Poles Apart (Remote Sums Chaos Construction)
(Published on 14. October 2025, 04:00 by tallcat)
Normal Chaos Construction rules apply: Each row, column, and region must contain the digits 1-9 once each. Regions are orthogonally connected and must be determined by the solver
Remote Sums: A Value X in a cage points to a second value Y located X cells away vertically or horizontally. The number in the top left value of the cage indicates the sum of X + Y. For every remote sum, both X and Y must be in the same region and immediately after Y must be a region border or the edge of the grid. (Note: although X and Y must be in the same region, this does not necessarily mean that all cells in between are in the same region as X and Y as well)
Can be found at Sudokupad
Solution code: Column 5 (top to bottom) with '-' to represent region borders
Comments
on 6. November 2025, 07:54 by Playmaker6174
Very neat setting that utilized the regions construction element till the very end of the solve. Indeed quite easy to make certain assumptions too, but going slow and steady and the solve will unfold its secrets nicely :)
on 30. October 2025, 23:08 by Chilly
Very nice TC :)
on 27. October 2025, 20:47 by AdarshN
Brutal but very very good
on 24. October 2025, 18:58 by Voidslime
So much fun! Absolutely devious but always fair. There were at least 3 times i thought i untangled it and would finish the grid with simple sudoku only to find another tricky knot
on 21. October 2025, 12:16 by bboom
Fun rule set, and more approachable than I initially expected. Pretty easy to make small mistakes, but in general it was pretty easy to see where to look next to progress.
on 20. October 2025, 05:39 by henrypijames
Nice deployment of an assortment of CC techniques - which is why indeed it gets harder as it goes.
on 19. October 2025, 11:18 by Norkas
I don't know if that's just my experience, but the puzzle got progressively harder for me with the early deductions appearing fairly easy and the late disambiguations feeling much more specific. Fun puzzle though.
on 18. October 2025, 22:07 by Piatato
Fun and smooth one!
on 16. October 2025, 06:43 by Exigus
Amazing construction, took me quite a bit of time but it was definitely time well spent. Thanks!
on 16. October 2025, 01:28 by skuntsel
Classic tallcat. Fantastic puzzle. Chaos construction at its best. Irregular sudoku at its finest. Not hard at all if you don’t presume what’s not there. And investigate the grid. Sublime construction all in all!
on 15. October 2025, 22:44 by Agent
Great puzzle, fun and smooth!
on 15. October 2025, 15:45 by MaizeGator
Very cool. I also thought this puzzle was a bit easier than advertised, although I was also fooled by the same assumption that jinkela referenced.
on 15. October 2025, 10:12 by Christounet
Very nice tribute puzzle! Probably much easier than the current rating if you are familiar with the usual CC tricks.
on 14. October 2025, 17:29 by jinkela114514
For future solvers: DO NOT assume that the cells between the X and Y belong to the same region as X and Y.
TC: I have edited the rules to clarify this point.
on 14. October 2025, 15:37 by Snookerfan
Brilliant puzzle! The region building was done by some surprising and beautiful steps and kept resisting until the end. Thank you
on 14. October 2025, 15:24 by Franjo
A bit easier than expected (4*?), but what an amazing and satisfying CC this is! Thank you very much for creating and sharing this beautiful masterpiece.
on 14. October 2025, 14:09 by Calvinball
Wonderful setting, one of the many highlight puzzles of Imposter for me. It did have it's tricky moments but it was always fair.
on 14. October 2025, 12:14 by MagnusJosefsson
Fantastic! Chaos construction at its very best. Fun and satisfying region building all the way to the end!
