Aquatic Construction (9x9)
(Published on 23. June 2022, 01:08 by KNT)
Rules:
- Normal chaos construction rules apply.
- The final irregular grid will satisfy standard aquarium rules with respect to the outside clues.
- If a clued cell is air, then the digit in the cell indicates the number of water cells seen in the directions of the arrows combined. Likewise, if a clued cell is water, then the digit in the cell indicates the number of air cells seen in the directions of the arrows combined.
- A Chaos Construction is an irregular sudoku in which the regions are to be determined by the solver. All regions are orthogonally connected.
- Aquarium is a pencil puzzle type in which a grid is entirely tessellated into polyominoes. Every cell in the grid is either air or water.
- In an aquarium, if a cell in any polyomino is water, then every cell in the same and lower rows of the polyomino must also be water. Outside clues indicate the total number of water cells in the respective row or column of the grid.
My advice for solving this puzzle is to use coloring to keep track of air and water cells, and use the line tool in Penpa to keep track of what cells must be part of the same region. In my experience, it is the best way to save headache. In this ruleset it is also exceptionally easy to make mistakes, so be sure to double and triple check any difficult deductions you may come across.
Solution code: The air cells in the bottom 4 rows, left to right, top to bottom.
Comments
on 24. February 2024, 17:17 by Myxo
I wasn't able to solve this back then, but now it was quite smooth. Awesome!
on 21. January 2024, 23:20 by The Book Wyrm
Very tough puzzle indeed. Consistently difficult, all the way until the end.
Very enjoyable, with lots of interesting deductions throughout.
on 9. April 2023, 01:52 by Euclid
Absolutely brilliant, but brutally difficult.
on 13. November 2022, 22:17 by SudokuExplorer
Absolutely sublime! I'm lost for words! :-)
on 25. October 2022, 20:12 by peacherwu2
Amost missed it toward the end. Very clever!!
on 17. October 2022, 01:32 by Piatato
Wow, what a masterpiece from start to end! Thanks for setting this!
on 2. September 2022, 17:12 by Christounet
Great puzzle ! A much harder solve than the 7x7 version that I solved a few weeks back. This had really tricky deductions in it. What amazed me the most was the fact that some cells had to have the same value independantly of their nature (air or water). Thanks again KNT !
on 13. July 2022, 07:39 by udukos
Beautiful puzzle!
on 28. June 2022, 06:57 by TotallyNormalCat
Legendary puzzle
on 25. June 2022, 19:32 by lerroyy
Very hard puzzle, but very nice!
Thanks KNT!
on 25. June 2022, 13:25 by Statistica
Ganz großartig. Hat eine Menge Spaß gemacht.
on 24. June 2022, 22:05 by henrypijames
I'm glad I was undeterred by the difficulty warning and did this puzzle cold - without the 7×7 warm-up. It was more fun this way, and only 4½ difficulty for me regardless.
on 24. June 2022, 20:55 by Niverio
Brutal, and I was 13 minutes too slow... RIP.
on 24. June 2022, 12:18 by marcmees
great challenge. Fulfilled my expectations completely. thanks.
on 24. June 2022, 02:03 by Elliptical
Excellent puzzle. A solid 5 star for difficulty. Every little deduction required some effort. The irregular sudoku at the end of the solution was also challenging. One of your best puzzles, in my opinion. I'm looking forward to Simon's video :)
on 23. June 2022, 21:47 by blazedy
:)
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(:
on 23. June 2022, 17:01 by Isa
beautiful puzzle really enjoyed solving it :)
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Thanks Isa!
on 23. June 2022, 16:56 by Vebby
Consistently challenging with interesting and enjoyable deductions throughout. Very nice exploration of the rule-set. Thanks KNT! :)
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Thanks Vebby! I tried my best to make sure the puzzle utilized the ruleset in every way it could, with a variety of deductions included in the solving path.
on 23. June 2022, 16:09 by MagnusJosefsson
Great puzzle, very consistently challenging and enjoyable!
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I'm glad you enjoyed it, Magnus!
on 23. June 2022, 13:18 by polar
Wonderful - thanks!
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Thank you polar, I'm glad this was able to scratch an itch for a solver like you that goes through dozens of puzzles a week :)
on 23. June 2022, 11:29 by PixelPlucker
Wow, that was a proper challenge. Loads of beautiful logic, thanks!
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Thanks for the solve PixelPlucker! I know we talked about this puzzle already a bit- but I seriously had a lot of fun setting it, despite the very long time it took. Glad you enjoyed it too!
on 23. June 2022, 11:21 by Jesper
Great puzzle, remains challenging until the end. Thanks!
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Thank you Jesper! I am glad you found it consistently challenging to the end.
on 23. June 2022, 10:58 by Steven R
Ow, my brain! This puzzle doesn't give anything up easily. Thanks KNT!
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Hah! That reaction is *exactly* what I was going for. Thanks for the solve, Steven!
on 23. June 2022, 08:05 by RJBlarmo
Really fun challenge! Very easy to make a mistake on this and I had to restart a few times. Extremely satisfying when everything finally falls into place at the end.
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Congratulations on the solve! I'm glad you persevered even after having to restart the puzzle several times.
