X-wiches
(Published on 4. May 2026, 16:44 by EdTheAlchemist)
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
Each clued row or column has an X-sum clue at one end and a sandwich clue at the other; it is up to you to determine which end is which in each case.
X-sums indicate the sum of the first X digits in that row or column, where X is the first digit seen in that row or column from the direction of the clue.
Sandwich sums indicate the sum of the digits between the 1 and the 9 in that row or column, not including the 1 and 9 themselves.
A question mark (?) may represent any digit from 0 to 9, but no multi-digit clue may start with a 0. An asterisk (*) may represent any number at all from 0 to 45.
Solution code: Row 3
Comments
on 9. May 2026, 18:21 by VitP
it turns out that this is actually quite easy, and in fact, very LINEAR, in that completing each step opens a door that you didn't even see before. let's increase the number of solves. hopefully this walkthrough helps in that.
first, ADMINISTRATIVE advice. you want to indicate WHICH TYPE of clue somehow. use the PEN TOOL. assign a COLOUR to each clue. say black for x-sums, silver for sandwich, green for completed.
1) row 4 is restricted, as 4 can never be an x-sum.
2) row 5 has strong restrictions, and the DIRECTION is now known.
3) work on row 4. the x-sum is fixed. and now the rest of the row is highly restricted. remember, ?? can stand for anything from 10-45.
4) can the 26 clue be a sandwich ?
4a) can the 7 clue go up ?
5) only 2 places for 9 in col 8. one of them breaks the 6 clue. 18+10-45 = ?
6) row 1 x-sum is now located. and you can now complete row 1.
7) reduce col 8.
8) do row 2.
9) give the rest to an intern.
and, because each step in the sequence is quite easy, and telegraphed quite plainly (hooray for handcrafted puzzles), the ENTIRE thing could be done by an intern.
thus, it's level 2.
incidentally, the 3 * clues provide exactly the same information as nothing.
on 7. May 2026, 06:01 by ebulku
Took me 55 minutes, and it was a fun one
on 4. May 2026, 18:11 by Myfyr MJ
Very nice but a little bit hard. Got there in the end though.
