Are You Smart Enough To Start?!

[@ananas_anna]

I love these types of puzzles where the logic is too advanced for me to figure out on my own but easy enough for me to follow as Simon solves it. Makes me feel smart for not doing anything.

[@_aullik]

I often pause during the video and check things on my notepad. like how to build a 19 in 3, what valid possibilities remain with two 7 boxes removed and so on. But that also means that I, who have had a lot more time to look at the screen than Simon have found things he hasn't XD.

[@jacobzahner4785]

@@_aullik well yeah... I do it on my own and then get stuck, so I watch until he sees something I didn't and then I'll pause again. When I see something before he did and have to wait for him to catch up!

[@jessebaker4245]

As a junior in high school I second that

[@GreatUSTreasureHunt]

16:52 "This is gorgeous...look, this can't work!" Simon gets more joy out of things that can't work than most people when things go exactly right.

[@AlonAltman]

28:08 that's useless as well... Looking for a few seconds. Actually it's incredibly useful. CTC: Come for logic, stay for Simon's commentary.

[@HunterJE]

One of these days someone is going figure out how to set a puzzle specifically for Simon where every important breakthrough is made by scanning down to the bottom of a column ;)

[@arkb0t379]

Maybe those puzzles are in the videos that never get published

[@Varksterable]

And a ruleset that allows nines in all the corners.

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

That sounds like outside sudoku

[@Potsu___]

"This square should be Fillable Inable" 34:12

[@Ari33sa]

I have to say... I did not think I would get so addicted to these types of sudoku-puzzles. I really love this cannel. At this point I watch one to three of them daily until I find a Sudoku I actually can solve myself. I spent two to four hours of my days, first attempting, then failing, then watching your solution, then attempting another until I finally succeed at something - and then still watch your solution just to see how much faster I could have been.

[@azpcox]

“I’ve rarely seen a more useful digit” is definitely an appeasement to the sudoku gods.

[@MercyFlush]

I laughed out loud. English humor is wonderful!

[@Ishant4President]

I'm only a novice at sudoku, but today I actually found a number way before you Simon! Idk why but it made me so happy! This was a first for me! I know it's not much but noticing something first before a skilled person such as yourself, it just made me giddy inside hehe thank you for another great video!

[@cwestin7541]

I love how excited Simon is about being able to put zeros in the grid in the new software.

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

28:09 favorite Simon sound ever

[@Laasbaas]

So proud! Solved in 1:32hr all on my own using the same logic Simon used to start the puzzle. Mark and Simon, you guys are legends for exposing us to these mad puzzles and all you setters out there.... no words! Thank you!

[@stevieinselby]

I can tell you felt really bad about belittling that 3 when you said it wasn't helpful at all ... it looked like you were on the verge of sending it flowers 💐 and a box of chocolates 🍫 to apologise! That was a good but challenging puzzle. I needed a couple of hints from the video - where you said "let's look at...", and I could then pause the video and figure it out for myself without needing to see you actually do it - and completed it in 1h10. Very proud of myself for spotting several virtual pairs, which I don't generally find 😎

[@Cory_Springer]

"Let's get some pencil marks in early to make us think we're making progress" Oof I know that feeling

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

Me when I attempt any of these puzzles: cool I’ve pencil marked everything I can but I don’t see the break in. Gg time to watch the video

[@zachariasis]

I haven’t finished the video yet, I’m at 25:03. And because of this logic here alone, I know that I 100% want this as your next app. Palindrome Sudoku.

[@emilioherrera6345]

28:18 “You rotten thing” has become my new favorite insult 😂

[@matushorvath]

Simon: "This has to be 5, 4 and that breaks the 6-cage, so this continues..." me: pauses, stares at it for a minute, "Oh, OK, I see, NOW we can continue."

[@christopherrybarczyk1234]

I really enjoyed this one. Felt really good to solve prior to the watching the solve. The logic to get it going was daunting but quickly became entertaining once you see how quickly one cage affected another and another and another.

[@serebix3685]

I love the fact that Simon is near god-like with logic and break ins but sometimes struggle with the simplest scanning.

[@neshan6366]

or with breaking up 21 into 10 - 1 - 10

[@stevenbeichner9630]

This is probably the hardest puzzle I’ve ever seen you do (in my opinion of just following along). So much so that I had to send this video to friends. Very well done on such an amazing solve.

[@susanne5803]

I tagged along and thoroughly enjoyed this very beautiful puzzle! Thank you very much, udukos and Simon!

[@N7P2R2]

I honestly don't know why you guys came across my recommendations, but I am sure glad you did! Great work guys. Keep it up

[@AndrewRingle]

I love the momentum of these crazy puzzles. Once you start figuring them out they become regular sudoku but with more information

[@SpikeMatthews]

I absolutely love your enthusiasm!

[@mceajc]

That was beautiful indeed. So many interactions to limit options, all spread about the grid. A puzzle hunt in one puzzle!

[@Kavukamari]

this is puzzle art for sure, I'm not quite sharp enough at this sort of puzzle to complete it but i can appreciate the beauty

[@PieFacePro]

28:10 is the best noise I’ve ever heard

[@ksaybyby]

Not sure if it was mentioned somewhere else but once you found the naked single 3 in box 5, the 3 in box 6 was knowable which would have given the rest of box 4 and then you're off to the races. Not that finding the triple didn't work, but finding triples is trickier than free digits. Brilliant puzzle and a wonderful solve. :)

[@richardfarrer5616]

I thought Australia

[@RealCadde]

Same

[@carlwh123]

haha there's no Cape York!

[@awkwardranga]

Semi-offended as an Australian viewer 😂 Especially since the part I live in looks cut out! It’s true we often forget about the Tasmanians though.

[@billyoung8118]

Are you suggesting the puzzle is upside down then? 😂

[@siorac1147]

I thought old Silverstone racing track, a little bit. With a couple extra turns.

[@andrewnelson2525]

A puzzle that requires new logic that is accessible (not Mark "accessible" but actually accessible) is a lot of fun. Thanks udukos!

[@siorac1147]

It's about as accessible as quantum equations.

[@jameswiebe8956]

That was a lot of fun. Straight, bull-headed logic all the way through without any complicated steps. You just had to follow the restrictions with the palindrome and work through it all. I was 57:48 - and I thought that was a great time for me.

[@siorac1147]

And I've been sitting here at it for well over an hour; got as far as the 17 cage being an 89 pair (well, a moderately bright 7-year-old could get that one), that certain cells can't have 8s, 9s, and 1s, and ruled out a few starting/ending positions for the palindrome... and that's it. I haven't started watching the video yet but it just seems like there's nothing more to go on. It's disheartening to see other people solve it so quickly. I feel like there has to be some insane trick that requires advanced maths but you say there isn't. I'll give it another couple of hours and then watch it.

[@jameswiebe8956]

@@siorac1147 The starting point is figuring out where the palindrome starts and ends. Then the low number cages in the bottom half of the puzzle can be started. They bounce back and forth from one side to the other (with a bit of trial and error) and once you have the first 6 or so numbers in the grid, the puzzle becomes quite manageable. As you solve it, keep watching the cages. Each cage will start out with 2 or 3 possible sets of number in them, but suddenly one number somewhere else (especially along the palindrome) can remove all but one of the possible sets. You will end up with a lot of penciled-in pairs/triples that will suddenly all solve by finding one or two specific numbers. At least that is how it went for me, and Simon seemed to have a similar result - although he found some much faster than I did.

[@siorac1147]

@@jameswiebe8956 thanks. I got the palindrome eventually and then I needed a hint from the comments that I should do some trial and error with the 7 cage in box 9. Once it turned out that that one can be disambiguated fairly quickly because of the other cages and the palindrome, I managed to figure it out. Slowly - and I by slow I mean GLACIAL - but surely.

[@jameswiebe8956]

@@siorac1147 Yeah, that's the way I feel. I have some that go very quick and I feel good about myself, and then I have some that take me two hours. And they I have some that I stare at for two hours before giving up completely and watching the video. :D

[@matthewkoeppel8742]

Please continue adding the thought bubbles to these videos, it’s such a great touch to your already marvelous videos

[@themotivator373]

28:15 - "That's useless as well." 28:44- "It was incredibly useful, I've rarely seen a more useful digit." Funniest thing I've ever seen on this channel.

[@Coyotek4]

50:49 ... but I must admit that I only really figured out the pivot point (and that took a good amount of trial-and-error); after that, I bifurcated the heck out of this and got lucky with finding *a* solution. Diabolical puzzle!

[@glitzyx4x852]

50:49 the video is over for me

[@Coyotek4]

@@glitzyx4x852 I post the time it took me to solve the puzzle, which has no bearing on the actual video time.

[@glitzyx4x852]

@@Coyotek4 ah ok

[@Dalinu]

beautifully done, Simon.

[@S_Black]

I got the 89, realized I wasn't making any progress and gave up :)

[@russellbarnett7606]

Am I smart enough to start? Emphatically “no”. Good solve!

[@hisham_hm]

I wasn't smart enough to finish it because I got lost in my pencil marks half way through but I _was_ smart enough to start it, so finding the break-in locating the position of the beginning of the palindrome figuring out by myself the same logic that Simon used here already counts as a win in my book!

[@Kavukamari]

im glad the first thing i thought of when reading the rules is also one of the first things you thought of as well, finding the start/end of the palindrome

[@alienrenders]

I couldn't figure any easy way into this puzzle (the palindrome start and end was easy). So I bifurcated the 6 cage on the right. 15 pair was easy to dismiss. I ended up picking the wrong order for 24 and it took a while for me to reach a contradiction. After that, it was relatively easy.

[@meepmeepinton]

my favourite thing is when Simon spends a while figuring out some logic to get a number, and then just says "Well that's completely useless"

[@dxm028]

It’s so interesting how the logic can progress different ways, I’ll see something that I expect him to get to but then the way he does it is so different

[@arturslunga3415]

Simon made this one look easy. Impressive stuff, and a great puzzle!

[@jamestaylor7964]

I seem to solve very few puzzles that I come across on this channel yet I managed to solve this one!! Proud of my efforts :D Also: Tilt your head 90 degrees to the left and it's the outline of an elephant's face!

[@Lord_Volkner]

Well poo! I figured out the beginning and end of the palindrome in like 2 minutes and then thought this would be easy. It's been a long time since I encountered a puzzle on here that I couldn't solve ... but here we are.

[@paulwatson746]

One of those very rare cases where I did it in less than half the time of the video (sometimes I cant even complete the 20 minute ones)! Got off to a good start with finding the ends but looked at where 8&9 could go (very limited on the shape) in the limited boxes

[@MrGupta1337]

Oh my! I dont know why i decided to try this one out since i am very new to sudoku but solve it i did, just took me a bit over 3 hours haha.

[@piarittersporn]

An absolutely gorgeous puzzle. Because of the cage with the total of 17, the double (beginning or end) was easy to find. After that, I was able to quickly rule out some digits in the cages with the sums 6 to 9 and later had to experiment a little with the cage with the sum 16 in box 1. When I thought I had completed the puzzle correctly and compared my solution to Simon, I realized that I had missed the cage with the total of 10 in Box 2 ... for this reason some differences. So I had to go back quite a few steps and delete, but all in all I had a lot of fun during Simon's triple time.

[@geo-fry6372]

I got it in 56:34, which is definitely not the best time. I'm still really happy I solved it. I figured out where the ends were pretty quickly, which I was proud of.

[@MitchellD249]

I don't think I've ever finished any of these puzzles in under an hour, seems like a good time to me.

[@yichen6313]

Took me about 2 hours, this puzzle is extremely brilliant and very fun :D

[@BlueCyann]

Yeah, took me almost an hour to find the loose thread, though. Which is fine, it wasn't easy. Edit: I pulled on a different thread than Simon did. It revolves around the 8-cage in box 9. The 7-cage next to it restricts it, and the 8-cage restricts the 9-cage in box 7 thanks to the palindrome. (Neither of the two digits adding to 8 can be involved in the 9-sum.) Finally, the box-7 9-cage can't be 4/5 due to the 6-cage next to it. Now look at what happens for each option in the box-9 7-cage. If the 7-cage is 2/5, the 9-cage must be either 2/7 or 5/4. But 5/4 doesn't work, and since the 8-cage can only be 1/7, 2/7 is also ruled out. So the 7-cage is not 2/5. If the 7-cage is 3/4, the 9 cage must be either 3/6 or 4/5. 4/5 is ruled out, leaving 3/6 as an option. The 8 cage is either 1/7 or 2/6. 2/6 won't work. Does 1/7? No, for a different reason: 3, 4, 6 and 7 comprise all of the possibilities for R8C5! So the 7 cage is not 3/4. [This was by far my favorite part -- once I saw the effect of the 17 cage up top on restricting R8C5 I was sure I was on the right track.] If the 7-cage is 1/6, the 9 cage must be either 1/8 or 6/3. The 8 cage has to be 3/5, which rules out 6/3. But 1/8 in the 9-cage remains valid, which sets the 7 cage as 1/6 with the 1 on the top.

[@erickehr4475]

Ok. I fairly quickly worked out where the palindrome started/ended. Then filled in a few obvious pencil marks. Couldn’t really make any progress, so bifurcated a couple of times to a solution. 36:22 was my time. I’ll be interested to see the logical way through.

[@kristinkilgour1680]

I doubt I could have broken into that - didn't even attempt it - but I have loads of fun watching the solve. It really was a beautiful puzzle. Thanks for showcasing it, Simon 👍

[@jyotiiyer3011]

I am smart enough to start. Successfully deduced the start and the end of the palindrome and consequently the identical numbers. But no clue where to go from there. Will try for half an hour more before watching the solve

[@michaelpdawson]

"I'm now starting to wonder whether I've made a mistake" while deleting wrong square.

[@nishanthn4927]

Looks like a race track!

[@TheErPelu]

It's funny how the last digit he put on the grid (box7's 6) was solvable since 28:38! Great solve

[@DukeBG]

i haven't noticed that

[@Ishant4President]

Good catch!

[@eugenev13]

I noticed that he does this a lot in his solves. Whether or not that's on purpose shall remain a puzzle...

[@DukeBG]

@@eugenev13 Nah, definitely not on purpose. It's fine to miss stuff, though. You can try recording your own solve and watching it back. I can guarantee you, there'll be stuff like that too.

[@TOJPFC]

You solve puzzles for hundreds of thousands of people, in your house, as a living. Madness was never this good

[@brianarsuaga5008]

The 3 in the fourth column was available SO EARLY with the 35 pair and it led to even more stuff in the west section and you worked so hard to get it backwards! But honestly that just made me laugh because I had trouble even following your brilliant logic with you holding my hand.

[@RichSmith77]

I don't see it :-( How early are we talking?

[@oakleyg2870]

Took me 1 hr and 2 minutes, but it was a blast and one of the most fun to solve on the channel.

[@ashleyfarrell3576]

This was brilliant and I really enjoyed watching you solve it! Yelling at the screen moment: “That 3 is absolutely useless...” Me: “No!! 6,4,7. 6,47!”

[@JohnRandomness105]

3:50 -- It seems to me that it might be easier to think of eight-seven and six-nine dominoes as adding to 15 and ruling out combos that can't be divided into six-nine or seven-eight. Also slipping in a few preliminary pencils could eliminate possible identical pairs along the palindrome. (The 98 domino helps there.)

[@neilramsey1368]

Another great puzzle

[@FolgoreCZ]

24:25 There was an arguably easier way to solve this. (Well, even I saw it, so not much of an argument, it just IS easier :-D) It's the 9 cage in the right. If there is a 3 in r5c8, it forces the purple/green 7 to be 5 and 2, but it also makes the red square 6, and therefore the 8 cage in the left is 6 and 2. That makes both r5c1 and r5c2 a 2. So r5c8 has to be 8 and so on.

[@ImperialKneazle]

Lovely solve, very enjoyable to watch.

[@charlieinnes4378]

Simon has such charisma!

[@davidmillerxxm]

I don't think i could even get the starting number lol, its just amazing to watch the whole process

[@nishanthn4927]

5/5?! Na... then yesterday’s was a 10/5! It was fun this puzzle... beautiful logic and a linear path...

[@andrzejzurawski4895]

As for me, a difficulty level of this puzzle is insane.

[@TheDonutMan3000]

I see a gorilla sitting leisurely on a ledge

[@Xeridanus]

47:49 with help from Simon, thanks!

[@JR-vh6mz]

I tried this for 5 hours. It's above my ability, but worth the effort.

[@nightwishlover8913]

Nice break-in!

[@crashyburnymit4080]

You are like Steve Irwin. This snake is gorgeous, sure it can kill you only by looking at it, but is gorgeous. Same here, this puzzle is gorgeous, sure it's impossible for most ppl, but it is gorgeous. :)

[@sukrozh]

I swear, I was shouting at him to fill in the bottom left 6 for 5 minutes, and it feels like he filled it in last just to spite me. Still, fantastic work

[@achimsinn7782]

I love how Simon almost excused himself to that one square he called useless ;)

[@tobermorywomble23]

1:00:20. Really like the structure - that was fun.

[@eclectichoosier5474]

The 18 in the 9 cage in box 6 could have been resolved by noticing that no matter what you chose to fill the 7 cage in box 4, you always end up with 18 in the 9 cage. If you use 25, it puts 71 in the 8 cage, with the 1 on the palindrome, and if you use 34, it puts a 3 on the palindrome, forcing the 3 out of the 38 twosome in the 9 cage.

[@thehuguenot625]

The 3 he missed in r4c9 for about 7 minutes would have made this solve easier 25:40, but still fun to watch.

[@Dysjoint]

52 minutes in I got the start of the palindrome, colour coded equal squares loads of pencil markings then hit restart. Not the best puzzle for a beginner maybe?

[@paulcook2961]

Some consistent differences I see between my solving style and Simon's: He seems reluctant to shove candidates into boxes. I shove candidates into boxes ALL the time (specially if I can't think of anything else to do). He seems reluctant to regularly cross-check candidates across rows/columns/boxes. I cross-check candidates ALL the time (specially if I can't think of anything else to do). When he makes a step, he is often disappointed (e.g. "which is absolutely useless... bobbins") whereas I am delighted ("yay I'm one step closer to finishing... just gotta carry on"). When he finds a logical path, he assumes it is what the author intended and remarks how beautiful it is. When I find a completely different logical path, I have NO idea if it's what the author intended. The main difference though is: he is much faster than me. Even when I FEEL I've been more efficient, the clock never lies. I'd love to hear what are other people's differences in style?

[@RichSmith77]

Simon: 30s of no progress - "and I'm stuck again. So sorry I'm being slow" Me: 10 minutes of no progress - "I'm stuck. Those clouds are interesting. Might go make a coffee..."

[@leefisher6366]

I correctly figured out where the palindrome started and ended, and hence the middle square. That's all I could do, but it's better than a total Bobbins.

[@MichaelJPartyka]

I managed to figure out where the ends were and then realized...that was not going to be the hardest part of the puzzle after all. Gave up after much staring. I feel like the point of some of these sudoku is merely to say, "Here's something you should think about next time!"

[@william2496]

Is it possible you guys could release a new app that, instead of having one puzzle type, has a different variation of sudoku every day in a daily challenge?

[@mrkitewine7700]

I have absolutely no idea how a puzzle like this is built.

[@theunamiable]

I figured out where the palindrome begins and ends, if that counts as starting. Beyond that I suspect I'm stuck.

[@aere481]

I didn't see the effect of the 7s on the 19. After that it was tough, but a bit easier.

[@jkid1134]

17:55 we gotta get some lingo going here. What do you like, "dual", "couple", whatever, somebody give two-candidate cells a succinct name

[@jeythegrey]

I'm not smart enough to start, but wise enough to admit it.

[@cdh79]

I'm smart enough to sit back on the couch, put my laptop onto my lap (hence the name I guess) and watch you solve it.. some of the numbers I was able to figure out, once you started going in a certain direction with the palindrome, though I would have been stuck in the very beginning to start it up. edit: and on multiple parts along the way..

[@MisterM2402]

I got as far as figuring out the palindrome start-middle-end points, plus four 89 pair cells. Getting actual digits on the grid was beyond me though :(

[@Varksterable]

Not only is this an incredible puzzle, and an incrdible solve, it's also probably the funniest one I've seen on this channel. Has Simon been attending classes at 'Overreacting Actors Anonymous' or something? Probably not; he does genuinely get that excited. I love this so much about a lot of his solves. As he'd say himself; "Oh! Look at _that_. That is simply _gorgeous_ !" 🤗

[@inwalters]

4:50 - I'm sure you were actually thinking about "Hanna", the fantastic action film with Saoirse Ronan., Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett.

[@alvaropallete]

I could only find the position of the palindrome and pencil mark some cells for the restrictions, but couldn't put the first digit in the grid. Illuminate us Simon

[@SSGranor]

There's another (possibly simpler?) way to get the break in (I mean, after identifying the center of the palindrome), which doesn't require considering the 19 cage. It starts by asking whether the 8 cage in box 9 can be 17. As noted, the pair that appears in this cage also appears as a pair on row 8 due to the palindrome. That means that a 17 in the 8 cage will rule out 18 and 27 from the 9 cage in box 7. Since there's also a 6 cage in box 7, that 9 cage could never be 45 and, thus must be 36. But, if the 8 cage is 17, the 7 cage in box 9 certainly can't be 16; and, thus, the cell mirrored between the 7 and 9 cages must be a 3, which finishes off the 7 cage with a 4. That means that a 17 in the 8 cage puts 13467 onto row 8; and, this breaks the 10 cage, since 8 and 9 are ruled out in the column (which rules out 2 by association) and a 10 cage certainly can't be two fives. So, this proves that the 8 cage is either 26 or 35. But, that means it puts either a 3 or a 6 onto row 8, ruling 36 out of the 9 cage, meaning that the 9 must be either 18 or 27. So, the cell shared with the 7 cage can only be 1 or 2, restricting the 7 cage to either 16 or 25. That puts either a 2 or a 6 into box 9, which means that the eight cage can only be 35. The 5, then, means the 7 cage is 16, making the 9 cage 18; and, so on.

[@Kinada]

I found the palindrome easy enough but 40 min of staring at it was enough for me to give in.

[@srwapo]

Needed help to use the 7's to get the 19 cage. :( Enjoyed figuring out the ends of the palindrome.

[@Draedaja]

I love this palindrome idea, very clever!

[@AndreAy1975]

Solved it with much help from the video.

[@bristolrovers27]

Love this puzzle

[@markmajkowski9545]

Very late commenting, but I enjoy the German whispers and palindromes much more than the others. After you find the center of the palindrome as you did, you can jump start differently than your 7 cage method (I tried the pointing 15 double cages to no avail) BUT. When you identify the six cells by color less than 7, you see that R5C8 must be 78 because it sees 6 other less than 7 cells. R5C9 must be 12. Then you can see that there are 7 under 6 cells and only 1 pair don’t see each other R3C6 and R6C9. I didn’t get the 16 thing or 53 as quickly as you, but the initial start of these seem the very hardest and finding 6 cells all under 7 looking at the one cell limited it to 78 and 12 and then I had the 24/16 Domino under my R5C9 12 as a virtual 12 to rule out the C1 7. Anyway, I thought you might appreciate the 6 cells under 7 that look at box 6 that give you a 78 12 domino in box 6 and by palindrome a 12 67 domino in C2 to start off.

[@QemeH]

What is your definition of "start"? Because I got the only possible starting square for the palindrome by trial and error rather quick (first few minutes) - and obviously I got the 8/9 pair - but after that I got _thoroughly_ stuck and had to give up for time. So... technically I was smart enough to start it, but without a digit in the grid, can we really call it a start? :D