Japanese Sum Cave Cipher #2: Zero
(Published on 13. October 2022, 23:25 by KNT)
Place the digits 0 to 9 exactly once in each row and column of the grid, and some cells in the grid are to be shaded such that the final shading of the grid resembles a valid cave (All unshaded cells are orthogonally connected and all shaded cells are orthogonally connected by other shaded cells to an edge of the grid).
Outside clues are Japanese sum clues. "?" is a stand in for any digit 0-9, but for a double digit number, the first digit may not be 0 (this includes double digit numbers that lead with letters as well). Each distinct letter represents some unique digit from 0 to 9.
Clues to the left of the grid are Japanese sum clues for either shaded or unshaded groups of cells, where each group needs at least one of the other (shaded or unshaded) to separate the groups. Clues to the top of the grid are Japanese sum clues for the OTHER of shaded or unshaded. (That is, if it turns out clues to the left indicate sums of unshaded blocks, clues to the top indicate sums of shaded blocks). All outside clues are given.
Answer check is enabled with blue sudoku digits.
Solution code: The positive diagonal, from top right to bottom left.
Comments
on 3. September 2023, 14:06 by Snookerfan
Fantastic puzzle! The zero's made my head spin a few times. Thank you
on 27. June 2023, 00:57 by marsh
So proud of this solve. I lost count on how many times I have broken it during the last couple of months.
Great logic and solve path. Thanks KNT
on 26. June 2023, 23:55 by marsh
So proud of this solve. I lost count on how many times I have broken it during the last couple of months.
Great logic and solve path. Thanks KNT
on 13. March 2023, 21:44 by Christounet
Finally !!!
After several month of trying to solve this one, I have finally spotted the crucial piece of logic that was missing to get into this puzzle :)
Amazingly good opening sequence !
Now I can move forward to the next in the serie ! A lot of catching up ahead of me :)
on 12. January 2023, 02:48 by Piatato
Very nice! Took me a good while, but it was well worth the effort :-)
on 13. December 2022, 06:16 by wooferzfg
A beautiful puzzle with steady progress. Thanks!
on 11. November 2022, 17:02 by peacherwu2
Stuck until I read Mark Sweep's comment. Very hard!
on 10. November 2022, 19:34 by KNT
Title change
on 28. October 2022, 14:25 by Mark Sweep
An absolutely amazing solve! I had many pitfalls by forgetting the 0 can change all Japanese sum deductions, but climbing out of them and finding the right path was definitely worth it.
on 21. October 2022, 19:50 by KNT
Updated visuals: using "?" instead of "." for better visibility
on 15. October 2022, 03:55 by Niverio
Way better than the first one ;)
on 14. October 2022, 22:42 by Playmaker6174
Brilliant construction with a very challenging and engaging solve path till the very end!
The 0 really adds an extra layer for the solve, and there are plenty of unexpected deductions in the beginning and the later half, I really enjoyed them overall ;)
on 14. October 2022, 22:38 by PrimeWeasel
Every letter and digit obtained are worth it.
on 14. October 2022, 16:56 by ibag
Sehr schön und geradlinig zu lösen.
on 14. October 2022, 15:07 by MagnusJosefsson
Fantastic puzzle with a lot of lovely well-balanced logic! No step really difficult but overall a very challenging puzzle. Thanks KNT!
on 14. October 2022, 11:57 by marcmees
Thanks for this challenging puzzle. The "0" definitely adds a dimension to the diff.
on 14. October 2022, 11:13 by Jesper
A wonderful puzzle, thanks KNT!
on 14. October 2022, 04:19 by ONeill
Very nice logic during the break-in and throughout, thanks!
on 13. October 2022, 23:43 by polar
Lovely, as always. I look forward to Japanische Höhle mit Extras #3 ;)
on 13. October 2022, 23:36 by Vebby
Even better than #1! Loved the arithmetic logic in this one. Thanks KNT :)
