Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

HUGE thanks to Cracking The Cryptic for featuring this puzzle.
Watch on Youtube: Cracking The Cryptic

Note: There is a second version of this puzzle titled 'Five Finger Death Punch' that has the exact same solution and has been published on LMD earlier. I revisited this puzzle thanks to a weekly prompt by Scojo that said: create a loop puzzle with maximum 10 clues in the grid. Removing one circle to fit the prompt made the break in more interesting and the overall solve better in my opinion. I wasn't sure if I was going to post it but now that CTC featured it, it seemed like a no brainer. Enjoy.

Hello

Normal 9x9 sudoku rules apply.

Draw a 1-cell wide loop that moves strictly orthogonally and doesn't branch or intersect itself. The loop doesn't touch itself, not even diagonally.

The loop acts as a german whispers line. Neighbouring digits on the loop must have a difference of at least 5.

A digit in a circle indicates how many times that digit must appear in circles. 

The circled digits also indicate how many of the up to 8 surrounding cells are on the loop.

Circles are never on the loop.

Have fun.

                                       click image to play in sudokupad