Patchouli
(Published on 29. August 2022, 05:29 by KNT)
Rules:
1. Place the digits 1-9 in every row and column exactly once.
2. The filled cells/empty cells form a valid cave solution. Circles indicate cells which are valid cave clues. Not all circles are necessarily given.
3. Outside clues are Japanese Sums clues, where "?" can replace any digit 1-9. Clues in the same row or column are separated by at least one empty cell. "?*" encodes the existence of exactly one Japanese sum clue, and "..." encodes the existence of an arbitrary number of Japanese sum clues (which may be none at all).
An 8x8 example with the digits 1-5 for those not keen on parsing the above:
Solution code: Row 10, Column 4, with 'X' in place of empty cells.
Comments
on 25. April 2024, 20:42 by The Book Wyrm
Very nice puzzle. Not too difficult once you get started, and a lot of fun deductions in here.
Just have to make sure to read the rules properly.
on 11. December 2023, 14:12 by StephenR
What a corker, thanks. On several occasions I was stumped and struggling to see how I could progress, but something always showed itself eventually.
on 8. April 2023, 18:35 by Piatato
Lovely puzzle! The ending was quite thrilling due to the fact that I had made a very silly mistake in the very beginning, that luckily turned out to be easily fixable. :D
on 26. December 2022, 01:52 by ONeill
Incredibly smooth solve and beautiful logic throughout. Thanks!
on 12. December 2022, 17:02 by peacherwu2
Unexpected and joyful structure deductions. Never seen anything like this!
on 18. October 2022, 00:26 by Christounet
Loved it ! Having solved some of your lastest harder puzzles, this one felt quite easier. The final disambiguation of the "almost deadly" pattern was very naughty, and it came as a very fun endpoint !
on 2. October 2022, 04:24 by kjholt
I'm assuming ?* denotes that the Japanese sum clue corresponds to exactly one digit in the grid? Is that a correct reading of the rule? The usage of "clue" here confused me but that might just be my inexperience.
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Hi @kjholt, that is not a correct interpretation of "?*". Apologies for the lack of rigor in the definition, but it is essentially saying that the clue could have either a single or double digit total. If it was given to be just a single digit total "?" would be written, and for double digit, "??".
Here's a quick image illustration I made with sums for a row: https://imgur.com/a/GG0LLA5 (obviously not valid, as no circle clue can be empty, but I think you can get the point here)
Hope this helps :)
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Oh that makes sense! Thank you for your prompt reply; I just got to a spot in the break-in where it was clear I was incorrect so I came back here :) --kjholt
on 29. September 2022, 08:33 by Phistomefel
A superb puzzle. Thank you so much, KNT!
on 18. September 2022, 08:50 by AnnaTh
Absolutely amazing!
on 12. September 2022, 04:59 by KNT
Changed rules to be more clear/concise for future solvers
on 31. August 2022, 14:34 by tuace
Very nice solving path :)
on 29. August 2022, 23:29 by marcmees
Thanks for this puzzle. the wording confused at first but I finally got the ?, ... and * where they were needed. 5*
on 29. August 2022, 23:20 by RJBlarmo
Really cool hybrid idea and a very fun solve!
on 29. August 2022, 22:00 by Agent
Absolutely brutal and amazing puzzle! Solving this on my phone was a scary experience, but well worth the trouble.
on 29. August 2022, 19:11 by Dandelo
And I'd recommend first to solve the example, it's also a very good puzzle and helps a lot to get familiar with the rules.
on 29. August 2022, 18:55 by KNT
Edited a line of the rules as per polar and Dandelo's suggestion
on 29. August 2022, 18:52 by Dandelo
But I agree with polar that the rules (leftmost/rightmost etc.) are not correct. I've read it as intended, and the example also gives a hint, but the actual text allows to switch the inner groups, IMO.
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both of you make a good point. that section just serves to confuse, so i'll omit it
on 29. August 2022, 18:43 by Dandelo
Aargh, I still had the old solution code description in a tab...
Great puzzle.
on 29. August 2022, 18:00 by polar
Felt totally spoilt solving a KNT japanese sums puzzle (my personal fave type)! Beautiful construction & a joy to solve. Hope to see more of them! Thanks :)
on 29. August 2022, 17:08 by KNT
Edited solution code
on 29. August 2022, 14:08 by Vebby
Fabulous! A treat to solve. Thanks KNT! :)
on 29. August 2022, 10:15 by Niverio
Very enjoyable!
on 29. August 2022, 09:53 by Jesper
A wonderful puzzle! So much fun.
on 29. August 2022, 05:35 by the_cogito
Fun puzzle! Tricky start, but flowed really nicely after that!
