Sabal (Colossal Fillomino Sudoku)
(Eingestellt am 22. April 2025, 22:01 Uhr von sfushidahardy)
Sabal (Colossal Fillomino Sudoku)
This puzzle is dedicated to MaizeGator, who I have been lucky to call my closest puzzling collaborator since shortly after I first started setting. He was pivotal in my introduction to pencil puzzles beyond sudoku. Last year he set Bonsai, a ciphered yin-yang sudoku, as a gift for me. This puzzle is also a yin-yang sudoku in reference to his gift, but I've combined it with fillomino and a huge grid, both of which I know MaizeGator loves!
Huge thanks to Agent, Christounet and the_cogito for taking the time to test either this puzzle or earlier versions in their entirety and providing very helpful feedback. The rules may appear long, but I hope you will find them intuitive. I hope you enjoy the puzzle, MaizeGator!
- Fillomino: divide the large grid into regions. In every cell, enter the size of the region it belongs to. No two regions of the same size may share an edge.
- Yin-Yang Sudoku: normal Sudoku rules apply in the small grid. Additionally, shade some cells so that all shaded cells are orthogonally connected, all unshaded cells are orthogonally connected, and no 2x2 is entirely shaded or unshaded. Digits in arrow-cells count the total number of shaded cells in the indicated direction. (Shaded arrow-cells do not count themselves.)
- Interactions: every cell in the Sudoku grid corresponds to a 3x3 box in the Fillomino grid. Consider the digit 'N' in some Sudoku cell.
- If 'N' is shaded, exactly N Fillomino regions visit the corresponding 3x3 box.
- If 'N' is unshaded, the number N occurs more frequently than any other number among the nine cells of the corresponding 3x3 box.
- To clarify, there is no negative constraint: both interactions above may hold true for any sudoku cell.
- The dots in either grid have no rule implications, they are a visual guide to make scanning easier.
In the example puzzle, each sudoku cell corresponds to a 2x2 box rather than a 3x3 box.
There is no answer-check due to the Penpa+ url becoming too long. Feel free to reach out here, Discord, or elsewhere if you get stuck.
Lösungscode: The numbers in the middle row of the grid, left to right. (27 numbers.)
Kommentare
am 11. Juni 2025, 05:14 Uhr von askaksaksask
Truly one of the greats. Anything I have to say would sound like hyperbole, but my gosh, if this isn't a true achievement in setting. There are so many different challenges and such a variety of great logic, this felt like a real journey. Such a reward at the end, with brilliance in store even in the last few colossal squares. The opening sequence is wonderful, the early solve really helps explore the interactions, and the latter half of the puzzle introduces some of the best fillomino I've ever solved. Bravo, and then some!!
am 7. Mai 2025, 07:58 Uhr von BloodbuzzCorio
Wow wow wow! Such a brilliant puzzle! Thanks for setting and sharing.
am 30. April 2025, 03:17 Uhr von MaizeGator
The word "masterpiece" gets bandied about casually among logic puzzle enthusiasts, so much that it begins to lose its meaning. But every now and then, a puzzle like this comes along to remind us what that word is supposed to mean.
Honestly, even "masterpiece" feels like an understatement. Solving this was an experience, more like reading an excellent novel or appreciating a painting in an art museum. To extend the metaphor, the polyominoes here felt like characters, each one contributing to the overall narrative and developing a character arc of its own. Clearly the 51 is the star, but I found myself drawn to the 19(s) and the 21(s), not only because of how they unfolded, but because I understood what Shintaro was thinking as he put those brushstrokes onto the canvas. So many others (too numerous to name individually, but I'll try: the 8 in R3C7, the 5 in [redacted], the 11 in R2C2) played memorable supporting roles as well, each one adding something essential to the whole.
I am convinced that there is no greater gift than a creation from a friend whose work you truly admire. So thank you Shintaro, not only for the hours of joy and surprise this [word stronger than masterpiece] gave me, but for being an inspiration and my tag-team partner in all things logic. Cheers to many more collaborations!
am 27. April 2025, 05:44 Uhr von Agent
Awesome puzzle, a marathon solve, smooth and satisfying all the way through!
am 27. April 2025, 01:09 Uhr von wenchang
It is crazy hard! Easy to make mistakes. While very joyful to solve!
am 24. April 2025, 00:47 Uhr von Jesper
Great puzzle, thanks!
am 23. April 2025, 21:51 Uhr von Da Letter El
"If 'N' is unshaded, the number N occurs more frequently than any other number among the nine cells of the corresponding 3x3 box."
how does this interact with large numbers exactly?
if we had a box that contained three 22s, a 2, and five 5s, would we say that 5 appears the most, or 2 the most?
if you had an unshaded box with eight 44s and a 1, would we say that 4 appears the most, 1 appears the most, or that this box is impossible to be legal since there is no single digit number that appears more than anything else?
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Reply: sorry if this was unclear. The constraint specifically refers to numbers (rather than digits). In your first example, 5 is the number that occurs the most. In your second example, 44 is the number that occurs the most (and therefore it cannot correspond to an unshaded sudoku cell.) Hope this clarifies things!
am 22. April 2025, 23:52 Uhr von Christounet
Enjoyed testing this puzzle. In a way, there's some reminiscence of the first colossal puzzle by Magnus, with lots of awesome connectivity logic with the large fillos, and a myriad of great local deductions. A perfect puzzle for "colossal" aficionados. Loved this! Thanks :)
am 22. April 2025, 22:04 Uhr von the_cogito
Really enjoyed testing this puzzle, lovely!
