Amount Of Puzzle Solved In 20 Minutes: 0%

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
We are in another purple patch in the history of sudoku at the moment. Eric Rathbun's The Four Pyramids had enormous shoes to fill after yesterday's astonishing puzzle from fritzdis but those shoes do get filled! This one is just an incredible idea with some breath-taking logic.
Play it at the link below:
app.crackingthecryptic.com/su...
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Clues outside the grid give the sum of the digits along the indicated diagonal. Digits cannot repeat within a cage. Cells separated by a white dot must contain consecutive digits. Cells separated by a black dot contain digits in a 1:2 ratio (ie one digit is double the other). Not all dots are given.
** NEW CONTENT ON PATREON **
Simon's solve of tallcat's Shadow is now available - if you want to try the puzzle (which is a mind-melter) then check it out at this link:
logic-masters.de/Raetselporta...
We've released our December monthly reward - The
Cryptic Scriptures Of The Secret Snake Society - a sudoku hunt featuring nearly 20 puzzles by some of the greatest setters on the planet. Anyone who solves them all by 20th Decmber gets shoutout! Remember that patrons gets access to their own special channel on the CtC Fan Discord server - where you can find hints ;)
/ crackingthecryptic
** NEW GAS PACK IS OUT **
The new GAS pack is out on Steam for PC here:
store.steampowered.com/app/21...
It's already out on Android and App Store. 60 original puzzles by Sam Cappleman-Lynes, Clover and Philip Newman!! Earn party hats and dinosaurs with these brand new puzzles!
We've also released a FREE app full of handmade puzzles to celebrate reaching 500k subscribers - simply download the Cracking The Cryptic app on Android, Steam or App Store and then select the 500k pack. We're streaming a playthrough of this app and you can watch all seven episodes
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(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
▶ SUDOKU PAD - Our New App ◀
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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ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
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[@ericrathbun1779]

CTC, thank you for featuring my puzzle. Simon, great job sticking with it to find the break-in. You did a great job figuring out the logic after that and even found 1 or 2 shortcuts along the way that I hadn't even seen myself.

[@feldegast]

Great puzzle, amazing setting 😀

[@ericrathbun1779]

@@feldegast Thank you!

[@barryspatz1065]

Lovely puzzle! I did the break-in slightly different. More mathy but kind of the other side of things. Combined total of the 4 pyramids + the two main diagonals balancing with the outer perimeter of the grid.

[@qqleq]

This is some next level setting!

[@markbennet9058]

Simon does stuff like that all the time - I sometime muse at the things he misses, but what he sees (so often and so quickly) is something else

[@LornaM2304]

My dad had a stroke a week ago, today when I visited he was sitting up and doing a sudoku! They must have healing powers 😊

[@longwaytotipperary]

That’s wonderful news! 🤗

[@davidrattner9]

Wish a speedy recovery for your dad. Wonderful that he was doing a suduko!! They do have magical powers indeed ,especially this channel and community.

[@amoswittenbergsmusings]

@@davidrattner9 Amen to that.

[@listey]

Great to hear that he's bouncing back quickly! All the best.

[@zendric3]

I know from similar familial experience the fact that he even feels up to doing that is a very good sign! I hope he recovers well, strokes are scary but not the end of the world.

[@tremkl]

Simon: Incredibly excited to prove 5 can’t repeat in gray. 30 seconds later, Simon after proving a 56 pair: No way to know which is 5.

[@RichSmith77]

😂

[@mattwidmer7545]

Says 5 can’t be in grey and then marks it in grey 😂

[@codevii9063]

I know. So incredibly frustrating. But somehow he still solves them.

[@codevii9063]

And the fact that he missed the 5 in box 1 disambiguating the 65 pair in box 3 for ages.

[@Setixir]

​​@@codevii9063 it's easy for an outsider to spot the simple things when the solver is doing all the heavy lifting. It's what I experienced as I got much better. I'll sometimes get stuck in brain dead simple tricks or things I had solved earlier because my head was working or thinking about the other stuff going on but if I'm watching Simon do a break in I never "miss" the obvious stuff.

[@CaveIronMan]

Simon: “i dont want to take up too much of your time” Me when i see a video less than an hour: “dang short video today, what else am i going to do with my day now”

[@andrewnelson2525]

"If I'm not meant to do puzzles like this then I don't know what the point of me is," is now my new favorite CTC quote. One of my better solves on this, immediately saw the break-in and beat Simon's solve time (very rare for me, I'm a plodder), but the diagonals framed by the killer boxes just jumped out at me.

[@rikarddesilva3226]

First time I saw the break in before Simon (I had the 1+2 digits at the 20 minute mark, and I actually finished in 57 minutes - first time beating Simon's time. This is a very lovely puzzle indeed.

[@57thorns]

58:32 Simon really loves his hard deductions, meanwhile the 5 in r4c5 feels very abandoned.

[@57thorns]

And one minute later Simon forgot about the gray already having a 5 in it resolving the 56 pair on the same white dot he has been working on.

[@rossylittle16]

Seeing Simon with blue and orange scrabble bags full of numbers is such a great thing to see, really bringing his logic to the real world :) It made my day to see that, thanks Simon!

[@dalecooke944]

“If I’m not meant to do puzzles like this, I’m not sure what the point of me is”. Such a beautiful comment. Loved the solve. Loved your enthusiasm.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

That comment is both wonderful and sad, isn't it? I mean, solving really hard sudoku and pencil puzzles with aplomb and panache has become part of Simon's identity, certainly -- but do we really believe that the Creator in Her (Zis, Its, Their, His) infinite wisdom created Simon simply for that? Surely the point of Simon is: gregarious friend, intrepid reciter of poetry, devoted father, reader of comments especially when they're kind, ....

[@keyaanmatin4804]

Keep the long videos coming. I can't get enough of them.

[@markbennet9058]

What a brilliant break-in - just beautifully conceived by the setter and patiently uncovered by Simon

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Well, the intended break-in was brilliant, but much simpler than Simon's intricate long way around. See *Leonhard Euler's* comment.

[@ericrathbun1779]

Thank you, Mark. Glad you liked the puzzle.

[@markbennet9058]

@@Paolo_De_Leva True - and these SET break-ins can often be seen in different ways (Gliperal's X puzzle has some comments about different ways of seeing it that people eventually realise amount to the same). I think Simon's more elaborate break-in got more information up front. I didn't solve the problem myself (I do solve some of them, but too busy just at the moment), but the easier method had occurred to me to try,

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 07:11 Let's Get Cracking: 08:36 Simon's time: 57m13s Puzzle Solved: 1:05:49 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Bobbins: 11x (01:27, 01:56, 02:20, 03:49, 06:31, 41:04, 46:43, 46:43, 46:43, 51:25, 51:25) Knowledge Bomb: 4x (03:44, 09:16, 34:19, 41:16) The Secret: 3x (02:57, 06:02, 29:41) Maverick: 2x (22:25, 22:27) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Sorry: 11x (05:27, 12:30, 20:26, 20:26, 22:23, 44:10, 44:10, 57:31, 1:05:35, 1:06:57, 1:06:59) Obviously: 10x (02:20, 04:51, 14:39, 18:21, 23:25, 32:15, 34:26, 38:46, 53:31, 1:05:16) Ah: 10x (24:44, 36:49, 40:32, 43:55, 47:56, 49:39, 50:55, 51:28, 57:21, 57:21) By Sudoku: 9x (17:14, 36:59, 39:32, 59:21, 1:01:53, 1:02:08, 1:02:16, 1:03:37, 1:05:33) Scrabble Tiles: 9x (14:44, 14:52, 14:54, 15:58, 16:24, 22:38, 22:43, 22:50, 26:04) Wow: 8x (10:05, 27:22, 32:01, 59:33, 1:04:09, 1:04:39, 1:04:41, 1:04:41) Beautiful: 6x (03:35, 41:31, 49:47, 49:50, 51:15, 1:06:25) In Fact: 6x (06:55, 09:09, 14:24, 15:52, 17:02, 41:44) Hang On: 5x (40:35, 40:42, 42:54, 54:28, 58:02) Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (43:16, 43:39, 54:29, 54:52, 59:09) Clever: 4x (02:18, 58:14, 1:01:02, 1:06:44) What a Puzzle: 3x (37:12, 1:06:50) Lovely: 3x (03:46, 05:00, 49:57) Unbelievable: 3x (51:32, 1:04:49, 1:04:54) Goodness: 2x (03:15, 33:17) Stuck: 2x (1:03:04, 1:03:11) Horrible Feeling: 2x (33:03, 46:28) Brilliant: 2x (05:44, 05:54) Shouting: 2x (01:27, 45:30) We Can Do Better Than That: 2x (39:27, 54:03) What Does This Mean?: 2x (12:22, 17:57) Cake!: 2x (04:53, 05:19) Naked Single: 1x (1:03:57) The Answer is: 1x (11:22) Insane: 1x (19:34) Extraordinary: 1x (33:19) Astonishing: 1x (01:38) Gorgeous: 1x (49:59) Take a Bow: 1x (1:06:08) Of All Things: 1x (1:04:27) Mea Culpa: 1x (05:36) Losing my Marbles: 1x (01:44) Stunning: 1x (1:06:04) Pregnant pause: 1x (39:40) Snake: 1x (06:02) Next Trick: 1x (44:46) That's Huge: 1x (1:03:24) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Sixteen (10 mentions) One (93 mentions) Blue (55 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (4) - High (0) Even (11) - Odd (1) Lower (3) - Higher (0) Outside (3) - Inside (0) White (19) - Black (6) Row (13) - Column (10) 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!

[@mirjanbouma]

Bobbins is my favourite, I'm excited to get to see them (commenting on the start, I always look for your comment 😊)

[@mirjanbouma]

01:27 01:56 02:20 03:49 and 06:31 are false positives, he says "Bobby", not "bobbins". 🙂

[@leonhardeuler675]

So I got the break-in a little faster than Simon, although I did the rest in about 3 times as much time. I think the easiest break-in is to say that if you count the border of of the sudoku and double count the corners then you would have 4 sets of 1-9, adding to 180. Then you add the 4 cages to that set and your total is now 360. Then add in the positive diagonal (adding 32 our total is at 392) which means we're now triple counting the bottom left and top right corner. Then add the negative diagonal (total = 392 + 26 = 418), we are now triple counting all corners of the grid and double counting the centre cell. Finally remove one copy of every single cell in the grid (total = 418 - 9*45 = 13) leaving the corners double counted and a single copy of the centre square summing to 13. Since the minimum that the corners can be is two 1s and two 2s and those are double counted, that only leaves a 1 for the centre square and 1-2 pairs for the corners. The top left kropki dot sorts the parity.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

That's exactly what happened to me as well. I am sure that's how the break-in is supposed to be performed. I did it in 5-10 minutes. It was easy to see that the main diagonals never overlap with the cages, forming with them a shape that fills most of the grid.... Simon took the longest and hardest possible way around this time. But he was way faster than me in the second part of the solve.

[@Coyotek4]

This was how I broke into this puzzle.

[@iabervon]

I think Simon benefited later from having also proved that the 12 non-corner, non-center cells on the diagonals are 112223456789, so he got something extra out of doing it a harder way.

[@leonhardeuler675]

@@iabervon Yh, but it took him half an hour. And I solved it without doing the hard work. I'm pretty sure the way I did it is the intended route.

[@RichSmith77]

I did it this way. Rare that I find a break-in faster than Simon. Unheard of that I find one twenty minutes faster. I never know what to make of Simon's certainty that his "incredible break-in" has to be the intended break-in, and that's what makes the puzzle such a masterpiece. Yet I solved it in a completely different way. So does this make the puzzle less of a masterpiece? (I still greatly enjoyed the puzzle. No slight on the creator intended.)

[@bobblebardsley]

Best intro ever, thank you for making my whole year 😎 (And I was VERY pleased with college dons/knowledge bombs, I even checked last week's crossword solve to make sure I said the right university...) Hope I gave you some smiles this morning, it's the least I can do to say thanks for all the amazing content 👍

[@longwaytotipperary]

Your adaptation is phenomenal! Hearing Simon sing a few of the verses is icing on the cake (both chocolate, of course!) 😍

[@bobblebardsley]

@@longwaytotipperary Although my sense of rhythm is at times a little nominal, I'm relatively adequate at lyrics quite phenomenal 😅 Thank you, and I agree, I really was not expecting an actual performance of it!

[@G.Aaron.Fisher]

Fantastic work on those lyrics. As much as Simon is loath to compliment himself, it all seems quite fitting in the context of this particular song. The original of course, is all about needlessly aggrandizing a modest set of credentials, and obfuscating their mundanity through over-the-top linguistic flourishes. In other words, any comparison to Major-General Stanley is not so flattering as to be beyond what his sense of humility might endure.

[@bobblebardsley]

At 56:01 I was thinking "please solve it so people hear my lyrics" despite the fact that the video is published and clearly it was a successful solve 😅 What an amazing puzzle to be associated with, this will make me happy for a long long time.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@G.Aaron.Fisher this channel seems to attract vocabulary adroit individuals! One of the many reasons I love this channel!

[@MaxGormley]

This is arguably my favourite puzzle… despite being immensely difficult, the logic throughout justifies the difficulty fantastically.

[@ericrathbun1779]

Thank you, Max. Glad you liked the puzzle.

[@ruthphelps1440]

That red 5 in Box 1 which fixes the white dot pair in Box 3 sat there for so long, I began to feel sorry for it.

[@bradleyreed8876]

Simon looked at it so many times, yet it seemed invisible to him. 🙂

[@craftyraf]

Simon's break-in is astonishing to witness. My simple brain was thinking this: all cells + 2*(four corners) + middle cell = four pyramids + two diagonals + row 1 + row 8 + column 1 + column 8. Thus 9*45 + 2*(four corners) + middle cell = 4*45 + 26 + 32 + 4*45. Thus 2*(four corner cells) + middle cell = 13. That's only possible when the middle cell is 1, and the corners are 1-2 pairs.

[@williamparadis3058]

"otiose" is exactly the kind of vocabulary I come to this channel for.

[@alantaylor846]

Oh that "puzzle-solving gentleman" is just brilliant!

[@bobblebardsley]

If you mean the lyrics, thanks! If you mean Simon, I agree 😁

[@kathyjohnson2043]

I'm going to have to compare views on long vs. Short videos. I enjoy both, but the longer videos are usually my favorites. Great Lyrics for 'The Puzzle Solving Gentleman.' Please post it on the community tab.

[@bobblebardsley]

Thank you! 😄

[@callindrill]

I'm loving this string of long and beautiful puzzles! Keep 'em coming!

[@shaunholt]

I like these videos because 99% of the time, I'm astounded by their genius, while occasionally, I see something they don't, usually a simple Sudoku restriction, and it makes me feel one step ahead of geniuses.

[@Rubrickety]

It's been quite a while since Simon has done a puzzle with an insane SET break-in on the channel. Glad I gave up on this one after a modest amount of time! I would never ever have gotten there.

[@marcobucceri8530]

Outstanding! What a superb puzzle and solution. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

[@mashkasart]

everytime i see a long video uploaded by CtC i do a little cheerful dance

[@HCR2_Actuary]

This is the first puzzle from a video that is over an hour that I have been able to solve!! I’m so excited! Clearly watching this channel has been wonderful for helping me improve my skills.

[@Sam_weiqi]

41:24 Very enjoyable again. Loving this difficulty level.

[@haydenwolf935]

Probably my favourite puzzle I've seen on the channel, mindbreaking!

[@Bonehead777]

I am just blown away with how someone can come up with a break in idea like that. Brilliant

[@davidstorrs]

That was amazing. Eric, you are ridiculously brilliant for setting that, and Simon is equally brilliant for solving it. Kudos to both of you!

[@dmdeemer]

32:57 for me, which may be my best time ever relative to Simon's. Very enjoyable puzzle. I liked how the white dots became useful at just the right times. EDIT 2: Now I see my method is already mentioned in the comments, but since it was Leonhard Euler, at least I'm in good company. EDIT: My break-in used different sets (and I saw it in just under 4 minutes): Add rows 1 and 9 and columns 1 and 9 for 4 sets of 9, add in the 4 pyramids to get to 8 sets of 9, i.e. 360. Add in both diagonals for 58 more and we're at 418. But this is the whole grid except the corners are tripled and the center cell is doubled. So subtract out the whole grid (405) and you are left with the center cell plus double the corners is 13, which forces them to be 1s and 2s.

[@ericrathbun1779]

That's a great solve time dmdeemer. ~Eric (puzzle creator)

[@happydommo]

Loving the fact that I managed to solve this. Something I clearly would never have been able to do without having previously watched so many CTC videos.... Merry Xmas Simon & Mark... I went straight to the cages and the edges being 8 sets of 1-9 plus a repeat for the 4 corners...

[@mkwilson1394]

Thank you so much for this one, what a treat!

[@crookedspin]

I love the monstrously long videos! Great to wind down at the end of the day. Impressive to see the hard earned progress.

[@LuckyLuke79a]

I have to admit: your break-in with set theory was mental. Such creativity!

[@ericrathbun1779]

LuckyLuke79a, thank you. Glad you liked it. ~Eric

[@kimh6979]

What a treat to hear Simon sing and terrific lyrics 😮

[@bobblebardsley]

Thank you 😀

[@BleedinBlue20]

That was an incredible break-in. I think I tried 3 or 4 more set variations then Simon tried before I got it. After the break-in, the rest wasn't difficult, but the logic for each step was awesome. I didn't even take into account that the blue had to contain all the digits 1-9 after the break-in.

[@th.nd.r]

LOVE THE SONG OH MY GOODNESS!! I also love how I heard the melody a bit when you said “Cryptic Scriptures of the Secret Snake Society” lol. Incredible setting and solving, what a run we’ve been on!!

[@joepohlen1662]

Well done, Eric! A true masterpiece

[@ericrathbun1779]

Thank you, Joe. Glad you liked it. ~Eric

[@georgewhyte7096]

An extraordinarily good puzzle from Eric, well set sir. As Simon summised I found the break-in easy compared to the rest of the puzzle, but boy was that break-in beautiful from a SET perspective. I think this also deserves a place in volume 2 of the greatest hits.

[@ericrathbun1779]

Thank you, George. Glad you liked the puzzle. ~Eric

[@knightry]

I'm not sure if you saw my comment yesterday Simon, but I really do appreciate you putting the puzzle link first. I hope you're able to continue that down the road!

[@barrydavies2977]

Loved the puzzle solving gentleman. Some people are so clever.

[@bobblebardsley]

Thank you 😊

[@maxentius681]

I wracked my mind on this puzzle for about 30-35 minutes before tossing in the towel. What an absolutely brutal break in.

[@Mn0ty]

Really glad I got the break in by myself. Really beautiful.

[@thenatundi9009]

Wow... the way you employed the break-in set logic throughout the puzzle was just amazing! I totally left my version of the set logic behind once I got the corner digits but dang it was so much more pleasing seeing it done this way!

[@bradleyreed8876]

Another great puzzle! Thanks!

[@crystalgehrt8861]

I loved the break in on this, but also kudos for the amazing twisty logic that bent and wound its way through the rest of the puzzle. Brilliant setting. The quality of sudokus coming out these days is, in my opinion, very much due to CTC, so kudos to CTC as well.

[@ericrathbun1779]

Crystal, glad you liked the puzzle. ~Eric (puzzle creator)

[@MaxGormley]

You guys really need to start reminding viewers to like the video at the end; I often have to go back through and like them days later because I forget

[@MaxGormley]

Obviously that’s on me, but you would likely see an increase in likes (and there’s no shame in asking, all content creators do it)

[@CoenBijpost]

“If I’m not meant to be doing these types of puzzles, I’m not sure what the point of me is” 😂 God has surely made you for sudoku and sudoku for you, Simon ❤

[@mtmcdougall7097]

One thing that I spotted that Simon missed was at about 43:00 was that on the 21 line, putting a 5 in r4c9 meant that the other numbers on the line would need to be minimized, making r1c6 another 5, which would rule out 5 from being placed anywhere in box 3, it's not a huge breakthrough, but it did make spotting some other things a bit quicker.

[@Rach881101]

42:45 for me. Actually saw the break-in fairly quickly. Beautiful puzzle!

[@prexzan]

Ahh, I was so close to figuring it out! But could not make the jump to the reduced phistimafel set + another set... I was excited to find the weird phistimsfel bit, knew I was heading the right way but couldn't make it happen. Satisfying solve, amazing construction. Well fine Simon and Eric

[@emilywilliams3237]

Just stepping for a moment to comment on the parody of Modern Major Gentleman - Totally hilarious and perfect. ONLY because of holiday preparations I am not able to watch the longer videos in their entirety at this moment. But I will catch up on the videos before too long. So don't take this as any general comment on longer videos. Always a fan. No worries. Keep up the good work. Now back to cookie baking for me ...

[@davidrattner9]

What kind of cookies are you baking?

[@emilywilliams3237]

@@davidrattner9 an old family favorite called "oat cakes" which are basically shortbread cookies with oatmeal in them. Nice crunchy texture with the nutty flavor contributed by the oatmeal. And so hard to stop eating ...

[@cathybryant5119]

@@emilywilliams3237 Yum. A combo of my 2 favorite cookies. 🍪🧑‍🍳🎄

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Definitely the time of year for cookies! I woke up the other day with a craving for chocolate peppermint, so I think I'm going to make brownies with peppermint candy bits this afternoon. It's cold and rainy here so putting on the oven and then brewing a bit of tea seems like just the right idea.

[@emilywilliams3237]

@@Anne_Mahoney What time shall I be over? 😊

[@DitDede]

Wow! Brilliant puzzle, brilliant setter and brilliant solver. The observation that the diagonals need to have all digits once except 1&2 three times each was extremely useful. Thanks!

[@DitDede]

For example, at 51:53, where would 3 be on the diagonals? It has to be in box 3, meaning R3C8 is 4, using the degree of freedom on the 21-diagonal.

[@Coyotek4]

29:33 ... I caught the math-y break-in fairly quickly, and I was able to finish this faster than I expected (upon viewing the video length) Nice puzzle!

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Simon took the longest and hardest possible way around for the break-in.

[@TehBos]

A slightly simpler break-in: 4x 45 (cages) + 26 + 32 (diagonals) + 45 * 4 (edges) = 418. 45 * 9 (all digits in the grid) = 405. Therefore the overcounting (2x corners + 1x middle) = 13. And that can only be done by minimizing the corners and middle.

[@RichSmith77]

"slightly" might be underselling it. 🙂. Felt like the intended break-in.

[@jimmahT]

Amazing solve, Simon. Take a bow yourself!

[@jaega4247]

One of the most confusing classes with professor Simon, but still a brilliant break-in to an equally brilliant puzzle!

[@yichen6313]

Pretty neat! I love the initial break in and the tip-to-side logic. The puzzle actually guides you through the diagonal clues and it flows naturally. Quite happy with my time (23:45) :D

[@yichen6313]

. . . === spoiler ahead, if you want to play the puzzle look away === My break in was simpler than Simon's. Add up R1, R9, C1, R9, pyramid x4, and the two diagonal, and you get the whole grid filled up with corners counted 3x and middle counted 2x. Then we subtract the full 9x9 grid once (45 * 9), and we get 13. The minimal total in the corners are 1,2,1,2 which each get counted twice and add up to 12, and then the center has to be 1.

[@yichen6313]

Hmm I didn't use the "diagonals have to contain digits of 1-9 plus two ones and two twos" at all

[@TheClawNinja]

Phenomenal puzzle. Not much else to say. I can't solve these difficulty level puzzles, but I enjoy the hell out of learning from them.

[@DaidsHole]

Very happy with that, may have taken me 69:01 but I didn't have any points where I was clueless to look anywhere ahead of me and needed to get inspiration of what part of the puzzle to stare at as I often do in these longer puzzles. Quite happy with the break-in as well though I did fail twice trying to do it in my head before realising I needed notes! Very beautiful!

[@timdunkley9173]

Just brilliant. Thank you. A tad over three hours for me.

[@MomDoc99]

Simon and Mark are brilliant solvers, but they could often cut their solve time significantly by making sure they scan every row, column, and box carefully every time they place a digit. For example, the 5 and 6 in column 9 could have been disambiguated 15-20 minutes earlier when the 5 was placed in R3C2. And the 5 and 6 in column 9 were the key that triggered the immediate finding of a lot of other digits.

[@smahoney1212]

Yes, but they focus more on the more advanced logic, and may lose the mental model of the puzzle if they moved into the more mechanical detailed scanning.

[@markp7262]

43:09 finish. My break-in was slightly different than Simon's but used the same concepts. I started by coloring the cages green, the diagonals green, and boxes 2/4/5/6/8 purple. After eliminations, this left me with the exterior corners in boxes 1/3/7/9, as well as the interior 4-square in each of those boxes, plus the center cell, in green. It left the exterior 3 cells of boxes 2/4/6/8 in purple. At this time, the greens total 13 more than the purples. To keep things even, I added a purple and a green to all four corner cells, giving them double green plus purple. Now you have a modified Phisto ring with some extra cells. Removing the Phisto ring (all of the purple cells, plus all of the green cells in the four-squares) leaves double green in each corner, plus the center cell. Since green is 13 more than purple, and purple is zero, green must add up to 13. Since each corner cell is doubled, that means 1-2 pairs in the corners and a 1 in the center cell. I didn't even consider using the diagonals as a set of 1-9 plus extra corners. Fortunately I didn't need them. Excellent puzzle!

[@Swisswavey]

39 minutes for me, fun puzzle, I really enjoyed it.

[@andrewpalmer5189]

My break in was quite different. I added the total of the long diagonals (accounting for the centre cell being counted twice) to the total of the four cages and worked out the figures only worked with 1s and 2s in the corners and a 1 in the centre cell. Great puzzle. Loved it.

[@-a5624]

What a great puzzle!

[@ericrathbun1779]

Glad you liked it. ~Eric (puzzle creator)

[@dkamm65]

The deduction you made at around 54:45 placing the 4 in box 3 could have been found a different and arguably more beautiful way as soon as you placed the 3 in box 5. The grey cells must contain exactly one each of the digits 3-9, and placing that three meant the only place in the grey cells to put a 3 was in box 3.

[@mitchelcharette8211]

So glad he noticed there can't be another 5 in grey and then proceeds to pencil in a 56 pair into grey haha

[@firesandflowers]

28:50 "I do know something interesting I didn't know before" ...something about the way you said that made me think of the song "Something There" from Beauty and the Beast, and now I'm going to have Paige O'Hara & Angela Lansbury in my head all day!

[@Zan_Damascus]

I found the center and corner digits in what I think was a much easier and more understandable way. If you highlight every cell not in a cage, you know they must add to 225 (405 - 180). If you add rows 1 and 9, columns 1 and 9, and both main diagonals, you get 238 with the corners counted 3 times, and the center counted 2 times. 238 - 225 = 13, with the corners counting double. The minimum you can set those cells is 6 in the corners (1 - 2 pairs), times 2, plus 1 in the center for 13.

[@zackcruise]

what a great puzzle!

[@Thurhame]

This was a toughie! Took me several days to solve, but I did ultimately manage to complete it without help!

[@igortristao3102]

unbelievable deduction simon wow

[@alienrenders]

36:44 for me. Start was a bit obvious. Took some time to figure out the higher digits. Had to keep revisiting the little killer clues to move forward. Nice puzzle. Watching Mark do irregular sudoku helped me in this one with the rule of remainders. Mark uses that technique every chance he gets. edit: Just finished watching the video. I didn't even realize the gray area is another 9 digit area with two extra 1's and 2's. You don't need it to solve this, but nice observation.

[@r3ckl3ss66]

I love watching you do this while refusing to do sudoku

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Intriguing pair of puzzles last night. Both this one and Mark's puzzle had four 9-cell extra regions, each with 6 cells in a single box and 3 outside -- so the 3 outside cells matched the 3 remaining non-extra-region cells in the relevant box. But one puzzle was Genuinely Approachable (tm) and the other was quite hard: neat to see how the same idea can be implemented in such different ways.

[@slem81]

Another way to put the breakin is that Orange + Blue = 58, but also that blue is 45 (plus the double counted digit in the middle) more than orange. The minimum orange can be is 6, which makes 51 for blue adding to 57, making the middle double counted digit a 1 to make the difference between 57 and 58.

[@jairnrose]

You could come out with an 18 hour solve and I'd still watch it

[@Robert_H.]

10:55 Pyramid logic 21:42 Make smart use of Set-Theory 27:22 Let M be the middle cell, X the sum of all orange cells and Y the sum of all blue cells: (I) X + 45 = Y (II) 26 + 32 - M = X + Y => 58 - M = 2X + 45 => 2X + M = 13 Thus it follows for (X,M): (2,9), (3,7), (4,5), (5,3) or (6,1). Since obviously X ≥ Min(X) = 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 6, it follows immediately X = 6, M = 1. 34:55 First Steps

[@gingerscholar152]

Rathbun straightaway took away the ability of a three-in-the-corner

[@ericrathbun1779]

Ha ha. No three-in-the-corner this time. ~Eric (puzzle creator)

[@francoisduez601]

53:00 I could have been faster if I had been more diligent with the break-in, but I eventually saw my -silly- mistake so I am glad I managed to finish at all, it must still be one of my best solve 😊

[@Novellous210]

I wouldn't care if Simon couldn't solve the puzzle I'd still wanna see it

[@bobblebardsley]

Every time I hear "pyramid tips" it makes me want a cup of PG tea.

[@FF_Fanatic]

At 38:20, it hadn't yet been proven that box 1 did indeed contain a 4/5 pair, so the 8 could potentially go into r2c3. Fortunately, the 4/5 pair was proven as a required minimum shortly after.

[@geoff544]

Yes, it couldn't have been an 8 in r2c3 as it would break the 16 little killer but I agree he mistook his own pecil-marked minima for actual pencil marks.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

21:04 for me. That felt quite approachable for a 5 star puzzle. I mean, it wasn't easy, but it wasn't monstrously hard either. I loved the solve path anyways, very nice puzzle!!

[@MrBileDuct]

Wow what a genius alternate to 'Modern Major General'. Well done Bobbie Bardsley! I can't wait for someone to send Simon a video or sound track of it being sung. Mr Go Compare perhaps???

[@bobblebardsley]

Thanks! I'd give it a go myself but I'm not much of a vocalist 😅

[@adrianhead6272]

The whole grid totals 9*45 (405), the four "pyramids" total 180, the two diagonals total 58 (counting the centre twice), and the perimeter total 180 (counting the corners thrice [twice for the perimeter, once more for the diagonals]) - >>> 405-180-180-58 = -13 (a shortfall comprised of the nine cells counted more than once) therefore the four corners (doubled) and the centre must total 13 (which has only one solution)... the kropke dots force the solve. Completed in 28m57s.

[@luckass90]

My break-in was highlighting the full grid, deleting the cages and border rows/colums (45 difference with a deficit on corner cells). Then removing diagonals so this gives a deficit of 45-58=-13 counting corner cells twice and central cell once).

[@bertbergers9171]

Up untill 1:02:53 into the video Simon ignores "red 5" looking at the 5,6 pair in box 3. Wondering how long it will take after this. Since it does resolve row 3 completely. Love the solve so far though, patient break-in and nice logic throughout. Edit lol, a mere mesely 30 seconds :P Edit 2: please keep doing puzzles like this!

[@bezowee]

That dark green is beautiful

[@Nevir202]

1:04:14 Actually he gets this pretty quickly afterwards by other means, but as soon as he gets this 3,6 pair, it resolves itself, as it means you need a 6 in r6,c5 because of the pyramid region rules. That of course sees the pair and resolves it.

[@Iconat20]

"If I'm not meant to do puzzles like this then I don't know what the point of me is" that's deep

[@ukdavepianoman]

The break-in was very easy to spot for me - 4 boxes plus rows 1&9 and columns 1&9 plus the two diagonals (being careful about double counted digits). This immediately restricts four corner + central cells. Then the puzzle gets much more difficult!

[@HikingEngineer]

this was of the very few times i got the break in much quicker. I set up some math equations with the perimeter of the grid, the corners, the cells not in the perimeter (which include the 4 cages), and the diagonal totals, and the center cell -- and when you manipulate these equations you find the the middle cell has to be a 1 and the corner cells can only add up to 6, i.e. are 12 pairs. It would've been very tough without pen and paper

[@bobblebardsley]

1:05:16 I think at this point the 2 and 1 in box 4 are fixed regardless of the white dot. Not sure if it played a part earlier (probably) but that's pretty interesting.

[@ericrathbun1779]

Simon, took a slightly different route in the middle. It looks like the puzzle could have been solved without that white dot. ~Eric (puzzle creator)

[@heliocruz416]

The sets Simon constructed actually give 2 equations (b=Blue, o=Orange,x=central cell): b-o=45 b+o=58-x Therefore: 2o=13-x The only way this equation is fulfilled is if o = 6 (1,2 pairs) and x=1

[@mrjohnnypinkpants]

This is probably the hardest one i've managed to complete. I found the break-in by colouring the cages, and rows 1 and 9 and column 1 and 9 rather than using any phistomefel logic.

[@qazwiz]

44 minute mark and I'm agog that Simon still has blue (now grey) #1 pencil marks) he started his sets talk "proving" the ring "wouldn't help" BUT SOON AS HE PROVES 1, 1, 2, 2 ON THE "x" i saw where go the 1's and 2's on the ring i want to reach into the video and SCREAM "the ring, the ring"

[@qazwiz]

please: Simon? how faster would it have been if you had used the P-ring to deduce that third one on the X had to be r2c2 because r3c3 didn't leave a third 1 in the 4-2x2's of the ring

[@mstmar]

my break in was similar but missed out on the the 1-9 in blue that simon got. mine was a bit easier to get my head around tho. spoilers: if you put the 4 pyramids + 4 edges(first and last rows and cols) + 2 diagonals into blue bag, you get the whole grid + a few double/triple counted cells. put the whole grid into orange. blue is 8*45+26+32 which is 13 more than orange bag = 9*45. cancel out all the commons and you're left with 2x each corner + center = 13. no trial needed on center

[@coreydixon9713]

Got the break in, but had a hell of a time sorting out that negative diagonal on the back end. 😅. Finally got it this morning after pausing for the night.

[@coreydixon9713]

Had a different path to the break-in though: 4 pyramids and two main diagonals with a purple flash in the middle cell = 238 - purple. Entire grid (405) - 238 = 167 (the remaining cells). 167/4=41.75 (the average of each “side”). 41.75 leaves only 1’s and 2’s as options to reach 45 on each side. Checked “1” in the central cell to see if the diagonal totals would work and it was clearly the only option.