Japanese Sum Cave Cipher #3: Indexed Empty Cells
(Published on 20. October 2022, 06:39 by KNT)
Rules:
Place the digits 1 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. 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.
Variant:
There is one cell in every row and column that is neither shaded nor unshaded, and does not contain a digit. Clues to the right and bottom of the grid index this special cell in their row or column (from the right or bottom respectively). Neither shaded nor unshaded cells may connect through these special cells. These cells also serve as delimiters for all Japanese sum clues.
Answer check is enabled with blue sudoku digits.
Solution code: Row 5, then Column 4, with X for empty cells
Comments
on 20. October 2023, 00:22 by Piatato
Great puzzle! I tried this a good while back, and failed it toward the end somehow. Not sure what went wrong then, it all worked brilliantly this time around. :)
on 3. September 2023, 17:21 by Snookerfan
Great puzzle again! A bit easier than number 2. Thank you
on 14. March 2023, 14:07 by Christounet
Excellent puzzle again ! That felt easier for me than the previous one, probably because I'm finally starting to understand how this ciphering madness works... Thanks !
on 2. March 2023, 06:49 by wisty
This puzzle is fantastic!!! The difficulty is consistent and fair and I really appreciate how thoroughly it uses both the cave rules and the block cells :)
on 10. January 2023, 00:29 by lerroyy
Great puzzle, thanks!
on 10. November 2022, 19:35 by KNT
Title
on 22. October 2022, 17:21 by AnnaTh
Can't get enough of your fantastic puzzles. I hope you will not run out of ideas so soon.
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this makes me really really happy, @AnnaTh. don't worry- I truly love setting and am lucky enough to have the free time to do it quite often, ideas are definitely still aplenty :)
on 21. October 2022, 22:26 by ibag
Great fun!
on 21. October 2022, 21:07 by KNT
Updated visuals: using "?" instead of "." for better visibility
on 21. October 2022, 11:09 by MagnusJosefsson
Great puzzle as always! It took me a while to get started on this one, then it became an exciting ride with a variety of cool logic.
on 21. October 2022, 04:23 by marcmees
you never disappoint (I suppose Niverio means). The opening was found quickly but the empty cell definitely complicated things hence forward. Nice. thanks.
on 20. October 2022, 21:34 by Niverio
Absolutely amazing. You never disappoint, and always come up with exciting things, KNT!
(Edited out "ceased to" from before disappoint because apparently I was having a brainfart while writing the comment... Thanks marc for pointing it out lol)
on 20. October 2022, 19:33 by Playmaker6174
Another spectacular and beautiful puzzle as always! The opening actually drained my mind for a long while before I started to notice something, then after that it's a long and smooth flow with plenty of lovely deductions ;)
on 20. October 2022, 13:51 by ONeill
This one flowed really nicely and I made a lot less mistakes than the other two. Hopefully that’s the same for the fourth!
on 20. October 2022, 11:58 by Jesper
Great puzzle! The empty cells really turn a lot of things on its head. Looking forward to #4 :)
on 20. October 2022, 10:12 by Vebby
Cool new twist, particularly enjoyed the connectivity logic in this one. I'm all for a #4 too! ;)
on 20. October 2022, 06:50 by polar
Found it a bit trickier than the last one, but still very enjoyable. 4 is my lucky number.. Just an fyi for the next one ;)
