Homunculus
(Published on 30. August 2026, 15:20 by RightHandedNeutrino)
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply
Place the digits 1 to 9 in each row, column, and 3x3 box.
Kropki Dots
Digits separated by a white dot are consecutive. Not all dots are given.
Still Life (negative constraint)
Shade some cells green ("live cells") such that the – up to – eight cells neighboring each green cell contain exactly 2 or 3 other green cells and the neighbors of each 'unshaded' – or grey – cell ("dead cells") do not contain exactly 3 green cells
– A CIRCLED cell's digit indicates the number of cells that are in the SAME state as its own in its neighborhood, INCLUDING its own cell
– A SQUARED cell's digit indicates the number of cells that are in a DIFFERENT state from its own in its neighborhood (therefore not including its own cell)
ALL CIRCLED AND SQUARED CELLS ARE GIVEN
Play the puzzle on Sudokupad
Solution code: The digits in the dead cells of row 6 (left to right) followed by the dead cells in column 5 (top to bottom)
Comments
on 1. September 2026, 13:31 by RightHandedNeutrino
Updated intended difficulty
on 1. September 2026, 04:36 by Kafkapharnaum
Another impressive construction, but my goodness are you underestimating the difficulty of your puzzles lol – as while impressive again, and in a different way from your first puzzle, just the negative constraint alone was far from a walk in the park!
And once again, I just picked a side at random and followed the logic, and sure enough, picking the wrong one, but this time at least I resisted the temptation to erase the grid and correct sides when I ran into the wall, and just treated the achiral dot as being on the other side, then read the solution backwards, and that did it, but phew, what a ride! Have mercy on the solvers maybe less familiar with the Still Life variant and reward them with an extra star XD
--------
I totally did forget to edit the difficulty when creating the puzzle. Ops. Thank you for the solve!
