Trident
(Published on 6. January 2023, 23:46 by randall)
Trident
An epic trilogy of Chaos Construction, Star Battle, and Irregular Sudoku. This puzzle is a collaboration between @XeonRisq and myself, with help, advice, test solves, feedback, and occasional (justified) abuse from Skunkworks friends, especially @wisty, @Crusader175, and @Chilly.
There are 3 main objectives: Build the regions, place the stars, and solve the sudoku. How you approach these objectives is, of course, up to you!
This puzzle is Hard. I have been told it's Very Hard. Comments and feedback welcome - Enjoy!
Rules
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The digits 1 to 9, along with 2 'stars', must appear once in every row, column, and region. Stars cannot be adjacent horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
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Regions are to be determined by the solver, and must be a set of eleven orthogonally connected cells.
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Each outside clue represents one of the following, within the row/column:
- The largest continuous run of adjacent cells within a single region, OR
- The number of borders (not including the grid edge), OR
- The number of unique regions.
- The solver must determine which rule to use for each clue. Note: Two clues within a row or column refer to two different clue types.
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Circle clues: A 4 cells in a 2x2 touching a small circle are within the same region. All circles are given.
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Stars have a value of 0 for the following rules:
- Killer cages. Digits cannot repeat within a cage, and cell values must sum to the total given in the top corner of the cage.
- Directional arrows in the grid point to the first visible star in that direction. The distance to the star is given by the cell's value.
Puzzle Links
F-puzzles: https://f-puzzles.com/?id=2z6bqkpc
SudokuPad: https://tinyurl.com/4xc29rwf
Solution code: Using an uppercase S to represent a star: Rows 6 and 7, no spaces or punctuation.
Comments
on 29. March 2023, 06:42 by CahounCZ
Amazing puzzle, thanks.
on 25. January 2023, 07:13 by randall
Clarifying rules.
on 24. January 2023, 16:19 by henrypijames
Number of borders: Does the grid edge count?
And obviously, not all white circles are given - just those placeable at the joint corners of four cells. Otherwise there would have to be circles on the T-intersections along the grid edge, and there would have to a flood of circles on cell borders (like white Kropki).
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The grid edge does not count, and yes - the white circles relate to a 2x2 within the grid. I'll update the wording.
on 22. January 2023, 23:27 by polar
Awesome puzzle thanks.
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I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the kind words.
on 22. January 2023, 01:16 by Myxo
Great puzzle! I hate it.
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Awesome solve, thanks for streaming! I hate it, too
on 22. January 2023, 00:22 by randall
Based on feedback - updated to 5* difficulty
on 12. January 2023, 00:35 by randall
Clarifying 'adjacent cells' wording.
on 9. January 2023, 20:32 by wildbush7
Do the stars interupt a continuous run of digits or can they be part of it?
So if in a single region you had 1 4 star 8 2 9, would that clue be a 3, 5 or 6?
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It would be 6 (assuming they were all in the same region within that row/column). The placement of stars within a region does not impact the count of continuous cells for that region (for a row/column). Hope this helps!
on 7. January 2023, 18:28 by Chilly
Tough, but there was never any point where I felt like I was stuck - 3 puzzles in one is a lot to take in :) Very nice work!
on 7. January 2023, 00:51 by Dandelo
Can a star see himself?
In other words: can a star be placed in an arrow cell?
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Yes! A star has a value of 0, so can be 0 cells away from itself on an arrow.
