16s
(Published on 10. May 2026, 10:07 by iEtsh)
Standard Sudoku: each row, column, and 3×3 box contains digits 1–9 once
Renban lines: line digits are different and form a consecutive set, not ordered necessarily
Quadruple: the four cells around the white circle must contain exactly the two given digits
V: V = sum 5 between connected cells, all Vs are given
Killer cages: cage sums to a given total
German whispers: adjacent digits on the line differ by ≥5
Foggy cells: guessing is not allowed inside fog cells; placing the correct digit in its correct position may reveal hidden fog cells
Solution code: column 7
Comments
on 11. May 2026, 21:06 by Rockon101000
I was able to disambiguate without any issue. I found the word "exactly" in the rules for quadruple to be somewhat confusing. When I read it, I interpreted it to mean the surrounding cells could contain only 1s and 6s (i.e. they would be on box borders). I did, at one point, need to bifurcate a bot longer than I usually like to, but it was by no means long enough to be unacceptable. A fine puzzle.
on 11. May 2026, 00:25 by LeaVulpina
Cool as hell puzzle! Solved really nicely.
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iEtsh: Thanks!
on 10. May 2026, 13:51 by fuxia
I reached a point where I simply couldn't find any further way to disambiguate without guessing, so I rebuilt the thing in SudokuMaker – 183 solutions. You are required to "test" the fog digits.
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iEtsh: Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and test the puzzle.
Could you show me the exact point where you got stuck and couldn’t disambiguate further? If there’s a specific step that feels ambiguous, I’d rather give a hint or clarify the intended logic path.
Taking it into SudokuMaker and testing fog digits for multiple solutions isn’t really the intended approach here, if the puzzle genuinely had 183 valid solutions, I wouldn’t have uploaded it in the first place.
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Fuxia: You can ping me on Discord, username .fuxia. Sudokumaker stopped at exactly the same position where I got stuck.
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iEtsh: Check it
