This Puzzle Was Born Less Than 24 Hours Ago!

[@GregJonson]

6:16 - Let's get cracking. 1:02:04 - The first digit is placed. Phistomefel in a nutshell.

[@PeterZaitcev]

Stange. I got this puzzle in 72:46, but the first digit was placed around 15' - the six at bottom left square.

[@veggiet2009]

😮

[@bones7708]

Simon was on fire after getting the first digits. The puzzle wasn't actually that easy after break in. At least not for me. My first digit was the six in the bottom left box, too.

[@JohnRandomness105]

It sounds as if I shouldn't try this puzzle.

[@JohnRandomness105]

@@PeterZaitcev I hope you meant the bottom left block, and not the bottom left cell. My first digits were resolving a sequence of 57 pairs, in the 12-cage and in the center of blocks 2 and 5.

[@thornels]

An hourlong Phistomefel, lets go!

[@Raven-Creations]

How does he do it? Every Phistomefel puzzle breaks new ground with something beautiful. I quickly realised that the 1, 5, and 9Ts were aligned, and that the 1Ts were in boxes 1/4, the 9Ts in boxes 3/6, and so the 5Ts in the middle. They had to be different forms, so one was 3456, the other 4567. The fun was in working out which was which, mostly by knight's move eliminations and a bit of cage logic. Sudoku, as usual, was your nemesis. There were lots of things you could have used to lubricate the path, but nothing worth shouting about though.

[@Chriib]

Took me 237 minutes. Glad I finally managed.

[@margaritashcheglova8670]

Should be named simply... T_T

[@listey]

I'm excited for the day that Simon realises he can use the delete button to remove all central or corner pencil marks from a cell. His mind will be blown.

[@wanderlustwarrior]

To be fair, pressing delete alone only deletes the current "layer", then other layers in order. If you aren't currently marked as being in a layer, you have to hold shift or ctrl while pressing delete to delete those corner or central marks, respectively.

[@MaierFlorian]

When the devil sends flies to Simons home to distract him while trying to solve his puzzle 😂😂

[@thandolwethu3430]

😂😂❤

[@Rapandreas]

Is he the Lord of Flies now too?

[@Clocksmith-s9w]

​@@Rapandreas Without sarcasm, that would be Bealzebub: a demon able to determine the flight path of flying insects.

[@Rapandreas]

@@Clocksmith-s9w I didn't know that was one of his powers specifically, but Bealzebub was who I was referring to. Thanks for the tid-bit.

[@Clocksmith-s9w]

Phistomefly!

[@Nick-jq5nl]

Phistomefel is no doubt a genius constructor. His puzzles are also some of the few I don't bother to attempt myself. They are often cool and distinctive, but rarely approachable in any sense (beginning, middle, or end), and I just get stuck. I'm glad there are people who can figure them out, though, even though I prefer puzzles I can attempt myself.

[@ahouyearno]

His puzzles, while logical, have a certain non-euclidian quality to them. I just don't have access to the frame of mind that allows one to form any deductions that lead into his direction. That said, the phistomephel puzzle in the 500k sub pack is somewhat approachable and I'm very proud to have solved it.

[@paulcrumley9756]

I have enough to cope with in solving the GAS puzzles in a one-hat time, so I can't imagine solving a Phistomefel special in one month. . .

[@JohnRandomness105]

Why not try the occasional difficult puzzle, and let the video provide hints or steps when you're stuck.

[@Nick-jq5nl]

@@JohnRandomness105 To be clear, I try almost every puzzle on the channel before watching the video, and use the video if I get stuck; this is exactly what I normally do, and I'm able to solve many of them without assistance. These puzzles are unique because they typically have insurmountable break-ins (for me), and/or required logic steps which are almost impossible (for me) to find. I 100% respect the constructor; I'm just not at the level where these puzzles are remotely approachable for me.

[@chitraagarwal8259]

Probably the most approachable phistomefel puzzle yet.. I do believe Simon would have gotten through it faster if he didn't know who the constructor was..

[@spelldaddy5386]

The same trick that Simon uses with the x wing on 6 to make the 13 cage 67 can also be used on 4 in the equivalent domino in c8. That rules out 234 from the 9 cage much earlier, forcing it to be 135

[@frogleymom]

Yep, that's what I did too.

[@martinbull-gundersen8878]

I tried so hard to project that idea to him...

[@wanderlustwarrior]

Well. That took me 1:06:36. With about 15 minutes left to go, I had to leave to run an errand. Within seconds of entering the car, I realized a much faster break in. After solving it, I tried it again using that break in, and got it in 28:11.

[@Skywolf76]

I have a merch idea: a CTC branded flyswatter.

[@kgeiger61]

Simon missed the x-wing on 4's (similar to the x-wing on 6's) that force a 2-4 pair in R3C8 & R4C8, which force the 9 cage to be 1,3,5. That sped things up for me. Finished in 40:57. Genius and beautiful puzzle by Phistomefel... but I repeat myself!

[@Atticus837]

Mark sure did miss that... This one's Simon!

[@kgeiger61]

@@Atticus837 that’s called a brain fart. I’ve only been listening to the channel since near the beginning!

[@Atticus837]

@@kgeiger61 don't worry, we all have them! 😂

[@iabervon]

My thought was: the powerful deduction about 4s is very subtle and complicated, and the only reason we've all been shouting it at the screen for half an hour is that you explained it so well about 6s.

[@iri101]

i think simon could of finished the puzzle faster if he used the symmetry in the puzzle. At minute 42:00 he use the 6 x wing to realize that column 2 had a 67 pair. He could of done the same thing with 4's in row 3 and 4. you quickly can find the 24 pair in column 8 and realize that the 9 cage was a 135. I would probable save him 20 minutes.

[@joekerr3638]

I was thinking/ waiting for Simon to spot it. But he never did. That is the cool thing about puzzles, more than one way to do them.

[@iceberg54321]

Only took him a little over 15 minutes to see the obvious six knights move in box 8. :)

[@dwebb2805]

consciously and willingly doing sudoku would save simon 10 minutes in every video he posts on this channel lmao

[@listey]

Could have

[@iceberg54321]

@@dwebb2805 Yah, he makes these great pencil marks, then figures out a cell and doesn't look to see if it affects his pencil marks a lot of the time. After he misses it, he doesn't ever look back at them until he is absolutely forced to, he makes crazy good deductions instead, seemly to avoid any sudoku.

[@BryanLu0]

The logic at 38:50 can be seen a little easier via a deduction Simon made earlier. He noted that the 9 cage in column 8 prevented the two Ts in the column from being different, because that would force the blue domino to be low digits. Therefore, they must both be middle or high. That causes the Ts in column 5 to also both be high or middle, but both being high would break the cage.

[@cerebralcomics]

If Simon and Phistomefel would ever meet, it would most likely signify the beginning of Armageddon.

[@Turroc2077]

Superman and Clark Kent are never seen together…

[@cerebralcomics]

@@Turroc2077 fair ‘nough! So basically you’re saying Simon has MPD? 🥴😅

[@michaelondic5884]

At around 43:30 when he gets the 67 pair in column two. Cant's you do the same thing with 4's, forcing a 4 into the blues cells in column 7? This then resolves the 9 cage in box 9 into a 135 with a 24 in the blue cells.

[@theadjectiveform]

Yep. A bit of symmetry that got left on the table for a long time.

[@TehFilmFanatic]

I did this throughout a lengthy meeting yesterday at work, and I look forward to seeing a more focused attempt at it! I found it an excellent example of if-this-then-that investigation, as well as just experimentation at the start

[@FilmscoreMetaler]

Does your company hire?

[@edwardmacnaghten]

Wow! Took me days, but I solved a Phistomefel by myself without sneaking a clue from comments or Simon's solve!

[@sonalita_]

Simon, I do so wish you’d stop saying “out of nowhere”. It isn’t. It’s a consequence of the logic you’ve so carefully and painstakingly deduced. Don’t do yourself down.

[@Happyjew666]

It's pronounced Te-ah-tim-eh

[@Coyotek4]

I think what amazes me about Simon (and Mark) is their ability to finish one of these without having to step away for a spell. It took me close to an hour ... my time says 49:50, but I took multiple sessions (and sometimes the time doesn't save where I paused); I needed 'fresh eyes' to see what I failed to see on previous sessions. Another gem by the Sudoku Devil himself!

[@mikew6644]

I just posted this the scrolled down to find this as well: We’ve all been Simon at 46:00 before… the impressive part is Simon can talk himself through it in a few minutes while it takes me setting my phone down or staring at nothing for an hour before making progress. A single uncut solve is SO IMPRESSIVE

[@stgo_g]

Spent 2 hours stuck on this puzzle only to come back to the video to realize it was made by Phistomefel (somehow I missed it), and that I had made a mistake

[@YellowBunny]

This was a great solve! It took me over 50 minutes to place the first digit and 89:12 in total.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

If you use *placeholder digits,* this solve becomes much easier. Basically, after understanding that both the *upper* an *lower* set of renbans must include a renban containing *4-5-6,* and another containing *6-7-8-9,* you can rule them out of boxes *1* and *4.* Hence, these boxes must contain *1-2-3-4* renbans, as shown by Simon. Then you can use: *r2c2 = 3* as a placeholder for an orange *3-4* *r5c2 = 4* as a placeholder for a yellow *3-4* or viceversa. As usual, this hugely simplifies your notation and makes Symon's logic much more obvious (or less intricate), and much easier (or less difficult) to explain... Finding the correct renban configuration does not become easy, but markedly less difficult. Of course, as explained by Simon, you need to be very careful with the anti-knight constraint until you manage to disambiguate.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Please don't tell me this is bifurcation. As I showed dozens of times before, this technique is by definition *mono-furcation.* Simon and Mark agree with me about that.

[@ashnikchauhan9103]

The feeling you get when you watch the video after solving yourself and you see Simon going through the exact logic path you went through (although at a much faster pace) is pure joy. Phistomefel puzzles are always daunting to me, because of the legend that name carries, but I still try. As always a great puzzle. Keep on cracking.

[@Tesseract_King]

Tess here! Thanks for the birthday shout-out. :D

[@jonasf94114]

24:09 I think the same conclusion can be found by just saying: if 5 is in one of the left renban, it can’t have a 4 AND 6 (breaks the 13 cage which needs a 4, 5 or 6) and can’t be 5678 (conflicts with the 6789 renban distributing 56789 in 6 cells in row 5) or 2345 (conflicts similarly with 1234)

[@Mrqwerty2109]

I'm a simple man. I see a phistomephel puzzle, I click on it.

[@crhodgkin]

My understanding is that, under normal circumstances (when the mass of the star is smaller), electrons are kept in orbit around their nuclei in atoms by a strong repulsion (electron degeneracy pressure), which prevents atoms from collapsing in on themselves and serves as a limit for gravitational collapse (like a white dwarf, which I think is what will happen with our sun). A neutron star forms with more massive stars, when the gravity is strong enough to overcome this pressure, causing the electrons (negative charge) in the atoms to collapse into their nuclei, combining with the protons (positive charge) to form a mass of mostly neutrons (neutral charge). Those neutrons have an even stronger outward pressure (neutron degeneracy pressure) that stops them from collapsing in on themselves (neutrons: 1, gravity: 0). A black hole occurs when the mass of the star (and its resulting gravitational force) is great enough that not even this force is strong enough to prevent the mass from collapsing in on itself (gravity: 1, everything else: 0).

[@David_K_Booth]

Robert L Forward wrote a science fiction novel, "Dragon's Egg", which speculates about what sort of life might evolve on the surface of a neutron star.

[@crhodgkin]

@@David_K_BoothThat sounds incredibly fascinating!

[@David_K_Booth]

@@crhodgkin I'm sure the science has moved on since then - the book is about forty years old - but I remember it as being fun to read.

[@Joff1981]

After identifying the 2 possible combinations for the 9 cage then where in that column can the unused low digits from that cage go? The lowest of these must go into one of the cells between the Renban lines as it cannot be on the Renban lines as previously established. Once that is the case the 8/9 pair for that column must be on each of the Renban lines so both must be the high Renbans. This is because if one of the 8/9 pair appeared in the unused cell between the Renban line it would eliminate both of the right Renbans from being the high Renban and leaving no space for the unused 8/9 in column 8.

[@gramagon3680]

Does anyone know where this "checkaderonimo" puzzle is he mentioned at the beginning?

[@SourabhDas95]

It was painful seeing Simon realizing that the 5T and 9T in boxes23 couldn't be offset from the 5T and 9T in boxes56 because of the the 9 cage, but then get distracted and not take the logic further to eliminate the 9T's from boxes 25 as that would break the 13 cage until much later. Still a great solve on an incredibly difficult puzzle!

[@Nightknight1992]

overall he realized really early what the Ts meant for the green 13 cage, but completely forgot how they affect the blue regions the same way, even after finding out the ones in box 3/6 cant be from 123 really early

[@Camerz]

Without using the video, the furthest i went was proving that the renban in boxes 1 and 4 must contain the digits 1, 2, 3 and 4, and that the 13 cage must have the 58 or 67 pair. I could not figure out anything after that, but i am proud that i was able to deduce that

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

because of the 9 cage, isn’t it impossible for the renbans in box 3/6 to both be the 3456/4567 cage?

[@khoozu7802]

Correct, if we take the renbans as both 5T, we have to put 1&2 in cage 9, however there is no 6 in the cage to make it sum up to 9.

[@AngelWedge]

In 2 minutes, I reached the conclusion that r1c258 must be a set of 346 or 467, and the Ts in boxes 1 and 4 must be 1234. 15 minutes later, I'm still staring at it hoping to see a next step; and starting to suspect that I made a big mistake by leaping to those conclusions. Off to watch the video and see where I failed.

[@maverickstclare3756]

"Corpsing" is uncontrolled laughter, not silence

[@columbus8myhw]

As corpses famously do

[@crhodgkin]

And I learned a new word, today. :-)

[@mikew6644]

We’ve all been Simon at 46:00 before… the impressive part is Simon can talk himself through it in a few minutes while it takes me setting my phone down or staring at nothing for an hour before making progress. A single uncut solve is SO IMPRESSIVE

[@LiquorStoreJon]

I'm gonna make some popcorn to go with my "T" !

[@jimcameron6803]

You're doing a Phistomefel puzzle. You've been staring at the damn' thing for an hour. You finally manage to place a digit. You feel like the WORLD'S GREATEST GENIUS!

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 04:54 Let's Get Cracking: 06:15 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Phistomefel: 2x (04:47, 1:17:18) Bobbins: 1x (27:24) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (39:00) The Secret: 1x (02:09) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Sorry: 17x (10:44, 12:05, 26:06, 28:00, 41:50, 43:15, 43:51, 45:15, 45:49, 49:57, 56:18, 1:00:49, 1:00:49, 1:00:49, 1:00:49, 1:11:51, 1:12:35) Ah: 17x (15:29, 32:42, 39:55, 40:35, 41:23, 42:18, 48:56, 50:42, 51:25, 51:55, 51:58, 57:50, 1:01:58, 1:07:04, 1:07:51, 1:14:46, 1:15:42) Hang On: 11x (15:31, 17:45, 22:15, 22:15, 22:15, 27:08, 27:28, 41:23, 50:42, 55:08) By Sudoku: 8x (07:29, 1:03:47, 1:05:18, 1:06:18, 1:06:40, 1:09:52, 1:15:19, 1:15:24) Obviously: 8x (07:32, 21:44, 21:54, 25:32, 25:47, 34:47, 57:59, 1:17:26) Beautiful: 7x (24:48, 39:42, 43:12, 43:15, 52:02, 52:52, 1:04:52) Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (09:40, 41:10, 41:12, 52:54, 1:15:04) The Answer is: 3x (42:45, 42:49, 52:29) Surely: 3x (10:29, 1:07:54, 1:11:26) In Fact: 3x (11:17, 57:28, 1:14:24) Symmetry: 3x (07:37, 47:20, 58:12) Break the Puzzle: 2x (09:11, 37:58) Deadly Pattern: 2x (1:05:00, 1:15:44) Come on Simon: 2x (45:25, 54:32) We Can Do Better Than That: 2x (1:05:40, 1:15:29) Almost Interesting: 2x (07:42, 1:11:10) Nature: 2x (12:18, 12:38) Out of Nowhere: 1x (52:05) Nonsense: 1x (48:50) Naughty: 1x (1:14:49) Stuck: 1x (43:51) Lovely: 1x (1:04:52) Brilliant: 1x (02:50) Bonkers: 1x (1:11:30) Facetious: 1x (31:16) Pregnant pause: 1x (12:05) Plonk: 1x (22:58) Wow: 1x (1:01:21) What Does This Mean?: 1x (09:26) That's Huge: 1x (1:09:14) Have a Think: 1x (10:21) Cake!: 1x (02:51) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Thirteen (24 mentions) Five (134 mentions) Yellow (7 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (13) - Low (9) Odd (3) - Even (3) Row (28) - Column (21) 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!

[@Antiknight]

Solved this yesterday and thought it was a beautiful puzzle with a nice break-in. Let’s see how you approached it!

[@davidrattner9]

Of course you solved it already!! Did Simon approach it the same way you did? 🙂

[@Antiknight]

@@davidrattner9 nope I approached it a bit differently but the start was the same yes 😝

[@JohnRandomness105]

A neutron star: all the atomic nuclei are jammed together to form essentially one gargantuan nucleus held together by gravity. Also, electrons change to neutrinos and protons change to neutrons. Example: if the earth were crushed together like that, its radius would be (within a factor of two of) 100 meters. The puzzle: I can't start it until I interpret the Ts correctly. Are they two lines? Or are they one "line"? 6:00 I was concerned whether this interpretation was correct, or this alternate interpretation: the three cells at the top (or bottom) form one line, and the two vertical cells form a different line. Then in block 5, the digits in row 5 might be 132 and the digit below the 3 must be 4. 6:20 I'm still stumped how to start the puzzle. 32:20 It took me a long time, but I finished the puzzle. Compare the 34, 46, and 67 in the protruding cells of the lines, in rows 1 and 6, you find that the two 9 lines are above and below, and the two 5 lines are above and below. 34:30 I extensively used the knight-move constraint to rule out positions for digits. At some point, one shows that the 13 cage also contains a 3, and is either 319 or 328. 45:20 What happens if you put 3 in the middle blue domino? 48:20 It might help if you cleaned up the cornermarks on the lower middle line. 51:20 I think that I eliminated from the 13-cage all combinations but 139, 238, and 157 at a position similar to this. All combinations with 4 or 6 were eliminated. Now, what happens to the middle cells of blocks 2 and 5, if the 13-cage is 157? The cage must contain 3. 54:20 You can rule out 4 from both cells of the 12-cage. 56:20 I can't remember what motivated me, but at this point, I placed 7 in the central cell. I can't remember why, but something ruled out 5 or forced 7. Something that didn't apply to block 2. 57:00 R2C5 has a 57 as well. It rules out 7 from R2C7. 59:10 Yes, disambiguating the 57 cracks the puzzle open. 1:01:50 That was it. R4C4 was the only other cell besides the central cell allowed by the knight's 57 pair, and that broke the 67 13-cage. Thanks for the video. The puzzle was a real struggle, and I needed a couple hints from the video.

[@ukdavepianoman]

Another fact about neutron stars is a tablespoon (or maybe teaspoon) would weigh 100 million tonnes - that sort of order. Just shows how "empty" atoms are. Another masterpiece from Phistomefel - not only is the ruleset straightforward but the set-up is beautifully simple. Of course, solving is a different ballgame! It's extraordinary that just 4 simple cages resolve the puzzle but I guess this shows the power of the knight's move constraint. After placing a couple of digits, it solved quite quickly.

[@Alphabet576]

58:56, very powerful solve :^) followed a fairly similar path but my biggest divergence was that i kept track of 4s and 6s specifically as they would be excluded from certain squares by pigeonhole to give X-wing patterns. this ultimately allowed me to disambiguate the 12 cage and chase pairs to solve the whole thing

[@shteevuk]

Love these investigation-style puzzles. Phistomefel is a master of these.

[@miyahollands6136]

this puzzle reminds me of a joke: 1is walking down the road and spots a 9 coming towards it, using a walking stick. 1 walks up to 9 and says "I see your still having problems with your back 9!"

[@Emmibean77]

Happy birthday to T-Time by Phistomefel! I hope you have a wonderful day with lots of chocolate cake (really, chocolate frosting!)

[@stevesebzda570]

@16:48 or so, "So, this middle renban has to accommodate some of left-hand one and some the right-hand one," Simon said approximately. So, the 5 renban has to go in the middle. [^^ There, I said it for ya, Simon ] Lol. 😲😂

[@RogueAPBT]

That was relentless. Every time I would get a digit, I'd think, it's going to open up. Phistomefel just shakes his head. My time: half my life.

[@TheEricthefruitbat]

At 26:50, or thereabouts, he has the key to the puzzle, but then ignores it. 38:50ish he gets back on track and backs into it.

[@RichSmith77]

I too thought he ended up proving that the 456 T couldn't go opposite the 6789 T in two separate ways. Frustrating that he seemed to forget he'd worked that out once over already.

[@grahamrskelly6042]

I was quicker on the 3467... But then petered out and Simon lapped me. Good puzzle

[@nathaliea_girl4616]

Omc I am a golf fan!!! literally played 18 holes today and have a golf tourney on the weekend😊😊😁

[@mikew6644]

What does he say at 33:40 about not being “_____” enough? Anybody able to pick that word out? ‘Oafay’?

[@tomkinsg]

That's 3-squared in the corner that's 3-squared in the spot spot light light losing it's religion

[@tonyawright6020]

Simon figured out the trick with the 6's to get the 67 pair in c2, and I kept yelling at him to do the same trick with the 4s to get that there has to be a 4 in the higher part of c8, so the 4 can't be in the 9 cage. Simon never hears me, but my family laughs at me...

[@richardfarrer5616]

He's Phistomephel, not Beelzebub (Zebubbeel?) so I don't think he will have been sending flies.

[@legobil_]

There may not have been a 3 in the corner in this puzzle, but remember that 9 was B, so @1:15:17 there was definitely a B in the corner, losing its religion!

[@jamessmith5688]

Had to laugh at using A & B for 8 or 9 when there's 3 different colours on 7's and random blue and green dominos🤪

[@Fun_maths]

Took me an hour and a quarter with a mistake that I had to trace back but I solved it! Phistomefel is on another level with these sudokus!

[@piarittersporn]

Very beautiful puzzle with a quite difficult start.

[@jeroenvaneijk9855]

What is meant by a non repeating set of consecutive digits?

[@nicholasiverson9784]

I don't think the title holds up well this late on xD

[@Rach881101]

74:41 for me. Brilliant puzzle!

[@stevesebzda570]

This is getting a little hard to understand. Because, @16:48 or so, Simon says "This renban 'in the middle' has to have a 5 on it, and be able to accommodate some of the left-hand one and some the right-hand one, (or something)" [Postulating the 1234 on one side - and the 9876 on the other] I don't think it was ever explained (or established) that the 1234 & the 6789 can't go next to each other. And the "5" on on one end. Whatever, Simon is "establishing" from this, It's getting difficult to understand, because why can't the "5 renban" go on an end? That's a lot of postulating, if the 1234 & 6789 can go next to each other (that one digit won't be any of those others next to it - in-fact, none of them will be on the one next to it). So, all this postulating and establishing is getting a little hard to understand (if he's only going to yank them out if the 1234 & 9876 can go together). 1 : 18 : 50 to boot.?! That's a little much.. Cheers. I can't understand.

[@stevesebzda570]

I think I'm understanding (now that I think about it) the "5 renban" does have to go in the middle (me thinking of a 2345 on one end -- which is impossible because of row5), the "5 renban" *has* to go in middle. Simon didn't say that. I understand now, though

[@BakuSudoku]

Took me literally 45 minutes to find that 7 on the central box implication on r7c6. Devilish geometry that one. @ 1:13:25 I made the same path, but concluded, after a brain cramps, that 1+8+3 = 13 :D. It doesn't impact anything until the end, you can just swap the 8's and 9's and it's okey. Great puzzle.

[@trilogyken]

I live for Simon solving Phistomefel puzzles!

[@dr_pepsi_4831]

What’s up with satan on the thumbnails?

[@forgottenfamily]

I figured out the nature of the 1, 5, and 9 T's immediately, and figured out how the 13 pair necessitated the 1 T's on the left. And then instinct told me "the other T's are probably paired" and focused on ways to prove it. Figured out from the 9 and 13 cages which pairs they would be but it was realizing that if I didn't have it, I'd need 7, 8 and 9 to exist on the right side but only 2 could fit and one would have to go into a cell that saw the entirety of both T's. Once the pairing is done, I was maybe 25 minutes in but completely stuck. Needed Simon's help to find that the X-wing on 6's put a contradiction around the 13 cage forcing the cage to 6-7. And then was able to finish in ~50 minutes.

[@zergrush8709]

actually took me 3 hours. :|

[@Larsvn]

My first time beating a Phistomefel soduko! 70:40. I enjoyed this puzzle all the way. Especially the possible mirroring of boxes 123-456 until they got settled.

[@FredT34]

Wouldn't colors help here?

[@davidtownsend3592]

Always love you videos. Sometimes there’s pennies that drop rather late but it’s always easier for us watching along. You could have saved yourself about 20/25 mins. your discovery of 4s in rows 3/4 at 1:05:00 could have been found much earlier by copying the work you did in the 13 cage with the x-wing on 6s in rows 1/6 at 42:18 the same could have been applied to the 4s to get the 2,4 pair in the blue cells in column 8 which would have given you the 9 cage solution.

[@LukeArthurBates]

If row 1 and row 3 have 3,4,6 and 4,6,7 then the x wing applied to the 6s could have been applied to the 4s as well. The symmetrical logic would have got the 2,4 pair in col 8 to know the 9 cage is 1,3,5 about 20 mins earlier. Can't fault the rest, that was tough!

[@steve470]

79:16 for me. I solved it logically, but not nearly as elegantly as Simon. After doing so many of the puzzles featured on this channel, how am I still surprised that there's so little information, but it actually solves?

[@neilramsey1368]

1002 solves in 1.5 days

[@srwapo]

54:47 with a few peeks at the video. I kinda got the purple lines, but missed limiting r1c5 and r6c5, totally didn't see how much they affected r4r5c2, r4r5c5, and r4r5c8, and I missed a couple of simple knight's move logic.

[@titusadduxas]

For the first time ever I spotted the first part of the break in quicker than Simon, having realised that the 13 cage couldn’t be 9-4 as the renbans in boxes 1 & 4 couldn’t be 5678 as the 9 renbans would have no where to go! Once that was ascertained those renbans had to be 1234.

[@ericpraline1302]

Neat puzzle, thanks. Found the closing stages quite tricky too but after a break polished it off fairly painlessly, including finding that delightful 4 logic.

[@giladooshlon]

It's always daunting to start a Phistomefel puzzle, but always rewarding if you make any progress. This one took me 66.6 minutes to complete 😅😈

[@majedal-baghl4917]

"To take up the slack." Is that an idiom about tailoring trousers? What does it mean?

[@eytanz]

Wow, that was challenging and satisfying to solve, as expected from a Phistomefel puzzle.

[@victoriam6569]

What a brilliant puzzle! So much fun! Thank you :)

[@davidrattner9]

Joy for the great man to be featured and for Simon to tackle such a beauty. Both minds work wonders!

[@robertbardi3613]

Hey guys! What happened to the Checkered Arrowmino part 2?

[@travisporco]

8:21 hilarious

[@Pritchie45]

115 minutes

[@AWanderingSwordsman]

93 minutes for me. I'm just happy I beat it at all without help.

[@titusadduxas]

1:42:17 - Wow!

[@rockoob]

Haven’t seen a tapa on the channel in a while. Would love to see one

[@stephenmor66]

A wonderfully constructed puzzle. The geometry suggests the solve pass but still not to easy find. As always Phistomefel triumphs. 🎉

[@stephenmor66]

My solve path was to notice that the central Ts cannot both be 6789 because that would put 6789 on their cells in column 5, breaking the 13 cage. So one of right Ts must be 6789 giving a 12345 quintuple in column 8 and forcing both of the right Ts to be 6789.

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

30:25 for me. I really like the solve path.

[@mef8201]

70:28 my time... 70:27 Simon's...

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

43:19 for me. Great puzzle!!

[@margaritashcheglova8670]

wait WHAT

[@Swisswavey]

Excellent puzzle. 49 minutes for me, lovely logic on the break in 😊

[@Leatherhead237]

First!