Our third puzzle was from one of our forum regulars, Madness, and will be a familiar format, though Madness tells us it is the first Sudoku they have designed.
pronouns: mad, mad, mad’s
Very little is known about “madness”, but rumours abound.
Mad is thought to have worked in the cipher bureau of
the KGB until 1989, but lost everything in order to
escape the Soviet Union in a daring maneuver. A month later,
the wall fell. Quite disappointing, especially for mad’s
pocketbook. Now, we suspect, mad is hiding from FSB and
former Stasi agents in Scandinavia, Canada or the US. The
last person who claimed to have had direct contact with
madness disappeared in Oslo and has not been seen since.
We advise you not to try to find mad without state-level
support or some high-quality vegan cake.
The solution comes from the-letter-wriggler:
Harry if you want to know, a follow up to my solution post.
Below is the order I solved it
USING FOLLOWING CELL REFERENCE NUMBERING
01 02 _ || 04 05 _ || 07 08 09
10 _ 12 || 13 _ 15 || _ 17 18 19 20 21 || _ 23 24 || 25 _ _
——————————–
28 _ 30 || _ 32 33 || 34 35 36
37 38 _ || _ 41 _ || _ 44 _ 46 _ 48 || 49 _ 51 || 52 _ _ ——————————– _ 56 57 || 58 _ 60 || 61 62 63 _ 65 66 || 67 68 69 || 70 71 72
73 _ 75 || 76 77 78 || 79 _ 81
The __ is where the digit was given
there are 56 digits to be deduced.
Step ==== [Cell] ======= Digit
01 Cell at [44] can only be 8
02 Cell at [35] can only be 6
03 Cell at [36] can only be 4
04 Cell at [18] can only be 1
05 Cell at [13] can only be 4
06 Cell at [34] can only be 9
07 Cell at [52] can only be 3
08 Cell at [15] can only be 3
09 Cell at [21] can only be 7
10 Cell at [33] can only be 7
11 Cell at [48] can only be 4
12 Cell at [68] can only be 4
13 Cell at [08] can only be 7
14 Cell at [05] can only be 9
15 Cell at [46] can only be 9
16 Cell at [09] can only be 8
17 Cell at [12] can only be 9
18 Cell at [78] can only be 9
19 Cell at [65] can only be 9
20 Cell at [23] can only be 6
21 Cell at [01] can only be 6
22 Cell at [24] can only be 8
23 Cell at [73] can only be 3
24 Cell at [72] can only be 3
25 Cell at [04] can only be 1
26 Cell at [51] can only be 6
27 Cell at [49] can only be 8
28 Cell at [81] can only be 7
29 Cell at [63] can only be 6
30 Cell at [76] can only be 2
31 Cell at [58] can only be 7
32 Cell at [67] can only be 6
33 Cell at [38] can only be 3
34 Cell at [28] can only be 8
35 Cell at [77] can only be 8
next no logic deduction so attempt…
36 Cell at [56] given value 1
37 Cell at [20] can only be 4
38 Cell at [02] can only be 5
39 Cell at [07] can only be 4
40 Cell at [10] can only be 2
41 Cell at [17] can only be 5
42 Cell at [19] can only be 1
43 Cell at [25] can only be 2
44 Cell at [37] can only be 5
45 Cell at [30] can only be 1
46 Cell at [32] can only be 5
47 Cell at [41] can only be 1
48 Cell at [60] can only be 5
49 Cell at [61] can only be 8
50 Cell at [57] can only be 2
51 Cell at [69] can only be 1
52 Cell at [70] can only be 5
53 Cell at [66] can only be 8
54 Cell at [71] can only be 2
55 Cell at [75] can only be 5
and finally
56 Cell at [79] can only be 1