Maths Professor Loves Puzzle With No Maths!

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
A debut on the channel tonight for Mennoo_ and their puzzle Low Cloud In A German City! This was strongly recommended by Dorlir, the maths professor, and our testers loved it (with good reason!).
Play the puzzle at the following link:
sudokupad.app/u2pnuvnrcy
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Adjacent digits on a green line must differ by at least 5. Each digit in the grid represents the height of a skyscraper located in that cell. Clues outside the grid indicate the number of visible skyscrapers from that direction, with taller skyscrapers blocking the view on smaller skyscrapers behind them. However, due to low hanging clouds in the city today, skyscrapers from 5 or lower are never visible for clues outside the grid. Therefore those clues can only see skyscrapers from 6 or higher.
You can watch us in the latest @numberphile video here:
• A Sudoku Secret to Blo...
Simon's solve of TotallyNormalCat's Broken Secrets will appear on the main channel soon.
** ROLLER COASTER NURIKABE by the_cogito **
Simon's 2.5 hour solve of Roller Coaster Nurikabe by the_cogito is now available on Patreon. Check the puzzle out at the link below:
logic-masters.de/Raetselporta...
Also there's our January Patreon competition: All The Fun Of The Fair featuring sudokus themed around fairground rides!
Join us on Patreon (for as little as $2):
/ crackingthecryptic
** KICKSTARTER - DELIVERED 24 December 2023 **
Our Kickstarter has finished and we've created the finished novella/puzzle collection for you. It was delivered on Christmas Eve so check your inboxes!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/...
** ORDER OUR NEW BOOK AT THIS LINK **
If you would like to get hold of a physical copy of our new book, Cracking The Cryptic's Greatest Hits - Volume 2, there is still a chance. Visit the link below:
bean-games.pledgemanager.com/...
▶ 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:
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Android:
play.google.com/store/apps/de...
ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
▶ Contents Of This Video ◀
0:00 Theme music & Puzzle intro
1:26 Hexcells stream
2:07 Patreon bonuses
2:40 Happy Birthday
4:00 Rules
7:27 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking
▶ Contact Us ◀
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email: [e-mail]
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Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
Box 102
56 Gloucester Road
London
SW7 4UB
(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
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We also post the Wordle In A Minute videos on TikTok.

[@Mennoo_]

This is a very, very pleasant surprise. Thank you soo much for the feature! Absolute privilege to watch you solve it with every step indeed as intended, and thank you for the very kind words! And obviously many thanks to Dorlir as well for his kind words and his recommendation. It's crazy in the sense that I stumbled on the world of special sudoku only a few years ago through youtube algorithm recommending CtC to me. And although I did solve some puzzles, I never actually imagined myself setting one, until at one point I set a puzzle out of nowhere, with a month later releasing this puzzle. In that regard many thanks to people in the discord server as well for all their positive feedback! (unfortunately, this one is also still my latest puzzle, still finding the right inspiration for new ones haha). And btw, title is refering to the german whispers since I'm Dutch myself (and yes i did properly honor my heritage in my first puzzle with including Dutch whispers(-like). PS: I'm aware the pronunciation of my name seems difficult for the english. The "...no" in my name is pronounced similarly to just the word "no"

[@victoriam6569]

Thank you for this interesting puzzle! (and YT algorithms for getting us here)

[@Akatsuki69387]

Hello from across the pond! I kinda assume you're in the Netherlands. I got a friend over there. Stay safe and thanks for the cool puzzle!

[@StephanSpelde]

Deze puzzel was echt een feest! Ik hoop dat je snel weer inspiratie krijgt.

[@BozoTheBear]

Beautiful puzzle, thanks! I enjoyed the solve so much I also watched Simon solve it!

[@mutsel598]

I solved your puzzle a few seconds ago and I really really loved it! Such a great and unique idea! Thank you very much - it's one of my favorite sudokus 🤗

[@Rottenham12345]

Words can’t describe how much I look up to Simon, specifically his eloquence and his brilliance. As I continue my journey through life I can only hope I’ll become half as pleasant as he is. I wish his character wasn’t so rare so I could surround myself with people like him. But for now, I’ll be the change I want to see in the world and hopefully it will inspire others to become kinder, wiser, and a treat to listen to!

[@annek3296]

And I love to see his unabashed delight in proving his way out of a conundrum, and in uncovering the logical structure underlying the puzzle. As a math prof of 40+ years, I know how rare that ability is, to be delighted by logic, Another hold on happiness, somewhat common in the math-science world, but elsewhere, rare.

[@Urutsini]

Simon is a treasure. Beautiful mind and has an unmatched ability to explain everything so effortlessly.

[@skeetermaniax]

Think we found Simon’s burner account 🙂

[@allendracabal0819]

​@@skeetermaniaxSimon doesn't need to praise himself like that.

[@emilywilliams3237]

That is a lovely and fitting tribute to our friend Simon. And, I am sure that with that attitude and goal, you can indeed be a Simonesque person in your world. Studying the dictionary recreationally might be necessary, as well!

[@lomax343]

4:12 I don't know why it's called German City. 4:22 Green lines are German whispers lines. Simon, you legend.

[@studgerbil9081]

Absolute classic Simon finding the 1 in Box 1 the hard way instead of looking at the 7 on the whisper line. I love this channel.

[@StewartyMac]

Making the high numbers blue and the low numbers orange absolutely destroyed my OCD, as I always have that the other way around!!

[@remybeauchamp]

I looked ahead and when I saw it wasn't changed, I stopped the video. Apologies to the constructor.

[@Sandra_and_Nala]

Always happy to see new constructors featured! 😊 congratulations on the debut!

[@maxsilva11]

I like how quickly Simon walked back his wish to be able to hear us shouting about what he's missing 😂

[@penningmeestercgkdelft9159]

It is quite interesting that the puzzle rules assume that the person solving the sudoku is actually located above the low-hanging clouds, as only skyscrapers reaching above the clouds are visible. i.e., Simon's attic is at least half-way a skyscraper with length 6 or higher, and we also have to assume that Maverick is always flying above the clouds. :-)

[@Mennoo_]

I laughed too hard at this xD

[@jimi02468]

That nine! I wanted to scream at the monitor. Simon could have gotten a nine in box six at the very beginning because you can see that one of the German whisper cells in box three must be a four, and either way the next digit on the whisper line would have been a nine in box six.

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished on 63 minutes. This was a really fun variation on skyscraper rules. I quite liked the break-in that utilized this combination of skyscrapers with german whispers. Great Puzzle!

[@Roblilley999]

Having orange as low and blue as high messes with my mind. Amazing construction and solve

[@RoderickEtheria]

Why are high and low in blue and orange respectively? They should be in the other order.

[@annek3296]

Maybe because the high skyscrapers are in the blue sky, while the low buildings are in the orange smoggy-fog?

[@RichSmith77]

It's a clear indication that Simon has barely ever watched a Mark video. I wonder if Mark would be as annoyed as I am to see Simon use blue and orange this way round?

[@nochsta]

He didn’t know which was high and which was low when he coloured them.

[@RichSmith77]

@@nochsta Mark will use colours other than blue and orange until he's established which are high and which are low, at which he point he will recolour low as blue and orange as high. It shouldn't really matter, but this has been Mark's convention for years, and many of us have adopted the convention by following his example. It just feels weird to see Simon pay no heed to this convention. Some channel consistency would be nice. I seem to remember, in the early, days Mark switched his corner pencil marking style to be consistent with Simon's, for channel consistency. I think, in return, Simon could adopt Mark's convention with respect to low being blue and orange being high.

[@lake1525]

Beautiful debut puzzle, congrats!

[@xevira]

""I have 5 minutes before I have to go!" *TURBO MODE ENGAGED!*

[@Baritocity]

I loved this. Idk if I like the column 4&6 logic or figuring out the high/low nature of the bottom rows more. I got ~37 minutes, the widest margin that I've had over Mark or Simon's times on video in quite a while.

[@angec9908]

Simon triggering Alexa will never not be funny. And since I’m watching this video 6 months after posting I can say with great confidence that 1) he never unplugs it and B) he still triggers it on a regular basis 😂

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 43:51 after making a huge mistake in my assumptions near the beginning. This led me to a situation which didn't work, so I had to restart from the beginning which is when I examined my assumptions and found the error. Fun puzzle!

[@annek3296]

Simon didn't twig to the notion that it's called a "German City" because German whispering is going on. And a low-lying cloud is fog. So I (if I were so clever as to have constructed this lovely puzzle) would have called it "a Foggy German City".

[@tremkl]

That would be an option, although “Fog” has a very specific association in variant Sudoku these days.

[@travisbosco8469]

A brilliant puzzle, and another brilliant solve. Thank you Simon.

[@Millenassang]

21:03 Hey! Here can t we say that in column 5 we need a 5 and an orange digit in R1-2 C5 (the 5 is mandatory else we don t have any other orange digit to place on the whispers line at the bottom)? And place a 6 in R7C5? Very nice to see new constructors on the channel!

[@Ardalambdion]

Simon should have a video where Alexa solves the puzzle.

[@Izual_Rebirth]

What a class puzzle. Too complicated for me to solve but i managed to follow all of Simon’s logic from start to finish which i don’t always on these harder puzzles!

[@piarittersporn]

Beautiful puzzle. The start was quite difficult, but after r3 very easy.

[@anaayoung9142]

I must have done this before. Pretty sure about that. I knew all what I need to do in box 2 and box 8 😅 Super nice German Whispers and Skyscraper puzzle! Thanks Simon 😊

[@BlackMorc]

I'm very certain that I've done this one before, I recognized the pattern. It must have been a while though.

[@martinyyt]

171:26 and I am totally chuffed at solving this puzzle. I inched along in several sittings, and I managed to solve without looking at Simon's video. I understood the implications of the skyscraper clues but I had to work hard to solve the bottom three boxes which, for me, were the key to unlocking the whole thing. (Looking ahead on Simon's solve that seems to have been the correct approach.). I don't consider 4x Simon's time half bad at all for this puzzle.

[@ankitramteke5879]

35:03 for me! perfect blend of difficulty and beauty, amazing debut puzzle!

[@allgreatfictions]

I can't tell if it's just the Mandela Effect in action, but I swear you used to say, "... once each in every row, column, and INDEED in every three by three box..." I haven't heard you say the 'Indeed' for ages, and I can't tell if I'm going crazy. For some reason I love that little Indeed. I can't even remember if you said it every time you explained normal sudoku rules, or if it was only when you were explaining the secret. Anyway, just had to get that little craziness out of my head. Thank you for being such a wonderfully calm and relaxing part of my life, Simon. I've needed it the past little while.

[@Mountebanksrus]

Simon, did you know that you can change Alexa's wake word? I changed mine to "Computer". There was talk of letting you use a custom word but I don't know if that capability ever. Materialized. Keep up the good work. Try to watch every one of your videos and really appreciate you and the work that you put into it and the joy that you take. It's quite contagious.

[@stevesebzda570]

Yes, that's of use, Simon. Because up in box2 all four highs were going to be used on those sides and the remaining high in the other. So they're 12345 there in col5 (with two other lows below it ) So, they're 6789 in those two remaining cells in col5. Now it has to be the "6" with a 45 pair in row9 of box8. And the 45s magically are up in col5 of box2. (I say "magically" but the 5 was probably already up there in this quintuple of 1-5) That did good, Simon. 😂 OH, @20:09 😂

[@18Wolves77]

11 minutes in... please tell me he switches the colours... 14 minutes in... he's not going to switch the colours, is he?

[@EmonEconomist]

63:17. I found this a bit of a struggle, but I got there without having to turn to the video for hints, so I'm pretty pleased about that.

[@AhsimNreiziev]

I don't know if this would be at all possible (for various reasons), but might it be worth consideration to put Chain Bear's Skyscrapers animation on the channel somewhere as a separate video (maybe a short?)? It would be very nice if we solvers could easily refer back to it.

[@emilywilliams3237]

I am so behind in watching videos, I hope you will forgive me taking three whole days to finish watching this one! I really wanted to solve the puzzle first, but decided that it would be better to watch the video and have that pleasure and then return to my own solve at some future point. I loved your video, Simon, in every way except your using blue for high and orange for low in that upper long whisper line! You are playing with my head, you who have trained me to think of blue as a cold color and orange as a hot color!! All kidding aside, I loved the video, and will get busy with the puzzle soon. Thank you, Simon!

[@looweeg4229]

The question is... Do you see sudoku grids when you close your eyes in your bed at night? Cause I would.

[@srwapo]

62:58, got the green line at the top pretty quickly, spun my wheels a lot in Box 8. Ended up looking at the video to see that I could reduce the 189 pencil marks I made in r8c4 and r8c6 to 19 pencil marks. Was able to solve it from there.

[@grahamania]

00:31:03 for me. Great puzzle. Loved the extra skyscraper rule! The kind of puzzle you hope KZbin re-recommends a couple of years from now when I've forgotten it, so I can do it again :) Kind Comment.

[@williamparadis3058]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Carol!

[@lhesitante]

"There is no such thing as an 8-9 triple!" - Simon Anthony, January 2024. Hear the rush of puzzle setters constructing a rule set where, in fact, such a thing does exist.

[@ronjohnson6916]

The naked single 6 in R5C9 may mark the first time I've ever spotted one before Simon.

[@Nick-jq5nl]

Wow... 11:44 for me. I think that's the quickest I've ever completed a puzzle relative to Simon (usually I'm slower, sometimes much slower, and/or require hints along the way). I'll have to go back and see if I made a bad assumption somewhere or something.

[@CrankyOtter]

One of the only puzzles where I was able to see the logic before Simon, with the exception of seeing the 2 in the 27 pair in box 8. Granted, he’s also explaining as he goes along, which I am not doing. 😜

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 04:14 Let's Get Cracking: 07:33 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 7x (07:38, 07:44, 07:50, 08:52, 08:54, 10:07, 10:09) Three In the Corner: 2x (42:26, 51:13) You Rotten Thing: 2x (49:03, 49:03) Bobbins: 1x (14:01) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 19x (11:15, 13:20, 14:23, 14:27, 15:17, 19:06, 20:47, 22:23, 23:17, 23:49, 23:49, 30:19, 30:45, 35:39, 39:40, 39:55, 39:55, 39:55, 48:31, 49:21) Beautiful: 10x (12:00, 20:47, 20:47, 30:19, 39:55, 40:56, 40:58, 49:58, 51:16, 51:34) In Fact: 6x (02:56, 16:50, 36:08, 37:08, 40:37, 52:03) Cake!: 6x (02:46, 03:25, 03:30, 03:32, 03:43, 03:56) Sorry: 5x (03:05, 20:16, 27:34, 31:05, 34:03) By Sudoku: 4x (22:12, 34:56, 47:06) Obviously: 4x (02:01, 08:44, 23:15, 37:08) Pencil Mark/mark: 4x (15:56, 25:05, 28:14, 47:20) Brilliant: 3x (00:41, 01:12, 52:00) Bother: 2x (17:52, 37:01) Lovely: 2x (03:23, 45:12) Gorgeous: 2x (51:19, 51:48) Hang On: 2x (15:39, 39:34) Whoopsie: 2x (29:05, 50:51) What Does This Mean?: 2x (10:55, 28:24) Symmetry: 2x (18:10, 27:11) Useless: 1x (20:06) Goodness: 1x (03:43) Apologies: 1x (28:31) Naked Single: 1x (49:26) The Answer is: 1x (09:10) Clever: 1x (26:26) Naughty: 1x (22:50) Bingo: 1x (22:23) Stuck: 1x (02:22) Horrible Feeling: 1x (32:47) Take a Bow: 1x (40:56) Come on Simon: 1x (48:22) Shouting: 1x (34:03) Surely: 1x (41:54) We Can Do Better Than That: 1x (42:43) Wow: 1x (25:02) Next Trick: 1x (43:39) Fabulous: 1x (05:23) Have a Think: 1x (26:37) Nature: 1x (08:56) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Eighty Nine (6 mentions) One (92 mentions) Blue (30 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (32) - Low (29) Even (3) - Odd (0) Lower (4) - Higher (3) Outside (4) - Inside (0) Black (3) - White (0) Column (32) - Row (14) 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!

[@XPDolphin]

Simon should change the wake word on his Echo in the office. I'm sure one of the options shouldn't trigger as often as Alexa.

[@jacobcombs1106]

00:52:45 - 0.4% faster, just 13 seconds between our solve times! This was a fun puzzle.

[@oathboundhero1782]

Hello from Texas!

[@MissKapanadze]

Puzzle ruleset: German whispers and skyscrapers Simon: “I don’t know why it’s called German city” 😂😂😂

[@CrankyOtter]

48:05 can’t be 6/1 because r1c79 are an 89 pair & c9 needs a 2 so the line is 7/2 also the 123 triple in col 3 leaves only 457. Clean up the pencilmarks, use pencilmarks, and it sometimes goes faster…

[@titusadduxas]

1:07:36 - I got the break in nice and quickly but it took me ages to disambiguate the bottom whisper line.

[@psiphiorg]

My time today was 27:09, solver number 4654. Quite a fun puzzle!

[@MichaelPaine]

850 solves where please? I dont know where the puzzles are stored to attempt.

[@ServantOfSatania]

27:42 For me, nothing like a puzzle that splits in two halves

[@greatgreyowl2583]

Will that was the hard way to get the 1 in row 3.

[@RantingCentre]

I didn't realise chainbear was a CTC fan 😄

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

16:27 for me. A stupid mistake slowed me down, but I still enjoyed the puzzle a lot!

[@karlmortenlunna2417]

22:25 for me. Very nice puzzle!

[@Rach881101]

52:09 for me. Amazing puzzle!

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

*Placeholder digits* can be used to simplify your notation and scanning in this version of the puzzle, as well as in that solved by JC Godart (Low clouds in a German City). However, 👉in both cases👈 using this technique properly is tricky❗ As I already explained to JC Godart, you can use it only in columns *4* and *6.* Everywhere else, you need to stick to standard notation... For instance, you cannot draw conclusions on the values of *r3c3/7* and *r7c3/7* based on the adjacent placeholders. I believe you need to train with simpler puzzles before using them successfully here. Always remember that *placeholders* do not remove ambiguity. When you use them, you must never forget that each of them stands for two digits (related by a transformation). They are not a "guess"❗

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Both Siomon and Godart did not use placeholders. They are so skilled that *in this case* they can solve very quickly even without placeholders. I do need to use them because I am much less experienced than them and I get bogged down very easily by intricate notation. However, in the past two years both Mark and Simon solved puzzles with placeholders in five different videos, which I collected in my playlist. Indeed, in this case placeholders are less powerful than usual, because you cannot use them everywhere. *Letters* can also be used for the same purpose, but for me and for most other people they are more difficult to scan and interpret. (I know that some people can deal with letters as easily as with digits, but I am not one of them.)

[@floyo]

27:40 Why not the other way around?

[@wanderlustwarrior]

43:19 for me. That was tough but fair.

[@jasono8783]

A 24:22 for me today! Weird one, had fun.

[@AWanderingSwordsman]

37:39 for me but I did make a mistake and have to check the video to see where I went wrong.

[@peterhowitt3861]

16.00 I didn't agree - or understand that R1C4 or R1C6 had to be a 6 - You could have any digits less than 9 in those cells - C4 could be 1-2-9 - or 3-8-9 and you would comply with only seeing the 3 required cells - as long as 9 is the third cell. As for C6 it could be 5-6-8 and it would still comply - surely....

[@RichSmith77]

I think you overlooked, or forgot, a rule. Due to low clouds, skyscrapers of 5 or lower are not visible.

[@basil8940]

The cake is a lie.

[@warmwestwind]

ayo lyonne 🔥🔥

[@alexridley9947]

German city because of the German whisper!

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

36:34 for me. guessing game.

[@user-kt9vr1wj6y]

47:39 for me nice puzzle

[@ronbalut592]

Dumb question time. Simon puts a 6 in C1R3. Why couldn't it be the 5 with the 6 on the other side of the puzzle? It wouldn't be seen because it would be behind the 9.

[@AndrewMooreMar]

If C1R3 is a 5, the first high skyscrapper seen from that direction is an 8, so there's no way 3 buildings can be seen and fulfill the outside clue.

[@David_K_Booth]

5 and lower are not visible in this particular puzzle, so in that case only the 8 and 9 would be seen from the left and the clue would have to be a 2.

[@ronbalut592]

@@AndrewMooreMar Thanks, I forgot that rule.

[@LednacekZ]

33:44 for me. horrible solve. completely messed it up.

[@robertcousins2274]

21:56 for me

[@zogannstorm6044]

What on earth possessed you to reverse high and low colours!

[@broadwaybrian]

This solve is grotesque! My brain cannot allow orange to be low and blue to be high.

[@andremouss2536]

I don't know why Simon didn't begin with the obvious fact that the three high digits (indicated by the skyscraper clue) on the big horizontal line must be 789 (left to right) since a 6 in box 1 isn't possible.

[@57thorns]

Do you mean the six in r3c1? It is definitely there in the solution.

[@RichSmith77]

The 789 also end up in the order 879 in the solution. I guess it's not so obvious.

[@57thorns]

@@RichSmith77 To top it off Simon filled in those digits quite early in the solve (as much as is possible at that point)

[@Miss_Skooter]

yay first

[@LardoCulo]

Oh this is going to be a funky one 😂 First he missed the obvious 9 in R4C8 and then the colour scheme is switched arrrgh