Copycat Chaos
(Published on 3. May 2026, 09:47 by Andrewsarchus)
About:
- This puzzle was set for Manta-Ray to solve on his segment of the
Sudoku Twitch Train.
Rules:
- Chaos Construction:
Divide the grid into 9 orthogonally connected regions, and place digits 1-9 once each into every row, column, and region. - Copycat Cells:
One cell in each row, column, and region is a Copycat cell.
Each Copycat cell contains a different digit.
The VALUE of a Copycat cell is the DIGIT in the cell rotationally opposite from it in the grid. - Numbered Rooms:
Numerical clues outside the grid are Numbered Rooms clues.
The clue indicates the VALUE of the Nth cell from the clue from that side of the board where N is the VALUE of the closest cell.
In this puzzle, the first N cells belong to the same region, and if N<9, the cell in position N+1 from the clue must belong to a different region. - Numbered Copycats:
Cats outside of the grid indicate that the Nth cell from the clue is a Copycat cell, where N is the VALUE of the closest cell.
If N<9, the cell in the N+1 position must be in a different region than the Copycat cell in position N.
However, unlike the numbered rooms clues, there may be any number of region borders between the clue and the Copycat cell. - Paw Prints:
Cells containing paw prints indicate the minimum number of steps along a path required to reach the Copycat cell in its own region, traveling orthogonally while staying entirely within its region.
All possible Paw Prints are given. - Circles:
The VALUE in a circle is the number of cells, including itself, in the surrounding 3x3 neighborhood, that belong to the same region as the circled cell.
All possible Circles are given. - Arrows:
The VALUE of a cell containing one or more arrows, is the number of region borders (not including the grid border), seen in each indicated direction (separately, not cumulatively).
All possible Arrows are given.
Play Online:
sudokupad: Copycat Chaos
Solution code: VALUES in Row 6 with dashes representing region borders
(example: 123-453-7-89)
Comments
on 6. May 2026, 17:46 by peacherwu2
Fantastic! The extra ambiguity by the cats sure hit the spot!
on 6. May 2026, 15:10 by Mondo
Absolutely wonderful construction.
It took me some time to work out how all the various constraints interacted, but a really clever and satisfying solve path once I did!
on 6. May 2026, 14:24 by marcmees
Amazing puzzle. At first a bit discouraged by the amount of constraints, but once into the solve, it all came nicely together. Thanks.
on 6. May 2026, 00:10 by Laake
What a monster that I kept coming back to, very glad I stuck this one out
on 3. May 2026, 23:12 by bansalsaab
5* amazing beast for me
on 3. May 2026, 19:08 by earthpuzzles
So fun to explore the layers this puzzle offers!
on 3. May 2026, 10:59 by Manta-Ray
This was an absolute pleasure to solve, what an incredible puzzle!! So much interesting logic involved throughout the entire process, even right up until the end - thank you!
