Japanese Sums with Ranked Cages (9x9)
(Published on 9. September 2026, 16:53 by Rätselmann)
Shade some cells black and fill all remaining cells with digits from 1 to 9. No digit may repeat in any row or column.
Each border clue cell stands for the sum of one contiguous block of white cells, in reading order. Blocks are separated by at least one black cell. All border clue cells are shown, and every clue value is positive. A printed number is the actual sum of that block. A question mark (?) denotes a one-digit sum, ?? a two-digit sum.
Ranked cages: the small number is the rank of the cage sum, from rank 1 (smallest sum) to rank 25 (largest sum). All cage sums differ. Within a cage, all positive values differ; black cells count as 0 and may occur more than once.
Cages also contain border clue cells. Each clue value counts towards its cage sum and takes part in the no-repeat rule. Yellow cells, inside or outside the grid, belong to no cage.
An inequality sign between two neighbouring cells points to the lower of the two numbers it connects. Both connected cells contain numbers in the solution, never black cells.
Solution code: The contents of the 3rd row from left to right. Enter black cells as 0 (zero).
