Deck The Halls For A Sudoku Christmas

[@esti369]

Oh wow! Sally here! Thank you so much for reading the poem out. It was so much fun to write. Merry Christmas to you both and to everyone in the CTC community. 😊

[@trisha2584]

It was a lovely and funny poem; I really enjoyed it. Thank you and Merry Christmas xx

[@deniseiln]

ALL THE PLAUDITS! (Simon told us to give those to you. But that's okay, because you totally deserve them. That was excellent.)

[@livedandletdie]

That was the most genuinely impressive CTC themed Christmas poem. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[@A_CC_K]

Amazing poem, pure brilliance

[@st3phgr1ce]

Very enjoyable and creative! Loved it and Merry Christmas to the CTC family

[@blobz-1]

What a delightful surprise to discover “Deck The Halls” was featured today; thank you, Simon! A fabulous Christmas gift.

[@davidrattner9]

Fabulous puzzle from you Blobz!! Always cherish how you set!! Look forward to Hobbit hunt to start the new year!!

[@achimsinn6189]

Its always fun solving a suzzl and then watching Simon solving it an entirely different way and in an entirely different order.

[@redheadgab]

this poem made me cry. you are one of the best parts of my day. merry christmas from australia

[@shaunbrowne9870]

*simon when he does a sherlock holmes-level deduction:* I'm sorry, I'm sure that was obvious to everyone. *simon when he ignores a naked single for a half hour:* How is this only three stars for difficulty?

[@Coldheart322]

Simon works on a different dimension to us I'm sure. I think many simple things fly under him as he is looking for 5 dimensional clues.

[@LornaM2304]

That poem was the best Christmas present, amazing! 😍 Merry Christmas Simon & Mark, I hope you're having a wonderful day

[@cloudbringer104]

I really enjoyed that poem. It made me smile and giggle. I'm proudly wearing my I'm one of Simon's favourite people. It's so nice when my sister listened to me. Now, all I can hope for is a birthday shout out in a few days, fingers crossed, she listened again. Now for the sudoku. Merry Christmas Simon. I hope you know how much you are appreciated. X

[@debbieauld1074]

Sally, what a lovely poem!

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Relatively easy, but brilliant and enjoyable, notwithstanding the multicoloured drawings that typically make it harder for constructors to avoid excessive redundancy and embed cool logic into their constructions. Thanks to *Blobz* for designing it. An advice to everybody: be sure not to miss the extraordinary Christmas gift offered yesterday by Simon. An ineffably awesome thermo sudoky by the great master *Aad van de Wetering.* Let's thank Simon and Aad by giving thousands of likes❗

[@prahas777]

Sally with the big CTC poem win!!! Marvelous!

[@OddLittleShoppingBag]

I just want to wish a belated Merry Christmas to your fantastic testers, who do so much work to bring us these puzzles and I always forget to thank them.

[@A_CC_K]

Merry Christmas Simon. Best way to spend a Christmas evening watching CtC. Loving how many poems are being read on the channel lately, Simon reading poetry is always a great treat.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Yes, thanks, Santa has visited us yesterday at about 20:30 UTC, and brought us a magnificent puzzle by *Aad van de Wetering* with a _"copious amount"_ of awesome logic.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Simon, I am going to return to watch the rest of your video tomorrow. But I just had to comment before I head up to my long winter's nap about that poem - it was fantastic! So many wonderful references to CtC lore, and all in beautiful verse. Congratulations to Sally! Now, I'm off to bed, and I'll watch more tomorrow. Merry Christmas to all!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Love the guitar intro! Love the poem!!!!! Love the puzzle!!!! Merry merry merry Christmas!!!

[@davidrattner9]

Fabulous way to spend the holiday today with these magical presents!! ❤❤

[@longwaytotipperary]

@ yes! ❤️❤️

[@calebkimmel372]

Merry christmas and happy holidays to CTC and to everyone in the comments here :)

[@georgehorne394]

kudos to Sally!

[@MarkBennet10001]

I started my solve with the holly, but the logic on the bell was a very nice beginning, and together they work magic.

[@stevieinselby]

I think if you start with the holly then quite a bit of the logic that Simon did on the bell and the baubles is redundant - you can get the 1 in box 5 proving that the bell sum is 9 without needing to think about whether the two baubles can have the same set of digits. Some people may find it more satisfying to do all of that logic, even if it isn't strictly necessary - personally I like finding the quickest and easiest route 😂

[@kimh6979]

Thanks for sharing and reading a wonderful surprise!

[@pastramionrye247]

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all in this community. What a lovely puzzle gift from Blobz to find under the Christmas tree. Slight spoiler below... Another approach to the break-in is to look at the 123 quad in boxes 8 and 9, and use the fact that any 3 cell combination that adds up to 8 or 9 must contain exactly two low (1,2,3) digits. You can prove that row 7, column 6, cannot contain 1, 2, or 3.

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 41:53 minutes. This was a great gift of a sudoku. The baubles are visually cute and my favorite decoration I have seen. This puzzle was awesome to work through. I think my favorite part was noticing the limitation of the placement around the 123 circle clue. Surprisingly, 3 was always limited to the same spot. This led to me spotting the break-in involving the parity of the digits in box 5 and their comparison to the yellow bell. That was such a cool thing to spot. I had a fun time this puzzle. Merry Christmas to Simon, Mark, and the CTC community! Great Puzzle!

[@otterotterottercid]

Merry Christmas

[@chipsounder4633]

I lost it when you checked your glasses 😂😂😂😂

[@willpomeroy1743]

Festive Delights to you and family Simon. You have shoehorned me into this wonderful world over the last year; and for a lot of it provided a small bit of distraction from the grief of loosing a loved one. Thank you

[@masonivinskas5405]

I love Simon saying the 5 was the first digit when there’s been a 9 in the grid for like 5 minutes 😂

[@davida1d2]

What a poem! Great job.

[@OverkillSD]

Earliest I've ever been to a CTC video! Little channel? You guys are massive!

[@stangerrits6712]

With all his elaborate explanations, I often wonder why Simon doesn’t visualize his renban examples. He’s always imagining the digits one to nine and then selecting sets in his head, while it’s super easy to just enter the digits in an empty row and show what you mean. May help a bit in getting your explanation across to new viewers.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

I totally agree.

[@tantricsarcasm9133]

Simon and Mark, thank you both for the videos. My wife is in the hospital this Christmas, so the engaging solves are a welcome distraction from my thoughts before bed. Much appreciation and well wishes to you both.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@tantricsarcasm9133 hope your wife is doing well!

[@F1r1at]

When I'm able to solve the puzzle in 18 minutes with unnecessary full colouring, and Simons solve takes 40 I immediately know something went horribly wrong in his solve. And now I wonder what! 😄 Nice and easy puzzle, I like it!

[@JohnPretty1]

Happy Christmas Simon. Your good wishes are returned!

[@LiquorStoreJon]

Wonderful puzzle, hopefully everyone had a very merry Christmas !

[@praematura]

Stumbled a bit through this solve, needed one brief hint about the whisper segment in column 4 from Simon's solve, but was able to complete it after that, breaking it multiple times! 😅 Did finish in 22:51 (conflict checker off), many thanks to Blobz for a wonderful themed puzzle!

[@marys.9367]

What a beautiful poem from Sally, it made me smile so much! Merry Christmas to everyone, happy first day of Hanukkah, and I wish a good day in general to those who aren't celebrating today!

[@mussoletart8485]

wow sally that was so cute ♡

[@San-vt9xv]

I found 9 in box 9 like 12 min before Simon. I must be a genius. thank you Simon and Merry Christmas to all 🎄

[@biaberg3448]

I learned a new meaning of the word coincidence. Common.

[@dominicsymes9189]

No Christmas 3 in the corner felt like a crime 😭 Great puzzle though Blobz ❤️

[@Legerine]

Merry Christmas Simon! And best wishes to Mark as well! I am just so happy to have you here in my home on Christmas Day. I am taking a break from cooking Dinner to enjoy this puzzle with you!

[@cotroneigiuseppe888]

Merry christmas!

[@wanderlustwarrior]

28:47 For me. What a fun and festive puzzle and video!

[@markp7262]

35:11 finish. A fun holiday puzzle, and a Merry Christmas!

[@michaelmatter1222]

Bravo Blobz 👏👏

[@AleksandrYgA]

16:42 for me. The puzzle was smooth but I started with german whispers unlike Simon. I managed to put 5 in box 4 and the rest was just piece of cake

[@grahamania]

00:21:55 for me. Great way to spend a wonderful holiday by a fire! Fantastic puzzle. Kind comment.

[@minamagdy4126]

Simon: (SPOILER) If it helps, the 3 wasn't in the corner because it didn't lose its faith in the christmas spirit.

[@nestoreleuteriopaivabendo5415]

Merry Christmas to all of you Simon's favorite people! A happy 2025!

[@highpath4776]

A rare day when Mark's vid is longer than Simon's

[@mussoletart8485]

omg blobz ♡♡♡ the lord of the rings hunt was amazing, i'm so excited for the hobbit!!

[@Artemis3133]

Merry Christmas! I am enjoying this on Boxing Day morning after a hectic Christmas Day (no turkey, no pudding just prawns, ham, lamb, salads and pavlovas). I am in Australia and the Boxing Day Test starts today and the forecast for Melbourne is Max 39C Windy. Late cool change. Perfect for sitting in the AC and puzzle-solving!

[@Timlagor]

35:00 I don't see why 3 can't be on the bauble without being on both line segments (specifically the one in box 5)

[@Jabstar77]

Youre a genius Simon but you miss a lot that can be resolved by simple suduko rules 😊 I think you prefer to solve puzzles by the hardest route 😉

[@jonsantiniiii963]

I will pay for audiobooks narrated by Simon!!!

[@benjaminrealy5661]

27:41. The break for me came when I realized r4c4 could still be a 6. Once discovered I tried it (hoping it'll easily break) it didn't and went pretty quick after that. I forget the term he uses, (bifurcation maybe) and I know he avoids it, but I still consider that as a win for my skill level. (Except on fog puzzles, then I gain unearned information)

[@joekerr3638]

Were you thinking of lintel ?

[@ckdo1974]

28:50 - "Menhir"? "Monolith"?

[@kevinbrownsword9558]

Merry Christmas to you all

[@brspies]

This was a lot of fun. The different lines did a great job working together to keep the solve moving forward. Merry Christmas and happy new year to all!

[@whelmking6497]

Love blobz puzzles! 56:00. Fun!

[@ahmetpoyrazabay7182]

I have been screaming 9 this entire video😂

[@ericzache3636]

Do you guys know the reason that simon markings dont go red when they're impossible like when i use the app? Ex.: the 9 in box 1 32:17

[@FolgoreCZ]

In the options, there is one named "Check pencilmarks" that affect this.

[@Sinisest1121]

But Simon you got two sixes on a corner. So it two double trees on a corner song.

[@Ardalambdion]

Holiday brain...

[@adipy8912]

I live in Norway and we open presents late on the 24th

[@jasono8783]

22:37 for me today! Lovely puzzle

[@deniseiln]

...menhir? Or possibly dolmen? (Oversimplified description: Menhirs are the upright stones, dolmens are two uprights with a horizontal cap. So the purple arch looks more like a dolmen.)

[@jr637-1]

32:19 Simon doesn't use sudoku here? Sometimes I think Simon just refuses to check rows and columns to just focus on the variant rules. Edit: It's not "low-hanging fruit" Simon, it's solving the puzzle! You're talking yourself out of getting obvious fills because they're "just" sudoku.

[@markablov]

00:10:32, surprisingly easy for me. did not see places where i could stuck.

[@danielcummins5092]

01:03:25 - not too shabby.

[@TurquoizeGoldscraper]

33:43 for me - this was after I spent 30 minutes on it and made a mistake and just started over.

[@JohnRandomness105]

36:10 R4C5 can't be 3, and R7C6 must be high, with the low 12 shunted off to the left. (I hope that one can figure out why.) 40:40 Now R7C6 is 7, R7C5 is 2, and blue is 1.

[@willmurray9179]

sarsen and lintels?

[@nicocost33]

1.01.53 for me. Merry Christmas.

[@yashmehta9299]

Had a slow start, managed a 33:38

[@wordclover]

Had a totally botched attempt and had to start over after placing about half the digits when I couldn't determine why I couldn't place a 7 in box 7. Nevertheless managed to finish in 37:43. Wonderful logic, and loved the christmas theme!

[@robertcousins2274]

27:02 for me

[@LednacekZ]

21:00 dead today. horrible solve. i was all over the place. with a bit of focus i could have done a sub 18 easy.