Hole Lotta Lots (Black Hole)
(Published on 14. November 2025, 15:14 by gdc)
Made for a setting challenge about extra regions and lots (special counting clues). According to testers (thanks everyone!) the difficulty should be around 3-3.5 stars. See below for an example puzzle. Hope you enjoy!
Holes: Place nine black holes, one in each row, column, and box. Digits may not repeat on black holes. Place 9 white holes that follow the same restrictions. White holes and black holes never share the same cell.
Teleporting Little Killers: Clues outside the grid give the sum of digits along a diagonally-traveling path starting in the cell pointed at by the arrow. This path only ends when it reaches an edge of the grid. When the path enters a black hole it teleports to the white hole with the same digit maintaining its direction and including both holes in its sum. The path may only visit white holes by teleporting to them.
Connect The Lots: Each circle must be visited by exactly one path. That path must start from an outside clue with a grey background. The circled digit counts the total number of times the path teleports. Circles may not contain holes. Digits may not repeat in circles.
Example Puzzle
A 4x4 example with the same rules (left) and its solution (right). The path of the 12 clue teleports twice before arriving at the circled 2.
Do You Want To Solve More?
Other lots puzzles by me: Lots Of Loops, Polyline Loop, Lots Of Relliks, 6x6 Pack: Odd Lots, Round The Count, Modal Interchange, Busy Thumbnail.
Other Black Holes puzzles: Entrancing Ergophere (gdc), Apsidal Precession (gdc), Intro To Black Holes (heliopolix).
Solution code: The sum of all digits on the path starting at the ">0" clue at the bottom (a 1-3 digit number). Pro tip: If you select all the cells on the path, the killer calculator on SudokuPad will calculate the sum for you.
Comments
on 2. January 2026, 14:10 by gdc
disable antikingg (new SudokuPad bug)
on 18. December 2025, 02:13 by Frank Puzzles
Pro tip on the pro tip, you need to turn on the killer calculator AND Calculate Cell Sums in the settings to see the total for the cells you select on the path.
Thanks for the puzzle!
on 6. December 2025, 21:25 by QuiltyAsCharged
Amazing puzzle, there's so much going on in the grid! And yet it all ties together neatly.
This rule made me laugh: "Circles may not contain holes."
on 21. November 2025, 18:41 by SirThomas
Brilliant puzzle.
on 17. November 2025, 02:00 by Spider
Wonderful setting. I found it to be a tricky tricky 3* or an easy 4*, and with the way ratings have been trending I rated it 4*. It took awhile and a few readings to be able to hold in my brain how all the rules worked together, but once I did and got my coloring system down it all came together quite nicely. Thank you!
on 16. November 2025, 16:59 by LehanLehan
That's just pure genius setting, thank you very much,gdc.
on 15. November 2025, 11:44 by eladv
That was a wonderful puzzle! Just beautiful deductions all the way through, all of the "obviously in retrospect that's where I should have been looking" variety. So great!
on 15. November 2025, 00:08 by bboom
Great fun! It suits my style, and still felt like a 4 star for sure. Lots of things to keep track of but it solves pretty smoothly in the end, without any excessive calculating every option.
on 14. November 2025, 22:11 by godoffours
Incredibly fun puzzle with a lot of interesting deductions, but I also think the raise in estimated difficulty is more than justified. 4-4.5 stars for me on that front.
on 14. November 2025, 21:47 by gdc
change difficulty estimate
on 14. November 2025, 20:30 by SZCrow
Well this is a 5-star for me. Although I spend particularly less time on this one than other 5-stars, but that’s because I got lucky and find the right track. There is many creative techniques involves, definitely a great puzzle
