A Sudoku With Only 8 Given Digits

[@Scojo486]

The way you resolved the polarity is actually a way I haven't seen anyone else use, but I think it's a bit easier than what I had intended! For anyone curious, my way was to use the 238 triple that formed in column 9 after placing the initial flurry of digits. Since the pink and the gray in that triple are different polarities, one of them has to be the 8, leaving r5c9 as 23. Now if gray were low, the grays in b6 could only be from 23 and we would have three 23s in that box. Excellent solve, despite the distractions! It's always an honor to be featured here, thanks!

[@Skecko-co4vv]

Great puzzle! The break-in I found only uses the given digits. I looked at the pinks in b9 - If they were high they would be an 89 pair, giving us a 7 in r6c7 which is a problem since the corresponding grays both would have to be 1 due to the given 2's.

[@Scojo486]

@@Skecko-co4vv Wow that's clever!

[@theskyisteal8346]

I figured there might be a way to figure it out the way Simon got it but I found polarity by finding the the 123 triple in row 5 and that dropped the 1 in box 6 into a same polarity domino

[@katiekawaii]

Great work! Approachable yet incredibly satisfying to solve. A rare combination! I loved it.

[@TheCollapsedPsi]

Wow!! It's so cool to see that I got the intended break-in on this one! Great puzzle.

[@addeleven]

They have done so many weird sudokus at this point that I was willing to accept "So there is is no 7 at all in this column" as a fact

[@reubenmckay]

Simon solving crosswords is probably my favourite "bonus" content on this channel so I will totally watch any crossword video he releases.

[@xBlackout1]

I think that Simon should pick a difficult puzzle and solve it as quickly as he can without doing any commentary just to show us how quickly he can solve a puzzle. Then maybe he can go back and talk about how he solved it.

[@emilywilliams3237]

I don’t think that would be his style. Mark can do that, and has at times.

[@AdmiralMinell]

You ever watch speedrunners? They don't just play the route over and over again, they also narrate to the audience over and over again. I don't think they could pull off the route in silence.

[@stephenbeck7222]

I think the running commentary helps him process the logic in the more difficult puzzles. Granted he doesn’t need to prove the random SETs or other things with the 5 minute side rails if he didn’t have an audience but otherwise the videos wouldn’t be a ton shorter.

[@jimi02468]

It would probably be the same except without the scrabble bags and phistomefels taking all the time.

[@n8style]

Would love to see a video like that!

[@patrickgass787]

There's something about a symmetrical grid that makes a puzzle all the more impressive.

[@BremSterPuzzles]

This was an amazing puzzle. One of the most interesting Whisper puzzles in a while. Scojo puzzles are always a treat.

[@bobblebardsley]

*Rhyming Rules* (easy one tonight!) To fill the grid, the rules you need to know: In every box, each column and each row, insert the digits 1 to 9 once each (the rules that all Sudoku teachers teach). Adjacent cells on Whisper lines in green must differ by no less than five between. Along with only eight provided clues, these rules are all that you should need to use.

[@Alex_Meadows]

Very nice! Have you tried it on a wrogn puzzle yet? 😃

[@longwaytotipperary]

That’s great!

[@bobblebardsley]

@@Alex_Meadows I think there's only been one since I started doing this and it had about 10 rule sets, all of which had two truths and a lie in the grid, I very much considered it but I didn't have enough hours in my evening that day 😂 BUT if I build up a little library of standard rules in verse form that I can use in future to speed it up a bit, then the more complex puzzles should become a bit more feasible, I think.

[@handlesareanunfortunatefeature]

Happy to see a recent wave of puzzles with simple rulesets. Something that an average human can comprehend.

[@BijickY]

This puzzle looks marvelous! Thanks Simon and Scojo for giving us a treat.

[@user-nd3el5bf5u]

hey, one of the very few Puzzles on the Channel i Was actually able to solve, although it took me nearly an hour. really appreciate you also doing some easier Puzzles!

[@emilywilliams3237]

That was really wonderful! And you never need to apologize for making a mistake whether distracted or not Simon. It’s all just fine! I could not do this puzzle before watching your video, but I’m definitely going to try it this evening. Excellent puzzle, excellent video.

[@mridaho7871]

I use an excel spreadsheet to do these puzzles. It has 1-9 in each square which are deleted as numbers are eliminated. It's time consuming but works since I have no net access on my computer. Once I eliminated the 4s and 6s from the double line squares, I found several numbers that took you longer to find just because I could see which numbers were left. I just found your site a week ago, and I'm still learning what the rules do and their tricks. Thanks for the videos, I enjoy them immensely even when they keep me up till 3 am.

[@s.grey.k]

This was a fun way to wake up my brain before work! 17:07. Stuck mostly to coloring until the last possible second, and it worked a treat. Thanks as always for sharing!

[@suewilliams7091]

always love a good cryptic crossword video simon, look forward to watching it!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Ditto!

[@anthonybailey4530]

Another vote for the solving video - or else a short featuring just that clue, which is indeed wonderful. Although, I can see another (though perhaps too much easier) phrasing which I might prefer.

[@MarushiaDark316]

I'm glad you're enjoying your Kraken mug. I noticed Mark using his the other day in a video.

[@ToniLeys]

Wow, I got lost and started following you when you got a couple of digits wrong, so I thought I was wrong and started backtracking until you backtracked, god it was a mess, but it was super fun! Video after video I learn more and more about this fantastic hobby. I'm yet to solve one of these all by myself without looking for clues in the videos when I get lost, I hope I'll soon make it!

[@Harry-sp3fz]

After a year of watching CtC, I can't believe I am in a position where I can solve puzzles like this in under 20 minutes. If you know the basics of german whispers (i e. the digits 4,5,6), this really is easy and I would hope pretty much everyone could solve it. Loved this one, right up until the very end the German whisper logic applied

[@nicka3697]

52.06 and no help at all. Fantastic I'm getting the hang of this. Thank you

[@arnedierick68]

Thanks for posting this. I feel really slow when i see all these fast times in the comments meanwhile I'm trying my hardest and getting a 48:39. It feels really good to solve a puzzle without any help

[@nakorbluerider]

Definitely would love to see that cryptic crossword analysis! That kind of video would be a must-watch for me.

[@raysouth1952]

Loved this. I got as much done with 4/5/6 as possible and should have the seen immediately how to disambiguate the lines but that took me a good while. It’s amazing what asking the right question at the right time can do!

[@jojoj81Gaming]

I get the joy of test solving many of Scojo's puzzles, a very good setter, with fun puzzles at all difficulty levels

[@grahamania]

00:14:27 for me! Wonderful puzzle. Glad it got featured! Kind comment.

[@jackmiller5788]

Got it just under 100 minutes. The symmetrical coloring was much more elegant than my jungle of pencil marks. Cheers!

[@MrNatetheTeacher]

I believe this is the first one that I have ever solved prior to watching the video. Thanks to Simon's secrets and explanations in prior videos, I knew I had to start with 5s and then I took a look at where 4s and 6s could go. I marked the polarity, solved a bit, walked away, returned with fresh eyes, and eventually saw what I needed to to get to the end. Thanks to CTC for introducing me to these kinds of puzzles.

[@praematura]

Definitely verging on a 2*, but still quite approachable and interesting! 17:15 (conflict checker off) for me, but I'll admit I followed a 'hunch' at one point that happened to work out. 😅 Yet another great puzzle from Scojo!

[@olivier2553]

Sven: I am not sure anyone mentioned it before, when "Check on Finish" is set to "on" and the last digit is a 3 in the corner, instead of the fireworks it display "Deet Deet Deet". Scojo, thank you for a nice, quite approachable puzzle.

[@geoff544]

Don't think it is linked to check finish - there is a setting for 3 in the corner (under 'experimental') to select confetti or Deet effect (or turn it off).

[@olivier2553]

@@geoff544 Mine is set to confetti and confetti do show on other occasion.

[@haleywink1307]

finished that one just under a half hour, very happy with that!

[@draxiedru]

I really enjoy puzzles with a simple rule set. This was brilliant.

[@Alex_Meadows]

Yes please to the crossword video!

[@Rubrickety]

"I don't want a video from Simon about an amazing cryptic crossword" - said no one ever, surely!

[@piarittersporn]

Very beautiful and relaxing puzzle.

[@littlelynx243]

42:11 ! First CTC puzzle I’ve ever solved :D

[@richardfarrer5616]

Mark, your physical disguise was marvellous. You looked and sounded just like Simon. But you gave yourself away when you goodliffed all the digits and didn't colour the whole grid..

[@bossdoorpodcast]

22 minutes myself, that puzzle was pretty fun once you see the logic flow. Definitely approachable.

[@butterfly17095]

Whew, took me over an hour, even with coming back for occasional hints from the video, but I haven't done many of these German whispers puzzles. I'm proud that I was able to do a good portion of it myself just had to come back here when I got stuck and sometimes Simon would say something like, now where does a 6 go in this row? And that would be enough to put me on the right track. Definitely learned a lot on this one!

[@Landis963]

41:22 this time! Loved how everything just seemed to flow once I got around to keeping track of where all the high and low digits were.

[@MarushiaDark316]

Thank you for the birthday wishes, Simon. My sister bought me chocolate cupcakes, which I guess means I had lots of mini chocolate cakes. I also got a bottle of red wine called "Richly Layered Cake" with a nice chocolate cake on it. :U

[@six_5000]

Only 24:11 today… can we make One Star Mondays an official thing? 😂

[@BijickY]

Love that idea!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Yes!

[@miran248]

One star mondays but distracted to spice things up :)

[@am-e7967]

Logically speaking, this should have twice as many views as Aad's puzzle. 20 Million awaits!

[@isidornimages]

These "easy" puzzles featured lately has been a real blow to my self confidence. But it's slightly restored with this one, being the second of these "easy" puzzles I've managed to solve. Even though it took me almost an hour.

[@DjurslandsEfterskole]

A joy! I love coloring

[@darrenbent7601]

What a fun puzzle, the 5's were dead easy to locate, and doing the shading thing really helped. By the way, I love your sense of humour, very fun.

[@harsharanganath453]

Really fun puzzle! My break-in for polarity was to see where 3 can go in box 8. Could not place it in positions 3 or 6 primarily due to the given 1.

[@PathOfShrines]

Nice and straightforward. 19:12

[@chocolateboy300]

I got 13:47. Really happy with how fast this flowed for me. Nice Puzzle!

[@robsreality]

25:27, very fun, thank you!

[@bristolrovers27]

Very nice elegant puzzle, a joy to solve, I'd say two star difficulty without doubt

[@myacky5887]

Please release the crossword video!! I love them!

[@jonathansperry7974]

34 minutes - that was fun. When I started the shading, I didn't immediately notice the relation between the four large whisper lines, so used two different pairs of colors for each one. I kept the 8 colors even after figuring it out since it looked nice and I wasn't stuck. I also found the same restriction on the 7 in Box 3 to determine the polarity. (Do I count it as beating Simon's displayed time even thought he didn't stop the clock during the distractions. Yes, yes I do.)

[@eddieharwood7788]

What a simple break in with the 6's. Why did I not think ot it. I took ages to discern which were the high and which the low. I managed the puzzle in 50 minutes, but missed the obvious.

[@monkerud2108]

got a few more 4s than you got and a 2 in three boxes pattern for 4s in the left box column, then i labled the shaded areas 1234 and removed the ones that couldnt be there, in one polarity i got a contradiction, in the other it was fine, took about a minute to do, plus some extra time because i skrewed up the notation the first time i tried it and it looked like both polarities were broken, which was silly ofc. but after that it was really smooth. grey for you leads to a straight forward contradiction once all the placeable 4s and the pattern on the left are in place. was either 2 2s or 2 3s in a column if i remember correctly :). on the internet solver not the app the notation get red when it is staring at a filled digit, so all i did was fill in pink and then gray with 123 and remove the ones that were red, and one polarity gave a contradiction, namely what i said, which was really pleasing, was like running a script more or less.

[@TheKtuno]

I'm curious which get more views the easy puzzles or the hard ones. I always give a like, but I confess I don't always watch the solves if I'm able to solve them myself.

[@markp7262]

14:59 finish. I started with the 4-5-6s, but then got stuck until I remembered to color my whisper lines. Oops! Fun little puzzle!

[@josugp]

Pretty much my experience!!! 😂 But I enjoyed it a lot!!!

[@ThomasJH268]

I've noticed that a lot of new sudoku puzzles that are suggested to CTC are designed with a 3 in a corner. As for my attempt to solve this puzzle, I didn't even consider placement of the 6s so after all the 5s were placed, I was completely stuck for a half an hour before totally giving up.

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 29:02. Made a bad assumption which lead me down to an unsolvable sudoku, and had to restart from the top. From restart took me about 13 minutes. Fairly approachable as long as you don't rush too much :p. Fun puzzle!

[@Kirbyfan87827]

Finished in 15:04. A lovely puzzle!

[@Catmandoku]

First CTC I’ve solved on my own without following Simon or Mark or getting hints from how they solve! My time was 30:41!!

[@clara931]

I loved this puzzle. Happy I gave it a go, even if I think 2 stars might have been more right than 1 based on my time

[@benjaminrealy5661]

20:45. The disambiguation at the end was a little challenging, but overall easy and fun.

[@martinyyt]

Awesome, lovely puzzle. Very much at my skill level so particularly enjoyable. Was a bit slow towards then end but very happy with my solve time of 35:23.

[@srwapo]

18:18, like half that time trying to figure out the break in, flowed super quick from there.

[@anaayoung9142]

Great puzzle! I did the same as you. Five, colours, six, four, and seven in the row 8! 😅

[@boydegg]

23:53 what fun!

[@nicka3697]

My favourite cryptic crossword clue was in the telegraph many many years ago, 3112+1 (3,4'1,3) Sublime.

[@ninebobsvids]

I've stared at this until my brain itches. Give us a pointer... please!

[@stephenkerley9728]

@@ninebobsvids Think about dates

[@ninebobsvids]

@stephenkerley9728 oh yes, that is indeed superb.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 03:43 Let's Get Cracking: 04:22 Simon's time: 21m47s Puzzle Solved: 26:09 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 5x (04:30, 04:39, 04:48, 06:44, 06:47) Three In the Corner: 4x (22:25, 23:44, 25:21) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Sorry: 7x (02:47, 11:25, 14:32, 15:30, 15:37, 15:54, 16:18) Ah: 7x (00:46, 10:33, 12:47, 19:13, 20:59, 21:55, 23:14) The Answer is: 6x (04:55, 05:40, 08:39, 10:35, 17:21) In Fact: 6x (01:34, 05:49, 11:14, 12:08, 13:04, 20:48) Obviously: 6x (03:53, 04:08, 05:55, 06:32, 07:49, 17:36) By Sudoku: 5x (18:01, 20:07, 20:18, 25:33) Symmetry: 5x (08:26, 08:29, 08:42, 09:19, 11:09) Hang On: 4x (10:13, 11:19, 23:14, 24:02) Pencil Mark/mark: 4x (09:57, 11:29, 13:38, 16:26) Brilliant: 3x (03:26, 26:16, 26:19) Goodness: 2x (02:14, 11:49) In the Spotlight: 2x (23:48, 25:26) Beautiful: 2x (00:41, 26:40) Nature: 2x (12:26, 20:53) Cake!: 2x (02:56, 03:26) Good Grief: 1x (26:13) What on Earth: 1x (12:47) Naked Single: 1x (23:22) Nonsense: 1x (11:25) Clever: 1x (02:14) Break the Puzzle: 1x (13:21) Shouting: 1x (02:49) Approachable: 1x (00:44) What Does This Mean?: 1x (22:58) Weird: 1x (11:33) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Eighty Nine (2 mentions) Four (59 mentions) Purple (14 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (11) - High (9) Column (15) - Row (11) FAQ: Q1: You missed something! A1: That could very well be the case! Human speech can be hard to understand for computers like me! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn! Q2: Can you do this for another channel? A2: I've been thinking about that and wrote some code to make that possible. Let me know which channel you think would be a good fit!

[@longwaytotipperary]

That was a great puzzle!

[@user-kt9vr1wj6y]

33 minutes for me,nice puzzle

[@marktrescowthick9027]

Sunday Cryptic? Yes please.

[@AndySurtees]

Strangely, I got this really quickly by making a mistake that happened to help. I thought fours and sixes couldn't go anywhere on the zigzag lines, whereas in fact they could go on either end of one. That "resolved" the fours and sixes much more quickly, and they happened to all be correct, because there happened to not be any fours or sixes at the ends of zigzag lines.

[@RecreationalCynic]

Solved it in 26:35. I think I would have solved it sooner if I recognized earlier that I already had 4 low digits already in C2 (or 4 highs in C1). I had practically everything but boxes 1 and 2 filled in with a bunch of 89 pairs around. I couldn't figure out which digit on the small whisper line in Box 1 was the high and which the low digit until I looked down the columns, which took far too long for me to actually do. Fun puzzle nonetheless.

[@davidh.4944]

31:08@#10185. I got some polarity shading wrong and had to backtrack a bit. But once I got the colors sorted out it finished up smoothly.

[@wibblywobblyidiotvision]

That was a super fun solve. Took me 55 minutes but I stupidly missed the colouring in box 1 for ages and got hung up resolving things the hard way via boxes 3 and 9.

[@psiphiorg]

What a fun puzzle! My time today was 11:26, solver number 3881.

[@Aliessil]

Finished in 13:07 after fully colouring the board

[@EmonEconomist]

25:52. Not too difficult. Been a while since I've done a whispers sudoku so this was a nice re-entry point.

[@mudscuffer]

Very nice puzzle. 21:38 for me

[@bouchecaro]

33:00 for me, somehow I missed the 6 available in box 8 and did some really unnecessary logic on box 3 that allowed me to figure out which color was high vs low. Solved it anyway I guess 😅

[@Xiuhtec]

Fun 20 minute solve for this novice!

[@SwordOfBlueThunder]

Honestly, amazing solve and video. But I got thinking about when the first ever occurance was of the 'three in the corner' jingle started?

[@hugobouma]

I do remember seeing that but for the life of me don't know which video. Quite a while ago already, somewhere around the point where the channel had just gained momentum. Simon was just narrating his placing of digits, said "that's 3 in the corner" and absent-mindedly finished the lyrics. Being unfamiliar with REM I had to find out in the comments what he was referencing. To be honest, sometimes I wonder if Simon still _actually_ enjoys having to sing it every time, or if he only does it fearing that there'll be some kind of armed revolt if he doesn't. By now I feel a perverse sense of relief, the moment I can see that there will _not_ be any 3s in a corner.

[@trudain]

20 mins for me. Thanks!

[@urmaskaarn4304]

That was unexpected. First time for me that i managed to got better time than Simon. My 18 min vs Simon 23 min.

[@titusadduxas]

38:28 - Very nice puzzle.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

8:12 for me. Fun puzzle!

[@OrphicMonkey]

the graphic designer in me can't help but notice how common four-fold rotational symmetry is in the world of sudoku

[@brianarsuaga5008]

Phew. I did this a bit weird I fear, by highlighting everywhere that could have 4 or 6 first to place almost all of them, THEN doing polarity. I didn't have to find any triples or anything like that, but there was a tricky bit with 7s.

[@Rach881101]

21:14 for me. Nice puzzle!

[@bait6652]

Q? How many of those givens are needed...seems like such a unique design that revolves around 5s and seeing how the 3-7 plays out or 4-6

[@Scojo486]

The puzzle is actually unique with various combinations of only 4 of those givens, but I opted to give all 8 to improve the solve path and for visual symmetry.

[@austinsinger7565]

Wow what a fickle puzzle, I was kept being one off with my numbers and I had to restart like four times. Easy and super fun puzzle but it's was so easy to get my numbers all mixed up. Using colors helped.

[@philipmetcalfe4736]

all 4 x 4 corner numbers (with the 2 line German whispers) appear in the 16 boxes round the central 3x3...or have I had too much vino de collapso???

[@chris5619]

That's 8 more given digits than we get a lot of times!

[@megaminxpll]

Done in 9:45 , and btw you can disable that 3in the f-ing corner thingy. (Under "Experimental")

[@MisterM2402]

Thanks for pointing that out. The joke is well and truly done now, glad it can be turned off.

[@buzzard6410]

Wasn't real quick at 45 minutes. Never really got bogged down either. Just kept picking away until it unraveled at the end.

[@slpn1]

I'm much better and faster at Soduku when Simon does the thinking for me.

[@nalulumbay]

I haven't watched the video yet but I tried this puzzle yesterday and finished it but it's wrong because the digits in the line in the lower left corner doesn't differ by at least 5 (8 & 3). Tried it again today, more careful with the logic, and still end up having the same wrong solution. I don't know what went wrong, my logic are correct. I figured out what's wrong. Haha When I put 9 in r2c2, I mistakenly assumed that the corner should be 4 and that mess up my in box 7.

[@DonaldSjervenE]

Everything seemed polar. E.g. With a 5 in box 9, cells 1 and 6 were a high/low pair. Cell 1 was low. From the get go.

[@wanderlustwarrior]

10:40 for my time, and also for a reminder I should do my taxes a bit earlier this year than usual.

[@philipmetcalfe4736]

I thought for a moment there was hidden Myphystomol ring ...but i cocked up

[@studgerbil9081]

Only 8 digits? I thought this was a repeat from three years ago until I saw the puzzle.

[@marksmith1721]

11.33 for me

[@gregthewalnut603]

I wonder if there's a setter who's capable of making a sudoku with negative 1 given digits. "Row 3, Col 2 is not 7, solve"