Artisanal Sudoku, Volume 183

1. Lint Trap

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Thermometers: digits on thermometers increase from the bulb.

• Digits in cells separated by a V sum to 5.

• Digits in cells separated by an X sum to 10.

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 2/10

Play online: SudokuPad

New to variant sudoku? Check out these beginner-friendly guides to cages and other popular rulesets.

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2. Allium

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Cages: the sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner.

• Thermometers: digits on thermometers increase from the bulb.

• The digit in the cell with a shaded square is even.

• Very rough difficulty estimate: 5/10

Play online: SudokuPad | unshaded

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3. Tip of the Iceberg

• Normal sudoku rules apply (fill each row, column, and 3x3 box with the digits 1-9 once each), and all clues are standard.

• Dynamic fog: correctly placed digits clear fog from their own cell and possibly other cells.

• Cages: the sum of the digits inside each cage is equal to the small number in the top left corner, and digits cannot repeat within a cage. All cage sums are given.

• Arrows: the sum of the digits along an arrow is equal to the digit in the connected circle, and these digits can repeat if allowed by other rules. Arrows do not cross or overlap, and all arrow sums are single-digit.
  Aesthetic changes are solely to improve visibility.

• Digits in cells with a shaded square are even.

• Digits in cells separated by a black dot have a 1:2 ratio.

• Very rough difficulty estimates: 10/10, 6/10

Play online: SudokuPad | version without fog

Extra clues: SudokuPad | version without fog

Edit: the original fog versions of this puzzle couldn’t be logically solved because I made a mistake in programming the dynamic fog clearances. The links should work now (but if you have the incorrect version open and reload your browser may not update it). Apologies to anyone who tried this puzzle shortly after publication and got stuck!

Note: I didn’t try to make separate difficulty estimates for the “no fog” versions, but be aware that this is a puzzle that becomes substantially easier without fog. Also, thanks to Tallcat for help with putting it together.

In case there’s any doubt about how cages work in fog puzzles, I wanted to clarify/affirm that (unless very clearly stated otherwise) they behave as you would expect them to if fog was not present. So, if the top-left corner of a grid looks like this:

The following things about the 25-cage are known:

• it doesn’t include any cells in row one, because if it did the sum would not be in r2c1, it would be in the left-most cage cell in row one

• it definitely includes r2c2, because there is not a cage boundary on the right side of r2c1

• it doesn’t include r3c1, because the cage boundary at the bottom of r2c1 indicates that the adjacent cell is not in the cage

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Some other puzzles I enjoyed this week:

• A Little From Column 159, by Philip Newman
  This puzzle is yesterday’s entry in the daily Genuinely Approachable Sudoku (GAS) series. If you’re unfamiliar with GAS, I’m delighted to be the one to tell you about it. And even if you *are* familiar, you may not be aware that new GAS puzzles can now be found on Thomas Snyder’s site, GMPuzzles—which means they can finally be accessed without going through Discord or YouTube 😀

• A stitch in time saves nine, by Nicolas Duhail

• Fluid Mosaic, by Tallcat

• Alien Flapjack, by Allagem

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This week’s meta-description:
Featuring a solid contender for toughest puzzle in Artisanal Sudoku history.

For premium subscribers, hints and two more bonus puzzles are below.