Exploring the Foggy Sudoku Prison!!

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
Dorlir returns today with another gorgeous and challenging Fog Of War puzzle called Closed Prison. As one might expect, this one is chockful of clever and innovative logic. Simon definitely has his hands full with this one!
Play the puzzle at the following link:
sudokupad.app/jB7njtNrM6
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits in a cage don't repeat and sum to the given clue in the top left corner of the cage (the clue is always given and must be located in the leftmost cell of the uppermost row of the cage.) Digits separated by a white dot are consecutive digits. Additionally the grid is partially covered in fog. Placing correct digits will clear the fog from surrounding cells, possibly revealing more clues.
** OUR DECEMBER COMPETITION & SIMON'S BONUS SOLVES **
100 4x4 Snackdoku pack from the Skunkworks was released two days ago as our monthly reward.
Simon's solve of Broken Secrets by TotallyNormalCat was also released yesterday. You can try that puzzle here: sudokupad.app/jMg44R2tpb
Join us on Patreon (for as little as $2):
/ crackingthecryptic
** KICKSTARTER - FOG OF WAR **
You can still order a copy of our perfect sudoku Christmas present!
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/...
** NEW GAS PACK: VOLUME 2 IS OUT **
The new GAS (Genuinely Approachable Sudoku) pack is out on all platforms here:
play.google.com/store/apps/de...
store.steampowered.com/app/23...
apps.apple.com/us/app/crackin...
60 original puzzles by Clover, Bill Murphy and Philip Newman!! Earn party hats and dinosaurs with these brand new puzzles!
▶ SUDOKU PAD - Use Our Software For Your Puzzles ◀
You can input classic sudoku puzzles into our software and help support Sven, the programmer responsible for the wonderful user interface we all use to play these puzzles everyday. The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us:
iOS:
apps.apple.com/us/app/svens-s...
Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/17...
Android:
play.google.com/store/apps/de...
ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
▶ Contents Of This Video ◀
0:00 Theme music & puzzle Intro
1:40 Check Out The Kickstarter
2:16 Please subscribe if you Like us!
2:54 Rules
4:45 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking
▶ Contact Us ◀
Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic
email: [e-mail]
Our PO Box address:
Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
Box 102
56 Gloucester Road
London
SW7 4UB
(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
**************************************************************
▶ CTC FAN DISCORD SERVER◀
/ discord
▶ OUR BACK CATALOGUE - ALL CATEGORISED WITH LINKS!◀
tinyurl.com/CTCCatalogue
▶ NEW CRACKING THE CRYPTIC MERCHANDISE◀
teespring.com/en-GB/stores/cr...
▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀
[e-mail]
▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: @crypticcracking
Instagram (for how to solve daily clues from The Times): crackingthe...
We also post the Wordle In A Minute videos on TikTok.

[@wiler5002]

Sometimes I wonder if Simon and I could be an elite solving sudoku pair. He would do 99% of the solving, and occasionally I would remind him of something he said earlier in the solve.

[@benhawkermusic]

👏

[@coherentramblings7326]

That was basically the dynamic between him and Mark when they solved a puzzle together. Simon would make a deduction, pencilmark a part of the grid, then he’d find something interesting in another part of the grid, but Mark would say “No, don’t move on yet. There’s still more you can do here”

[@daleomiller]

I’ve thought the same about myself. Or tell him to look at his pencil marks.

[@bluerizlagirl]

That's an old hiking tip, that is. Carry a Sudoku book in your backpack. If you get lost, just sit down on the nearest tree stump and start solving a puzzle. Someone is bound to appear and tell you "Four in box 3 has got to be in row 2, so that's a six" or something, and you can ask them for help .....

[@studgerbil9081]

@@bluerizlagirl Redford and Nolte could've used that trick in "A Walk in the Woods". Clever idea.

[@dorlirahmeti7576]

Thank you for doing one of my puzzles once again. I was hoping you do this puzzle because I thought it had some really unique ideas with cages and fog which weren't used before. And it seemed you liked the puzzle very much. So thanks again and take care, really satisfied how you solved the puzzle.

[@derekjc777]

I’ve done a few of these FOW puzzles and this by far has been my favourite, and probably the hardest. The simple constraint that the cage total is in the top row creates an elegant break in, aided and abetted by one cleared empty cell. Genius!

[@user-ox9oo6wp6d]

What I love about this puzzle is that the last piece of fog revealed is the total of the first cage, which made me feel that I have completed a whole journey of fog revealing.

[@stangerrits6712]

True, but for everyone who knows the secret, that cage total is no surprise anymore 😊

[@robert-skibelo]

Yes, that was really nice. Simon didn't notice it, of course.

[@joshrobbins4853]

Sooooo many colors! Once you uncovered most of the cages, clean up those colors and get rid of all the flashes. Once you get rid of the fog and can see most of the cages, undo the colors and then just color individual cells. Makes it so much easier to see things. Great puzzle

[@janerobson2297]

I love the fact that Simon uses parity and cage logic to prove things which simple Sudoku could prove! Every time!

[@Kversten9]

I totally agree that this channel truly is is "an oasis of calm in a strange world"! 🧘‍♂

[@longwaytotipperary]

Amen!

[@penningmeestercgkdelft9159]

Yes, indeed!

[@stevieinselby]

In fog puzzles, it can be a huge help to use the line tool to draw a line through cells that form part of a cage, rather than colouring, because it allows you to see more easily where the fog remains. It also frees up colouring for pairing up matching cells (top tip: use a white flash on all coloured cells and then it is obvious whether it is still fogged up or not). But the *absolute* top tip for colouring in *any* puzzle is to REMOVE THE COLOURING WHEN YOU NO LONGER NEED IT.

[@debrawilden1971]

Yes, I was going to post that very thing-remove the coloring when it's no longer needed. It then clears the clutter, as well as being able to use that color again if needed. But, in all my watching here, for many years, I think Simon really likes colors, even to the degree that he will fully color the grid as opposed to removing it. And he will use as many colors as he can, where I will use as few. Recently I've been using the circle feature of the pen tool to indicate that certain digits are the same. But that gets too complicated if a lot of cells need to be identified, or two cells would need a circle.

[@JakeRowland337]

I always feel better about giving up halfway through a puzzl when Simon gets stuck at the same spot for 20 minutes.

[@Zardoz37]

It's very gratifying to watch Simon get stuck and flounder at exactly the same point in the puzzle where I got stuck and floundered.

[@elmaminsk5411]

I can give you a piece of advise: remove colors once you don't need them. For example, you could remove pink, orange at the moment the entire strip was revealed or light green once you got '4' in there and have corresponding labeling

[@Tsunami14]

10 minutes in: This puzzle seems approachable. How did it get 4 stars? 30 minutes in: Oh...

[@BryanLu0]

37:47 Uniqueness does not apply because the red digit can't repeat in the cage 51:20 Actually, what I was screaming about is that green can't repeat in the blue cage

[@RhiannonAgutter]

Everyone else spent way too much of this video anxious about r6c4 not being yellow as well right?

[@jaega4247]

Great puzzle, and great solve by Simon as always! Really enjoyed it, but needed a little reminder from Simon's video as I got stuck on the 18 cage: Cages never go upwards above the cell with the cage total. One of those tiny rules, just like king/knights move, that I often forget about in the middle of my solves.

[@andremouss2536]

32:45 what a cryptic explanation for the 2 in R7C2 ! Much simpler to ask "where is the 2 in box 8 ?

[@nattixer]

I needed this today. Thank you Simon for everything you do !

[@RedBarchetta2019]

Simon rarely to never deletes colors that are not needed, and it hurts to watch. Once I got to the bottom 3 boxes, I deleted all my coloring and started over. Assign individual colors to each cell in row 7. Then row 8 and 9 get mostly colored in due to the interactions with the 45 cage and the 43 cage. 7-8 pairs and 3-9 pairs appear, box 4 gets colored, and on and on. It's the true secret that Simon may not know. In any row, column, or box, you can assign each cell an individual, specific color.

[@iambicpentakill]

It got really bad in the recent one where it seemed like everything was two+ colors. It was madness.

[@debrawilden1971]

@@iambicpentakill I remember that puzzle. I just couldn't tell what was going on, it hurt my head!

[@Yttria]

Made great progress until halfway through the puzzle and then it came to a grinding halt a few times but soldiered through them. ~146 minutes to solve. Definitely deserves the higher difficulty ranking.

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 46 minutes. This has got to be one of the wildest break-ins I have done. Seeing that the cage had to wrap around to the top, forcing the 30 cage to be 6789 was spectacular. Even better, I managed to beat Simon's time by quite a lot, which always feels good. It seems like this innocuous ruleset of a cage have to have the total in the leftmost portion of the uppermost part is incredibly powerful, which is kind of funny. Great Puzzle!

[@st3phgr1ce]

I so enjoy watching every day! I would like to kindly suggest using the line tool and/or the letters more. I thought you could have used the line tool to outline the cages so you could just use colors for the digits. Still loved it and love to you and Mark this Holiday season! ❤

[@Hakucho64]

Or, you know, delete unnecessary cage colouring (e.g. the yellow and pink here) to allow those colours to be repurposed. But the line tool would be a good choice too.

[@wiler5002]

Is Simon's dismissed used of uniqueness at 38:20 incorrect because of the blue 43 cage?

[@katzen3314]

I think so. But also one of the 4 cells is still in the fog. So it could have been a given digit anyway, even though that would look a bit odd in this puzzle.

[@bobh6728]

He dismissed uniqueness, because if the puzzle had two solutions, he would prove that.

[@AngryKettle]

@@bobh6728 The point is that it wasn't available in the first place. It could have been disambiguated by the blue box

[@geoff544]

At that point, the 78 cell in r6c1 (the one he eventually colours black) has to be somewhere in row 9 in box 9 - so the white dot can't be a 78 pair.

[@markwright6685]

WOW! What a fantastic puzzle. My favourite fog of war so far and, most challenging yet. Loved it.

[@In_TheMoonlight]

Your puzzle solves provide so much MUCH needed relaxation and it's greatly appreciated

[@fredgoodyer4907]

35:30 This is a very helpful (and beautiful) deduction, and would have uniquely answered most of his subsequently asked questions 😊 If only he had written it down! Oh well, you can’t be perfect in live solves, he does a pretty excellent job and I have improved my solving massively thanks to these videos ☺️ Thanks Simon 😊

[@wangmanting]

Did it in 53:37, it was the first 1h+ video puzzle that I actually tried myself.

[@nakorbluerider]

This was a really fascinating puzzle. I can perhaps offer a bit of insight into Simon's question of whether finding the 1 in box 4 would circumvent the logic he used in box 5. I will say I found that 1 earlier, but the box 5 went largely in the same fashion - identify the cells on the centre white dot as 789, identify that 89 would not be possible due to box 5's 1, note that the upper-left cell of box 5 could not be from 789 due to seeing all three flavours of 789 in the 45 cage, and the only thing that differed in my logic was that rather than finding the 9 immediately, I had the top row of box 5 marked as 2345 (cell 1 for the aforementioned reason, and cells 2-3 because a higher digit on them would put four digits from 789 in the row), and got 9 in cell 8 from that. So in short, maybe there was another approach also, but placing that box four 1 earlier doesn't really mess with the logic used to solve box 5 for me. The rest of the puzzle for me boiled down to colouring 789's, some significant Goodliffeing in box 8, very tediously eliminating one candidate from one cell every few minutes or so, and then finally arriving at a way to identify a 9 in c3r4, which put a 78 pair into the bottom 45 cage. I didn't go hunting for 3's, but I think the 78's were what mattered, so in practice my path didn't really differ from Simon's much, other than that he's much faster than me lol. An aside: I think (perhaps fortunately) that the uniqueness argument Simon mentioned for resolving the 78 pair would not actually have even been true. The 7 or 8 in cell c1r6 would see the bottom-left corner of the deadly pattern, and fix one of the two orientations as correct. Of course, it didn't end up being a 78 x-wing, and there was a proper logical way through it anyway, but perhaps it's assuaging to know that there truly wasn't (as far as I could spot) a true uniqueness argument to be had there.

[@adagraves]

I used the pen tool for tracking cages, left more options for coloring 789s. Actually, I think the only digits I didn’t end up assigning a color were 45s.

[@Rubrickety]

I'm strangely charmed by puzzles like this which require logic based on what are, essentially, typographic and layout conventions. I'll bet whoever first standardized where the total goes in killer cages never dreamed of the perverse uses to which it would someday be put. 😊

[@rentalcustard]

51:24 for me. Kicking myself watching Simon's solve, because I left the 1 and 2 in box 4 unresolved for a shocking amount of time! This was a lovely puzzle that didn't let up in difficulty all the way to the end. I really enjoyed needing to juggle the demands of building cages in the fog, tracing digits around the grid with colours, and basic arithmetic on killer cages (of which the last was by far the hardest for me!)

[@longwaytotipperary]

Here’s a vote that you’re the sane one! Very much enjoy the oasis of calm in this lovely community! Particularly on a gloomy, grey day, when not feeling great and watching with my fluffy blanket and hot chocolate!

[@davidrattner9]

Save some hot chocolate for me my friend!! Grey, gloomy days aren't fun at all. Rain up by me all day today also. But nothing like a Simon solve to get us thru it. Hope you are feeling better. 🩵💙

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 thank you my friend. Got your hot chocolate (with whipped cream) waiting!

[@BakingFiend-rl7mo]

I love fog of war puzzles! Cant wait to see how this one goes

[@sophiemclellan4709]

68:17 for me today and the first time I solved a video puzzle without any hints at all! What a day! 😂

[@anaayoung9142]

Super lovely fog puzzle. Started very nice, than become harder but I still could do it. Thanks for it! 😊

[@rampantunease6517]

You can do hard things, and hard things can be fun.

[@piarittersporn]

Very very ..... beautiful foggy.

[@HunterJE]

11:49 Think Simon made it harder on himself than needed here, you can very clearly see that there is not a cage corner at the bottom right of r5c3 (if you're not about that, compare the bottom left corner of the same cell, where the inside corner of the cage is clearly visible), so you can also yellow r6c4 which gives the maximum and thus exact extent of the 21 cage

[@paulfox5331]

Simon does seem to over complicate or over think quite a bit

[@srwapo]

This is what I did, but it seems like really squinting for a few pixels on my phone, I was wondering if there was an easier hit of logic that I was missing.

[@stevenape377]

I used that too, but I do prefer to not rely on those little tiny things unless I have to, so I prefer Simon's route, which was in my view prettier, and not actually all that more complicated.

[@stangerrits6712]

If only he stopped selecting and deselecting all the cells he was thinking about at this point, he might have seen it. Don’t know whether it’s part of the intended solve path, since you need sharp eyes to see it 😊

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 02:55 Let's Get Cracking: 04:50 Simon's time: 1h1m50s Puzzle Solved: 1:06:40 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Maverick: 4x (11:18, 11:18, 11:21, 11:23) The Secret: 4x (14:53, 15:04, 25:48, 1:05:23) Bobbins: 1x (23:45) Three In the Corner: 1x (24:49) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 19x (10:55, 14:16, 14:16, 21:25, 21:55, 23:06, 27:50, 28:17, 33:58, 38:23, 38:23, 39:38, 50:56, 51:51, 54:12, 55:06, 1:00:39, 1:02:33, 1:03:50) Hang On: 15x (08:31, 09:59, 14:20, 16:55, 20:17, 21:28, 23:39, 24:20, 26:07, 27:50, 30:32, 30:32, 32:21, 39:38, 42:31) Obviously: 11x (05:20, 06:36, 09:11, 12:10, 21:30, 27:50, 28:56, 35:35, 57:26, 57:28, 59:27) In Fact: 10x (07:31, 08:31, 08:44, 17:12, 17:15, 24:24, 45:06, 58:04, 58:09, 1:01:58) By Sudoku: 9x (10:51, 29:54, 30:12, 33:36, 43:25, 45:26, 45:31, 48:34, 58:27) Sorry: 8x (23:57, 25:22, 29:33, 30:39, 32:07, 46:57, 49:04, 53:19) Lovely: 6x (10:31, 10:34, 58:04, 58:06, 1:04:38, 1:04:46) Beautiful: 6x (17:37, 18:49, 53:59, 55:49, 1:07:32, 1:07:32) Naked Single: 5x (10:31, 23:45, 1:01:54, 1:04:00, 1:05:44) The Answer is: 5x (19:01, 32:30, 39:53, 43:19, 54:56) Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (26:31, 29:14, 34:54, 40:59, 1:04:10) Weird: 5x (09:58, 17:20, 47:11, 1:01:56, 1:06:29) Clever: 4x (30:44, 54:01, 58:36, 1:04:46) What Does This Mean?: 4x (31:17, 35:15, 43:44, 45:49) Uniqueness: 4x (37:35, 38:03, 38:11, 52:02) Good Grief: 3x (55:49, 56:30, 58:33) Stuck: 3x (25:22, 49:18, 49:21) Brilliant: 3x (29:22, 29:33, 1:04:54) Triangular Number: 3x (11:57, 12:08, 14:33) Goodness: 2x (25:39, 50:58) Naughty: 2x (51:09, 51:11) Gorgeous: 2x (22:06, 58:33) Shouting: 2x (51:16, 53:25) I Have no Clue: 1x (32:30) Ridiculous: 1x (46:47) Discombobulating: 1x (1:06:07) Alacrity: 1x (07:45) I've Got It!: 1x (53:17) Phone is Buzzing: 1x (02:02) Progress: 1x (01:25) Wow: 1x (20:58) Next Trick: 1x (57:34) Baffling: 1x (49:34) Nature: 1x (18:26) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Seventy Eight (16 mentions) Four (82 mentions) Green (36 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (4) - Low (3) Even (12) - Odd (2) Higher (3) - Lower (1) White (7) - Black (2) Row (33) - Column (16) 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!

[@elmaminsk5411]

You missed "By sudoku" at 1:01:36 and 1:06:18

[@GoldenredDragon]

68 minutes! Wooohoo! This was such a pleasant journey through very exact clues, with barely any leeway in the solving path. Great experience! I loved the coloring of the 78 in the middle of the solve, I had to overengineer my coloring too ahaha!

[@warren_r]

1 hour, 3 minutes for me. Comparable time to Simon's, which I'm pleased about. A superb, demanding puzzle.

[@lexola4857]

I think leaving all that colouring in really held you back in this puzzle. Thanks for the solve!

[@justgaming9212]

What a beautiful sudoku

[@samc9516]

It may have taken me about 1000 years, but I think this is the hardest sudoku I've ever solved without any help from Simon!

[@Hakucho64]

Simon was so close to making progress at 28:50. If he'd only gone on to ask himself where the green digit went in box 8 (I know, making him do sudoku in a sudoku), he would have seen that none of the possible positions allowed it to be a 2, and that green was therefore 4.

[@fredgoodyer4907]

Or indeed before introducing green, just ask where 2 goes in box 8 😊

[@steveunderwood3683]

The turned out to be a lot more straightforward than I thought at first sight. It was spoilt by a typo that revealed something I shouldn't have seen until later. Typos are a HUGE downside of these foggy puzzles. One slip of the keys, and you never feel as good about what you are achieving after that.

[@dodekaedius]

It might be solved with a built-in timer (1second should be enough)? So basically nothing happens for about 0,5-1,0 seconds, after filling a cell with digits. Another solution could be, that cells within the fog only allow a notation first, before entering the correct digit, which requires a bit more action from the user, and this could also be confusing. Less stressful, if users can toggle these options on/off, if they consider themselves people who have no patience and/or trust their keyboard skills.

[@walrusahoy5878]

A double press perhaps for main numbers?

[@Yttria]

I just ignore what I've accidentally seen and look for the logical way of proceeding.

[@steveunderwood3683]

@@Yttria How can you unlearn what you've seen? I try to carry on still looking for a logical route to a solution, but that is always easier to spot with the added information you have.

[@Yttria]

@@steveunderwood3683 I can't unsee it but I don't use it until it's revealed another way.

[@bossdoorpodcast]

I was totally unable to solve this one, but having watched the video, I see why! Very interesting puzzle, just a little over my level still.

[@clara931]

I found the breakin very intuitive and pretty. Got badly stuck in the middle. But do love me a fog of war puzzle

[@ericpraline1302]

Very nicely contrived, thanks.

[@Hakucho64]

Wow, what a puzzle. Took me 1:47:15, but I got there in the end. This channel has taught me so much.

[@Ifield92]

Love this channel!❤

[@LyuboRyuk]

❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@longwaytotipperary]

❤❤❤❤

[@bertbergers9171]

Wooot i finished this one in 76:08 Great Puzzle, i got stuck and found some hidden gem to get on time after time after time! Thank you Dorlir and Simon, now to watch how Simon did the puzzle!

[@SMVCKERS]

First time I’ve completed a puzzle quicker than Simon! 😮

[@dwdei8815]

That was a very neat explanation of uniqueness and how to use it (or to choose not to) at about 37 minutes. Thanks.

[@stephenbeck7222]

Yes but in this case I’m not sure it is correct because the 78 pairs could be fixed by the blue cage.

[@stevieinselby]

@@stephenbeck7222 Yes, that is a big pitfall of using uniqueness in variant puzzles is that there can be ways to disambiguate the digits that aren't immediately obvious.

[@MyriamTT]

Great puzzle !

[@Demgar1]

I solved this one on my own(though I did use the error checker and spotted a mistake I made). The 789 conundrum was an absolute beast. Simon used colors. I deleted all the 78&9s and switched to pencil marking with A B C to represent the digits I knew had to be the same after banging my head against it for about 45 minutes.

[@GhostHostMemories]

Love the "secret" that a row/column/box/9unique numbers all add to 45.

[@matthewread9001]

I like puzzles like this that have a clear path to solve. You can appreciate the work the creator did a lot more.

[@359Aides]

Once again it's fascinating how Simon finds rather convoluted ways to prove things that could be very easily be proven in a different way :D He's absolutely amazing at it and way better than I'll ever be but still it's very funny to me.

[@christianmcneill699]

Wonderful puzzle. I'm happy that I was able to solve it without peeking at Simons solve. Just had to remember that "The Clue is awyas given"

[@philipmetcalfe4736]

I enjoyed this puzzle

[@scorix_]

solved it in 132 minutes. the 7/8 problem at box 7 did break my head though. Couldn't find the logic steps you took and played out all possible solutions about it in my head until it finally broke :D

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 42:57. Very interesting use of large killer cages to eliminate possibilities particularly with the value constraint. Fun puzzle!

[@davidtieman4102]

That was challenging and fun.

[@zaphodbeeblebrox-fz5fh]

I could not see why R6C6 is either 2 or 3. Couldn't the 8-cage go upwards with a 2 or 3 in R4C6? Quite a hard fog of war puzzle from the sudoku perspective, whereas the cages were not that hard to find. Great solution anyway!!

[@zaphodbeeblebrox-fz5fh]

Stupid me. I now see

[@MarkBennet10001]

@56.45 - the exact same thing took me a long time (what and how to colour ...). This is a lovely puzzle and I am enjoying the solve so far.

[@MarkBennet10001]

And finished a little differently from mine - I saw things I didn't quite see in my original solve (twas ever thus) - great solve, Simon. And that hard middle step is a bit unexpected - I suspect we may see some more fog puzzles which are not just fog-based logic but have interludes like this one.

[@markp7262]

41:05 finish. It took me a few minutes to spot the logic for what Simon labelled as the red cells, but other than that it was quite smooth flowing. Excellent puzzle!

[@anaphysik]

48:00 Simon: "I thought my brain had cottoned on to something a few minutes ago, but I think I led myself astray." Ron Howard: "He had." Simon: "And that's very annoying." Ron Howard: "It was." 51:00 Simon: "and you've been shouting at me, with justification, for ages...." Ron Howard: "Actually, no one had even noticed this bit of logic, which was as brilliant as it was arcane. They'd been shouting about the 9 in the bottom left cage." 53:15 Simon: "Oh, no, I've got it again. This is appalling. I've just spotted something else that was completely obvious." Ron Howard: "It really wasn't." Simon: "I deserve to be shouted at." Ron Howard: "But sure." Ron Howard: "On the next Cracking the Cryptic... Simon switches from colors to the letter tool." Simon: "♫That's B in the corner♫"/"♫That's C in the corner♫"/"♫That's D in the corner♫"/"♫That's E in the corner♫"/"♫That's G in the corner♫" Ron Howard: "And Mark pencils a 123456789 nonuple. Which turns out to be the break-in."

[@philipreinhold1180]

When Simon waxes on about if only he could eliminate the 9 im lower left of box 8, he could make all these deductions, and then he eliminates that 9 and ignores all those deductions

[@penningmeestercgkdelft9159]

Wow, 99:16 for me... I had a lot of difficulties wich scanning and coloring, but finally I did it! Fog of war remains a joy to solve. :-)

[@bibliopolist]

I'm glad Simon didn't use uniqueness since it would have been wrong. The cage from the left goes well into the foggy area and could have decided even a 78 pair.

[@PennyLapin]

solved in 45:30. the middle section of this puzzle is so incredibly robust, in order to make progress I had to whittle down options for pencil marks until I forced a pair to resolve r9c5. up to that portion of the puzzle things were flying by in solving, and after that find things then broke open and the rest of the puzzle flew by too.

[@brutusjv2653]

19:58 Why could the 18 cage not go up and right to create a 4-cell cage with 2 in r4c6 and 1 in r4c7 (forcing a 3 in r4c5)?

[@khoozu7802]

U forgot the rule. Cage cell with clue must always at the uppermost row of the cage

[@DanStadler]

This one I really wanted to end with a 3 in the corner!

[@matthewread9001]

Anytime, I find myself annoyed with a secret explanation, I always remind myself I was a newcomer wants to, and I’m glad it was explained to me.

[@johnh2052]

At 51:19, Simon is right that we're shouting at him, but wrong about the reason. We're shouting because the bottom-left cage already has both flavours of 78 in it, so _both_ of the 3789s in box 7 reduce to 39.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

The key to determining why one cell is the upper most left cell of a cage hinges on word order, go up and THEN left. This confused me for quite a while

[@Hakucho64]

They often say it wrong, but in this case the written rules of the puzzle are clear.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

17:31 for me. What a fantastic puzzle, really enjoyed this one!!

[@musaburakerdihan5148]

It was actually brilliant

[@dollarsing]

Monstrous!

[@TomHickey]

At 45:35 taking that 9 out of r9c4 leaves a 478 triple in blue, so r7c1+r8c1 are a 39 pair

[@BozoTheBear]

Was going to say this.

[@titusadduxas]

2:07:02 - Crumbs; that was one of the more challenging FOW puzzles despite getting started quite quickly.

[@chitraagarwal8259]

Want simon to pick one such video where he got stuck for a "premiere" Where he could see live if people were actually shouting at him while watching... (Spoiler - most of us are just hoping and praying and feeling very proud of ourselves for catching something you missed.. No anger- just love ❤)

[@PathOfShrines]

Great puzzle. That logic in the middle (leading up to coloring e.g. r9c6) was really tough! 42:47

[@Escviitash]

37:27 You can't even use uniqueness at this point as R6C1 would resolve the pattern in case the dot was 7-8, i.e it would only be a deadly pattern in case R6C1 is also part of a 7-8 deadly pattern which in turn would be resolved by R3C4. So both R3C4 and R6C1 would both have to be part of a deadly 7-8 patterns in order for the dot to be it as well, which is very unlikely.

[@srwapo]

43:24, not a bad solve, got stuck on the 45 cage at the bottom for a while.

[@cae13yt]

Since about 14:17 I was waiting for r6c4 to be coloured yellow. 🤪

[@shepherd_of_art]

"Naughty brain" hahaha

[@bait6652]

Never would have gotten that red color relation B7-9 But was hoping hed get the B7:2 w/o the B7:1

[@jamesb7906]

I was getting so mad about the yellow cell that Simon left white 😅😅

[@EmonEconomist]

Finished in 67:36 - almost exactly the same length as the video!

[@twen7yseven]

Around 19:53 I am missing why a 3 couldn't go in r4c6 to complete the 18 cage in an upward fashion. If anyone understands I would love to know.

[@Kirbyfan87827]

Finished in 50:44 with help from the video in getting started and getting unstuck.

[@countknersis700]

Carey did that thing to Bairstow. That was unique and allowed. Probably distasteful. So we leave uniqueness out of it, I agree.

[@LogicMasterSteve]

I am within 4 seconds to Simon's time and that after over an hour solving time! (62min14sec vs. 62min18sec).

[@Urutsini]

Missed r5c3 didn't have cage border in the bottom right corner forcing r6c4 to be in the 21 cage.

[@deathpigeon2]

The uniqueness point on the lefthand digit on the white dot in the bottom row wasn't correct because it was also the red digit so you could easily determine it to be an 8 with logic on the other two red digits.

[@rescdsk]

Have people made more variations on the fog of war? I remember one was "dense fog" where it only reveals the square itself. You could make one where you have to see around corners, or where the revealed squares are halfway across the board...

[@matthewread9001]

12:00 you don’t see marks in the bottom right of r5c3 so r6c4 is yellow too

[@Zeekfox]

Once Simon removes the 9 from the row 9 section of box 8 due to color sudoku, he's actually got a 4-7-8 triple in the 43-sum cage.

[@clay9085]

At 20:01, how can we be certain that the 18sum cage in box5 dips vertically down into a 2 and 1? Can it not go upward into a 2 and then move right into box6 as 1? I can't understand how Simon is so certain

[@cae13yt]

At around 19:20 Simon explains that (according to the rules) any cell going up would have to contain the cage total which is already given in r5c5.

[@wittylama]

@@cae13yt thank you that saved me a lot of angst wondering exactly @clay9085's question!

[@grey_one7898]

No, because we know the sum for the cage is in the highest row.

[@warlok333]

I got Green = 4 slightly differently. If Green (2 or 4) is in r7c2 and r8c8/9, then it must be in r9c4/5/6. It can't be Red (c6) and none of the Blue cells can be 2, so Green must be 4.

[@schneebaer42]

Fun puzzle. I never used the 28 cage on the right. Seemed odd to me.

[@dorlirahmeti7576]

I believe the mikstake you made is you supposed that the cage 41 ends on r1c8 but since fog it could been ended on r1c9. That is the mistake many did make.