@Celestia this was a lot of fun! I'm not a strong solver, it took me a while to find the next steps after resolving most of the center band. I ended up using high-low coloring which got me through! Finding the interactions of all the 12 cages was really nice. my solve ended up being 49 minutes flat!
@atinyfairy very nice! I also use high-low coloring a lot when solving puzzles (and also when making puzzles), it is a very underutilized technique!