"One Of My All-Time Favourite Puzzles"

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
The incredible run of astonishing sudokus continues with another puzzle from the new constructor lerroyy, who is wowing the sudoku world at the moment. You can see from the start of the video what some of the great sudoku solvers/setters are saying about this sudoku (which is called "Windmill").
Do give it a try at the link below:
app.crackingth...
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits along a thermometer must increase from the bulb end. In cages, digits must sum to the small clue in the top left corner of the cage. Digits cannot repeat within a cage. Digits cannot repeat on the main diagonal (marked in blue). Digits along an arrow must sum to the digit in that arrow's circle.
If you manage to solve this one and want more sudoku then give this puzzle from Sam Cavnar-Johnson a try:
app.crackingth...
It's a classic sudoku with a very cool trick. On Patreon we've released a solve video showing Mark's solve (not knowing the trick) and then Simon's explanation of how to go about it differently :)
For those of you interested in the puzzle Adventure by Jon Schneider (mentioned in the video) there is a video here:
• The Hardest Puzzle Eve...
** PATREON REWARDS JUST OUT **
Join us on Patreon to participate in the two new competitions! We have two amazing sudoku packs from Panthera, TheAsylum and grkles themed around Japanese Sum Sudoku (which make pictures in the grid if you solve them correctly!).
We've also got Mark's Platinum Jubilee Sudoku and a video on how it was made.
Just $2/month here:
/ crackingthecryptic
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[@armada648]

Hey, Lerroyy here. Thank you so much for the feature! Glad to see you enjoyed the puzzle! And that you have almost exactly the same solve path as me. I hope everyone who solved it enjoyed it and everyone who will solve it will enjoy it! ---- I really enjoy the "common digit" logic in sudoku's especially with the 9 and 21 cages because they have have 1 digit in common (or 3) and that common digit is not forced. In two 8 cages it would have to be 1 and two 22 cages would be 9. The cages in Kashmir were 4 cell cages who had a S form. One was r6c2 r7c1-2 and r8c1. And they were indeed placed around the positive diagonal.

[@davidstorrs]

Thank you for this, Lerroyy. It was a lot of fun to watch. From the comments log it sounds like you set it in the CTC app -- how do you do that? I've set a couple of things on f-puzzles but CTC is a much nicer interface. Is there a 'setting mode' link for CTC?

[@armada648]

@@davidstorrs I set on f-puzzles and then export it to the ctc app

[@davidstorrs]

@@armada648 Oh, cool. I didn't know that was a thing. Thank you.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Thanks for this puzzle, Lerroyy - I loved watching Simon solve it!

[@b3ntastic]

I just solved it, what an amazing puzzle it is. Big ups to you!

[@isavedtheuniverse]

Simon, I just wanted to point out a critical logical error you made. If someone had invented a time machine for voices they would already know that you solved the puzzle and it made a fantastic video and they would in turn not be using it to help you. The fact that you aren't getting time machine head voices proves that everything worked out in the end. Cheers!

[@SnowTheJamMan]

Simon's proof that R7C9 can't be 3 is one of the funniest "Simon-isms" i've seen in a while, we love you Simon

[@tedg1278]

Yeah that was hilarious. I immediately thought: "if that is a 3 then the arrow cells are 12 and R4C9 has no value."

[@headoftss]

Yes. So hard to understand how many ways he can avoid the obvious.

[@randysavage1011]

“To prove that 2+2=4, we simply take the complex conjugate of all three numbers, rotate them in the polar coordinate system, take the cross product of each eigenvector, and show that the linear transformation is isomorphic.”

[@williamnathanael412]

45:12

[@johnedwards7473]

Yeah - around 41:20 I expected him to say "Since there is a 1 in the cage in columns 8 or 9 and a 1 in box 9 in columns 8 or 9, there can't be a 1 anywhere else in columns 8 or 9 and so r6c8 cannot be 1, so r5c7 cannot be 4, so 4 is in the cage with the 9 making it 9 and 4 in row 5 and placing 1and 3 in column 9. Instead he... Well, I saw none of the other logic though. :)

[@Ars-eu5wq]

I have broken both my wrists( typing is certainly a challenge), but watching your videos has helped comfort me through this, as I mostly just have to rest. Thank you for these consistent videos, and amazing puzzles!

[@clegum794]

snowboard accident?

[@rontyson6118]

Feel better, Ar. :)

[@chessburns]

Sry to hear about ur wrists being broken. But glad to hear u enjoy the videos as we all do. Hope ur wrists is only temporary n that u heal with time. Best wishes. Cheers!

[@ettaz]

I'm just now thinking what do you have to do to break both wrists? Get well soon!

[@nemuchan]

What did we say about naughty snakes touching themselves ? This is how accidents happen see?

[@Coyotek4]

Just to pile on the adulations: I love puzzles like this, which don't require knowledge of theorems or SET theory; just one incredible bit of logic after the other. Kudos!

[@Playmaker6174]

Oh my goodness I’m so glad to see this puzzle on here, still can’t tell how much I enjoyed this puzzle and thanks Simon for providing such lovely solve (and comments) ;)

[@rohanramchand]

Watching the 3/5 at 45:30 or so is really funny. It clearly can't be 3, because the 1/2 pair on the arrow would force r4c9 to be a 3, which would clash with the 3 in r7c9 we're assuming, but instead we get a long discussion of low number quantities in r5. Contrast that with the incredible logic all throughout. Extremely good content.

[@mremumerm]

i think Simon does these on purpose so i can feel better about myself watching these...

[@mwward]

I agree. Simon's insistence of latching onto the most convoluted logic available instead of taking the easy route is both maddening and fascinating. And it's made worse by the fact that the only reason I can even spot and understand the "easy logic" is because Simon himself taught me through two years of watching the channel. And at that same point in the vid I kept waiting for Simon to ask how many 1s can appear in columns 8 and 9 (the 1/2 pair in box nine and the 1 needed in the 17 cage) to eliminate a 1 from r6c8.

[@KNT_awesome12345]

This is my favorite of lerroyy's puzzles that I have solved, and for good reason. This is a puzzle that felt less of a construction and more of a discovery to me and I had a lot of fun figuring out how everything worked together. Be on the lookout for more lerroyy puzzles in the future!

[@Antiknight]

I’m really glad this got featured on the channel! It was so fun solving it and discovering the clever ideas! Amazing puzzle again lerroyy! :)

[@sonalita_]

Sees Hearthstone card thumbnail, instantly clicks like. Not got time to watch rn but looking forward to when I can.

[@TAHeap]

The reasoning at 10:30 - 11:30 about what can go in the middle column of box 5 is incomplete (although the conclusion still holds): it's true that "you can't put either of the digits on the arrow in *their own* circle" ... but you *could* put 6, 2, 1 on one arrow and then try to use the *6* as the *total* for the other arrow. Now, this alternative will fail subsequently when we discover that we can't make the 6 total from the remaining digits (as we can re-use only one of 1 & 2) but it isn't actually excluded by the reasoning given. The odd thing after this is that Simon never quite seems to grasp the full significance of the diagonal in forcing anything that is not on the diagonal in box 5 onto the diagonal in one of the boxes with 21-cages and, conversely, anything that can't now go on the diagonal into off-diagonal cells (e.g. the 1,2 pair in the 18-cell almost immediately gives us the 1,2 pair filling the off-diagonal cells in box 9).

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 04:33 Let's Get Cracking: 06:09 Simon's time: 55m56s Puzzle Solved: 1:02:05 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Schrödinger Cell: 2x (11:19, 47:45) Bobbins: 1x (48:13) Cooking with Gas: 1x (42:07) Phistomefel: 1x (01:10) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Hang On: 11x (10:33, 18:07, 20:16, 25:05, 26:50, 42:19, 42:29, 42:29, 42:29, 45:47, 46:12) Ah: 10x (05:30, 08:42, 17:19, 17:20, 39:04, 45:41, 54:58, 58:44, 59:09, 1:00:56) By Sudoku: 8x (11:38, 18:32, 48:02, 52:56, 55:49, 55:54, 1:00:31, 1:01:28) Beautiful: 6x (00:41, 01:16, 13:16, 37:07, 1:02:30, 1:02:49) Sorry: 4x (08:46, 26:53, 36:11, 1:02:51) Clever: 4x (01:16, 25:02, 29:57, 34:47) In Fact: 4x (06:26, 08:39, 09:39, 46:09) Obviously: 4x (01:38, 11:56, 17:01, 27:09) Pencil Mark/mark: 4x (41:52, 53:20, 58:35, 1:01:10) Cake!: 4x (01:58, 02:04, 02:09, 02:20) Lovely: 3x (27:47, 27:47, 54:58) Brilliant: 3x (00:49, 00:57, 01:56) Incredible: 3x (00:25, 00:25, 00:55) First Digit: 3x (47:26, 47:27, 47:33) Surely: 3x (14:30, 14:34, 44:37) Wow: 3x (51:02, 1:01:59, 1:02:06) Nature: 3x (36:53, 40:42, 48:26) Take a Bow: 2x (34:42, 1:02:25, 1:02:25) I've Got It!: 2x (51:15) Have a Think: 2x (26:20, 52:45) Symmetry: 2x (37:37, 56:08) Good Grief: 1x (50:46) Goodness: 1x (39:05) Bother: 1x (1:01:17) The Answer is: 1x (10:50) Missing Something: 1x (23:37) Stuck: 1x (19:47) Extraordinary: 1x (01:27) Ridiculous: 1x (11:23) Going Mad: 1x (26:50) Corollary: 1x (05:41) Progress: 1x (48:26) Fabulous: 1x (1:02:13) Genuflection: 1x (1:02:28) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Twenty One (23 mentions) One (127 mentions) Red (44 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (15) - Low (6) Row (16) - Column (8) 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!

[@jojocourtice]

At 42:29 you missed one of a quad of "Hang On".

[@dokka94]

Why is the One in the Most Popular Numbers (>9)'s list? I saw in other video where the two was there, too...

[@Mommacado]

Good bot ❤

[@AugustoValentini]

My boyfriend finds it funny that I spend more time watching videos of people playing hearthstone or solving sudoku than actually doing those things myself. So now we got to a whole new level: a sudoku video with a hearthstone thumbnail. A perfect match 🧡

[@debbybastiaansen5120]

Hi Simon and Mark, Apologies in advance for grammatical errors, English is not my native language. I found this channel quite recently and it helped me relax during my pregnancy. Now I'm watching as I sigh away contractions. Thanks for your super interesting videos, I think I'm getting better at solving sudoku logic puzzles too. Debby

[@omribena]

Simon: doing advanced magic also Simon at 46 min: can't spot that R7C9 isn't 3 bc the arrow becomes 1-2 and R4C9 breaks :)

[@ceevio_art]

That 3 incident started off as funny, but became sort of disturbing the longer it went on.

[@G.Aaron.Fisher]

I love the consistent theme to this puzzle. It chooses a piece of logic (how many digits can two groups have in common) and reuses it with a few brilliant variations.

[@Coyotek4]

33:59 ... Verily, we are spoiled by the quality of sudokus at this site. At this rate, Volume II of "CTC: Greatest Hits" will be just around the corner. Another phenomenal puzzle!

[@steve470]

54:29 for me. Sensational puzzle with lots of fresh logic. Bravo! Cleaner logic in box 6: from the 41:21 mark, you have a 1 in the 17 cage and a 12 pair in box 9. That's both of your 1s in columns 8 and 9, so r6c8 can't be 1. Now r5c7 can't be 4 (because it would make its circle too big), you have a 123 triple in row 5, and your purple cells are a 49 pair. That forces a 13 pair into the 17 cage in column 9, preventing the circle from being 3. The 13 in r4c9 prevents the arrow from being 1 and 3, so the circle is 5.

[@bvenable78]

14:55 "Stop it, Simon!" - This is very similar to what my kids say when something they say prompts me to break out in a related song. Quote on, Simon; quote on! :)

[@chiepah2]

We can see why it's called windmill, it just works it's way around the grid multiple times. Fantastic as always.

[@jukmifggugghposer]

This sudoku is way above my level, but when I saw you start to make that first deduction about the center cell, I had to give it a try. I got up to seeing all the stuff about 7s, 8s, and 9s in the cages and diagonal, but I couldn't see that 78 pair in the 18 cage. Really beautiful puzzle, glad to have at least tried it.

[@insectbah]

When Simon pointed out the effect of the penciled 6's in box 5 on the arrow bulb and thermo tip, I said WOW out loud. Twice. So cool!

[@joshuamatthews3486]

‘Don’t think anyone has invented a time machine for voices’ made me laugh haha, great video, enjoy watching the 1-2 hour ones and usually doing the shorter/easier ones

[@kevinmartin7760]

Around 48:16 Simon starts to consider the value of A (the digits shared by the two 21 cages) and gets nowhere, but neglects to dig earlier into the puzzle logic, where the red digit is the shared digit of the contents of the two central arrows, and their combined total is 15+red. Now knowing red is 1 means this total is 16, the two arrow heads are 7/9 and A is 8.

[@Coyotek4]

From the 42:48 point of the video, here's what I did ... . . . ... 1 cannot go in r6c8; if that's a 1, then r8c9 is also a 1 and there's no more places to put a 1 in the 17-cage. One you rule out 1 from r6c8, you immediately rule out 4 from r5c7; that forces the 4 in row 5 into the 17-cage with the 9.

[@selenasilverstep7981]

So a cool way to do the opening logic is this: There are 2 high digits in each 21 cage. The 2 circles in box 5 are high digits. There are 3 high digits on the diagonal. That's all 9 of the high digits in boxes 1, 5, and 9 -- the remaining cells in those boxes cannot be high.

[@kedwinfritz]

14:30... Simon starts rattling off "The Raven" as a side commentary while still calculating possible cells. What a brilliant mind!

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

30:05 for me. What an awesome puzzle!! Incredible logic!

[@Raven-Creations]

It was easier to use the arrow to get the composition of the 17 cage. If the tip of the arrow were 4, the other cell on the arrow would have to be 1, with a 5 sum. This puts 1s in columns 8 and 9, preventing 1 in either of the red/green cells in box 9. Removing 4 gives a 123 triple in R5, pushing 4 into the 17 cage, giving a 49 pair and a 13 pair in C9. The 49 ruled out 41 on the arrow, and the 31 ruled out 3 from its sum, therefore the arrow had to contain a 3, resolving the 31 pair, which in turn forced the arrow to be 23, and the sum 5. Tidying up resolved red as 1, and several other cells. What you were missing is that a bit of sudoku puts 3 on the diagonal in box 9, pushing 2 and 3 off the diagonal in box 5 and leaving 4 on the diagonal. This makes the 21 in box 9 489, and the other 21 is 678, and 8 joins the 4 on the diagonal in box 5. It all falls into place after that. What a brilliant construction. It's perfectly understandable why the sudoku nobility raved about it.

[@crispywhiskers9365]

this was one of the most beautiful puzzles i have solved (even though i have not solved a lot)!!! thank you lerroyy for setting it and of course, thank you CTC for spreading this awesome puzzle! :D

[@christophstahl8169]

I loved it, such a great puzzle. I found it very hard to notate this one, there were quite a few moving pieces and i used colours like crazy (which I like, so bonus). When I watched Simom's solve I realised that I did quite a few different steps and other steps in different orders. That is so rare with these difficult puzzles. My first digit was the 3 in box 1. (which was available on the thermo after you knew you had a 1/2 in the 18 cage, so the thermo couldn't start 1/2 in the box, so the end of the thermo could not be 3). The quality of puzzle lately is simply outstanding.

[@JohnRandomness105]

I used colors for 1 and 2, but I played around with letters for 789. I started with Simon's A for the 78, and defined B as the other of them. Then I defined C and D as one and the other of 9 and B -- C went in the upper diagonal and joined A in the lower 21-cage. D went in the lower diagonal and joined A in the upper 21-cage. Helpful? I don't know.

[@JohnRandomness105]

About the classic puzzle by Sam Cavnar-Johnson: it took me a serious long time to notice the pattern. 9s couldn't follow the pattern, so 9s placed 9s where otherwise the sum-rule held. I finally noticed that not only did the initial conditions obey the sum-rule, but every number I entered did as well. I did want to check if placing a 9 that violated the rule would break the puzzle, and I couldn't find any way other than trifurcating to determine that it did. Then placing the 9 at the right place allowed me to finish the puzzle, faster once I recognized the pattern. EDIT: I have no idea whether this pattern (sum-rule) is the trick that Simon mentioned.

[@RichSmith77]

Gurth's Symmetrical Placement theory. I'd supply a link, but I think KZbin would censor it. 🙂 It assumes uniqueness though, which Mark and Simon usually avoid relying on, preferring to prove a puzzle has a unique solution logically. Not sure if this is the trick, or there's some other.

[@JohnRandomness105]

@@RichSmith77 Yes, a claim that a symmetric problem must have a symmetric solution does assume uniqueness. I agree with them, the unique solution should be proven, not assumed -- except in a high-speed contest.

[@denkata.ot.dvanaistifilms4850]

Avengers: This is the biggest crossover in history That puzzle's comment section: Hold my beer

[@johannnonat]

I am a CTC fan since almost the beginning... and I have to say that I agree : one of the most beautiful and highly satisfying puzzle to have ever graced this channel. Absolutely loved it !!

[@whatsleep17]

That blue diagonal does SO MUCH work in this puzzle.

[@stevenconn2964]

Love the channel, am relatively new here, I have been watching on and off for about a year but recently have gotten more diligent with my watching. The fact that you quote the raven just made my day. EAP is one of my favorite poets

[@th.nd.r]

Well done lerroyy and Simon, good setting and solving and some interesting ideas in this one!

[@Rubrickety]

I finally wrestled this one to the ground. Spectacular (and very original) puzzle!

[@bernhardrenner5176]

Me seeing the video length: "That must be a hard puzzle." Me after solving the puzzle: "24 minutes? That can't be, surely I must have done a lucky mistake." Me after watching the video: "I really did no mistake. Somehow the puzzle just matched well with my spotting intuition." I guess I would be much slower if I would make a video of my solves. Not so much because of spending time explaining deductions to the viewers but because I would get really nervous everytime I don't spot something for half a minute.

[@ceevio_art]

Same here, but its becoming more of a norm than an exception with these 1hr vids. Simon's determination to use a sledge hammer to crack every nut these days is verging on obsession. That 3 episode at 45:30 started of as funny, but the longer it took him became rather disturbing.

[@skr6477]

hats off, your analytic abilities leaves me once more breathless. so fun to follow your logic, sometimes i managed to be ahead, but way more i just listening stunned. good puzzle too, all power to the creator 👍

[@emilywilliams3237]

Yes, another lovely puzzle. I really enjoyed watching and thinking along with you as you worked out the contents of the 21 cages and the arrows. I also loved that the coloring that you did, particularly around the 30-minute mark, showed off the "windmill" design in the grid! Thanks for this, Simon. Always a pleasure.

[@stevesebzda570]

[Emily, was it You I had the discussion with about "Yey" being like "Hey" mistakenly? [The the Solve thing -- Sven's Sudoku Pad thing, apparently] Was that you? [Yeah, I think they mistakenly didn't want to say "Hay" is for horses and mistakenly said "Yey." Lol ] 😂😎☕☕

[@emilywilliams3237]

@@stevesebzda570 I don't think it was me, but I definitely have noticed the "yey" thing. Sven is not native-English-speaking, and certainly there are more than one way to spell "Yay" or "Yeah" in English. I have accepted "Yey" as a perfectly acceptable idiosyncrasy and now love it!

[@stevesebzda570]

@@emilywilliams3237 lol Yeah, it must've been someone else then , because "Yay" is "Yea." [Because that other person thought that, too] Lol, though. Yeah, they're great lol.

[@stevesebzda570]

@@emilywilliams3237 Emily, in other words, it should say "YES!" [Simon used to say that, remember? Lol]

[@stevesebzda570]

Oh,in more words lol: ''Yea" means "Yes." ["Yeah" means "Yeah"] Hope that clarifies it. Simon used to say "YES!" though. You'd like that Yes? [Or, Yea?? Lol ] 😂😎☕☕

[@shteevuk]

This type of puzzle is really my bag at the moment. A while ago it was chaos constructions, but currently it's these type of investigative puzzles where you make a bunch of discoveries about similar elements around the grid without finding out what goes where until much, much later

[@shteevuk]

It is interesting tho how these types of puzzles are often complex enough that they practically force bifurcation. Simon even says in this video "Let's just put [these numbers] in and see if it breaks the world" which we might not like to think is Trial and Error, but describes that process exactly.

[@Francisco-bu9ew]

I'm glad to live in a world where a Soduku references a card in a TCG that references a meme in a MMORPG

[@piarittersporn]

A brilliant puzzle. The beginning was quite difficult and I had to try a few things, which meant that I was able to rule out some combinations. A comparison with Simon was also very helpful, so that I was sure to place my first digit correctly. I really enjoyed the solution.

[@oldguydoesstuff120]

At around 46:00 (and available much earlier) there's a quicker path through.There must be a 1 in the 1-2 pair in box 9. There must be a 1 in the 17 cage across boxes 3 and 6. That accounts for all of the 1s in columns 8 and 9. Therefore, r6c8 cannot have a 1. That means that the other cell on that arrow r5c7 cannot have a 4. That forces 4 and 9 into the end of row 5 and defines the cage as 1349, with the 49 pair in row 5 and the 13 pair in column 9. And that eliminates the 3 from the head of the arrow.

[@KageRyu798]

"This is a four-nine pair, by the power of...Grayskull." That took me off guard. I had a good laugh. Thank you, Simon.

[@lunardancer6047]

Fantastic puzzle. The logic surrounding the cages and the diagonal was just incredible. I even managed to solve this one more quickly than Simon (although only just and I didn't have to explain my logic as I went along).

[@jonathanharsh7434]

18:45 for me. This puzzle definitely lives up to the hype of the title.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

That is a SICK time. WP!!

[@Wecoc1]

Wow! Did you use the same solve path?

[@julieannmyers8714]

What a feat! Well done. 👏 👏👏🍾🥂

[@julieannmyers8714]

@@CrackingTheCryptic he beat Gonzalo! Unbelievable. But I do. Simply amazing.

[@YaBoiRocc]

Gotta be real, did NOT expect a Leeroy Jenkins hearthstone card to show up on CtC, but I am here for it. It is like when you find out that two of your friends from different friendgroups know eachother.

[@aere481]

Loved it! Its amazing how there is a linear solve path, but its not easy to identify because of the intricacy of some many little things. I admit I stared at the 12 pairs for a long time!

[@dragonspight]

Yelling at you around 41:30. Eliminate the 1 in r6,c7, save the world. Great puzzle and fun solve. :)

[@chrisgoal]

Far easier @44:10 [6,8] can't be 1 (as it prevents the 17 cage from having a 1) That removes 4 from [5,7], forcing 4 into the 17 cage

[@3MRU]

Amazing solve and Great solving and explanations as always Simon. Love your work!

[@nishanthn4927]

I agree! Beautiful puzzle…

[@craftypam9992]

Long time since I was told "Red and green should never be seen". Got it all the time as a red-headed child/teenager. I loved green clothes!

[@RoderickEtheria]

So that explains leprechauns.

[@luisa9999]

Another way to figure out what A is, is that as soon as you know that the 1 is in the middle, the 1 is the repeated digit, and therefore the arrows contain 1,2,3,4,5 and 1 again is 16, therefore the circles have to be 7 and 9 and A is 8. I was actually kind of surprised Simon didn't solve it like that because he did this logic earlier in the puzzle

[@pkrish82]

At this point, the arrows could have been 1,2,3,4,6 and 1 totalling 17. 134 and 126.

[@dontmindme2844]

This one took me way too long. I had the right idea and was having the hardest time resolving it...a little hint...when you figure out the digits on an arrow, it adds up to the total in the circle. Can't believe how long I was starting at it looking for quads...

[@willfancher9775]

Here's how I thought of the stuff at the beginning. You know both 21 cages contain A, and they each contain a different second high digit. You can label those two B for the cage in box 1 and C for the cage in box 9. This means that the circles in box 5 are a BC pair. So the only place for B on the diagonal is in box 9, and the only place for C is in box 1. And for a bit of a freebie, we know that one of B or C is 9. You ultimately came to an equivalent conclusion, but I found that thinking of it in terms of A B and C made it much quicker to figure out. Plus the B/C pencilmarking is nice :)

[@bena-z5k]

I think I found an easier break in using SET. Column 5 adds up to 45 (by Simon's secret), using the arrows you get that C4r1-3, c5r1-3,. C5r5 c5r7-9, c6r7-9 add up to 45. Since box 2&8 add up to 90, you can subtract the known 45 value to conclude that c6r1-3 + c4r7-9 - c5r5 add up to 45. It obviously can't be 789 in both and 3 in c5r5, as it would break the puzzle, so c5r5 is 1 or 2, and c4r7-9 & c6r1-3 contain 987 986 or 987 976. Therefore the two circles in c5 are either 7&9 or 8&9

[@AndreAy1975]

Solved it with much help from the video.

[@Zombie-lx3sh]

At 42:40, it can't be 1259 because the 56 pair in box 5 would place the 5 in column 9, the 4 not being in the cage in row 5 would place it on the arrow, that would make the bulb of the arrow a 5 and you'd have two 5s in column 9.

[@chelseac4553]

WOW! These are my favourite types of puzzles -- really hard (making me feel like a genius every time I deduce anything) but not so hard that I can't even get started. I did mess up my logic in the middle and had to start over, but all in all I enjoyed this immensely!

[@crystalgehrt8861]

This is a pretty neat puzzle. I think I had an easier time spotting some of the logic than Simon, but I would never have been able to break in without him. Once he helped me in, I had fun running the logic through the rest of the course. Lerroyy is good, but scary.

[@BookofAeons]

Solved in 52:07 there was soooooo much beautiful logic in this one.

[@956675]

Simon: "so to get the great solvers and setters of the world to admire your puzzle just come up with something like this". So easy, why didn't I think of it before. You're a funny man Simon. I always love it when you break into a bit of poetry too.

[@alexgrunde6682]

There’s an easier way to disambiguate r6c8. The 1-2 pair in box 9 and the one having to be in the 17 cage rules 1 out of r6c8 which rules 4 out of r5c7 and creates a 1-2-3 tripe in row 5. That then placed the 4-9 in row 5 and then forces the one into column 9 in the 17 cage which unravels the 1 and 2’s.

[@benjaminpollock1015]

Hearthstone crossover? Nice!

[@benjaminpollock1015]

I usually have to watch the first 5-10 minutes to figure out how to get started after I look at the puzzle for a bit. Today I just held my ground and did it all on my on. 65:00 solve! super fun puzzle, Thanks Simon!

[@henk-ottolimburg7947]

Wow, what a masterpiece!

[@KyleBaran90]

I like the idea of "puzzle forensics", eg looking at how it was constructed based on your intuition and knowing where to look and what the intent was

[@ericpraline1302]

This is a very clever puzzle, probably too clever for me, though I did manage to solve it. Thanks.

[@aguy3896]

Anybody else hear Simon's voice in their head say "Ah! Right!" when they figure something out while working on a puzzle?

[@onfire4godjj9]

Anyone else absolutely love when Simon randomly starts quoting stuff?? Just me? Ok... lol 😅

[@nathanread7980]

bro started spittin poetry in the middle of the solve

[@paulc2335]

Hey Simon, letting you know that red and green are opposites, and the most common colors for color blind people. I don't personally have color blindness, but there could be a lot of people here who can't distinguish that color combination. But I'm not trying to be critical, wonderful job on your solving as usual!

[@JohnRandomness105]

I first began this, but shortly got stuck after the low-hanging fruit. So I went on to Sam Cavnar-Johnson's puzzle; that was solvable without need for help from the video. But now I'm back to this puzzle. 9:15 I think that the 21-cage cells mean that at most one of the top three digits can go in the diagonal in that box. At least one must be in the middle box. If we can rule out 6s from both circles, then at most one is in the middle box as well. That would mean that the diagonal has one top digit in every block. 10:45 Ahah! We have exactly one repeated digit on the arrows. If one arrow were 123, the other arrow would have to be (repeated)45. Therefore, neither arrow can be 123. Neither circle can be 6, so exactly one of the top three digits is on the diagonal in each box. At about 38:50 in the video, I paused and finally finished the puzzle. Now to finish the video. 40:45 One thing it means is that there's no 12 pair at the top of the 17 cage. 5 can't accompany 9 in the middle row in the 17 cage. So 5 joins 6 in the middle block. 50:00 I don't know if it helped, but I followed up Simon's A with B as the other of 78. Then one of B and 9 was placed in the upper diagonal, while the other was placed in the lower diagonal -- I called these C and D. C and D were also placed in the two 21 cages. Once 5 is forced into that bottom circle, 6s and 4s are in the cage and on the diagonal. 5 is forced onto the upper-left diagonal. With 25C(7, 8, or 9) in the upper diagonal, 6 is forced into the upper 21-cage. So that cage is 678. And the video ends, the puzzle is solved, and it's approaching 6:30AM. What am I doing, pulling all-nighters with Sudoku and CTC?

[@pawelsku]

mate i envy your analytical brain :) i struggle with simple sudokus and am more enjoying your solving than my own struggles. great stuff, long days and pleasant nights to you.

[@markp7262]

51:03 finish. I spotted the diagonal logic right away, but then got stuck after restricting the 6s in the corner boxes. Eventually I broke myself out of this lock, but it was such a fun solve!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Wow!!!!

[@davidrattner9]

Not very often you ONLY give one word responses my friend. :-)

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 😄

[@gdshoe5822]

Letter tool?!?!? LETTER TOOL !!! 😲❤❤❤

[@wigermiddelkamp8064]

Wow, great puzzle! The INSOM score was 9. After Simon’s ninth digit, I could solve it

[@ryanmeier9204]

Still petitioning for a Halloween video where Simon reads Poe poems.

[@briantrace9945]

Great puzzle, took me 27:30 and break-in came from placing 3 in R2C1. Thereafter, all digits fell in place.

[@alexriffe1212]

This video is a time machine of voices in a way.

[@rungus24]

Great stuff!

[@marksilver6027]

49:13 is like that old Sinatra lyric… « Where the square is reddified… »

[@Hephaestus_God]

Hearthstone x Cracking the Cryptic cross-over tumbnail? woah

[@MarushiaDark316]

"Bucket-loads of cake." Some very odd customs in the UK.

[@BlueCyann]

Oh that as a ton of fun.

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

46:50 “that’s quite complicated” orrrrr the 1+2 summing to 3 breaks the 13 cell since it’ll see a 1 and 3.

[@chelseac4553]

That diagonal does hella work

[@achad1607]

The 17 cage is either 1259 or 1349. When did you disprove the 1259 option?

[@zorandrndarevic1444]

I have "déjà vu" feeling about result dispositions of numbers...

[@nikkiking4044]

Is no one going to mention that Simon just quoted from memory half a dozen lines from Edgar Allen Poe's THE RAVEN as if it was nothing??! Those aren't even beginning lines. Those are from the middle of the poem, which is the hardest part to memorize of any long chain.

[@In.New.York.I.Milly.Rock.]

Mark vs Simon TCG stream when? Hearthstone, Edison Format YGO, maybe even some UNset magic draft?

[@Tyiriel]

Goddamn, just at first glance i'm instantly going "NOPE" - No amazing freebie digits, nothing stands out and no obvious quirky rules. HOW DO YOU EVEN START?!

[@martinepstein9826]

Amazing puzzle, and as usual I can't imagine a clearer explanation of the break-in logic even though you're seeing it for the first time. One criticism: At 48:44 instead of using green to indicate the value of the cell you can just use a large blue numeral. That way you're not committed to pointless coloring for the rest of the solve.

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

looking at the solve, i wonder what the point of the thermo in box 3 was. the puzzle surely could have been solved without it no?

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

32:36 for me. i liked the first 2 common digits logic, until that broke into a very nice restriction in R5.

[@TheThebrianmyers]

8:50 KZbin friendly "butt backwards"? Haha

[@MichaelMoore99]

"I don't think red and purple are distinguishable. Let's make them red and green." Red/Green color-blind folks like myself: Lovely...