Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

‘Twas the night before Christmas in the holiday town,

Where deeds of goodwill and service abound.

The tiny town—namesake and lore,

Ne’er a Christmas as this was seen there before.

Where upon an old sleigh through town his path wound

From chimney to chimney, back up and back down.

Father Christmas, Père Noël, Weihnachtsmann, Christkind,

Babbo Natale, Ded Moroz, Saint Nick.

His name with a shout the children nay pause,

The same in the South—aka: Santa Claus.

But this night, like no other, Kris Kringle had had.

He exclaimed in a shutter: “It’s bad. So sad.”

“What must I do? How can this be?

The North Pole is broken about town,” said he.

"Shattered and scattered and spread all around,

I must save Christmas. These pieces be found.”

House to house upon path he stay

To find the nine pieces while riding his sleigh.

RULES:

1. Normal Sudoku rules apply.

2. The North Pole has broken into nine pieces, represented by the number 1. Help Santa find the pieces: each row/column begins with a number X (red region), and 1 is the Xth cell of that row/column.

3. Draw Santa’s path in the grid that starts and ends with the two circles. Santa travels on his path horizontally and vertically, and the path may not touch itself orthogonally or diagonally. Additionally, Santa's path never enters the red region nor contains a Pole piece (1), but it may touch either.

4. Grey cells are Houses and not directly part of Santa’s path. The number inside indicates how many of the orthogonally and diagonally adjacent cells are part of Santa’s path. Not all houses are given, and never contain a Pole piece (1).

5. Santa’s correct path has him visit the town’s entire population, so the sum of the path = 165*.

*In the US state of Georgia, there is a real town called Santa Claus, and its actual population is 165 according to the last Census. Check it out here: Santa Claus, GA