Chaos Deconstruction #2: Cave (11x11)
(Published on 6. July 2022, 07:57 by KNT)
I set this puzzle (almost) start to finish on livestream in the CTC discord server! While this puzzle is primarily my creation, I want to say thanks to Niverio and TotallyNormalCat for helping out so that the end solve didn't break over and over again.
Rules:
1. Chaos deconstruction rules apply. In the 11x11 grid, nine 9-cell regions containing the digits 1-9 must be located. Digits cannot repeat any row, column or region, and regions are orthogonally connected.
2. A digit in a circled cell indicates the number of digits seen in all four orthogonal directions (including itself). Region borders obstruct vision.
3. The entire puzzle is a "cave" pencil puzzle, where filled cells are cave and empty cells are wall. In other words, every filled cell must be orthogonally connected, and every empty cell must be orthogonally connected to one of the edges of the grid. All circled cells and given digits are nonempty.
Solution code: Row 5 followed by Column 11, ignoring blank cells
Comments
on 21. April 2024, 16:57 by The Book Wyrm
Very fun puzzle!
Lot of interesting logic in this one. I like how the cave rules mean some of the logic focuses on the empty cells rather than the filled cells, which is unusual for a deconstruction.
Like some other solvers have mentioned, found the irregular at the end quite tough, but there was a lot of nice logic there as well.
on 10. October 2023, 19:47 by StephenR
Another doozy. Unlike some others I didn't struggle too much with the irregular bit, but it took me a while to spot some of the region building steps. Thanks!
on 24. August 2023, 13:03 by ibag
Very nice - like all the other ones! ;-)
on 27. April 2023, 05:55 by wooferzfg
That was a fun way to spend time while flying! The ruleset was cool and there some neat tricky steps. The irregular sudoku at the end was tough for me, though.
on 24. February 2023, 16:12 by ONeill
Wonderful deconstruction. I found the irregular sudoku to be more difficult than the region building. Fun all the way through though!
on 22. February 2023, 13:23 by Piatato
Very nice! I was quite nervous toward the end, having broken it two or three times when I tried it last summer. Very relieved to finally have succeded :-)
on 17. October 2022, 06:22 by Xendari
Beautiful! I'll admit I was terrified at how few digits had been placed after all the clues were used, but the irregular logic was genuinely lovely. Thank you!
on 8. October 2022, 01:32 by thoughtbyte
Awesome. Had to try it after the plug during the Memeristor interview. Thanks!
on 12. July 2022, 17:28 by Christounet
A very fine construction with a great balance of all the constraints. I totally understand why you said you had trouble figuring out the end solve, because it constantly felt like it was on the verge of breaking near the end with "almost deadly" patterns, and "naked singles" popping out of nowhere ! Cave logic was delightful and very powerful !
on 9. July 2022, 10:40 by Mody
Superschönes Rätsel.
Sehr kniffelig, aber logisch zu lösen.
Super nice puzzle.
Very tricky, but logical to solve.
on 7. July 2022, 22:44 by wenchang
Very nice and hard. Joyful to play.
https://youtu.be/0ELptpb7nA4
on 7. July 2022, 12:01 by Jesper
Absolutely wonderful! The integrated Cave puzzle really adds another dimension, requiring some logic not commonly used in Chaos Constructions.
on 7. July 2022, 11:55 by twobear
Great puzzle. Thank you!
on 6. July 2022, 23:32 by KNT
I'm glad you all enjoyed the puzzle!
Quite happy with how this one turned out given that it's probably the first puzzle in a very long time that I set start to finish in one sitting :)
on 6. July 2022, 22:05 by marcmees
we're getting spoiled. very nice Deconstruction. Thanks
on 6. July 2022, 21:25 by MagnusJosefsson
Brilliant! Cave hybrids are always a lot of fun and this one worked wonderfully!
on 6. July 2022, 20:18 by polar
Great fun! Thanks.
on 6. July 2022, 19:37 by henrypijames
Got the break-in right away and never got stuck, nevertheless 4¼ difficulty.
on 6. July 2022, 15:45 by Niverio
Cannot wait to see more of these!
on 6. July 2022, 14:45 by Lizzy01
This puzzle took me 2 hours and completely destroyed my scanning abilities, but I did it! Very nice!
on 6. July 2022, 14:41 by Vebby
Wonderful rule-set! Great fun to solve :)
on 6. July 2022, 09:45 by RJBlarmo
Really cool ruleset, and a fun challenge from start to finish! Even after finding all the regions the irregular sudoku didn't let up easily.
