is.gd/hoke_scorpius
The constellation, not the animal like Leren's Scorpio

Thanx, lot of wings and settis; no chain needed.

is.gd/370_Pisces

Got lost in the mutual interdependencies of Settis; so finally needed one chain.

Thanks for the nice Puzzle, used mostly settis, no chain needed.

Hi Leren,
I needed two short street interactions, the first one to clear hi/lo in col 3, the final one to clear hi/lo in G 567.
This seems to contradict your statement some days ago that you offer normally puzzles with max 1 head chain.
I liked it really. Thanks.

Thank you Leren. I liked this puzzle very much. No chatins, just Settis and CE

chains

My solution only required one 4 cell SI (head chain), so it is in line with my normal policy.

Like Christoph I used two SI's - but I think he meant col 4.

Initially I solved 22 cells using basic techniques along with some careful eliminations and Setti. A 4-cell SI (AC48) proves that C4 is not 9, and that allowed me to solve an additional 9 cells.

But like Christoph I needed a second SI to sollve row G and the puzzle.

I got to 25 solved cells using basics, Fish, Setti, and CE's, these being B37, C9, D3789, E378, F35, G2, H135789, J123458.

A 4 cell SI in GJ69 => G6 <> 3, which solves, using basics.

Ben,
you are right, I meant col 4. Sorry about the TYPO.

@ Ben

I can get to 31 solved cells by manually removing 9 from C4 and using an SI to solve. However there is an earlier CE opportunity to remove 3 from BC4 which then only requires the final SI. I'm just wondering if this is the difference in our approaches.

Leren,

No, I had eliminated the 3's. I had missed a simple big gap, which helped me solve the additional 3 cells before any SI's.

So then we get to a choice of two SI's. I would argue that the SI in AC48 is simpler than the SI in GJ69. The former is a simple contradiction, but the later requires you to consider both alternatives for G9 to eliminate a digit.

So, the fact that GJ69 leads directly to a solution is a moot point, following the two-SI path is arguably a simpler path.

Of course there is no wrong path, giving the puzzle to multiple experienced solvers, some would see GJ69 first, some would see AC48 first, others would probably see another path.

OK, I got it. You are right, Leren.
After the first simple four cell SI, which defines hi/lo in col 4,
I have found now the key to solve it without any further SI.
It is a jf on 3, which solves it directly.
Excellent puzzle.

The hare, chased by Orion the hunter:

is.gd/hone370_Lepus

Quite a lottery of Wings... plus a little bit Setti.
Thanks for that one, hone !

A series of pairs in row G result in a large gap 18.
Enjoyed it, thank you!

Settis and wings, as Candiru said. But not trivial; need concentration.

In deed, I counted 7 xwings, besides the settis,
I liked it, hone. Thanks.

Very Nice Pattern hone Thanks
Whole Toolbox needed like the others, perfect Level of difficulty

May I come back please to Lerens scorpio last week:

@Hone and Christoph: I can't see the problem with row B hi/lo. From the very beginning G6 and G8 are limited to 67. So one of them must be 7 and therefore either ABC 6 or ABC 8 must contain 1234. So B6789 can only be low. I wouldn't even call that a headchain.

Or where is my mistake here?

@Berny:
No mistake from you. This settles row B.
But that's not from the standard toolset whose methods are either intra line or overall distributions (settis, wings).

@Berny: How did you eliminate the 5 in G6 and G8 at the very beginning? I needed to include A23456 into the high/low consideration, it leaves only one number in A6, with the same consequences. I also assume, that's what Leren called the "sting of the scorpion" in the hint, although I am happy to never have met such an animal.

@hoke: 67 is a hidden pair in G6 and G8

Thanks for opening my blind eyes.

@ Hoke

My path to HI/LO in Row B was not as imaginative as Berny's observation. I used two 4 cell SI's, both in AB89. Together with some standard moves in the same area B8 was reduced to 1234.

is.gd/370_Leo

Thanks, Leren. Leo solves almost only from Settis.

Tanks Leren, Settis do it

Ty Leren bca-festival

Hopefully Hone won't mind my taking his Ultra puzzle of Week 365 and playing with the clues a bit to make it solvable by us mere mortals.

is.gd/370_Hone_Clone

Still needed one guess to solve it

No guessing necessary, nice one!

After I used a long chain, I found out that I probably didn't need it. B8=9 and C8=9 lead to the same situation on C2.

The easiest SI I found was seeing that BC6=12 eliminates both 9's in row 8.

In my case I found that C6 low would directly result in four cells in col 1 consisting of 789 all of them.

ty Leren, for me only solvable (besides a lot of Standard Tools) by using the hint (head chain) from this forum

I spent nearly 2 hours on this one. Ouch!

is.gd/stefan370

Thanks Stefan, nice pattern, standard tools

very nice one, thank you, Stefan!
I needed a little head chain to decide D123 low/high

Phew, indeed "only" standard tools in the end, but it took me a very looong time. There were some sneaky x-wings... Very nice! Thanks!

Very nice; x-wings and Settis do it.

very nice thank you Stefan another masterpiece
perfect difficulty Level

very nice, Stefan.
4 xwings, 1 swf, 3 settis.

Thanks@Stefan
Very nice one, settis, x-wings, large gap and one big fish. No chain needed