Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

Hello everyone! This is the very first Sudoku I have ever designed. I hope I have published everything correctly.

I love all of the variants used on this site, but after discovering BremSter's psycho killer cages in his Caging Constraints puzzle pack (specifically, In the Crosshairs), I noticed that there were very few Psycho Killer puzzles, and I thought they could use some love. Psycho Killer Cages are a complicated rule variant and the original description was a bit confusing, so I did my best to come up with a new description of them that is as clear and concise as possible - BremSter has communicated his approval of my new description.

For my first puzzle, I aimed to make a fairly simple, 2-star difficulty puzzle, but psycho killer cages tend to make things a bit complicated, so I think the puzzle ended up on the hard side of 3 stars. Still, I am very happy with the symmetry and consecutive cage clues of the final puzzle. Please enjoy this new entry to the Psycho Killer collection, and my very first Sudoku puzzle :)

Normal Sudoku rules apply.

XV and Kropki Pairs: Digits separated by an X sum to 10. Digits separated by a V sum to 5. Digits separated by a white dot are consecutive. Digits separated by a black dot are in a 2:1 ratio.

Psycho Killer Cages: Each digit in a red psycho killer cage points to a referenced cell in the grid. The box of the referenced cell is given by the digit in the psycho killer cage, and the location of the referenced cell within that box matches the location of the digit in the psycho killer cage within its box. A digit in a psycho killer cage may point to itself. The small clue in the top left corner of the psycho killer cage gives the sum of the digits in the referenced cells. Digits may not repeat in a psycho killer cage, but digits may repeat in the referenced cells if allowed by other rules.

(e.g. If r1c3=9, then it points to r7c9, which is the equivalent location in box 9. The X would then indicate that r2c3=1, and this digit would point to itself because it is already in box 1. The psycho killer cage would then indicate that the sum of the referenced digits, r7c9+r2c3, is greater than 10.)

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