Phistomefel's Wall

[@GuatemalanJedi]

New relationship goal: Find someone who talks about you the way Simon talks about Phistomefel puzzles.

[@Trizzak]

... like you're Satan but gorgeous?

[@GuatemalanJedi]

@@Trizzak Yes!

[@thkgaming5587]

@@GuatemalanJedi Good luck bro!

[@TheTruth-xp2of]

"If you want your Simon to find you, first try to be someone's Phistomefel." -Pinterest

[@krollic]

difficulty: impossible

[@seriously00wtf]

When Phistomefel isn't setting puzzles, he runs a Bobbin factory.

[@Situayo]

😂

[@cmulliner8985]

So funny, I would love to like this comment more than once!

[@TheMainCapitalOfTinySquares]

@@cmulliner8985 That would remove the original like tho! xD

[@samueldeandrade8535]

Hahahahahahaha!!! A Bobbin factory! Loved it!!!

[@Johnscatman5503]

Another day another puzzle Each better than the last I end up in a muddle But Simon solves them fast Then I see the setter Today may be the day That someone gets the better Of our friend Simon, Hooray! Here I am just 3 digits in When I look up to my screen There's Simon with a giant grin He's filled the grid like a machine Not even Phistomefel can defeat this man Oh the joys of being a CTC fan

[@TopOtheMorntoya]

This is so good!!

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

Beautiful. I hope this gets featured in the next video.

[@davidstorrs]

Bravo!

[@patrickdematosribeiro1845]

Great solve. Minor detail: At 49:00 Simon proved with some not so straightforward deductions that r6c2 was neither seven nor nine while there was an eight in r6c1 with an x between those cells.

[@Wildhorn666]

Yeah and he could have done it wayyyyy earlier.

[@SjorsHoukes]

I should stop watching these videos before I go to sleep. They make me stay up way too late and in my dreams I only see digits, accompanied by Simon’s voice. “Right. Good grief. This is absolutely marvellous”

[@JPgreekgaming]

I started a new game where you take a shot every time Simon places and immediately ignores useful pencil marks in the grid to go down some insane logic on the other side of the grid and had to quit after 2 episodes cause i got drunk half way through lol... I love you Simon, never change!

[@Doofmonster]

I can't believe I just did that! ON MY OWN! Thank you Mark & Simon for teaching me.

[@Dino_Burps]

Same here! It may have taken me 410 minutes, but damnit I did it.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 03:24 Let's Get Cracking: 06:33 Puzzle Solved: 1:20:48 Simon's time: 1h14m15s What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Bobbins: 1x (01:07) Goodliffing: 1x (13:36) Three In the Corner: 1x (14:00) You Rotten Thing: 1x (11:14) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Beautiful: 9x (18:12, 42:52, 45:12, 49:36, 49:39, 53:12, 59:44, 59:53, 1:15:39) Good Grief: 8x (04:18, 05:48, 45:33, 49:39, 1:06:40, 1:06:58, 1:15:21, 1:17:44) Phistomefel: 8x (00:22, 03:22, 05:58, 06:05, 20:15, 34:01, 1:15:30, 1:19:51) Hang On: 8x (02:00, 07:11, 25:27, 26:21, 37:44, 56:55, 1:12:17, 1:14:20) Sorry: 7x (18:46, 22:38, 28:07, 33:36, 39:12, 1:03:13, 1:03:13) In Fact: 7x (16:55, 17:04, 26:25, 49:10, 49:27, 56:12, 1:13:08) Obviously: 7x (02:32, 02:36, 18:54, 29:34, 1:11:35, 1:13:03, 1:18:07) Clever: 6x (21:48, 32:22, 37:06, 42:47, 1:17:44, 1:20:26) By Sudoku: 6x (35:02, 35:04, 46:24, 56:57, 58:52, 1:01:04) Wow: 6x (33:59, 43:06, 43:08, 1:12:55, 1:12:58, 1:15:07) Stuck: 5x (44:48, 47:06, 48:44, 1:02:27, 1:17:35) Lovely: 4x (16:10, 28:05, 36:26, 1:11:43) Out of Nowhere: 3x (45:31, 1:07:01, 1:11:51) Naked Single: 2x (1:06:49, 1:07:49) The Answer is: 2x (55:00, 59:20) Nonsense: 2x (06:58, 37:54) Break the Puzzle: 2x (16:50, 57:29) Fascinating: 2x (02:50, 03:12) Ridiculous: 2x (34:51, 59:32) Surely: 2x (08:25, 11:09) Stunning: 2x (1:19:54, 1:19:56) Whoopsie: 2x (57:00, 1:00:16) What on Earth: 1x (31:26) Useless: 1x (59:04) Naughty: 1x (14:17) Gorgeous: 1x (33:48) Come on Simon: 1x (59:41) Magnificent: 1x (04:49) Progress: 1x (59:10) Plonk: 1x (1:00:10) Wake Up: 1x (14:20) Let's Take Stock: 1x (44:06) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Ten (2 mentions) Two (118 mentions) Purple (2 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (2) - High (1) Even (8) - Odd (3) Higher (2) - Lower (2) 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!

[@l0rddr4co35]

my god, this is a level of dedication id need a tenth of do become a doctor or something. - A student who is whatching CTC instead of doing his history homework because he propably learn more while watching CTC xD

[@emisor9272]

@@l0rddr4co35 It's a bot that goes through a transcript of the video, caregorizes its words as shown and comments its findings

[@poppybelle23]

What happened to the faq? It used to be longer?

[@l0rddr4co35]

@emisor well then I hope it had comedic value for you anyway xDD

[@parallelcircuit]

Have you considered adding "Here's a sensible thought" to the Simarkisms? I've deffo heard Simon say it on multiple occasions.

[@ToushikaCuber]

Missed the wall between the 8 and the 9 in box 7, but who would blame you after 1 hour and 20 minutes of sublime solving ;)

[@raylawler13]

Also between the 5 and 6 in box 6. How could you ruin my day like this, Simon. /s ;) That was a fun video. Glad you give us these long puzzles. I love them!

[@lexihopes]

I gasped at the 8 and 9, but the 5 and 6 amuses me, since it was right when he was saying he was probably missing some.

[@seancrowley7520]

@@lexihopes the cursor was literally right on top of the 5/6. funny how the mind works

[@lordclockworks1570]

He also haven't placed any of the OTHER circles.

[@therocknrollmillennial535]

Idea for an April Fool's Day video: Solve a Phistomefel puzzle, but take out all the pauses for thought. Would be hilarious to see a brutal puzzle "finished" in 25 minutes.

[@davidmonnerat8598]

They actually did that :) Simon solved an absolute monster a few days before April 1st in a like 90 Minute video, and on April 1st we were told CtC decided to have the same puzzle solved by both Mark and Simon. Then Mark solved that puzzle in under 10 minutes, rattling off some weird and very hard to understand Set theory stuff and other complicated techniques. Much fun to watch, look for last years' 04/01 puzzle

[@therocknrollmillennial535]

@@davidmonnerat8598 Oh, I remember that! I didn't end up watching Mark's "solve" because I recognized the puzzle and that Simon had done that one a few days previous. I never even noted the length of Mark's video (or the day on which it was released) so I never got to witness the joke. And here I was, thinking I'd thought of something new! Thanks for setting me straight :)

[@chris5619]

You know a puzzle is going to be good when 15 minutes in, Simon says "you could see a world where this become a triple."

[@LorisLaboratory]

The beauty of your videos is that even though I can't yet hope to make progress on puzzles like this myself, I can still understand and follow and appreciate every step you describe in your deductions and logic 💕😄

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

Yeah, I can even see a few steps ahead of Simon, sometimes. But I could never solve these on my own.

[@seraphsong6162]

Managed to solve this on my own in just under 3 hours and I was elated. I would never have been able to solve a puzzle like that before finding this channel. Many thanks to Simon and Mark for rekindling my interest in puzzles and helping me to engage my brain.

[@th.nd.r]

Incredible setting from Phistomefel and incredible solving from Simon, as always. Beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to do this one!

[@benjaminrealy5661]

117:17. Didnt think I'd spend 2 hours on a puzzle, but this one was fantastic, brilliant, and marvelous! Cant even describe the thrill when finding out that since that cell cant be a certain digit and the other cant be a certain 3 digits, its impossible to have a wall there. It was small victory after small victory. Even though nothing gets filled in, you're a step closer. Then finding out that cant be a wall means that circle cant be a certain digit. Which means another cell must have a wall which means those two cells must be consecutive, means another cell cant be a wall. All those steps to eliminate one wall still is satisfying. Although no numbers get put in and looking down from a blank slate you've made no progress. But you know you've made progress. Utterly satisfying! 11/10.

[@chiarabernardi2705]

i'm sorry "that was a bad thought... naughty brain" is now my favorite quote of all time :')))

[@DonYagamoth]

I love watching Simon, almost every time I see something before he does, he somehow discovers it in a roundabout way (while also figuring out 20 other things - while ALSO explaining everything he does in a coherent way and expressing his thoughts. Commentary is difficult) r6c2 can't be a 7 or 9 because there is an X with the 8 just to the left of it ^^

[@Arkhanno]

Whoa. Didn't expect to see you here, Yagamoth! High five!

[@superrabbit224]

I absolutely loved this puzzle! I spent almost an hour on it and yet I never felt stuck and it was fun the whole way through. As far as puzzles go, this one is probably as close to perfect as it gets.

[@watsonwrote]

"Forgive me if it's a long video" I honestly love your longer videos! The ones that are an hour or more are my favorite. You take so, so much less time figuring things out than I would that it let's me experience the fun of the puzzle without the frustration or long periods of no progress. An hour or more is the perfect amount of time to relax and appreciate a smart, beautiful puzzle

[@federicocucc7852]

FINALLY!!! I was waiting for this, thank you Simon. I was so curios too see your solve. I actually already solved it, but with these kinds of puzzles, there is always something to learn!

[@l0rddr4co35]

Absolutly true Frederico, as well as there beeing so many different little steps that can be made that the viewer is able to find some before Simon, wich gives atleast me a confidential boost that I am not utterly brainless. :D

[@azpcox]

I always wonder if Phistomefel reads some of these comments. It’s like he gets an epiphany for a possibility of a clever puzzle, then plays around with that idea to make sure it’s Simon Worthy (tm). Thank you both of you for making me smarter!!!

[@iamalexhu]

Yes, Simon. We do like long puzzles, very much.

[@bristolrovers27]

Over an hour ? Excellent Absolutely brilliant puzzle, what a surprise !!! Simon started well but had to dig in about halfway and even resorted to sudoku at some point !

[@DylanNelsonSA]

@1:20:39 Simon ruined my day by not separating the 56 in box 6, and the 98 in box 7 :(

[@troymcg]

What I like best about Phistomefel's puzzles, aside from their simplicity and elegance, is that, for some reason, I can solve them. There is a consistent logical challenge that, once cracked at the beginning, will eventually unfold its way to the puzzle's conclusion.

[@widgetb]

Amazing puzzle. After watching these for a couple of months I'm beginning to appreciate the setters' cleverness as well as the solvers. And that is fascinating about the anti-knight puzzles. I love the way this channel shares so much with the community, including those of us who are still very new to it.

[@mostman]

The way he worked out the column 2 4 at 49:00 was so perfectly Simon. Easier - r6c1 is an 8. Love it.

[@slurpleslixie]

Yeah that naked 4 had been sat there for a while being sadly ignored :(

[@Swisswavey]

That was a lovely puzzle and I didn't find it anywhere near as hard as I thought I would. 45 minutes in the end and I loved every second. A completely new rule set for me but I hope to see more. Brilliant.

[@srbigodeshd327]

He missed 2 walls and my ocd got triggered in so many levels! On a more serious note: finding this channel was one of the best things of my 2021.

[@corsiKa]

I only see the 89 in box 7, where is the other?

[@amysteele2488]

@@corsiKa 56 in column 8 was the one I noticed. Missed the 89 you saw

[@garygenerous8982]

my wife and I decided to do this puzzle together and were able to solve it in just over 2 hours. We agree that this is an absolute masterpiece. Tough as heck but still the logic leads you through the whole thing once you find it.

[@keglitjoreb]

Hardly am I ever yelling at my screen like Simon seems to think we all are during every video. Proud to say I finally could today, if only for a few minutes.

[@cluso9985]

Brilliant and brutal. Didn’t even try it but absolutely enjoyed watching Simon solve it. Congratulations to Phistomefel - you didn’t disappoint us :)

[@JohnHazl]

Such a difficult puzzle. I ended up solving it in over 2 hours, but that was with one bit of help from Simon - very early on I'd confused a line with an x, and instead of placing a 35 next to the 4 on row 1 I tried to exclude 3 and 5. Ended up puzzling myself completely into a corner and wasted about half an hour staring at an unsolvable mess. Once you really get going though it's incredibly beautiful.

[@Coyotek4]

56:24 ... and added a few seconds for missing walls after the fact. Anymore, this is one of my proudest solves. Astounding puzzle!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Looking forward to watching this!!! Going for a walk first - the sun is still out and crummy weather is on the way this weekend. 🌞

[@CodeAndGin]

You've ruined my day by not separating all the consecutive numbers! Kidding, this was a joy to watch and shout deductions at the screen as I saw them

[@itioticginger9520]

It's interesting to see that you can solve an anti-knight sudoku with only 8, because it is easily proved to be a lower bound, as with only 7 given digits, there can never be a unique solution due to there being at least 2 digits not provided, and on any solve their values can be swapped to find a different solution.

[@Er0rSyntaxEr0r]

Thank you Simon and Mark for what you do. It's relaxing going through the puzzles and listening to you guys when i get stuck. Usually in the evening when my house is asleep. Helps a lot in maintaining calm throughout my next day.

[@andrewnelson2525]

I felt glacially slow and so was happy my final time was under two hours (100 minutes). But watching Simon it felt like he was trolling me! He'd say, I'll mark some x's and see if that sparks anything" then he'd mark five cells and stop! He kept skipping over the same circle, can I do anything with this and I'd shout "Yes! Can it be a 5?", then he'd go no and move on. Even after he resolved that I kept shouting "Use your pen tool!" but he refused to listen. Leaving two walls and numerous x's unmarked at the end was the final indignity. I forgive him because at heart Simon may be the least troll-like person on the internet. (And any day with a Phistomefel is a devilishly good day.)

[@mojoface]

love the long videos simon, dont apologize for them because they are a gift

[@NFSHeld]

"Let's get cracking or at least let's read the rules." - I know you corrected yourself because you say "Let's get cracking" after reading (and explaining) the rules, just before you start solving. But I chuckled a bit, because it came across like "Let's get cracking. *Looks at puzzle.* Actually, I probably won't be able to crack it. Let's at least read the rules then and call it a day." (which is, by the way, as far as I have gotten with this thing).

[@q2yogurt]

I love how Simon's brain is too big, allowing him to see things I would never see but that makes him miss easy deductions :D

[@G.Aaron.Fisher]

78:07. Just wow. Phistomefel has a way of designing puzzles that are ruthlessly hard almost every step along the way.

[@dereklenz5963]

90:33 .... I can't believe I just did that. Not even upset with that time considering I thought about stopping after getting a digit and calling it a win. I think I'll have a whiskey now.

[@sillvvasensei]

Always excited to see a Phistomefel puzzle.

[@Apreche]

Me: Let's go try Simon's CtC puzzle today. The video: 1:21:41 plus Phistomefel Me: NOPE.

[@hangugeohaksaeng]

Congratulations Simon! Great fun to cheer you on!

[@arpitanand4693]

How can someone come up with not only such a unique rule set but also such a phenomenal puzzle is beyond me! Phistomefel really is something else

[@zetamathdoespuzzles]

This is a just amazing puzzle, I absolutely loved it! I am hoping some day to obtain Phistomefel's permission to do his puzzles on my stream, although even if I do, I suspect making it to the puzzles before Simon does would be quite a challenge!

[@phistomefel9687]

Hey there! Thank you so much for the compliment, zetamath! You are of course free to solve my puzzles on your stream. I just didn't know you wanted to do so.

[@cloudbringer104]

@@phistomefel9687 I would just like to thank ( Simon) and you for making my life that bit more enjoyable. I have fibromyalgia and some days I'm stuck in bed. This chanel and especially puzzles by you make me happy. I have a lot of brain fog, I don't actually do any of the puzzles, just follow Simon's logic. Anyway thanks again for giving an old Scottish lady much pleasure. X

[@sproulja]

It is not often that I do a Sudoku faster than Simon, but I managed this one in 50min! Took me a bit to grasp the ruleset, but once I did it flowed very naturally.

[@cgibbard]

I hope it's not too annoying to point out, but one little thing you might've been able to notice sooner was at 44:24 when you put {4,7,9} in row 6 column 2, due to the 8 cell with the X, it's possible to immediately rule out 7 and 9 and get that 4. It's exactly the sort of little thready detail that's hard to find and pick back up again as soon as your attention has left the cell though.

[@letsmakeit110]

I wrote a sudoku solver that finished the knight puzzle with 8 givens in 3 seconds! First time I ever felt smart watching this channel.

[@DiMono]

The deduction at 32:30 kept messing me up when I solved this on penpa when it came out, because I was using shading to indicate sightlines and kept confusing myself to thinking R3C2 had to be large but couldn't. I think if it hadn't been for that then my solve time would have been comparable to yours, which is quite the feat for a Phistomefel puzzle.

[@ekmett]

For those of you waiting for him to put in the x's and lines he leaves floating for the first hour, he does eventually START to get there at 58:21. It took me that long to exhale, even if only partially and a lot more at 1:08:21, which let me breath the rest of the way out.

[@alienrenders]

Just under an hour for me. What a wonderful puzzle. That was amazing! The logic and restrictions were really nice!

[@fleurvandersande6909]

I totally love these long video's! Please continue, it's amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed this, thank you!

[@ОбразцовТимофей]

Phistomefel was merciful this time. 80 minutes. It's always a great satisfaction to solve his puzzle.

[@Akatsuki69387]

Watching Simon get deductions I never would have and then miss that 8 is attached to his 479 cell while attempting to solve the 479 cell is a classic CtC moment. Never change, Simon.

[@dashvash5440]

Soooo gutsy for Simon to say he's going to wall everything left. I knew he wouldn't but that's okay ;)

[@edvardpiano]

Just watched this entire thing! Something really satisfying about these problem solving videos

[@The_Omegaman]

You know its a hard puzzle when Simon starts doing normal sudoku

[@christopherstark887]

34:07 simon didn't even notice maverick

[@da1ace]

Took me 41 minutes, but I finally got the title joke. Also I saw the devil in the thumbnail and immediately knew it was a phistomefel puzzle!

[@michaelhoffman2011]

Thanks for the pen tool, really helped me to solve it... quiet a hard puzzle took me about 2 hours. but now that is done I can say it is such a clever puzzle. great work.

[@danielplitt6864]

So I had a thought. Sometimes when watching your videos of puzzles (especially hard ones) I have no idea where to start. Or occasionally I'm in a place where I cant sit down and do the puzzle i.e.. watching on my phone. I think it would be cool, if possible, to be able to start the puzzle for a curtain point along your solving. When you open the link you can go to a time stamped point and all of the digits and annotations at that point are filled in. I might be the only one and if so this would not make any since. Happy to hear others thoughts.

[@DavidNayer]

Magnificent Simon. I delight to watch you work it out start to finish. You missed one line in column 8. It didn;t bother me a bit. I have a bug grin. :)

[@Ferrastar]

I think the x’s on the boundaries began to merge together for Simon. Once the 4789 digits remaining in column 2 were determined the 4 in r6c2 could have been found immediately as there was an x on its left boundary with the 8…. Can’t blame Simon for missing it though.

[@MattYDdraig]

46:20 Insane genius. This was like unpeeling layers from a magical sudoku onion.

[@thomasbui6175]

I feel like 8 is the limit for any sudoku that does not require mathematics. Since there are 9 digits, then if you only have 7 or less, than there are at least 2 different digits that haven't showed up. Which means if no 8's and 9's appear, you can always swap all of them.

[@markp7262]

1:09:53 finish. So after the puzzle, I had to find out about unmarked circles. I found five in total (r2c7, r6c2, r7c3, r7c9, r8c4). Did I miss any?

[@TheClawNinja]

Awesome puzzle, and an awesome solve. I'd probably just stare at it for half an hour and then just watch this video :)

[@MariaVlasiou]

New theorems!!!!!!! 2:08 I love a good theorem!

[@bruzie900]

Wow, a toughy. Just shy of 2 hours for me, but did solve it on my own from about the 25 minute mark in the video. :)

[@sushirunner]

57:00 - try to find out where the 5 can go in box 5

[@leojs5673]

Ouch! The devil’s walls are particularly harsh! Gonna keep a safe working distance from this one, but watching Simon trying to bring it down should be a lot of fun...

[@donaldsnyder1543]

All in all ......

[@azland00123]

Some times it takes all day and three or four sessions but I usually make it to the end especially on these ones that are so precise all the way to the last digit. Sometimes you can see that a puzzle is about to fold over at about half way through the puzzle. I don’t think that has ever been the case with a Phistomefel.

[@alexanderring780]

The long ones are usually the best and this definitely didn't disappoint. Well done 👍

[@ruairigarrett6834]

"if we structure our thoughts in the right order, we can have success!" Loved the video!

[@MariaVlasiou]

I gave up TV a couple of years ago. I have a standing appointment with this channel.

[@chris5619]

I SOLVED** THIS!!! **I must admit, I did not even attempt the break in on this one, and don't even think I would have realized to use the "x" between cells that couldn't have a line, which was definitely useful (necessary?). I didn't even think I would attempt this puzzle after seeing the video length, that it was made by Phistomefel, and after Simon even knew it would be difficult. But I opened the puzzle on my 2nd screen anyway. I followed along with Simon for the first 20 minutes of his solve, following along with his, and the puzzle's, logic pretty easily, sometimes seeing things based on his logic before him, such as the "thermo" in box 1 having to increase in the order it did, and immediately seeing that r1c9 couldn't be a 3 after Simon showed it couldn't be a 4 (using similar logic Simon used on to exclude the 4, which was slightly different than he used to exclude the 3). My overall time was similar to Simon's, but watching his whole solve, most of his logic was a lot "quicker" or better than mine, as usual. (For example, his logic on the 34 pair in box 5 - I got to it, but by pencil marking all the possibilities going down, slowly eliminating options that didn't work because of what would need to go on the south side of the line.) But I put the actual first digits in before Simon got to them, and was then able to actually solve the rest on my own. Simon, after you said that you wouldn't have been able to do yesterday's puzzle 2 years ago, I really thought about how much I've learned from you and Mark. And I really appreciate it! I love watching both your videos almost every day and I'm able to do them more and more frequently. I'm not sure if I would have quite gotten the break in on this one today had I tried, but I wouldn't have been able to solve it at all 2-3 months ago (even though I've been watching for almost 2 years now). Cheers to you both! And Phistomefel!

[@chris5619]

To expand on how I solved r1c9 (similar to the way Simon excluded the 4 from the cell) - right after Simon eliminated the 4 - if r1c9 was a 3, c1r8 would have to be a 5, so r1c2 would need to be 4 making r1c1 a 5, conflicting with the 5 in c8.

[@chamberkingston7609]

You pick up patterns and rules faster than I wished I could.

[@achad1607]

Took me about ten hours--had an epiphamy in my sleep. A series of very subtle inferences. Brilliant puzzle.

[@menturinai1387]

I know this is quite an old video now, but I just watched this and wow what a great rule set and puzzle!

[@PathOfShrines]

Amazing new rule! Took me awhile to figure out the negative rule on the walls, which makes it quite a bit more impossible. :) Also made quite a few mistakes in my solve. 2:16:25

[@jakeharrison7840]

At 46:40 you are missing that 4 and 5 or the only consecutive numbers avalible in box 4

[@johnh2052]

I wanted Simon to look at column 2 for a long time because the 4 in box 4 was then known. (You can't put a 789 beside an 8 when you know the digits can't be consecutive.) Of course, Simon eventually figured out the 4 by using entirely different logic about 15 minutes later. Never noticed that it had been a 4 from the beginning. This would have saved a bunch of time as it would have made box 7 almost completely known much earlier.

[@Torisson]

I looked at this and was just intimidated. So I watched 14 and a half minutes - Simon had a 3456 and a few x's out. "Naughty brain, wake up" was the last thing I heard... and I realized I was running ahead of him and could probably do this after all. I had to learn how the pen tool marks worked before I could attempt this, but after that I was able to get rolling and finished the rest. It's such a morale booster to see someone tackling these and enjoying them, gives me the courage to try it myself. Great puzzle - if I ever got stuck it was because I was missing something and just needed to look around.

[@DronesClubMember13]

Alt title: Simon and Phisto make a Bard's Tale level. Really any old school dungeon crawler I guess.

[@garrettsmith9788]

So funny that Simon hit the “wall” at an hour in! You are a marvel of persistence.

[@QwDragon]

1:16:25 What a nice deadly pattern 12-24-45-51 in rows 78 resolved by 9 in the circle!

[@sroblem]

And for the first time I feel like I understood the rules of these hard sudokus immediately! That truly is a first. However, it created a new problem... SImon feels like an over active kid, who can't "appreciate" the cells long enough.. He jumps from cell to another just when he could have seen the answer. :D But this eally was fun and beauiful sudoku. Phistomefel is a master after all.

[@igotskittles452]

I think it would be very interesting to see Simon and Mark set a puzzle and have someone else do it on this channel.

[@philipmiller0802]

I gave this an honest try but Phistomophel just lives on another plane of existence, glad I got to see it nonetheless!

[@empty_rivers]

watching simon miss the 4 in r6c2 was the first time i screamed in a long while

[@zachpekarsky6905]

Eight strikes me as an obvious lower bound. Any fewer, and there would be no way to disambiguation the unclued digits. Looking forward to the adventure that will be my next hour!

[@旅行者-z7y]

Yes, this is the reason we can be sure these are minimal.

[@TheMeanderingduck6]

At 14:30, when Simon said he couldn't put 2 in the corner and then backtracked I was like "Noooo but you can't!" because that'd make R2C1 4 based on what it could see, and then R2C2 would also be 4 on the virtue of R1C2 needing to be 3 since it can't be 1.

[@BillLamoreaux]

Good job deducing row "thingy thing". :)

[@gregind01]

Simon hits the wall in more ways than 1! Oh no my day is now ruined, by Simon missing inserting 2 walls in spite of methodically searching the entire grid for consecutive pairs! 😂

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

1:03:33 for me. solving slowly but no mistakes until the end that forced me to make 2 guesses, i liked the sudoku except for the guessing game at the end

[@Mitrasmit]

That 4 in box 4 was screaming at Simon for so long