At one stage, you must consider which two digits share an S-cell in box 3. The two cases that are hardest (but in my opinion most interesting!) to disprove are:
a) 3 and 4: If this went in column 1, then the 0 in column 3 would be missing the same digit in its box as its column, and vice versa if the S-cell went in column 3;
b) 6 and anything: Wherever this S-cell goes, it would share a column with a cell that must be either 6 or an S-cell, and this would break both options.
The X clue quickly reduces the options such that the only moderately difficult case to disprove is 3 and 5. It also makes the rule requiring each to be missing different digits in its row, column and box redundant across the whole puzzle, which is a shame, but may be for the best!
Solution code: Values in row 1 (a cell's value is the sum of its digits), left to right
on 18. October 2025, 18:17 by earthpuzzles
I appreciated the X clue! Great decision to keep that in. The 6x6 size also made this more approachable than it would otherwise be — and now that I’m warmed up with the ruleset, I want to try more!
on 25. September 2025, 02:24 by ViKingPrime
I can't tell if this pain in my head is from my brain growing or melting.
on 20. September 2025, 00:43 by eladv
Thank you TPP! This was a really cool puzzle! It took me a long time to solve, but I think it inherently is not that hard (at least not with the X clue. I didn't try to solve it without the X! :) )
| Difficulty: | ![]() |
| Rating: | 90 % |
| Solved: | 13 times |
| Observed: | 2 times |
| ID: | 000P9M |