Châteaux de la Loire (with Nordy)
(Published on 16. July 2025, 16:37 by sujoyku)
We like to thank all testers and wish you joyful solving. Bonne chance!
Rules:
Normal Sudoku rules apply. Place the digits 1 to 9 in every row, column, and blue-outlined 3x3 box.
EQUAL SPLIT LOOP - Shade some cells to form a 1-cell-wide, orthogonally-connected loop that does not touch itself, not even diagonally. Split the loop into non-overlapping segments so that digits do not repeat within a segment and each segment has the same sum.
RIVER - Split points of the loop cannot occur on the blue river (loop segments must form a "bridge" when crossing the river).
CASTLES - A digit in a castle gives the number of loop segments in the same 3x3 box as that castle. A loop segment is counted if at least one of its cells appears within the 3x3 box. Castles may be on or off the loop.
FLAGS - Each flag touches one loop cell and one non-loop cell. Digits joined by a white flag must be consecutive, and digits joined by a black flag must be in a 2:1 ratio.
Here you can solve the puzzle online:
Solution code: Digits on the loop in Row 6 and Row 8 from left to right
Comments
on 3. December 2025, 04:55 by jade moon
nice！
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Thank you, jade moon!
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 26. November 2025, 14:39 by Lenivaya_Joppa
Thank you for this interesting and beautiful puzzle, dear sujoyku and Nordy! :)
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Thank you for your comment, Lenivaya_Joppa! We are glad that you enjoyed it.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 29. July 2025, 15:06 by QuiltyAsCharged
A superb and stylish puzzle that's really fun to solve
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Thank you for your comment, QuiltyAsCharged! It is great to hear that you enjoyed the puzzle.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 18. July 2025, 09:03 by jammycakes
A nice one! Easy but fun. This one needs to be on Cracking the Cryptic!
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Thank you for your comment, jammycakes! We are glad that you liked the puzzle.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 17. July 2025, 21:14 by cozmic72
A pleasure to solve, albeit not a terribly difficult one. Well deserving of the 100% rating so far.
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Thank you for your comment, cozmic72! It is great to hear that you had a fun solve.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 17. July 2025, 15:14 by sorryimLate
Thanks for the fun and surprisingly approachable puzzle!
FYI I played on mobile and all the flags were black.
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Thank you for your comment, sorryimLate! We are glad that you had a fun solve. Also thank you for pointing out the issue with solving on mobile.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 17. July 2025, 15:12 by MaizeGator
Very cool twist on a familiar rule. The castles were a great idea for restricting (what seems like) a very loose constraint.
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Thank you for your comment, MaizeGator! We are glad that you liked the puzzle. And you are right: At first, the Equal Split Loop is quite flexible. It is curious how quickly it gets restricted once a few things get narrowed down though.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 17. July 2025, 12:55 by Franjo
Ein herrlicher Spaziergang auf einem neuartigen Rundweg! Und zum Schluss gibt es dann noch einen lustigen Lösungscode… Vielen herzlichen Dank für das schöne Puzzle.
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Sehr gern geschehen, Franjo, vielen Dank für deinen Kommentar! Es freut uns, dass Dir der Rundgang Spaß gemacht hat.
Herzliche Grüße, sujoyku
on 17. July 2025, 12:43 by Christounet
Agréable promenade! Car tel est notre bon plaisir. Merci :)
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Merci beaucoup pour ton commentaire, Christounet! Nous sommes ravis d'entendre que la promenade t'a plu.
Cordialement, sujoyku
on 17. July 2025, 04:25 by mathpesto
An ambitious premise and well executed! Thoroughly enjoyed the entire solve :)
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Thank you for your comment, mathpesto! We are glad that you enjoyed the puzzle.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 16. July 2025, 21:47 by Exigus
Found it a bit tricky but well worth it. Thanks!
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You are much welcome, Exigus, thank you for commenting! We are glad that you enjoyed our puzzle.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 16. July 2025, 19:59 by Calvinball
Really enjoyed this puzzle, which seems inevitable when these 2 hooligans team up together. Thank you both for the fun!
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Thank you for your comment and testing the puzzle, Calvinball! It is great to hear that you enjoyed the puzzle. "Hooligan" is a word I get not described with too often. But I agree that Nordy and I are a "dangerous" team. :D
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 16. July 2025, 19:37 by ChinStrap
Lovely loop builder here really enjoyed this
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Thank you for your comment and thanks again for testing, ChinStrap! We are glad that you enjoyed our loop puzzle.
Kind regards, sujoyku
on 16. July 2025, 18:31 by Nordy
Thank you for this wonderful collab, sujoyku! It pushed me to grow as a setter in many ways, and I just love how everything turned out
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Thank you, Nordy! I also learned a lot and enjoyed discussing and experimenting with you.
Kind regards, sujoyku
