The Cleverest Rat Run Sudoku Yet

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
Tonight we attempt the fifth puzzle, Disparity, in one of the most epic of sudoku series: Marty Sears' Rat Runs. The adventures of Finkz continue - this time with blackcurrants and a parity line - as she attempts to get to the cupcake :)
In our opinion this might just be the cleverest sudoku in this series yet - which is saying quite something!!
Play the puzzle at the link below:
sudokupad.app/wv01avmfs9
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Finkz the rat must reach the cupcake by finding a path through the maze. The path will be a snaking line that passes through the centres of cells, without visiting any cell more than once, crossing itself or passing through any thick maze walls. As well as moving orthogonally, Finkz may move diagonally if there's a 2x2 space in which to do so, but may never pass through a rounded corner / end of a wall. Finkz may only pass directly through a purple arrow if moving in the direction the arrow is pointing. An arrow always points to the smaller of the two values it sits between. Cells connected by a blackcurrant are in a 1:2 ratio (one is double the other.) Not all possible blackcurrants have been given. In this experiment, the correct path will be a valid alternating parity line - ie: any pair of adjacent cells along the path must contain one even digit and one odd digit.
Thanks to all of you who have helped us achieve the milestone of 600,000 subscribers on KZbin. Below you can find a link to a free puzzle pack we have curated to celebrate :)
www.patreon.com/posts/ctc-600k-pack-106717179
*** NEW SUDOKU HUNT BY PAWS RELEASED 1 JULY ***
We've just launched a brand new competition - a sudoku hunt by Paws featuring lots of smaller-sized sudokus. It's intended to be a bit easier than usual as July is a holiday month for many of us so do have a go, especially if you're new to variant sudoku!
We've also got a new series of linked sudokus from rockratzero just out!
www.patreon.com/crackingthecryptic
Other treats on Patreon include:
- The Lord Of The Rings Sudoku Hunt by Blobz (and Simon's solve videos)
- Simon's solve of Sky-Skyscraper by Phistomefel has just been uploaded for our patrons.
- Mark's latest solve of The Times Club Monthly cryptic crossword
- Mark's latest series of solves of Connections, the daily New York Times puzzle based on the Only Connect wall game.
*** BRAID STREAM ***
You can watch our recent stream at this link:
kzbin.infoWcqUhQkwUSY
▶ SUDOKU PAD - Use Our Software For Your Puzzles ◀
You can input classic sudoku puzzles into our software and help support Sven, the programmer responsible for the wonderful user interface we all use to play these puzzles everyday. The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us:
iOS:
apps.apple.com/us/app/svens-sudokupad/id1570622073
Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/1706870/Svens_SudokuPad/
Android:
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.svencodes.sudokupad
ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
▶ Contents Of This Video ◀
0:00 Theme music & puzzle intro
1:24 Join Us On Patreon
1:50 Happy Birthday
2:46 Rules
6:57 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking
▶ Contact Us ◀
Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic
email: [e-mail]
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Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
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(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
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[@martysears]

Hi Simon, wow this was such an impressive solve! I've seen quite a few people tackle this, but as ever you are the person whose solve most closely matched what I intended. You mentioned that the column 4 deduction might be the idea around which this puzzle was based. Actually it was the thing you found a bit later, the idea of having to do a massive detour to do a parity shift, that was my initial concept for the puzzle, and I was very happy / surprised with the way I managed to pull it off in the end. An incredibly fun one to set, and one which didn't actually cause me too many problems (some of the others have been much more troublesome!) You were spot-on about the moment when it was appropriate to ask 'what colour is the cupcake?' ... was very satisfying seeing you ask that question at exactly the right moment, and realise what it meant. Thanks so much for continuing to feature this series, it's been such a joy over the last few months beavering away on this project and then finally releasing them and reading people's kind comments :)

[@AditaBattleForge]

Marty, you really outdid yourself with this! I'm not sure what you'll do next week, but I have more faith than ever! That was fabulous!

[@EricMill]

​@@AditaBattleForgeyou can always go to Logic Masters Germany and play the next ones! Simon is a few weeks behind on what's been published.

[@jasonmetcalfe4695]

These are really awesome Marty - keep them coming as long as possible

[@BozoTheBear]

Absolutely outstanding puzzle! I spent about half an hour on it - the logic was so incredibly natural and beautiful. Many different kinds of tricks were required, but the difficulty was not so hard to make it a slog. It's one of those rare ones that I'll probably watch Simon solve it as well, just to enjoy it again. Thanks!!

[@adamjensen8513]

i would love to see a video on how you set these. they are great

[@MrMW2nd]

the rat race sudoku is one of the best series going on youtube. i certainly cant think of anything better

[@danielszanto2955]

I can't keep wondering how Finkz would navigate through the fog.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@danielszanto2955 ooooohhh - that’s a good idea!!!

[@gandalf_le_rouge]

Wouldn't even be surprised if Marty was already working on it in a version 6

[@TheDarkNerd]

​@@gandalf_le_rougein a version 9, you mean? 6, 7, and 8 don't involve fog (but do involve some revolutionary science).

[@martysears]

@@TheDarkNerd 😀

[@Anne_Mahoney]

I'm sure she'll get a chance. She is a very clever rat and she deserves intellectual stimulation like the rest of us!

[@hermi1-kenobi455]

I never understand these fully, but I do love watching the funny magic maths man tell us about his numbers. Keep on keeping on.

[@mstmar]

love these finks puzzles. a small error at the beginning. It was shown that you cant go straight to the cupcake and that you cant turn up into col 5, but turning up into col 7 was never mentioned. the argument with too many blues in the bottom row only works if the cupcake is also blue. trying to turn up in col 7 quickly fails. this is because you've used up 4 blues in the last row, making the cupcake orange. to do that, you need to move diagonally but to get to a 2x2, you'd cut off your path back to the cupcake

[@Ploon72]

Thanks. This had me wondering for a while what I missed.

[@davidenas]

You can make the argument as you said it, but you can also make it in the too many blues on the bottom row way by basically doing your argument in the reverse order. If you go up on col 7, you need to then go down on col 9, otherwise you cut off your path to the cupcake. But doing that makes the cupcake blue, which puts 5 blue cells in row 9.

[@estherwestbroek]

​​@@davidenasthat's what I found and then thought I had made a terrible mistake on the first bit😂. I apparently do not trust my skills. Luckily Simon acted like an odd cake was not a problem so then I remembered the diagonal bit.

[@KennethBouman]

Thank you - I was looking for this validation!

[@justincache]

I'm not a 40 minute solver like most of the commenters but 140 minutes of tinkering away at it was still very satisfying and worth every minute. Can't wait for the next one.

[@veronicaacevedo4314]

@@justincache I am also a long solver :) it took me 155 min. I was very persistent with this one and I didn't get back to the video to get help from Simon, so I'm very proud I managed to solve it

[@emilywilliams3237]

Your rigor in working out possibilities is one of the things I like about your videos, Simon. That and your good humor and charm and enthusiasm! Thanks for another excellent video in a long, long, long series of excellent videos!

[@davidrattner9]

Superbly written from you!! 😃

[@yvibrrr]

I came across this puzzle today on LMD and did not know how to start it. What a surprise to see it the same day on this channel. The idea of using a sudoku grid for an experiment with a rat is absolutely wonderful. These puzzles always bring a big smile to my face 😊. I am a big Finkz fan ❤.

[@coolguyflex]

Immediately when I saw the rules and the board I realized that the purpose of the diagonal move was to do a parity shift. It then took me an hour to realize why that was necessary, but boy was that satisfying

[@davidrattner9]

Marty..Marty...just again exceptional sublimeness, genius from you!! How do you constantly come up with these!! Always a joy to see you set!! Fabulous seeing you solve it Simon and cherishing the magnificent mind of Marty during your solve!!

[@emilywilliams3237]

Hear hear!

[@martysears]

Always cherish your comments David :)

[@spudd86]

Every clue in the grid is doing at least 2 thimgs! Most of them at least 3, the dots at the bottom are doing like 5 or 6! It's utter madness!

[@martysears]

Aw thanks for this comment. I always enjoy puzzles where clues are used economically and serve multiple purposes, and I did think theres a few nice examples of that in this, so thankyou

[@tomgalli1188]

OMG! I did it!!! 114:15, but I did it!! This one was frustrating... I kept making silly mistakes in parity and the path, so that it took several aborted attempts to realize that I NEEDED that diagonal move. I mean, I suspected it just because the rules permitted it, but it took a while to understand the need. Then, I mapped out the correct path, made a mistake in coloring, wiped it out, spent a while trying alternate paths, and finally went back to the correct one with correct coloring. What a journey!

[@sjm6280]

This puzzle is amazing, the work of a genius named Marty Sears

[@Tepalus]

Still waiting on Finkz's great escape into an 11x11 grid :D Let's go Finkz!🐁❤

[@jgvandenkooy3966]

Today's drinking game: we must take a drink each time Simon uses the term "rinky-dink" - at 30 minutes in we are on the floor. :)

[@AnyaJoPilling]

I don’t think I have enough alcohol for that. 😆

[@Imperial_Squid]

A _rinky-drink_ if you will

[@martysears]

@@Imperial_Squid ❤

[@jgvandenkooy3966]

@@Imperial_Squid OUTSTANDING

[@emdiar6588]

Mine's a rum and blackcurrant. Not sure if American viewers are familiar with blackcurrant. It's not a flavour I have ever seen there. Weren't they outright banned in America until recently?

[@wypmangames]

I would love for the lab to get a fog machine so finkz path/walls are hidden until you clear the fog with sudoku

[@mordirit8727]

Double points if the only non-guessing solve comes through following the path until the cupcake and only after reaching it you get the required hints to clear the fog from the rest of the board

[@GRIHudson]

The rat run series is by far my favorite puzzles in a LONG time. Bravo Simon!

[@David_K_Booth]

This series is so much fun. Hats off to Marty!

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 45:44 minutes. These rat runs are my favorite. This one, especially, was excellent. It was really fun figuring out the way that the diagonal rule was required taking advantage of parity. I almost got stuck, but luckily I remembered that the doors do more than prevent movement. As always, it feels good to beat Simon's time. Great Puzzle!

[@RoderickEtheria]

He's training Finkz to avoid black currents.

[@thescrewfly]

She should also avoid dark patterns.

[@GregJonson]

40 minutes and 32 seconds! This is the only scientific experiment I wanna be a part of!

[@jacko_g]

At 43:22, you wondered if r8c5 was odd, but the logic was too "look-ahead". This is a case where it's simpler to disprove the opposite: can that cell be even? If it was even, then the rest of column 5 is odd, so Finkz can't go down column 5. So Finkz would go down column 4 and run into the wrong bishop's colour at r8c5 (the cell we assumed was even). Lovely puzzle and solve.

[@davidenas]

When Rat Run 6 came out, the list on it's LMD page showed a Rat Run 7 coming the following week. But then when Rat Run 7 came out, it showed a Rat Run 8. And when Rat Run 8 came out, it showed a Rat Run 9. So we don't know for how long it will continue, but I've been loving every puzzle in the series.

[@Annawastaken]

I love the rat race puzzles, it's like my brain goes into a whole different problem solving mode

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 03:10 Let's Get Cracking: 07:02 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Three In the Corner: 2x (57:12, 58:26) Bobbins: 1x (36:12) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Beautiful: 8x (15:50, 18:42, 18:46, 19:59, 22:49, 22:57, 27:39, 56:06) Lovely: 6x (19:46, 21:34, 24:19, 24:22, 49:19, 52:19) In Fact: 6x (04:06, 21:34, 21:37, 31:00, 34:28, 51:38) Wow: 6x (36:17, 37:46, 38:35, 40:05, 46:53, 46:53) Obviously: 5x (06:00, 07:35, 08:54, 26:26, 33:10) Ah: 5x (13:01, 21:31, 28:37, 46:15, 52:41) Sorry: 4x (06:23, 29:52, 46:15, 56:37) Clever: 4x (21:50, 42:41, 42:41, 43:52) Brilliant: 4x (02:25, 29:22, 59:09, 59:13) Hang On: 4x (15:27, 29:48, 40:05, 53:53) Goodness: 3x (17:33, 25:40, 49:19) Nature: 3x (07:30, 19:33, 30:48) Extraordinary: 2x (02:39, 28:06) By Sudoku: 2x (36:46, 57:44) Magnificent: 2x (24:55, 58:41) Checkerboard: 2x (13:01, 49:33) Whoopsie: 2x (23:11, 53:26) Fabulous: 2x (00:35, 59:15) What on Earth: 1x (17:33) The Answer is: 1x (30:43) Out of Nowhere: 1x (53:23) Nonsense: 1x (38:38) Stuck: 1x (32:33) Off to the Races: 1x (15:37) Ridiculous: 1x (40:02) Hypothecate: 1x (37:20) Propitious: 1x (31:36) Full stop: 1x (09:38) Intriguing: 1x (04:57) What Does This Mean?: 1x (52:10) Weird: 1x (36:43) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Forty Eight (5 mentions) Two (76 mentions) Black (27 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Even (110) - Odd (61) Shaded (2) - Unshaded (0) Black (27) - White (0) Column (28) - Row (23) 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!

[@mvanvoorden]

I think Rinky-dink deserves to be added to the list of words to check :)

[@jv8462]

5 minutes in, it's already absurdly clever

[@KamilMalach]

This is becoming my favourite series on the channel

[@katiekawaii]

7:40 Wow, I spent thirty minutes trying to figure that out _and never could,_ and then you come in and find it immediately. 👏👏👏

[@lewkforce]

I never played a Marty Sears puzzle until today. And in one fell swoop, he has become my favorite constructor!

[@martysears]

💜

[@bradleycech]

Another Finkz puzzle! Yay!!

[@GunsPete]

I have been loving the Rat Run puzzles. Discovering where the path went in boxes 5/8 was a delight

[@chitraagarwal8259]

Amazed once more and looking forward to what more you will do with this rule set! Fog of War definitely seems like the next level for Finkz

[@MaryVidal-pt8bx]

Little Finkz makes me smile every time - as does Simon.

[@bobbie0976]

I started this one 3 times, getting absolutely stuck on parity. Till I remembered the diagonal that switches parity!! Love these puzzles!!

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 43:37. Found a pattern which implied something, but then found that the puzzle doesn't work assuming that pattern which then led me to remember the 2x2 square which lead to the solve (though I messed up forgetting one possible digit in a square which lead me to another impossibility but was easily reversible). Fun puzzle!

[@crazypantaloons]

The solve had me second guessing myself even after I had 3-4 numbers placed. Fun maze!

[@AFT3RDAY5]

This is fabulously delightful 😄👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻❤️ I kept wondering that it couldn’t work with the cupcake being even until I realized the brilliant parity change trick. Just magnificent 👍🏻

[@DarrenNakamura]

Finished in just over an hour, 60:47. This is one of my favorite puzzle series in recent memory. Love it.

[@katiekawaii]

There's something really special about this series, don't you think? So brilliant, so much fun. I can't wait for the next one!

[@jackfoster20]

Always a great day when there’s a new rat run video

[@mordirit8727]

47:30 but I played for some 10 minutes before having to leave for work and restarted when I came back home so I suppose I should say 57:30? I love this series so much, Marty outright confirming all of the most challenging reasonings were intended by his setting in the congratulation screen is just... *chef's kiss*

[@98.11Deet]

I know many see the exploration of "uniqueness" as a verboten method in solving, but knowing that there must be one true path for Finkz, there were some very cool deductions that could've been made using uniqueness in this solve.

[@renedekker9806]

At 38:00, a much easier deduction is to see that row 4 has only 1 odd and 1 even digit to be placed. If you place them the wrong way around, the path cannot continue. The same is true for rows 5 and 6. From there it’s easy to see how the path must continue.

[@AditaBattleForge]

exactly! whichever way Finkz is travelling through box 5, the odd/even works out the same! And then the last remaining cell in the 2x2 has to be even for the path to be able to go through it, which makes it clear how to continue. He finally sees it around @47:40 😅

[@NinjaWhaines]

He figures it out 10 minutes later

[@dinane]

I love this series so much. Go Finkz go!

[@praematura]

Needed one tiny hint from Simon's solve early on, then was able to finish in 34:18 (conflict checker off). Yet another wonderful puzzle from this series, many thanks to Marty for it!

[@christophstahl8169]

Me finkz that even with the restricted movement in a maze Simon was abit all over the place with this one :D Loved the puzzle to bits. Loved the entertaining solve.

[@AppelmoesArtandPhotography]

I love these rat run puzzles!

[@AnyaJoPilling]

Fabulous puzzle, and elegant solve. Nicely done, Simon 👏 👏 🫡

[@jdkemsley7628]

22:05 Wonderful quote: I'm going to claim this is the appropriate time to ask this question. And the question is -- What is the parity of the Cupcake? *Mic Drop*

[@martysears]

That was literally my favourite part of the video. Because as the setter, that was the exact moment where I wanted him to ask that exact question. So it was so satisfying that he got the timing of it spot-on and delivered it in that way

[@andrewcook4873]

Interesting how people see different things. I was completely stuck early on and had to have Simon point out that the cupcake couldn’t be even but I saw almost immediately that you could colour the whole of the middle box no matter which way finks went which opened up the whole rest of the puzzle. Great puzzle.

[@colinreed9587]

Sublime puzzle, one of the very best on the channel.

[@leefisher6366]

Did it!! Over an hour, but I did it. If I was Finkz, I would have gone straight for the cupcake, parity be damned.

[@stevieinselby]

I spent far too long at the start forgetting that the arrows were one-way doors and not _just_ inequality signs 🤦🏻‍♂ so wasted a lot of time trying and failing to disprove various paths by currant and polarity logic when there was a big ol' ⛔ sign that would have done the job a lot quicker! (When in doubt, read the rules again...) Eventually got 🐀 ➡ 🍰 in just under an hour, and had a lot of fun along the way.

[@debrabowen4276]

The bishop’s color change is so cool!

[@tBagley43]

1:00:42 awesome puzzle, incredibly cool how the parity line interacts with the rest of the clues

[@markthompson2874]

Coolest part was being able to determine the parity shift and then that you couldn't go through the one way in row 3 and down column 4 because of the requiring both r8C5 and r8C4 to be odd (and 1-2-1 doesn't work).

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

23:40 for me. Oh wow, this one was definitely tougher, but what a pleasure to solve. Love this series!

[@novemberdag1127]

Simon keeps saying: I love the comments, especially when they are kind. But who in their right minds would have something unkind to say to Simon? Another wonderful solve and lovely to see Finkz again :)

[@martysears]

ah mate, every day there are some people who like to point out things Simon or Mark could have done better

[@novemberdag1127]

@@martysears As long as given politely, feedback can be valuable. I know it happens, I just feel you can't help but adore these people here on CtC

[@Bearcrapsinwoods]

02:25:06. WOW what an absolutely amazing puzzle! the logic while finding her route was so satisfying

[@MattYDdraig]

26:25 The series keeps getting better and better. Go Finkz!❤

[@longwaytotipperary]

Always a pleasure!

[@davidrattner9]

Absolutely beyong a pleasure today 😁❤❤

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 yep!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@samquasi3986]

Babe wake up, new rat maze sudoku just dropped

[@PauxloE]

→ In the situation from ~ 34:30 to 44:30, one thing to note is that no matter which of the 3 routes Flinkz goes, the coloring in box 5 is the same. (Simon noticed the start of it at 47:35.) → At 50:05, the argument doesn't need the Flinkz anymore - you just found out that all evens in column 5 are allocated, so the rest of them are odd, which then finishes up box 5.

[@jamesdonnelly9217]

I needed to watch parts of the video to see where my assumptions had gone wrong, but it was so frustrating to watch Simon at 40:30 say "I don't see what's wrong with that " and stop coloring. If he had kept going, he would have seen there were too many blue squares in box 8 and could never get to box 5 and change parity.

[@fiartruck0125]

I'm so glad Simon found the unambiguous 2x2 checker in box 5 *before* he determined Finkz's path. It was a fun discovery for me, and it looks like Simon enjoyed it as much as I did.

[@martysears]

Me too! This was definitely my intended way of progressing here, and I enjoyed that idea of the colouring being the same whichever way you go. There's probably some less satisfying ways of progressing here using more lengthy bifurcation, so yeah I'm glad Simon didn't resort to that :)

[@SarahLivne]

Oooh that sounded like a promise for yet another one next week! Can't wait! I hope though that at some point in her training Finkz might be persuaded to work with "walls" that are a ligher colour than box borders as opposed to darker, which would make it easier to see the boxes. Otherwise - brilliant as usual.

[@r.b.4009]

Waited for that one! For once, I already solved this one 🥰

[@HalfBakedLunatic]

I'm only ten minutes into the video and I love it already 🤣

[@frmjewduhh]

59 min for me. I almost gave up on this puzzle. So glad I didn't. What a fun puzzle!

[@Coyotek4]

39:20 ... this very much reminded me of a Robert Abbott maze; I'm a big fan of his work, as I am of this series of sudokus Nice puzzle!

[@MaierFlorian]

Right at the start - what exactly is Finkz hindering of using the path in column 7? He can't go directly to the cupcake, he can't go through the 2 black dots, but if he goes in row 9 straight to column 7 and than upwards, you could easily do 124 on the dots and only have 3 odd and 4 even numbers in row 9 on the path. I'm sure you can rule it out if you investigate further but Simon just overlooked that possibility, did he? Or is it somehow obvious why that won't work?

[@justincache]

It's because the middle digit of the double blackcurrant has to be even. That means you have to start Finkz on an even digit and you end up with 5 evens in the bottom row no matter what path you take after C5. But since Simon didn't arrive at the bishop's move/cupcake parity logic until later in the puzzle, I think he just overlooked the possibility 😅

[@martysears]

@@justincache yes thats right, the cupcake would always be even in this scenario, so the result would be the same as going straight alomg the bottom

[@stevieinselby]

If Finkz scuttles along row 9 and then dances her way around box 9 then she doesn't ever move diagonally and so the bishop's colour is unchanged, and this still puts 5 even digits in row 9 - it's an easy extension to the logic Simon used to disprove a straight run for home along the bottom row, but yes, it does appear that he overlooked that possibility.

[@michaelhtritter]

So fun! Took me about 150 minutes, or 2 and a half hours, but I didn't care, enjoyed every second! (okay, the part when 70% through I broke the puzzle and had to back track might not have been my favorite moment, but still, so glad I stuck it through and got it under my belt). Excellent!

[@FrancisFjordCupola]

33:42 ... Not only is the logic right, it applies to row four as well. Both r4c4 and r4c5 would have to be even blues according to parity path rules and that would mean placing five evens in row four. Edit: 48:00 in and Simon discovers the fourth and last even in column five. How long will it take to figure out the rest must be odd and that fixes the diagonal switch in the 2x2? At 53:50. Love it when Simon can see all the genius and complex things and just misses out a simple scan. :P ... I am still not sure he doesn't do that at least half on purpose to make us feel smart, but ok.

[@r.b.4009]

I was so proud that I solved this puzzle without any hints, just to feel stupid after watching Simon's solve, as to how complicated my solve was 🤣 🙈

[@dikinebaks]

43:46 it took me about 30 minutes to draw the path which was very fun and entertaining but the filling the numbers was ehh not so-so. Glad to be reunited with Finkz once again ::D

[@Rubrickety]

These continue to be wonderfully fun to solve. I think these maze constraints may be my favorite innovation since FoW.

[@turun_ambartanen]

26:52 Flowed sooooo nicely!

[@ib9rt]

Well, that was interesting. I couldn't see how I would fill in all the numbers at the end after sorting the path out, but the whole thing unwound in a fascinating way.

[@l3zl13]

Nice solve from Simon as usual. The only time I was a bit annoyed how much time and detours it took to find out how the parity change works. I found the scenario where Finkz came down in column 4 shown @39:45 could be easily disproven with how many even digits that route would need in box 8.

[@matthiasney4871]

True. From where Simon aborted his disproval effort, it would have taken him 5 more seconds, and the coloring of three more boxes, to see the issue of box 6 having 6 orange cells. Instead, he found the path of Finkz about 16 minutes later, leading to the spectacular ratio of his solution being slower by the factor 192.

[@Escviitash]

34:00 I don't know why Simon prefers to avoid the low hanging fruit which would have finished the puzzle in about 5 minutes instaed of 25 minutes. At this point the rest box 5 could be coloured in, as no matter how the path connected to finkz gets down to row 6 the parity of all the cells in box 5 are forced. This in turn completes the colouring for column 5. Now 3 of the cells in the open 2x2 are orange so in order to be able to swap parity R8C6 must be blue. The only diagonal path available is now R7C5-R8C6, and the cupcake path must also connect to R8C6. Now the connection between the finkz-path and the diagonal path is forced. Since R8C5 is orange R9C4 is blue and you can now colour in most of the grid, which will force the rest of the path and colour in two of the remaining cells. The are now four uncoloured cells (R4+7C7+8) whose coluring can be resolved by resolving the digits for all the currently blue cells.

[@mermaid_hina2713]

This is the earliest I think I have ever been, and it is Fritz!!!

[@mermaid_hina2713]

I mean Finkz, autocorrect

[@Manigo1743]

@@mermaid_hina2713 Perhaps he will make some puzzles with Fritz too. :-)

[@MarcusTheDorkus]

I thought I was being super smart noticing I could mark all the grid with parity indicators based on bishops move and use that to more easily figure out the possible motion of the line. Silly me noted the one 2x2 space early on but didn't think about how that would allow the bishopality of the line to change. I still managed to complete the solve in an hour which I feel good about of a puzzle like this.

[@Oznej]

63:27 - what a splendid puzzle!

[@bait6652]

There's one.more??? Incredible which line rule is it now...kudos

[@gavinneedham2013]

The thing I saw a lot earlier was the number of even digits in box 8. When you took the longer path it kept needing 5 evens so you knew the path would have to take the route the just briefly dips in the box.

[@piarittersporn]

Brilliant puzzle. It took me 97 minutes which I enjoyed very much. It was a great adventure. Now I'm curious how Simon solved it.

[@antoniofinotti8877]

😂 its my birthday today. I havemt watched this channel in a while. Completely forgot you guys did birthdays here

[@michaelmarsh8237]

We need a Finkz the Rat playlist!

[@HunterJE]

A generalizable way to see the middle of a nonrepeating black dot sequence can't be odd without just enumerating all the options would be to note that if a digit is in a 1:2 relationship with two other digits it must be half one and twice the other, and an odd number is never going to be twice an integer.

[@MorganZex]

Rat run sudoku means instant like. Go go Finkz!

[@MichaelPaine]

Get your brain in the game, as the rain tumbles down in this very strange summer again....

[@roccov3614]

Yes I did it! Love these puzzles.

[@AMS17121982]

First time that I solved a puzzle faster than Simon! 😊

[@Ardalambdion]

This is better than the TV show Pinky & The Brain.

[@michaelmatter1222]

What are you doing in tonight's video Simon?

[@danielszanto2955]

@@michaelmatter1222 Trying to take over the world of sudoku?

[@Kairamek]

​@michaelmatter1222 The same thing we do every night Finxy. Try to Sudoku the world!

[@johnallegood4469]

I hope Marty decides to test Finkz against fog. I think she would fare well against the challenge.

[@martysears]

I think she would too 🌫️🐀

[@andywhite441]

I'm really enjoying watching these Sudoku puzzle solves. I was curious - is there a difference in meaning between when Simon makes pencil marks as a string of digits in the "middle" of the square vs. the other style where the pencil marks go in the corners?

[@martysears]

there is yes. Corner pencil marking denotes all the places within a box where a particular digit can go. So if you see two corner-marked 4s in a box, he's saying those are the only two places in the box 4 can go. Centre pencilmarks denote the different options for a particular cell. So if a cell is centre-marked 2457, he's saying that they are the only possibilities for that cell.

[@iabervon]

The one flaw with this puzzle was that I managed to solve it faster than Simon by overlooking a possibility on 3 occasions, of which only two were part of the actual answer and missing them led to contradictions, while the 3rd was not part of the actual answer and missing it saved me twenty minutes.

[@stevieinselby]

I'm not sure why that's a flaw _with this puzzle_ - there have been *loads* of puzzles with all different rulesets by a variety of constructors that I have fluked my way through by making an unwarranted assumption without realising it that just happened to be right, I don't think there's any way for constructors to prevent us from doing that 🤣

[@krisdelacourt3977]

ended up with a grid littered with unresolved 4's and 2's. finished it with a lucky stab in the dark, so hardly pleasing. will have another go. :)

[@chikinnuggy]

rat run has been amazing so far :))

[@basilefff]

Solved it in 01:46:22. At first colored the map in inconvenient way, then just colored odd and even squares, counting them became very easy.