Build One Galaxy. Save The World.

[@zegres]

ZegreS here! Very rewarding to see this featured since this puzzle took me VERY long to set. Also this is 4/5 difficulty - just so people set their expectations right. Thanks so much for solving and for the Ren shout out! I did come up with Marble Run (just got my book delivered and may hang that page on the wall) The sharp eyed will notice that this is just marble run in disguise ... in space. The success message (which had it's line breaks erased somehow) is a reference to the Beastie Boys song Intergalactic. I was originally going to only count cells on the galaxy towards cage sums, but this worked better. I would be VERY HONORED if Simon did a bit of Bestie Boys on his guitar some time in the future... (Sabotage?) Although I am honored already by this great feature!

[@Arbfor]

based

[@davidrattner9]

Another beauty from you!! Loved everything about it!!

[@ckdo1974]

Skipped due to unclear rules. The interpretations "In cages, digits not part of the galaxy sum to the given total." and "In cages not part of the galaxy, digits sum to the given total." both seem reasonable from the wording given. I didn't really want to guess which interpretation is correct, or to try one until it proves to be unsolvable, and then use the other.

[@chris5619]

​@ckdo1974 Thanks for letting us all know you skipped it. I know I was wondering. Pretty sure either interpretation of the rules that you stated would both lead to the same, unique, solution.

[@ckdo1974]

@@chris5619 Since the latter interpretation requires cages to be either completely inside or completely outside the galaxy, it will certainly not.

[@matthewungar601]

The "another dimension" text you get from finishing the puzzle is lyrics from the song Intergalactic by Beastie Boys!

[@agitatorjr]

It's the incorrect lyrics too. I'm not sure how they messed it up because the part that's wrong is the title of the song!

[@gerarbendfeldt]

I notice it too! It was truly a musical ending.

[@andrewdipplecomedy]

​@@agitatorjrit's the title of the puzzle though 🙂

[@agitatorjr]

@@andrewdipplecomedy so why when conflate them?

[@MCarrington01]

Simon muttering “must not use uniqueness” reminds me of a puzzle he did a couple years back where using uniqueness was part of the solve path. 🤣

[@SupremeOverlord24]

Does anyone know which puzzle this was? I was wondering while watching if there was any potential in having a puzzle where the uniqueness assumption is required. Edit: I found the 'What Is Uniqueness?' video (Kill Them With Uniqueness by AFrayedKnot), which is what I was looking for!

[@MCarrington01]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3vPmn5ubZZ_m9Esi=zlM6ON1n5i5rhuVs

[@koenth2359]

At about 30:00, considering the total sum of column 5 reveals that the 7 and 17 cage must contain a galaxy cell, otherwise the central cell would have to be at least 10.

[@Millenassang]

I recognized the melody from Tom Odell right away I absolutely love the musical introduction, it kind of sets a calm and warm mood, perfect for the videos we watch to chill after a work day and get rid of stress. Bring them on!

[@terracottapie]

I'll take your word for it but it definitely sounded like Radio/Video by System of a Down: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ep7QinSObbWbn8k

[@margaritashcheglova8670]

At first I thought it was King Crimson's Book of Saturday... Then I realised the video was released on Tuesday...

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 07:11 Let's Get Cracking: 09:28 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 5x (11:12, 11:17, 11:23, 11:26, 11:46) Three In the Corner: 2x (1:10:06, 1:16:43) Bobbins: 1x (37:31) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (29:55) Maverick: 1x (1:10:11) Phistomefel: 1x (02:00) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Symmetry: 16x (07:25, 07:42, 07:56, 10:34, 10:40, 13:57, 13:57, 17:29, 23:25, 25:51, 26:44, 29:34, 37:49, 39:56, 43:45, 1:08:33) Sorry: 13x (10:07, 15:08, 22:29, 23:56, 24:02, 31:32, 36:02, 47:15, 48:41, 51:57, 54:37, 56:57, 1:02:06) Ah: 13x (24:02, 24:15, 37:01, 37:31, 41:30, 42:22, 50:47, 52:31, 53:32, 54:48, 1:06:58, 1:08:33, 1:14:50) Beautiful: 10x (37:22, 38:49, 38:49, 42:25, 42:47, 1:02:19, 1:02:20, 1:02:23, 1:03:31, 1:18:02) By Sudoku: 9x (41:29, 54:58, 1:06:25, 1:06:29, 1:07:40, 1:08:11, 1:09:22, 1:15:05, 1:16:40) Uniqueness: 9x (1:00:13, 1:00:59, 1:01:27, 1:04:21, 1:07:33, 1:08:59, 1:12:02, 1:15:19, 1:15:36) Naughty: 6x (21:37, 21:41, 22:00, 59:18, 1:09:03, 1:12:27) Obviously: 6x (11:08, 12:37, 17:27, 17:46, 36:13, 38:27) Pencil Mark/mark: 6x (24:40, 27:37, 33:08, 35:54, 1:13:54, 1:13:59) Hang On: 5x (24:56, 24:58, 27:12, 27:12, 50:17) In Fact: 5x (00:40, 29:55, 30:01, 45:27, 52:23) Clever: 4x (42:28, 1:07:18, 1:07:18, 1:17:45) Fascinating: 4x (00:21, 01:43, 01:43, 02:48) Nature: 4x (26:39, 27:02, 28:25, 29:34) Cake!: 4x (04:03, 04:09, 04:38, 06:07) Triangular Number: 4x (08:34, 10:15, 11:58, 17:52) Weird: 4x (03:23, 18:17, 53:49, 58:22) Wow: 3x (28:37, 33:23, 1:16:49) Nonsense: 2x (31:53, 31:56) Incredible: 2x (01:05, 02:09) Shouting: 2x (00:39, 01:47) What Does This Mean?: 2x (28:07, 41:22) Have a Think: 2x (12:31, 54:05) Unique: 2x (1:01:08, 1:01:15) What on Earth: 1x (1:17:00) Goodness: 1x (03:57) Naked Single: 1x (1:11:01) In the Spotlight: 1x (1:16:46) Elegant: 1x (51:09) Going Mad: 1x (1:17:19) Gorgeous: 1x (1:09:22) Discombobulating: 1x (54:40) Come on Simon: 1x (57:20) Surely: 1x (1:14:35) Whoopsie: 1x (1:04:41) Internal Logic: 1x (1:00:33) Phone is Buzzing: 1x (29:03) Almost Interesting: 1x (33:44) Baffling: 1x (44:26) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Fifteen (14 mentions) One (92 mentions) Green (86 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Even (9) - Odd (0) Outside (2) - Inside (0) Row (15) - Column (15) 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!

[@Schwooper_ow]

this is amazing

[@wjallsup]

A great puzzle and a Beastie Boys reference!! Today is a good day!!

[@Orenotter]

Well that was a whole lot of fun. I did enjoy my time a ton. Through the galaxy sped 'Mid the stars green and red But I sadly got little work done.

[@Mephistahpheles]

@50:21 If column 5 is all green (except middle), it adds to 35. Middle digit would be a 10.

[@snowflakechills]

Regarding sleeping to your videos, it's more that you are often genuinely engaged in and excited about whatever you're solving. It's calming but also interesting. Don't sell your ability to interest someone in an unfamiliar topic short! I've learned a lot from you guys and really improved my own solves. Thank you for doing what you do

[@deathpigeon2]

51:10 The more elegant way is to do math on column 5. If the 17 and 7 cages are both fully green then the 8 green cells in that column add up to 5+6+7+17=35 and that would require the singular cell in the middle to be a 10 which is impossible.

[@elLooto]

That logic is available as soon as you get the center box done (Simon gets it at about 26:00), and tells you you need a galaxy cell in both cages. I think its this episodes case of _Simon does it the hard way_

[@LucaSalemi]

@@elLooto More aggravating, this is an episode of Simon not thinking about the secret!

[@listey]

My way into it (admittedly only as a spectator to this video) was to note that if either 16 cage contained a red cell then the two green cells would need to be 7+9. Then using the rotational symmetry the other 16 cage would need to be 7+9 plus a red cell. And then there's no room for both the 7 and the 9 in box 5, using our old friend Sudoku!

[@padwanz0r]

Beastie Boys - Intergalactic 🤘

[@patrickgass787]

I absolutely love galaxy puzzles when they appear on the channel and I can think of no better setter to bring us one that is out of this world! (P.S. whoever wrote the pun in the video description, please know that your hardwork is both noticed and appreciated) (P.P.S. Those are modified lyrics from Intergalactic Planetary, for which I sincerely hope Simon will feature the Beastie Boys on his guitar for the next puzzle)

[@zegres]

Thanks!! Very nice compliment! I may do a sequel called Intergalactic some day where only galaxy cells contribute to cage totals...

[@MichaelLamparty]

@@zegres I had the Beastie Boys running through my head from the moment I opened this video. The earworm was so strong it competed with Simon at points.

[@laurabailey7430]

I recognized the song from Weird Al's cover of it in his Polka Power!

[@Mister_Bates]

Is it just me or is there a "rule" missing? I was initially confused by the mention of a galaxy and talk of "cancelling" cells! Shouldn't the ruleset start "Normal Sudoku rules apply. Build a galaxy of orthogonally connected cells." ??

[@goitwe8564]

I love these videos so much!! Your content is always so lovely and interesting

[@alltradejack]

So Simon knows R.E.M. but not the Beastie Boys. Hmmm…

[@chipsounder4633]

The two 16 cell cages in box 2 and box 8 couldn't be 2 cell sum. Via rotational symmetry it would have made the centre digit a Schrödinger cell😁 beautiful

[@arhamdugar396]

as soon as i heard you play another love i liked the video. You really help me through tough times, thank you

[@somethingsomething259]

The rules as written (and described in the video) allow for any number of degenerate solutions, taking the entire grid as a single square galaxy and breaking each cage. What in the rules is supposed to prevent this? EDIT: I think I have it. Digits in cages (excluding digits in the galaxy) add up to the totals in the cage. I read it as "ignore cages that are part of the galaxy".

[@Nightknight1992]

i understood it like you, its poorly worded for sure^^

[@bobbie0976]

At first I thought the same, yr edit made me understand the rules

[@scruffamudda6306]

I couldn't figure this out either. There needs to be a rule about not breaking cages to make it solvable.

[@BryanLu0]

The cage in the middle sums to zero, so this should clear any confusion.

[@adamkamp8929]

Thank you! This made me insane. Now I can try to solve it.

[@AlistairBuxton]

The message at the end is a reference to the Beastie Boys song Intergalactic.

[@davidrattner9]

Got my delivery !! Books, postcards, extra puzzles and bobbins cushions are everything i thought it would be!!

[@lomaxdesigns1716]

Lol, he can crack insane Sudoku puzzles. Beasty Boys' lyrics stump him though. haha

[@oathboundhero1782]

27:50 I simply HAD to pause the video and shout "A ZED PENTOMINO OF GALACTIC PROPORTIONS EMANATING FROM THE PUZZLE." That sentence made me so happy.

[@Unchained_Alice]

When I first saw this I didn't have a clue where to start. But once you understand it it flows so nicely

[@alcaz0r1]

I'm a bit confused about the rules, what is constraining this to a single solution? Why can't I mark the whole grid as being in the galaxy? At that point there are no cage restrictions and I can fill in the board with any valid sudoku digits.

[@alcaz0r1]

I think I get it, "digits in cages that are not part of the galaxy sum to the ..." implies that there must be one or more digits in each cage summing to the cage total.

[@BryanLu0]

The rules are a bit unclear, but the zero cage in the center should clear things up. (As in, the non galaxy cells add up to zero in the cage with no non galaxy cells)

[@alcaz0r1]

121:37, very rewarding puzzle! I loved figuring out how the galaxy had to grow throughout the solve.

[@karlmortenlunna2417]

This was a fantastic puzzle. 31:09 for me today.

[@BakingFiend-rl7mo]

I didn't really have a good day today. So hearing Simon's guitar intro today was really great. Thanks

[@SarlCagan93]

Wonderful puzzle and video! Unless I'm missing something, I believe as early as 30:00, once Simon deduced the central columns needs a galactic cell, knowing the 17/16 cells in box 8 need 5 non-galactic cells tells you the 16 cage has to be all non-galactic (which opens up a lot more logic)

[@zegres]

There were a few areas where Simon was not perfectly efficient - there did seem to be a lot of distractions, but I am happy since I made it over an hour for the first time! The intended path was to do boxes 2 and 8 after the middle box, but the way Simon did it is completely legit and just a parallel solve path that is a bit harder. It would have helped him a lot more to think of the 16, 17 and 16, 7 cages separately and not as a block, but he got that idea into his head and it seemed hard to detach from it. There is a lesson there.

[@stevenwojtysiak6392]

I believe that is the Beastie Boys, intergalactic.

[@13vatra]

I like my sugar with coffee and cream!

[@F1r1at]

Took me 2 hours, but I'm glad I solved it! Nice puzzle

[@_-_-Sipita-_-_]

21:56 for me. the break in was a mental bifurcation, but the rest was easier and using metalogic helped.

[@igronus]

I laughed at 34:15 when Simon gave up with the literally one option left to sum up in the eighth box! Just like the other day when Mark noticed the missing skyscraper box and then ignored it for half of an hour :3

[@yagamilight08]

It was hysterical when he immediately gave up on box 8 after pencil marking 4 outside the 17 n 16 total which proves a counting 3 n 6 needed in there which would help him for 6 cages😆🤣

[@darrenbent7601]

Is it still possible to get the 1st book "Cracking The Cryptic's Greatest Hits - Volume 1"? I didn't know of the link, but is it too late to get it now?

[@Orenotter]

The instructions are confusing. I read "That are not part of the galaxy" as modifying "cages", not "digits", so I was doing the puzzle wrong for several minutes.

[@bobblebardsley]

The title of this puzzle makes me wonder if anyone has created a galaxy puzzle where the 'edge' constraint (i.e. galaxies cannot extend beyond the edge of the puzzle) does not apply.

[@LednacekZ]

i misunderstood the rules. there is nothing written about the squares outside of cages. i thought they were apart of the galaxy too.

[@LavenderGooms]

Ah the Beastie Boys. Haven't thought about them in ages.

[@zegres]

Your welcome! Now go and listen to What You Want by Ren.

[@jaega4247]

Loved the puzzle, and a great solve by Simon as always! Nearly got tricked at one point and had to go back a few steps. Remember that a 7 CAN go in a 3 or 4 cell 7 cage, even though you've already concluded that the sum is made up of 2 digits!

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 65:13. Some lovely logic trying to figure out what can and cannot be part of the galaxy. Interesting enough I chose the exact opposite colors of what Simon had for what was part of the galaxy (I had green, because it's a GO) and what wasn't part of the galaxy (I had red, because it's a NO). Fun puzzle!

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

32:37 for me. What a fantastic puzzle, loved it!!

[@bait6652]

Even tho 9x9 is small, someones gonna devise an extension of this galaxy variant by having A "star"/center galaxy to which other galaxies rotate around/within

[@mikelittle5839]

great entertainment from simon, as always, but when you put the 4s in box 2 you cant put 5&4 in box 8 so you need 6&3 to make up your 5 non galaxy so cages in box 2&8 are 1-5

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 110 minutes. I kept confusing myself by placing the digits I knew I had to count, inside the galaxy. It messed up three different times. I really enjoyed the break-in of utilizing the 7 and 17 clues in column 5. Very cool ruleset. Great Puzzle!

[@margaritashcheglova8670]

At first I thought the music was King Crimson's Book of Saturday... Then I realised the video was released on Tuesday...

[@jessevennard2640]

Just opened the video as my two ctc greatest hits books arrived. I may not attempt the video puzzle tonight!

[@maljamin]

Surely it's been noted by now but you can sort out boxes 2 and 8 easier (and earlier). Just ask what if the 7-cage in c5 was all non-galaxy. Then (assuming 5 and 6 are placed in box5) there is no way to also have a non-galaxy 17 cage, with 12456 used up. So those cages have 1 galaxy cell each. Which was forcing a lot of non-galacticity and that pretty much resolves those boxes. Alternately but similarly just use the secret and ask what the central digit must be if the 17- and 7-cages were galaxy-free.

[@johannygren116]

I don't know if it's more elegant. But the way I solved that the 17-cage in box 8 wasn't three digits (51:08) was imagining the 7-cage in box 2 was three digita. That would be 1-2-4 leaving a minimum och 3+7+8 for the 17-cage given the 5-6 in the middle.

[@CauchyIntegralFormula]

56m57s. I love the logic of this! I had to use assumption for the sake of contradiction in a few spots, which makes me miss the "trial mode" of PUZ-PRE: the ability to say "let me mark this spot in my logic and then proceed along an assumption that I believe to be false; then, when I run into a contradiction, I can revert back to that spot and deduce that the assumption is false". It let me conclude, for instance, that only one cell among the eight used in cages in box 8 was part of the galaxy. Currently, I simulate this by shading the cell with my assumption gray just before proceeding along the logic, then using the back button liberally to just before I placed the gray shading to revert

[@57thorns]

At 51:08 I think the secret would be useful. But it is all about what you happen to see. Down column five we have 7+17+5+6+r5c5 = 45 is there is not galaxy in the column. But that would make r5c5 10 so there is a galaxy in the cages in column 5. Meaning we can greanify all of the 16 cages.-

[@ajreukgjdi94]

14:10 why not? Nowhere in the rules does it say all cage totals must be fulfilled. What if no digits in the 3-cage added up to 3? How would that break the rules? I absolutely would not have made that assumption. Which probably means I wouldn't have been able to break into this one on my own. But I don't try puzzles that take Simon over 40 minutes, so I'll never know.

[@emmanuellaurens2132]

Can I nitpick the grammar of the rules ? "Digits in cages that are not part of the galaxy..." as I understand English grammar, that by default refers to the closest noun, which is cages. My reading of the rules was therefore that some cages are part of the galaxy and their clue should be discarded, and some cages are not part of the galaxy and their clue is real. That failed after a few minutes consideration, because nothing stops me from making the whole board the galaxy, discarding all the clues, and just filling any valid sudoku. Still, it would have been nicer if the rules had been clear to begin with :(

[@arataya8706]

Simon's joy over the 3 in the corner always makes me smile. It hasn't faded in years, in fact, it might have grown, and it's grown on me too; when I did sudokus on my own, I find myself looking for and singing about 3's in corners. :D

[@thefallenarm589]

"Digits in cages that are not part of the galaxy sum to the given total" I understood : "Digits, in cages that are not part of the galaxy, sum to the given total" which leads to something quite different 🤣 and could make a cool rule for another sudoku. I spent like half an hour with thinking with this logic, trying to find the cages that are in the galaxy or not. Whatever, back to business with the real rule.

[@moersertrupp]

Still watching the video, so dont know if he finds it later, but what i found beautiful is in column 5, if the 7 and 17 cage would both be green, that wouldnt work, as the 7 cage would be 124 and the lowest the 17 cage could contain is 378, which sums to 18

[@RoderickEtheria]

No, it's a musical finish. Beastie Boyz to be exact.

[@chipsounder4633]

471 likes but for some reason it says 0.. refresh the page and after 20 seconds, it says 0 again.. It is happening all over youtube. What is going on?

[@joemucchiello4542]

The ending wasn't Dr. Who. It was a parody of the lyrics to the Beastie Boys song "Intergalactic".

[@rgoyal107]

At 40:00, why couldn't the 8 cage in Box 4 have a 134 within it that was green? I don't think Simon ruled that out.

[@efa666]

I don't live in Cork anymore but I'd definitely get the bus down for the chance to get a photo with Simon lol

[@jerseytiger1980]

Simon is not a Beastie Boys fan I suppose 🤣. The words at the end are an extract and play on the Intergalactic lyrics.

[@femto113]

It feels like there is a potential short circuit in this puzzle: one can infer that any blank cells bordering a galaxy cell must be part of the galaxy because if they weren't they'd be ambiguous and the puzzle would be unsolvable. If we assume that solvability is not meant as a direct clue then this implies the shape of the blank areas is necessitated by the location of in-cage galaxy cells, from which we can infer many of their locations, particularly in boxes 1, 3, 7, and 9.

[@BryanLu0]

This would count as uniqueness, which Simon and Mark avoid

[@chrislewandoski3383]

Those are lyrics to Intergalactic by the Beastie Boys, late 90's rap from NYC.

[@travisgoettl7929]

I tried this one and was convinced it wasn't possible. took a nap and came back to it and had a moment of inspiration and managed to get it. This was crazy hard for me to wrap my brain around though!

[@-ARatnakumar]

My day is made ,❤❤Thanks for wishing my boss on behalf of me,Lots of love from India

[@zefcypher]

That intro really reminded me of the song Sight of Spira

[@WimmekeVL]

I think the solve 'text' refers to this song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4C1ioJmltl1bMk

[@craigfjay]

29:45 if the 7 and 17 cages in column 4 were all green, then you can use the secret. 7 + 17 + 5 + 6 in box 5 leaves the centre cell being a 10. That means the red cell must be in the 7 and 17 cages, so the 7 cage is a 3/4, the 17 is 8/9, and the 16 cages are both green

[@nicka3697]

I think Simon ought to have a House in 2 Corner catchphrase.

[@bigjoemaggie5267]

Naughty brain? ffs....... very worrying chit chat.

[@hsckye]

"Save the world." "LANTERNPANTHER"

[@koenth2359]

The uniqueness argument brings up a question I've had for a long time. If a puzzle's assignment is to find the correct digits, and the pattern (yin/yang, galaxy, pentominos, whatever) is considered not as the goal, but just as a way to accomplish that, would a puzzle be considered valid if it had ambiguous colouring, but a unique way of placing the digits?? (It would not feel as satisfying, I agree at least on that)

[@zegres]

I think the common understanding of uniqueness requires both to be unique. If I was to make a puzzle with a unique grid but ambiguous coloring, I would explicitly state that in the rules.

[@Tepalus]

I'm not native to english but shouldn't the rules say: "In cages, digits that are not part of the galaxy sum to the number..." instead of "Digits in cages that are not part of the galaxy sum to the number..."? The second sentence relates the whole cage to the galaxy instead of the individual digits, doesn't it? Very confusing... edit: Also there doesn't seem to be any negative constraint. So I could just fill the whole grid with galaxy, couldn't I?

[@zegres]

Digits in cages sum to given total. Digits on the galaxy counts as 0.

[@mattsal8315]

Oh the way Simon's eye light up at 3 in the corner potential

[@kevinmartin7760]

Around 33:00 all you have to do is consider the six white cells in column 5. Because 5 and 6 are not available, their minimum total is 25 (1+2+3+4+7+8) which exceeds the cage totals. Thus there must be red cells in these places, and so you can conclude that column 4 in box 2 and column 6 in box 8 are all green (since you only have one red cell to allocate to each of the two 2x3 rectangles). Simon went through the board looking at boxes that contained cages with impossible combined totals but did not really look for the same effect in rows and columns. In this particular case, there is no conclusion to be reached until the 5 and 6 have been placed in box 5.

[@WimmekeVL]

Now I'd like to have the Vegan chocolate cake recipe !

[@chucksimmons2724]

The first part of this puzzle seems to be finding an interpretation of the rules. I don't see any rule that prevents the entire 9x9 grid from being the galaxy.

[@chucksimmons2724]

Although the rules can be read as meaning that each cage is either part or not part of the galaxy, presumably we are supposed to decide that each cage must have sufficient non-galactic cells to allow its sum to be satisfied...

[@insectodium206]

End message is Beastie Boys' Intergalactic.

[@joemucchiello4542]

Early in the puzzle, the secret tells us that R7C4 cannot be 6 because then the whole box aside from R7C4 is non-galaxy. And that doesn't work in box 2 where only R3C6 would be galaxy. Was this not obvious? And then you know the two 6 cages contain a 6 and non-galaxy digit. In box 8, the only non-galaxy digits are 15, 24, or 123.

[@markp7262]

1:00:00 finish. I started off by considering if the galaxy could travel vertically from the center cell. If it did, it would place a 5 in r4c6 and a 6 in r6c4. This would break the puzzle, because the 6 cage in box 2 could not be two cells (sees both 4 and 5 in the column), and the 6 cage in box 8 could not be one cell (sees a 6 in the column). This places the 5 and 6 in column 5 of the center box, and the galaxy extends horizontally from the center. I then added the totals in column 5, and if nothing was galaxy, then the center cell would have to be a 10. Therefore, the 7 and 17 cages need to be two cells each. I flew through things from there, until I got to boxes 3 & 7, getting stalled for quite a while about the 7-8 pair in box 4. When I was down to just the corner cages, I was able to establish that the 3 cage in box 1 couldn't be a 1-2 pair. It would place an 8 as the only counting cell in the 8 cage, and an 8 in r6c1. It places the 2 in column 3 of box 4, and then a 2 in the 14 cage of box 7. If the 14 cage used the 2, it would be three cells, and the 8 would be a single cell cage (from the mirror restrictions) and broken (sees 8 in the column). If the 14 cage didn't use the 2, it would be two cells, a 5-9 pair. This would mean that the 8 cage couldn't be a single cell (sees 8 in the column), or two cells (sees 1-2 in the column and 5 in the box). Therefore, the 3 cage is a single cell 3. (This was the point at which I stalled out as I previously stated, with this being the last piece of logic until I broke through my block).

[@David_K_Booth]

At 23'55" I was kinda hoping for the chair to have a series of speech balloons along the lines of "Hi! I'm Simon's chair. Nice to meet you." "How are you doing?" "Oh wait, he's coming back, catch you later."...

[@srwapo]

85:44 with a lot of help. I had to look at how to use the 6 cages in Boxes 2 and 8 to start the puzzle, then kept hitting walls and seeing it was because of dumb mistakes. NUMEROUS times it was because I typed in a digit for the cage total in the galaxy (instead of the vacuum of space between galaxies in this analogy...).

[@mstmar]

i saw a beautiful deduction at around 28:00. can the 16 contain any galaxy? if it does, it can only have one cell of it, since you cant make 16 with less than 2 cells. with 1 galaxy cell, it has to contain a 7 and 9. it's counterpart would also be a 16 with a galaxy and so also contain 7 and 9. but then where do you put the 7 and 9 in col 5? both in the same cell. *checks the rules for Schrödinger cells* and so this is broken and so the 16 has to have no galaxy cells.

[@eddieharwood7788]

You lost so much time by not adding up the centre column. Once we had the 5 and the 6, then add them to the 17 and the 7, making 35. Therefore if they were both 3 non galactic cells the remaining centre digit would need to be a 10, thus proving that they had to have a galactc cell in each trio.. Brilliant fun though and not too hard - that shows how much you have taught me.

[@BryanLu0]

1:12:08 row 3 column 8 is a naked single It can't be 1235 by the column, 46 because the 7 cages need those, and 79 by the row

[@lunardancer6047]

With uniqueness, I always assume that only applies to the numbers in the grid itself and not the colouring. So in this puzzle, I made all the uncaged digits in the corner boxes red as I knew they either were definitely were red to connect the galaxy or they could be either as they don't affect cage totals and there's no requirement for green to orthogonally connect.

[@joemucchiello4542]

@1.03.54 a simple way to say R9C1 is green is to say, since only one of the 14 cage cells is red, you can't reach the corner cell unless it is not orthogonally connected to the rest of the galaxy.

[@zegres]

Almost forgot to say, since this is a Beastie Boys themed puzzle and Simon mentioned Ren, I recommend everybody check out “What You Want” by Ren that is his Beastie Boys tribute.

[@JamesRisse1]

I don't know if it's been pointed out already as I haven't taken the time to real all the comments, but you mentioned that there must be a more elegant way to prove where the galaxy goes in boxes 2 and 8. If you look at the sum of column 5 it's easy to see it needs more galaxy squares than just the central digit. Great job I needed your help 3 times to solve this puzzle which hasn't happened on a three star puzzle in a while. (I think it deserves an extra difficulty star.)

[@LednacekZ]

the column4 cages cant be full 3cell cages because they add up to 24 and with the 11 in box5, the middle r5c5 square would have to be 10.

[@anaayoung9142]

At 1:03:34 we can see Simon's galaxy and at 1:17:21 we saying "exterminate" in a very cute way 😆 Very good Galaxy puzzle, with a lot of thinking! 😊

[@pastorbrianediger]

Boxes 4, 5, & 6 combined remind me of the Ant Nebula. Box 8 reminds me of the Eagle Nebula mirrored (with box 2 being an upside down version).

[@highpath4776]

Simon's Box 6 secret explaination misses the fairly easy 3*7 = 21 therefore non cage digit would be 24 .

[@Urutsini]

I'm confused why Simon said he might not be able to leave the 3 until the end. If you know the value of a cell, can't one always leave it until the end?

[@sjm6280]

Very nice guitar intro

[@johnharriman85]

" why do I start there rather than starting with something simple?" Simon finally heard me shouting. 1:02:10 lol

[@ericpraline1302]

After a rocky few days with CTC puzzles, it was good to get back on track with this voyage into the unknown, thanks.

[@HunterJE]

53:38 "We don't know _where_ the domino is" don't we?

[@HunterJE]

On a similar note could skip all the maths at 1:03:36, r1c9 can never be red because it has to connect with the rest of the galaxy which would require a 1-cell 14 sum...

[@slovakio223]

Please I’d love to see simon solve Broken Secrets, it is such an interesting puzzle!!

[@emilytinney3941]

What a beautiful break in!!