The Long Way Home
(Published on 20. October 2026, 06:34 by Kafkapharnaum)
Big thanks once again to chrisj50 for testing!
RULES
CHAOS CONSTRUCTION
— Divide the grid into nine regions, each made of nine orthogonally connected cells, such that each row, column and nine cell region contains the digits 1 to 9 exactly once each.
COORDINATE ARROWS
— Digits on an arrow spell out the coordinates for a digit that is their sum (the target cell): the row number is written on the tail of the arrow, and the column number is written on the arrow tip. Eg, an arrow reading -1-4-> would indicate a 5 in the target cell r1c4.
— In addition, a digit *n* on the tip of an arrow indicates that *n* cells away in that direction lies a cell (the 'companion cell') belonging to the same region as this arrow's target cell, which companion cell may or may not be the target cell itself.
— No two arrows can spell out the same coordinates, but two arrows can lead to the same companion cell, provided they don't contain the same coordinates.
— All arrows are to be considered individually with regards to the above rules, even when they share a cell with another arrow.
Solution code: From top to bottom, the digits in column 7, with a - (dash/hyphen) to indicate region borders (grid edges can be ignored).
Comments
today, 12:57 by wullemuus
Once the break-in was solved, it got easier step by step. The new Kafka ;)?
Very enjoyable!
P.S. The monster is conquered!
on 21. October 2026, 03:47 by earthpuzzles
Beautiful as ever!
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A most pleasing thing to hear, many thanks for sharing -- glad you enjoyed! :D
on 20. October 2026, 15:02 by marcmees
splendid brainwrecking puzzle. Will have to take an other look at "this mighty one". Thanks
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Hehe, it can be quite disconcerting, can't it? I almost wanted to write something to that effect in the presentation, but then I figured I leave the surprise to the solvers. And about that other puzzle linked above, it is most certainly worth the effort, even as I remember be CC part to be quite hard -- there is just too much clever ideas in it to pass. Glad to hear you liked the inspiration I got from it!
on 20. October 2026, 13:54 by SennyK
Absolutely loved it, great setting, very glad to see more puzzles from you! :-)
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Ah, many thanks for such kind Words Senny, that is much appreciated! I'll be going on yet another hiatus soon, this time just because of travelling, but I'm hoping to have time for maybe one more before I leave. Anyhow, happy to hear you enjoyed this one here! :D
on 20. October 2026, 07:40 by chrisj50
Remarkable how you’ve squeezed so much CC logic into what looks initially like a pretty sparse grid. The ruleset made sense and gradually understanding all the implications made it a pleasure to test - thanks for sharing :)
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And a great many thanks to you for testing the different versions! I was sure the puzzle was ready for publication way earlier, but the testing most definitely led to some significant improvements -- glad to hear you found the whole process enjoyable! :D
