[Solved] Sharp mask/cut-out on a shape with gaussian blur (AD)

[worriedpixels]

Hello. In my illustration I have a long shadow - a rectangle - with gaussian blur applied. I want to cut out a shape where the door is, but I want this removed part to have sharp edges around it and not be blurred. I have tried deducting a rectangle from the shape (compound path), and masking in both vector and pixel personas, but there doesn't seem to be a way to stop the cut-out shape from having a blurred edge. Is my only option to make a png from the shadow and mask that? i.e. no live blur. Thank you.

The shadow runs across the open doorway.

With the doorway shape removed, is there a way to make the cut-out or mask section not obey the blur?

[worriedpixels]

Ah, I figured out a way. I made two shadows, one to the left of the door and one to the right. I then used a sharp shape to clip the shadow to, and made the clipping shape tall enough that it would still show the blurred edge of the shadow at the top: