Friendly Circles
(Published on 7. July 2026, 00:00 by FIT7Y)
Rules:
Place the digits 1-9 once each into every row, column, and box.
A cell is friendly if its digit matches its row, column, or box number (numbered from left to right and top to bottom).
Draw a circle in every friendly cell that doesn't already contain a circle.
If a digit N appears on a circle, then it appears N times on circles.
Have fun solving!
Solution code: Row 9
Comments
on 15. August 2026, 15:30 by xsansara
Took me about 70 min, but I was lucky to stumble over a key bit of logic early, when I wanted to check for something else.
on 27. July 2026, 22:58 by pmays123
It took me over an hour to make the key deduction, but loved it once I got there. Beautiful puzzle. Thanks for sharing!
on 23. July 2026, 23:38 by rosiebye
This was a really fun and clever puzzle! Thanks
on 21. July 2026, 17:59 by PatternSpren
I absolutely loved this puzzle.
on 9. July 2026, 15:27 by Marshal on Mars
I'd call this a 3-star difficulty. It's a very elegant puzzle, and the hidden circles are an interesting twist, but it requires a fair bit of familiarity with the logic of friendly cells and counting circles.
on 7. July 2026, 15:14 by kublai
Amazing. The key to this puzzle is that it truly is a 2* puzzle. It just took me HOURS to figure out why. After that it unlocked nicely.
on 7. July 2026, 13:51 by Piatato
Solved it again now after getting some help figuring out what I missed. A very different experience to my first try! Lovely puzzle, albeit hard to solve if you think it's 2*
on 7. July 2026, 10:47 by Piatato
Brutal
on 7. July 2026, 06:13 by Crusader175
Yeah I agree with Myxo. Very nice puzzle though!
on 7. July 2026, 01:29 by Myxo
Nice puzzle, but difficulty is at least 3.5* imo!
