How To Blow Your Own Mind

[@degebergaskola]

At 34.47, Simon said that the box adds up to 45. How does he know that? Is there some secret that he is not sharing?

[@LukeSumIpsePatremTe]

I'm glad you can still enjoy that.

[@cae13yt]

But he did share his secret already at 11:18!

[@annesorensen4004]

Its redacted 😅

[@melaniehall5885]

Oh no, does this mean I'm not one of Simon's favorite people??

[@st0rmforce]

I started creating a sudoku solving program, mainly as a mental exercise. I refuse to teach it the secret. The robots must never know!

[@SSGranor]

I can't tell you how happy I am to see this get featured. When I stumbled across it on LMD last month, it was still unrated and had only been solved once in the last year. Much like Simon, I was just astounded by the way the logic kept being fresh and beautiful start to finish. And doing that while managing to cover the grid with no lines sharing cells or crossing and only a single diagonal segment is mind blowing. So, I can't say I was stunned to see that 100% rating pop up once I'd finished. What an absolute gem.

[@wmchristie]

I can totally imagine setters putting a 3 in the corner for the basic reason of making Simon sing the song.

[@Watch3rOfTheSkies]

This community has such a sad sense of “humor”.

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

@@Watch3rOfTheSkies Did you miss the part about being kind in the comments? This is at least the second comment I've seen in the top few of you bashing both Simon's humour and that of those who enjoy it in the comments. If you don't like it, don't watch, and if you can't say anything constructive, keep your judgemental opinions to yourself.

[@dominicsymes9189]

@@Watch3rOfTheSkies imagine being so sad you’re vindictive about a purely wholesome community..

[@ahouyearno]

It’s become an unspoken rule that great varuant sudokus must have a 3 in the corner

[@ahouyearno]

Also don’t respond to the humorless grinch. He’s just trolling

[@chris5619]

Only near the very end did Simon notice that a 3 cell anti-factor line had to be a modular line. That was one of the first things I thought about with row 1. Since a 3 cell anti-factor had to be sum to a multiple of 3 without using 369, I realized it would have to be modular and be 147 or 258. With the row needing two renbans, if the third line was anti-factor, the 147 or 258 would not only rule out two renbans, but make even one impossible. That was how I was able to determine the third line in row 1 was a whisper line. I guess it wasn't really necessary then or later, but I used that knowledge a couple times for some minor deductions and to quickly see that the last 3 cell line going into box 9 couldn't be anti-factor since 6 wouldn't work and 1 would require a 47 below, ruled out by the 74 in box 7.

[@BlueCyann]

Same here. I'm surprised he figured out row 1 without that. It seems right up his alley.

[@sanabas1]

3 cell anti factor only being 147 or 258, meaning r1 needs to have a whisper line was how I did the breakin. The only way to fit 2 renbans + a whisper is for the whisper to be 129 or 189. 345/678 or 234/567 are the renbans. All 4 options break if placed in box 1. Because if you put them in box 1, the 6 cell line obviously can't be a renban, as it has both 1 & 9 on it. It can't be anti-factor, as it has either 3 or 6. It can't be a whisper, as using one of the renbans with 5 leaves 4 high/2 low or vice versa. Therefore r1c123 is the whisper. r1c5 is now 5, as c5 can only be a renban with 1 or 9 missing, or a whisper with 5 missing. The 7 cell line in box 3 now can't be a renban, as it has both 1 & 9, can't be a whisper for the same reason as box 1, must be antifactor and can't have a 7. So the r1box 3 renban is 678, r4c9 is 4, and off we go. Great puzzle, though I'd have said 4 stars, not 5 for difficulty.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

That's a great deduction 👏👏👏. Thanks a lot for sharing. 😏👍 I believe this is quite useful to know at the end, to elegantly rule out the *anti-factor* constraint from the 3-cell line in *box 9.* Which is what Simon did. It was much more complex for me to solve without that knowledge...

[@wmchristie]

Simon, your ability to articulate is extraordinary. The 6 cell line in box 1 not being a whisper line is relatively easy to intuit/deduce (given all of your previous deductions), but very difficult to put into words and you said it clearly on the first attempt.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Simon is extremely good and very patient in explaining as he goes along! And still maintains his wonderful quirky humor which raises the videos from just solving sudokus to entertainment! I watch even when I (frequently) have no clue how to even understand the rules knowing Simon will make it make sense somehow and imbue the solve with enthusiasm and humor? 😄

[@davidrattner9]

​@longwaytotipperary superbly written my friend!! 💜🩵

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 thank you, David! ❤️❤️

[@HunterJE]

I think the interruption was helpful this time, before the interruption Simon kept looking at everything part of the antifactor rule on the big backwards "L" line _other than_ the sum total having to be a multiple of its length, when he sat back down and had to figure out where he had left off that was one of the first things he looked at...

[@Trandhal]

One of these days I'd like to see a really evil puzzle, which states for example that "all lines are either German Whispers, Renbans, or anti-factor lines" but in the finished solution there are no renbans at all, just the other two

[@stevieinselby]

We've certainly had puzzles with that flavour to them, like fog puzzles that give a rule that isn't used anywhere in the grid.

[@sacredsock8031]

I half suspected that this puzzle did not have anti-factor. and that their inclusion in the rules was just a red herring

[@gamercheese1526]

reminds me of an AP stats teacher I had in high school who talked about giving a multiple choice test where the answer to every question was A

[@Akatsuki69387]

@@gamercheese1526evil. I love it

[@starwarigami]

Wow! What a blast from the past. Looking forward to watching this later...

[@davidrattner9]

Just mesmerizing from you and incredible!! Would love any insight in how you went about setting this and if Simon followed the intended break in and path. Phenomenal setting.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

What a puzzle! This one was a great joy to watch.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 06:34 Let's Get Cracking: 10:24 Simon's time: 1h22m07s Puzzle Solved: 1:32:31 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 12x (00:25, 06:37, 06:39, 06:39, 06:49, 11:10, 11:16, 13:51, 14:03, 1:32:44, 1:32:48, 1:32:48) Bobbins: 2x (1:16:26, 1:16:26) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (59:45) Three In the Corner: 1x (1:30:55) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Hang On: 25x (09:16, 12:18, 20:39, 20:41, 23:51, 23:55, 25:10, 34:19, 34:57, 39:48, 44:17, 44:20, 51:02, 52:49, 58:11, 58:11, 1:02:25, 1:09:15, 1:11:47, 1:12:43, 1:24:27, 1:28:48, 1:29:49, 1:32:22) Sorry: 16x (03:34, 12:50, 20:13, 21:57, 27:58, 31:49, 31:49, 36:32, 39:54, 47:38, 48:22, 50:31, 55:31, 58:23, 1:05:05, 1:19:59) Pencil Mark/mark: 12x (34:04, 35:33, 36:21, 55:55, 55:57, 55:57, 1:04:46, 1:06:49, 1:12:49, 1:19:51, 1:20:17, 1:27:51) Ah: 10x (11:47, 20:45, 34:29, 40:54, 44:31, 58:20, 59:56, 1:11:18, 1:11:55, 1:22:15) By Sudoku: 7x (53:34, 1:04:58, 1:05:57, 1:06:28, 1:07:10, 1:10:08, 1:29:35) Wow: 6x (41:53, 1:02:10, 1:21:25, 1:31:40, 1:31:40, 1:33:36) Beautiful: 5x (09:52, 44:24, 1:01:10, 1:02:13, 1:11:55) Brilliant: 5x (04:08, 04:26, 41:55, 1:32:44, 1:33:25) In Fact: 5x (00:39, 13:58, 24:06, 45:57, 48:09) What Does This Mean?: 5x (15:30, 51:54, 1:01:05, 1:09:05, 1:21:53) Bizarre: 4x (09:49, 24:08, 32:44, 41:33) Obviously: 4x (01:44, 11:07, 20:30, 1:16:53) Nature: 4x (30:15, 41:24, 1:22:50, 1:24:11) Cake!: 4x (04:03, 04:26, 04:42, 04:52) Goodness: 3x (21:32, 1:13:39, 1:17:24) Nonsense: 3x (35:28, 35:30, 35:31) Lovely: 3x (02:42, 02:49, 1:22:18) Incredible: 3x (03:04, 06:15, 1:32:54) Gorgeous: 3x (33:09, 44:31, 44:34) Thingy Thing: 3x (1:01:27, 1:07:22, 1:11:44) Clever: 2x (1:21:57, 1:30:33) Stuck: 2x (1:07:48, 1:08:16) Break the Puzzle: 2x (1:05:55, 1:30:26) Fascinating: 2x (35:18, 35:20) Shouting: 2x (02:38, 03:54) Alexa: 2x (03:31, 03:34) Good Grief: 1x (1:17:00) What on Earth: 1x (56:18) Useless: 1x (1:07:13) Bother: 1x (1:16:49) The Answer is: 1x (1:03:12) Naughty: 1x (1:23:42) In the Spotlight: 1x (1:30:59) I Have no Clue: 1x (1:18:25) Ridiculous: 1x (32:39) Deadly Pattern: 1x (1:30:24) Flustered: 1x (56:03) Surely: 1x (56:30) I've Got It!: 1x (26:24) Progress: 1x (42:00) Unstuck: 1x (1:08:23) Losing my Army: 1x (18:26) Unique: 1x (01:06) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Twenty (14 mentions) One (170 mentions) Green (16 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (20) - Low (11) Even (10) - Odd (4) Higher (3) - Lower (1) Row (28) - Column (23) 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!

[@niyazali7983]

You have A LOT of time on your hands, but I love this so much... 😂👏

[@corydhmiller]

Good bot.

[@fisheatsyourhead]

​@@niyazali7983after the initial time investment of coding the bot it doesn't take much longer to process each video!

[@davidrattner9]

Breathtaking solve from you Simon. Such a knack for following logic and deductions. Your enthusiasm shines when you deduce something. Amazed every day that you bring out the best in yourself and the setters themselves.

[@Jodawo]

It was a beautiful puzzle with wonderful logic. If I were you, I would investigate who thought this would not be a good puzzle to feature. This puzzles should not have fallen between the cracks. I guess it is difficult to tell how well a puzzle will do because it's not the first time that a good puzzle has been rejected at first. I do know of another one that had been rejected twice. First time a tester said it would not do very well for the audience. That puzzle is approaching 1 million views and has over 24,000 likes. It might not be a bad idea to check over those puzzles that have been initially rejected. It is possible at the time it may have been too much for an audience but now being more experienced (through watching the channel) that puzzle may do very well. Although, for this channel, it is difficult to do something like that because of all the good puzzles they get hit with everyday. Sifting through 20 or more puzzles a day just to find the "💎" to feature. I have a feeling no matter what there are going to be great puzzles that we will never see.

[@goldcakes]

Well that was certainly a _quick_ solve by myself at a time of 03:14:58, I may have even set a personal record. All I can say is that it was a wonderful puzzle and great solve from Simon. Goodnight.

[@pzaan]

This was a 4 1/2 hour solve for me with a couple of restarts because I ruled out a couple line possibilities too quickly. But I would not have even attempted this puzzle two months ago. Watching the channel definitely raises your puzzle solving game.

[@xbzq]

Me too. 4½ hours.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Wow, Simon, what a solve and what a puzzle! Really enjoyed that video. I have heard you use the word "doolally" before, and so I looked it up. It clearly means "crazy" or something along those lines. A fun word. I hope I'm spelling it correctly!

[@ronjohnson6916]

Opens puzzle link. Stares. Listens to Simon explain. Stares. Closes puzzle link. (Still had fun watching Simon wrestle with this)

[@titusadduxas]

I gave up after 4 hours because despite going backwards several times I always ended up at the same dead end despite being sure I’d made the correct deductions. I started again this evening and got to the same point again but this time I finally sorted out box 9 and finished it in 1:36:34 - So happy!

[@sirgeremiah]

Did you figure out where you were making the error? That's the most maddening thing to me, when I restart a puzzle because I broke it, and then finish without any clue what I did wrong the first time.

[@titusadduxas]

I do yes; I just didn’t see how to resolve box 9. In the end I figured that as all my logic seemed sound, that there must be something I’d missed. There was!

[@Deditzy.]

Starwarigami is a genius for this! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾

[@WhaaatzUup]

There has been some absolutely amazing puzzles lately, but this one absolutely takes the cake for me! How amazing to have set something like this and Simon's deductions are incredible and so easy to follow as he explains it. Bravo!!!!

[@flobiish]

@38:00 "This is not an anti-factor line." Agreed. But it's more than that, you can't have an anti-factor line of length 6 by these rules ever. Removing 2, 3 and 6 leaves a total of 33 which isn't divisible by 6. Of course, at this point in the puzzle it's a moot point because there aren't any 6 cell lines left after this one.

[@MattYDdraig]

I used this same reasoning a couple of times too, but note it is possible to have a length 6 anti-factor line if repeats are possible where all cells don't see one another.

[@flobiish]

@@MattYDdraig Ah yes, I suppose this only applies if the whole line sees itself, so only the one in box 1.

[@asliceofjackie91]

33? I'm getting 1+4+5+7+8+8 = 34, which also isn't divisible by 6 though so point still stands.

[@flobiish]

@@asliceofjackie91 I used the secret. I’m not saying which secret. But 2+3+6=11 which clearly means 34 is the right answer, but I think 1+4+5+7+8+8 does equal 33.

[@asliceofjackie91]

@@flobiish Foiled by my own typos, dang it.

[@HunterJE]

1:09:16 Love when Simon makes an assertion and I assume I know why and then he describes a totally different and equally valid reason to come to that conclusion (I saw that couldn't be a GW because the 28 pair would have to be on the same parity squares and so would need to be double 2 or double 8 to obey high-low alternation)

[@davidmiller9485]

I see people "complaining" about Simon missing a number somewhere but I find it fascinating. He always somehow finds a piece of logic that I didn't see to get the number. Which is why I like to encourage him to keep on doing as he's doing. It helps me see things in a way I normally don't and that's always good.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidmiller9485agree!

[@gauravmitra150]

It would be really funny if one of these puzzle turned out to not have one of the lines in it. Like, the rules explain Renban, German whispers and antifactors, but all the lines are either renban or German whisper.

[@grahamania]

93:38 for me. Probably the hardest CTC puzzle I've completed. Wonderful puzzle! Kind Comment.

[@ThePedallingPianist]

Absolutely awesome puzzle which I must admit I've seen, admired and ultimately given up on in the past - really glad it's been featured and solved so elegantly, as ever!

[@lmelior]

"Oh Bobbins McBobbinsface" 🤣🤣 Too much for me and I kept taking wrong turns so I gave up, but I enjoyed the solve!

[@pjbrady47]

I can't believe I solved this one. Took me 5.5 hours, but I did it. Fantastic puzzle.

[@Gunslinger8912]

Simon, I must say I absolutely love watching all the videos you and Mark post, it's just stunning watching you explain the sequential logic as you discover it, and remarkable fast in most cases! I had a thought about your interruptions, and I don't know if it's even an option, but could you watch the last 60 seconds or so of your recording to get yourself back up to speed before starting your recording again? Just an idea. Always looking forward to the next video!

[@olleicua]

That one was *hard* I got confused several times but it was really fun. Thanks for another great video :)

[@stevieinselby]

That was incredible 😍 It took me just under an hour ... I like puzzles like this one where you do have to do a lot of thinking, but the break-in isn't monstrous and there are fairly obvious points to attack it from. I started with c5 then r1, b1 and moving onto b3 where I spent a few minutes very befuddled about how everything was broken when I tried to fill in the G-line because I had worked out that a 7-cell anti-factor had to be 1,2,4,5,6,8,9 in order to not use 7 and add up to a multiple ... before eventually realising that I could repeat a digit on the line and that it wasn't broken after all. Definitely couldn't have done this without my trusty 📝!

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

By chance, do you remember your way to disambiguate the lines that end in *box 9* and start with a *1-6* cell in *box 6?* I analyzed their interactions and that felt excessively difficult. Simon's approach was simpler, but I suspect there might exist an even simpler trick.

[@andrewaaberg482]

Such a fan of your videos, thanks for making Sudoku so approachable! Could I ask a giant favor? (Assuming you haven't already done it and I just missed it!) Could you create a playlist of videos that feature different solving techniques? I don't know many yet and the videos I've encountered where you introduce a new puzzle type or go over a trick that's beneficial for a given puzzle are hugely helpful! Thanks for the videos, keep crackin!!

[@roccov3614]

I think it's just crazy that the things I have to work out on a spreadsheet, working out different combinations, he does in his head. Faster too. Crazy.

[@OmegaIL]

Huge thanks to the setter for this ingenious puzzle.

[@peethoagland8907]

That puzzle was monstrous and amazing!!

[@quinnencrawford9707]

cool sudoku idea: Shouldoku? basically you fill the grid in like a fillomino and normal rules apply to light cells, but anti-sudoku rules (i.e. any row cannot contain exactly 1 of any digit, every cell is schrodinger, and no numbers 1-9 allowed) apply to dark cells

[@Raven-Creations]

@ 45:50 - "These add up to 28, but the line overall adds up to...a different number" - I love it when you start a sentence in the hope that your brain will come up with the answer in time to finish it, then when it doesn't, you have to finish the sentence anyway. @ 56:33 - "surely it's this line" - It's worth looking at. Consider that you have to make 12 or 20 using only 135679. It turns out there are only two options, 56 with either 1 or 9. This stops the line between box 4 and box 7 being renban, and makes it anti-factor. The line in the middle is therefore renban or whispers. It has 3 on it, but no 9. If it's renban, it can't have 5 on it, so it must have 2 on it and 78 would have to go on the line above, which would then require 5 to sum to a multiple of 5. The middle is therefore a whisper line, it must go 38x where x is 1 or 2. You could also look at the 9-cell line. It can't be whisper, because it's got a 4 that can't neighbour 9. If it were anti-factor, R6C7/8 would be a 39 pair, but adding the remaining digits to the ones in C6 don't sum to a multiple of 9 (I think it was 40), so it must be a renban line, with 3579 in box 6, and a 16 pair in R6C7/8, making R6C4=9 and R6C6=4. @ 1:29:19 - "If we can get rid of a 2 from that square" - Of course you can. 7 can't go next to 3, so the 2 must be in R9C7. Quite a tough, but thoroughly engrossing puzzle.

[@diivelson7534]

47:39 "So sudoku unsurprisingly rears it's ugly head". Absolute gem of a line!

[@dave_s_hemmings]

What a beautiful birthday treat, sadly no chocolate cake but there was pizza and gin. Celebrating the fact I'm the maximum total of an eight digit killer cage.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Happy birthday! Pizza sounds great!

[@Omni3345]

Didnt read all the comments so idk if it was mentioned. But a 5 cell line can be renban AND anti-factor. 5,6,7,8,9 add to 35. I really thought that's where the line in box 4 and 7 were going. Would of been amazing to see his shock of a double ruled line lol

[@stevieinselby]

If it's a 5-cell anti-factor line then it can't have 5 on it, which precludes it from being a renban. The combination of factors and multiples means that you can't have a line (other than a trivial 1-cell line) that is both renban _and_ anti-factor.

[@Omni3345]

@@stevieinselby ...... crap

[@Omni3345]

@@stevieinselby and this is why i watch and dont solve lol

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@Omni3345🤪

[@ClairvoyantTruth]

Crazy to watch this unfold and say "Wow" when Simon does. This puzzle is crazy!

[@lapetitecuillereetlepaindo3005]

68:43 for me, first time I think I'm faster than Simon. Quite proud of myself here :) Great puzzle.

[@samueldeandrade8535]

I just tried this puzzle, didn't finished, but did a good job, came to watch. Man, what a great puzzle.

[@duncanstott40]

That grid alone should be in a modern art museum.

[@remork138]

"mouth wants to speak but i haven't thought this through" - relatable :)

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

33:00 for me. What a fantastic puzzle, loved it!!

[@constanza1648]

The break was hard, but after that was the logic was intense but kind of approachable.

[@G.Aaron.Fisher]

Kudos to Starwarigami. Probably the smoothest-flowing Sudoku I've ever done. The ruleset and logic had the perfect amount of freshness, and was fair and interesting the entire way through.

[@piarittersporn]

What a monstrous puzzle. Great.

[@Tof0986]

This puzzle is absolutely wonderful! One of my favourites, for sure!

[@genalkali1779]

This is the first time I've seen a video over a puzzle I've solved before... This is awesome

[@pewterhacker]

1:22:20 "So what if you put a one on the line ... tick, tick ,tick, ... oh that doesn't work. There's a modulus problem." How does he do that so fast?!!

[@Alteram]

Simon solved this as number 9, and in 11 hours this video has been up I managed to be Solve Counter: 1009. Yay, number 1000 since Simon!

[@sherifkkvtm]

0:23: 💥 Unveiling the Enigmatic Secrets and Lies Sudoku Puzzle by Star Warigami 6:56: 🧩 Deciphering complex Sudoku rules involving Ren Van, German Whispers, and anti-factor lines. 13:58: 🧩 Insights on constraints of German Whispers in Sudoku puzzles. 20:27: 🤯 Realization of potential repeated digits in a nine-cell line, challenging previous assumptions. 27:17: 🧠 Complex analysis of digit patterns in a Ren band to determine whisperable lines. 34:31: 🧩 Fascinating deductions made while solving a puzzle involving adding up to multiples of seven. 42:33: 💡 Strategic deductions made to determine possible values for an eight-letter line in the grid. 50:17: 🤯 Deciphering a complex puzzle involving the placement of numbers on a line based on certain rules. 57:47: 🧩 Logical deduction of numbers to form a specific sum in a puzzle. 1:04:58: 💡 Strategic deductions made in a Sudoku puzzle to determine the placement of numbers. 1:12:11: 💡 Strategic number placement in a Sudoku puzzle leads to a breakthrough in solving a challenging section. 1:20:07: 🧠 Deciphering a visual puzzle involving squares with numbers and colors, ruling out possibilities. 1:27:20: 🧩 Solving a Sudoku puzzle by identifying number possibilities and eliminating options to determine correct placements.

[@MichaelJ-lo7mz]

Simon, I really love how your outfit happens to match the Renban/Whisper color scheme today :)

[@esti369]

Me, when someone is shouting at sport on the TV: “They can’t hear you, you know!” Also me, watching CTC: “That IS a 3 in the corner!!!!” 😂

[@danielepicone1480]

This puzzle having such a brutal ending for me makes me suppose that Simon had a much nicer conclusion to the solve than mine. Cleared in 1h11m36s.

[@ElDillas]

Ayyyy 3rd in this morning!! Good morning from New Zealand!! Morena David! - Cassadilla

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 55:37. I got stuck in the beginning for like 20 minutes because I kept messing up the long 8 redaction. I thought it couldn't be German whisper because I messed up where the 3 could go. But after banging my head and wondering why box 1 didn't work, I retried the German whisper on the long line and figured out where I goofed. Before starting the puzzle, I worked out all the possibilities for the Anti-Factor lines, so, it became super-simple for me to diagnose which lines could be Anti-Factor or not. (e.g., Box 1 6-redaction cannot be an Anti-Factor because the digits possible 1,4,5,7,8,9 add up to 34 which is not a multiple of 6). What really helped was knowing any 3-redactions which were Anti-Factor had to be 147 or 258. This made it trivial for me to eliminate possibilities for digits and lines.

[@Swisswavey]

55 minutes for me. Nice puzzle with some really neat logic.

[@RhiannonAgutter]

That miscoloured cell in box six really hurt, I’m so glad it got fixed at the end

[@bertbergers9171]

Simon so involved in the puzzling in his brain he forgets a whisper can´t have a 5 on, so he has to think a whole minute (39:16-40:10) about r4c6,7,8 which he colours blue-green but actually allready deduced has to be anti-factor. Also pencilmarking a little bit later 2,5,8 in r4c6 whilst box 5 has 2,8 in it. @43:40 law of leftovers on column 4, telling you 4 has to be in r9c1,2,3or4 to make it a possible renban is what tells you the line type. I get it that you like puzzling, but some days your lack of sudokumindedness makes you wring out every last little inch of puzzlability out of these puzzles :P

[@user-ox9oo6wp6d]

48:33 for me! This is much faster than I expected! Well done me!

[@MFPF]

46:32 I noticed that those three have to add up to an even number without containing 2, 4 and 8. 3 odd numbers add up to an odd number, so you need an even number, and there is only one even number left: 6. So the other two numbers have to add 6 or 14... so it's 1 and 5 or 5 and 9... so 5 is also a number.

[@tzisorey]

This one is giving me that optical illusion where you see black dots that arent actually there...

[@PhilBoswell]

You've mentioned an instructional video from Chain Bear on German Whispers before, could we see it please? I have searched for it without success 😞

[@davidmiller9485]

for what it's worth i think it's referring to a cracking the cryptic video that Chain Bear did. I think. I found a twitter of him mention that his German Whispers puzzle was on CTC and that people should watch CTC like he does to relax. If you want i can go back and get links.

[@roccov3614]

I nearly did it. Just had 2 digits of a 3 line wrong near the end. Once I fixed that I finished it. Still took too long but, what I did do, was fun.

[@doktorq1421]

176 minutes, great puzzle thanks

[@MattYDdraig]

66:41 Very impressive setting. With the varying line possibilities this was like juggling ... with chainsaws... blindfolded.

[@Ardalambdion]

Does the 6x6 algebraic puzzle have a video? If not, I hope Simon or Mark does it tomorrow.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Yes, Simon's solve is available on Patreon now.

[@Ardalambdion]

@@CrackingTheCryptic Unfortunately, I'm not member there.

[@dhruvjain3153]

For an anti-factor line of length 3 and that all 3 digits are unique(line is in the same row, column or box), there are only 2 possible solutions 1,4,7 or 2,5,8.

[@ChellCube]

Simon at 1:25:55 : "Now I'm not going to say it can't be one" Me: Thats the spirit, of course you'll win!

[@agoristtaxadvice]

That was BRUTAL

[@bobgui5909]

Stuck on box 7 for sooo long and finally got it in 2.5 hrs🤐 Nice solve!

[@Grandy_UiD]

I was JUST about to type how r6c7 being two colors annoyed me more than it should, when good old Simon actually fixed it right at the end.

[@loafes1352]

there's nothing in the rules about normal sudoku rules applying. I was wracking my brain trying to get my head around how it's possible to have a soloution that doesnt require normal sudoku

[@studgerbil9081]

absolutely maddening.

[@MCarrington01]

Simon, since you’re recording these videos, when you get interrupted and you have to pause, does your software allow you to rewind and watch the previous 5 min to reacquaint yourself?

[@samplename5159]

1:00:30 i absolutely went the long way around the box 7 math just like Simon did, but then noted arithmetic is simpler and deductions feels more fair to the solver and flow nicer if you start by noting even sum in 3 cells must have an even digit and only one of them is allowed

[@Rach881101]

79:30 for me. Marvelous puzzle!

[@killroy42]

Toby had two fancy burgers with a sparkler for dinner!

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Happy birthday, Toby!

[@AFT3RDAY5]

All the math that Simon does so easily in his head I had to put on paper 😂

[@Jivvi]

Can a German whispers line or anti-factor line contain repeated digits if they turn a corner into a different box? I don't think that's stated anywhere and it seems like they should be able to, but there were a few times where I think you used the assumption that they can't have repeated digits. Like why can't a whispers line go x-x-1-6-1-x-x if the 6 is on a corner and the two 1s don't share a row, column, or box? And the anti-factor line on the left of the puzzle goes 9-7-4-7-8 without the repeated 7s making it invalid, but I think at one point you used the assumption that that line couldn't have repeated digits on it to disambiguate something else.

[@ElysaraCh]

at 1:10:50 - you can instantly deduce that the 9 cell line cannot be anti-factor by using the 39 pair to determine that the line in box 6 contains 1567, which when added to the values you know must be on the cells in column 6 gets you 40 which isn't a multiple of 9.

[@ElysaraCh]

ha, 4 minutes later Simon does exactly this

[@Chippy569]

Hey Simon, I thought I heard a few videos ago that maybe there was a "Lines" puzzle app coming in the future -- am I imagining that or is that something we can be looking forward to? Thanks!

[@MacMiraa]

I think I heard that too, yeah

[@renezirkel]

I dont understand. Why can there be a 6 on the anti-factor line of 8? Both have a common factor of 2. Cany somebody please explain. Thanks for the help and thank you for your good videos.

[@inezwijnands6006]

Thanks for the birthday wishes ^^

[@markwright6685]

BRILLIANT! BRILLIANT! BRILLIANT!

[@michelbergh2816]

Shouldn’t the two renban lines in row one actually form one renban line? Love your work Simon, keep on going!

[@ericpraline1302]

There was some delightful logic in this puzzle, particularly b2/r4/c4, though the ending was painful - I missed the mod logic - and I think I may have got lucky earlier on when I forgot the rules.

[@Cassius40k]

I thought the puzzle was telling me that row 1 Renban lines could not be adjacent. If the Renban lines were next to each other they would be 6 consecutive numbers, therefore it would be a 6-length line.

[@michaels4340]

1:33:30 Thank you Simon

[@aere481]

@1:128:00 it is not proper to conclude that 8 can't be on a 4-cell anti factor line. It still ends up being true that it is a whisper line, but this is a lucky conclusion.

[@yichen6313]

Very interesting puzzle!

[@zergrush8709]

here I am, thinking I can beat simon, I managed to do it in 138:06 AND I even looked at the video for clues on where to look next. All the extra time you spend checking over your theories to make sure they are correct is made up for by all the time you save by simply understanding where to look next.

[@dannstarrjp]

Omg 110 min for me but I’m so happy with that solve. Could’ve had a much better time if I didn’t make a logical error that costed me 20-30min (had to go back and fix it). It’s very rare that I can complete a 5* puzzle all by myself so I’m very satisfied with that one 😊

[@JDrobro]

I need help understanding something. I solved the puzzle up to about where Simon is at the 1:00:00 mark and then got stuck so I came to get a little hint from Simon. He repeatedly mentions that there cannot be a 2 on the 8-square anti-factor line, but that doesn't seem to be true. If, for example, R9C123 contained 9/1/2, then the AF line would have the digits 1/1/2/5/6/7/9/9 which sums to 40 (multiple of 8) and multiplies to 34020 (NOT a multiple of 8, as 34020 / 8 = 4252.5). I tried to find the part of the video where he explains this reasoning but could not find it. Can someone help me out?

[@bait6652]

Another follow along. Missed the early 4. And the middle Div8. Whats interesting is the zigzag 1816. Thats adds to 4*4 but violates the 8 on antifactor-4line.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

I used *placeholder digits* to find the colour (green, purple or orange) of lots lines very quickly and easily... Then I easily disambiguated by finding the colour (orange) of the (anti-factor) line starting in *r9c1.* I bet Simon struggled more than me there... ...but I am being very slow in the last part, as usual 🐌👍 Not finished yet... By the way, in this case each placeholder digit *N* represented either itself or *10-N.* For instance, I started with a *9* in *r1c2,* representing a "flavour" of the *1-9* pair (either 1 or 9). Then of course, the placeholder digit *1* represented the other "flavour."

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Luckily, the anti-factor line in *row 4* (containing 5-2-8 or 5-8-2) and *r4c9* (containing 4 or 6) were both compatible with placeholders. *German whispers* and *renbans* are always compatible with the transformation _y_ = 10 - _x_ That's the reason why I decided to use placeholders to simplify my first deductions in this puzzle. And they helped me a lot‼️

[@Waniou137]

My name is Chris and it is my birthday but sadly I'm not the Chris that birthday wish was directed at. I'll take it anyway though :)

[@longwaytotipperary]

Happy birthday Chris/not Chris! 🎉🎉

[@JustAnotherBuckyLover]

Happy birthday Not-Chris. Have some (redacted) chocolate cake. 🎂

[@Tsunami14]

1:33:28 THANK YOU!!

[@LadyEmilyNyx]

purple/blue are really difficult to see apart for us unlucky colourblind folks. But I enjoyed the video immensely nonetheless.

[@karsaanita]

What an amazing puzzle! It took me a hot minute... or 110 😅