La Grande Illusion
(Published on 23. December 2025, 01:29 by Kafkapharnaum)
Happy Holidays! Here's keeping a certain recent flurry going while also nodding to Juggler and TalkingFredish's amazing miracle Minesweeper sudoku, for anybody who might want more of either.
Big thanks to NicoD and Calvinball for testing a harder version that was definitely in 4/5 territory, while this one here should be closer to 3/5.
As with anything however, familiarity or lack thereof will make a big difference.
RULES
MINESWEEPER
– A digit in a circle indicates how many cells NOT including itself in its neighborhood (ie, up to 8 adjacent cells) contain a zero.
– A digit in a square indicates how many cells in its neighborhood, including itself, do not contain a zero.
DOPPELGANGER
– Every row, column, and box contains the digit 0 always, as well as eight out of the nine digits from 1 to 9 (ie, it's missing a digit that is not 0).
– No two rows, no two columns, and no two boxes may be missing the same digit.
– For each 0 in the grid, the digits missing in its row, its column, and its box must be three different digits, yet zeros always have a null value (ie, zero).
Solve on Sudokupad
Solve on Penpa
Big thanks to NicoD and Calvinball for testing a harder version that was definitely in 4/5 territory, while this one here should be closer to 3/5.
As with anything however, familiarity or lack thereof will make a big difference.
RULES
MINESWEEPER
– A digit in a circle indicates how many cells NOT including itself in its neighborhood (ie, up to 8 adjacent cells) contain a zero.
– A digit in a square indicates how many cells in its neighborhood, including itself, do not contain a zero.
DOPPELGANGER
– Every row, column, and box contains the digit 0 always, as well as eight out of the nine digits from 1 to 9 (ie, it's missing a digit that is not 0).
– No two rows, no two columns, and no two boxes may be missing the same digit.
– For each 0 in the grid, the digits missing in its row, its column, and its box must be three different digits, yet zeros always have a null value (ie, zero).
Solve on Sudokupad
Solve on Penpa
Solution code: Column 8
Solved by Calvinball, h5663454, aqjhs, luoji, tuturitu, War, SKORP17, marcmees, bansalsaab, bodemeister, SIGMA, Isael, wullemuus, KenGlue, MaxSmartable, wenchang, steperlich, beefyplato, WithIceCream, DaleVandermeer
Comments
Last changed on 24. December 2025, 19:16
on 24. December 2025, 16:49 by bodemeister
Quite enjoyable and pretty constant difficulty-level throughout. Some fun coloring at the end too!
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Thanks a lot for the solve and feedback, happy to hear I managed to keep the difficulty constant throughout, and that it was a fun solve :D
Last changed on 23. December 2025, 19:00
on 23. December 2025, 17:30 by War
One of your easier ones, still quite enjoyable!
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Ah, happy to hear that! I wanted this one to not be too hard, but also to put up a decent fight hehe -- glad you enjoyed, and Happy Holidays! :D
