Logic Masters Deutschland e.V.

More Duel Training (Chaos Construction)

(Published on 18. September 2026, 16:53 by Mad-Tyas)

This is the 10th puzzle in my "Duelling Regions" collection. Ranging from 5x5 to 9x9, and from easy to very difficult, the collection covers a wide spectrum.
But all of this is really just preparation. My idea includes another element, which I’ll be introducing soon, and which opens up a fantastic playground based on the duelling concept. If you’re interested, use this time to familiarise yourself with the duelling concept and keep an eye out for puzzles titled "En Garde" in the near future.

Sudoku on:
SudokuPad


Rules:

Chaos Construction: The grid has to be divided into nine regions of orthogonally connected cells. Each row, column and region has to contain the digits 1-9 once each.

Duels: At each region border, a duel takes place between the adjacent regions. To determine the outcome, for both sides the contiguous sequences of cells extending perpendicular from the region border to the next region border or the edge of the grid are compared. The region whose sequence of cells has the higher sum of digits wins the duel. An award of X points for the winning region and a penalty of -X points for the defeated region are taken by the cells touching the region border where the duel takes place. X equals the number of cells in the sequence of the defeated region. If the sum in both sequences is equal it's a tie and no points are awarded.

Clues:
- An arrow between cells marks a region border and points to the defeated region in the duel at that border. A diamond marks a region border where the outcome of the duel is a tie. Not all arrows and diamonds are necessarily given.
- A small number in the bottom-right corner of a cell gives the total points this cell wins/loses in the duels at its up to 3 region borders.

Have fun solving!


Example: This is the solution to a 5x5 example puzzle. For the arrows shown, the points gained or lost are indicated to illustrate how duels work. For example, the central cell loses the duel at its left-hand region border (sum of 5 [4+1] is less than sum of 8 [5+3]) and receives 2 minus points, as the sequence of cells in the losing region (blue) consists of 2 cells. The cell wins the duel at its upper region border (4 against 2) and gains 1 positive point for this, as the losing region (green) contributes only one cell to the duel. At the lower region border, the result is a tie (4 = 3 + 1). This results in a total score of -2 + 1 + 0 = -1 for the cell in question.

Solution code: The 9 digits from column 7 (top-to-bottom) separated by (+) for borders between regions


Solved by wuc, sehringdipity, lsw770770, haoju, emoney1374
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Comments

today, 01:12 by emoney1374
Great puzzle! Very enjoyable solve

on 18. September 2026, 19:28 by wuc
Now I really got used to this amazing ruleset. Another great cc puzzle. Brilliant setting thx.

Difficulty:4
Rating:N/A
Solved:5 times
Observed:0 times
ID:000UZR

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