Ambiguous dots

[Sabrar]

Hi all,

I've been watching Cracking the Cryptic for over a year, had an idea for a puzzle and decided to try setting it.
Hope you try it out and have fun with it.

Puzzle (in CtC app)

Normal sudoku rules apply, dots separate either consecutive or 1:2 ratio numbers (solver needs to determine which is which), not all dots are given.
Any feedback is appreciated.

[filuta]

Hi all,

I've been watching Cracking the Cryptic for over a year, had an idea for a puzzle and decided to try setting it.
Hope you try it out and have fun with it.

Puzzle (in CtC app)

Normal sudoku rules apply, dots separate either consecutive or 1:2 ratio numbers (solver needs to determine which is which), not all dots are given.
Any feedback is appreciated.

Hi, I solved it and for most parts it is actually a very nice puzzle and not too hard. I don't know whether/how I can add spoilers, so I just write them in a white colour (hopefully that works). I was quickly able to fill in most of boxes 3,4.5 and 6, that was a very nice part actually. But then I got stuck with box 8 where I essentially moved forward only after kind of tedious process of elimination of candidated in r9c7 (this was the only part I didn't really like). But after I determined the chain of dots in box 8 it then again resolved very nicely. Was there some easier process how to resolve box 8 that I missed?

[Sabrar]

Thank you very much for the reply! I am not sure if you will find my intended solution less tedious, please find it below also in white:
The intention to solve box 8 is to figure out the middle of the chain (r8c5) by process of elimination which is possible due to the long chain. 1 and 9 can be quickly discarded, 8 already sees 7 in the column so would require 9 but then the chain would break. 6 and 7 are in the column which also eliminates 5 from the list of possible values. 4 is not possible due to the given digit in the row. 3 sees 6 in the column so requires 2 and 4 to be adjacent, now 2 must be continued with 1 because 3 and 4 are already used up on the other side of the chain but then 1 needs another 2 in the last part of the chain so it breaks. Therefore r8c5 must be a 2 and then the part of the chain leading into box 9 can be figured out and it should resolve the whole thing. 

[filuta]

Thank you very much for the reply! I am not sure if you will find my intended solution less tedious, please find it below also in white:
The intention to solve box 8 is to figure out the middle of the chain (r8c5) by process of elimination which is possible due to the long chain. 1 and 9 can be quickly discarded, 8 already sees 7 in the column so would require 9 but then the chain would break. 6 and 7 are in the column which also eliminates 5 from the list of possible values. 4 is not possible due to the given digit in the row. 3 sees 6 in the column so requires 2 and 4 to be adjacent, now 2 must be continued with 1 because 3 and 4 are already used up on the other side of the chain but then 1 needs another 2 in the last part of the chain so it breaks. Therefore r8c5 must be a 2 and then the part of the chain leading into box 9 can be figured out and it should resolve the whole thing. 

Oh, that's once again very nice really, I totally missed it. Thanks, great puzzle.

[Sabrar]

Glad you liked it, means a lot to me!