The Colour out of Space (Advanced Black Hole)
(Published on 31. March 2024, 22:23 by heliopolix )
Warning! This is probably the hardest puzzle I've ever made.
This is the sixth puzzle in the Black Hole series. I'd love to hear your thoughts about the puzzle.
Thanks to many people for inspiration, testing, and feedback.This puzzle wouldn't exist without their input.
Completing this puzzle involves: shading some cells, and doing region sum, German whisper, and renban logic with double-value, zero-value, and multi-digit cells.
The combination of S-cell and modifiers greatly increases complexity. Choose your notation carefully to track special cells.
Rules:
- Schrödinger Sudoku: Place the digits 0-9 once each in every row, column, and 3x3 box. One cell in each row, column, and box contains two digits. All other cells contain a single digit.
- Black : Place nine black holes, one in each row, column, and box. Digits may not repeat on black holes. Place nine white holes with the same rules. Place black and white holes in separate cells.
- For line clues, each cell has a value equal to the sum of its digits, modified as follows: black holes have zero value and white holes have double value.
- Region Sum Line: Cell values on a thin blue region sum line have the same total for each region the line enters. Different lines may have different totals.
- German Whisper: Adjacent cell values on a green German whisper line must differ by at least five.
- Renban: Cell values on a scintillating purple renban line form a set of consecutive non-repeating values in any order.
- Any line in the grid must have the same number of black and white holes (including zero holes).
Streamers have permission to use this puzzle.
Solution code: In order from rows 1-9, the digits in every Schrödinger cell, with the smaller digit coming before the larger digit in each cell (18 digits, no spaces).
Comments
on 7. September 2025, 23:34 by danroberts
Very nice, its hard but not impossible if you've done the other puzzles in the series
on 8. August 2025, 01:50 by skuntsel
I know I’m biased, and it’s really hard for me to be unprejudiced, but this puzzle is one of a kind. It truly is a masterpiece and belongs to the pantheon of human achievement. One of the most beautiful and elegant puzzles I have ever solved. A true piece if art, coming from the pen of a real master. Every its deduction is so wonderful and in a way so straightforward that I wish everyone had a chance of solving it in their life. In unfolds so elegantly, it unravels its mysteries if you know what questions are the right ones to be asked, it opens up, layer by layer, to guide you to solution, with every step showing you the depths and intricacies of this masterpiece.
I frankly wonder who could downvote this piece of art. Once again, thank you, heliopolix, this is one of these puzzles you are able to achieve only a handful of times in your life.
You are sure right that the break-in for this puzzle is the 13-cell renban. No, wait, it’s a very restricted region sum line, where multiple cells see each other. You’re all right… until you’re not! Everything is not what is seems dee out in space. Real tension comes from unexpected places, the ones you least expect it to come from.
I put the puzzle away some time ago after spending many hours on the break-in. Right now I cracked it in all its glory within an hour and something, as it revealed its secrets to me this time being like good wine that ages extremely well.
Finally, I wanted to reference a puzzle that reminded me of this one both in terms of outlay, aesthetics and pure perfection, it is a recent puzzle by Neokart which can be found here: https://logic-masters.de/Raetselportal/Raetsel/zeigen.php?id=000OHH. I highly recommend taking a look and trying to solve that puzzle too. Definitely closely related, with the referenced puzzle being kind of a younger sibling (but definitely not in respect to the difficulty, which is insane in both puzzles). Once again, thank you, heliopolix, for creating one of the best sets in sudoku history and surmounting it with this jewel!
on 12. May 2025, 22:45 by yellow
took me forever but so worth it! :)
on 18. April 2024, 22:16 by lmdemasi
Where is the very very very hard button?
on 9. April 2024, 00:20 by Myxo
insane
on 1. April 2024, 03:48 by gdc
Very nice puzzle with lots of twists and turns along the way. Be prepared that this might take you hours because keeping track of the modifiers is quite demanding. But I enjoyed every second of it.
on 1. April 2024, 01:17 by jojo81gaming
The most complicated puzzle I've ever solved, but it was fun the whole way through! 5+ difficulty for sure
on 31. March 2024, 23:00 by vitaminz
This is an astonishing puzzle. Lots of novel stuff here. And it earned its self-rated 5* difficulty.
