Holy Moly (Chaconopia)
(Published on 6. November 2025, 14:01 by Mad-Tyas)
Sudoku on:
SudokuPad
Rules:
1. Chaos Construction: The grid has to be devided into nine regions of orthogonally connected cells. Each row, column and region has to contain the digits 1-9 once each.
2. Roles: If certain conditions are met, cells can take roles that increase their value. The value of a cell with no role is it's digit. Role values and conditions are described below.
2.1 Role conditions and values (X = Digit in a cell)
2.1.1 Basic roles:
- Farmer (Value = 2X): To become a Farmer, a cell needs at least X cells including itself of its own region in the 3x3 area centered on the cell.
- Merchant (Value = 3X): To become a Merchant, there has to be at least one foreign region that occupies at least X orthogonally and/or diagonally touching cells of the considered cell.
- Diplomat (Value = 4X): To become a Diplomat, a cell has to be orthogonally and/or diagonally touched by at least X different other regions.
2.1.2 Special role:
- Bishop (Value = 5X): To become a Bishop, a cell needs to see at least X cells of its own region including itself in diagonal directions. Cells from other regions block the view.
2.2 Role assignation: Basic roles are automatically taken if their condition is met. If more than one condition is met, a cell takes the role with the highest value.
The Special role "Bishop" may appear only once per region and can either be taken by a cell with no role or replace the Basic role of a cell. Of all cells in a region which meet the condition to become a Bishop, the Bishop role is taken by the cell that can gain the highest increase in value by becoming the Bishop. In case of a tie, all cells involved could be the Bishop and it has to be determined by the solver which of the cells is the Bishop.
3. Clues:
- Values along an arrow must sum to the value in the attached circle.
- In cages marked with a dashed line the values have to add up to the total given in the top-left corner of a cage.
Have fun solving!
Example: This is an 5x5 example picture to show how roles are assigned to cells. White circles mark the bishop cell in a region. In Region A, I only marked the cells that meet the Bishop condition (grey circles) and you can try to determine the Bishop as a little exercise. Basic roles are not marked:
- Regions B and E: The cell with 1 is the only cell that meet the Bishop condition and therefore is the Bishop.
- Region C and D: The cells with 1, 2 and 3 all meet the Bishop condition. In Region C the cell with 2 is the Bishop as it can increase it's value by 4 (from 6 to 10) compared to it's Basic role (Merchant). The cell with the 3 has the Basic role Diplomat with a value of 12 and could increase it's value only by 3 (from 12 two 15). In Region D it's the other way around.
- Region A: The cells with 1 and 2 meet the Bishop condition. Try to determine which cell is the Bishop.
Solution code: The 9 digits from row 5 (top-to-bottom) separated by (+) for borders between regions
Comments
on 13. November 2025, 19:08 by Gnosis66
This was a puzzle with stunning logic that the solver had to deduce by going down lots of different avenues.
on 7. November 2025, 05:55 by War
I stayed up late because I saw this posted. Absolutely phenomenal break in logic. I think Min-Max arrows pairs exceptionally well with Chaconopeia, and made the bishop shine in this puzzle. I see you clarified that bishops are allowed to tie in this puzzle, I don't remember if that was allowed in the previous few, but it is a necessary rule here. Thanks for this masterpiece, I didn't appreciate the bishop until now.
