Stickier Notes, by James Sinclair
Divide the grid into seven orthogonally-connected seven-cell regions, and place the digits 1-7 once in each row, column, and region.
Each region has a corresponding color. A note outside the grid indicates that the region of that color contains a run of one or more orthogonally-connected cells (bounded on either side by a region border or the edge of the grid) in that row or column, and the number in the note (if given) is the sum of the digits in these cells.
If a region contains multiple sets of orthogonally-connected cells in the same row or column, a note only applies to one of them.
When notes overlap, the note on top has a lower sum than the note immediately below (this applies even if a sum is hidden or not given).
SudokuPad | version with region labels
See also:
- Sticky Notes, which was originally published in Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 211
- Stickiest Notes
Solution code: row six, with a dash ("-") to indicate each region border
Comments
on 30. January 2026, 14:46 by Franjo
Thank you very much for creating and sharing this beautiful CC-puzzle. I really like the ruleset.
on 26. January 2026, 23:53 by jez9999
Tried to do this, no idea how to get past the start after placing one section to the right. Seems like you have to consider all three of blue, red, and green but I'm not smart enough to get it. :-(
on 25. January 2026, 16:36 by Snookerfan
Pretty puzzle and ruleset! Thanks
on 25. January 2026, 00:46 by blueteeth
I don't think this is as hard as the rating indicates. The placement constraints for the first four colours I looked at solved most of it.
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I guess it depends on what types of logic the solver is comfortable with. FWIW, I was aiming for 3* with this and I think it wound up a little tougher, but the rating here has gone back and forth between 3* and 4* a few times.
on 23. January 2026, 09:18 by bboom
Fun one! Either something just perfectly clicked for me with the logic, or I overlooked some big alternate options and got lucky, because this solved surprisingly quickly for me.
on 22. January 2026, 23:31 by dzamie
I really enjoyed the first one from your blog. This one was *significantly* harder, and I found myself even using some techniques I usually only see in yin-yang (though granted, I also don't do many chaos construction puzzles).
Starting is probably the hardest part of this, really, just figuring out which regions can and can't be where.
on 22. January 2026, 20:13 by MaizeGator
Super quirky and neat initial steps, followed by a very smooth mid-to-endgame
on 22. January 2026, 17:43 by jwsinclair
adjusted difficulty to 4* (actually just forgot to set it initially)
