Keep Solving And Nobody Explodes

** Today's Sudoku **
Zetamath has been inspired by watching us explode in our recent livestreams... and he's made a sudoku that proves to be one of the most interesting and difficult that we've ever seen. A word of warning: if you attempt this puzzle make sure you give yourself some time. It will probably take you longer than 5 minutes. Play the puzzle at the link below:
app.crackingthecryptic.com/su...
Rules:
Don't panic. There are several bombs hidden throughout the grid, but if you just follow these simple not at all convoluted directions you can disarm the bombs and save everyone. The bombs take the form of three regular sudoku digits which you must determine. All instances of each of those digits in the grid are bombs. Each row, column and region must contain the digits 1 to 9 once each. Therre are nine regions to be discovered, each containing nine orthogonally connected cells. The arrows point to bombs within the same region. The digit on the arrow tells you how many cells to travel to reach that bomb. For example, if r6c2 is 3, that would tell you that r3c2 is a bomb digit in the same region as r6c2. Not all arrows are necessarily given. The black dots in the grid separate digits with a ratio of 1:2 which are in different regions. All such black dots are given. [Digits with a ratio of 1:2 that are in the same region are not marked.]
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▶SOFTWARE◀
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Melvyn Mainini

[@RichardBreen]

This should have been solved with Simon describing the grid, and Mark, without being able to see it, telling him how to solve it.

[@jensschmidt]

Or with Mark pencilmarking and Simon coloring and only telling the other the respective markings 🙂

[@Daemonworks]

Honestly, I was half expecting that from the title. :)

[@jfb-]

And only mark having the rules

[@ananas_anna]

@@Daemonworks yep, and the video length too

[@martinlarsson612]

@@jfb- yng .

[@justscrobbler1897]

Only Simon can simultaneously be a genius while at the same time taking forever to notice he'd placed a 3 on a kropki dot and not put a 6 opposite it.

[@sonalita_]

Or mis filling in the bomb after writing a 2 in an arrow square in yellow. He even had the cursor in that square several times. I was the most shoutiest I’ve ever been.

[@Pointlesschan]

@@sonalita_ I kept shouting at him for both of these

[@icyphilippe]

want to talk about the 1 in grey ? 😂

[@jonatanpersson82]

Or the 20 min to fill in the last orange square

[@DJMcFlinty]

It was a 6 for about 30 minutes before he even put the 3 in, had 1234 taken in the line and 8 was removed by basic sudoku

[@ilonachan]

"Do have a go" in a 2h video 🤣 That's the kind of comedy we've come to expect from our Sudoku Jester Simon

[@sarahharris1990]

I'm god with my sanity I think...

[@JS...]

TBF, the completion time is unknown at that time, but yeah, it's still fun.

[@derekfordyce9]

Probably easier than the puzzle hunt... I'm stuck on a puzzle and don't want to hit up discord too much

[@BlueCyann]

It's actually pretty do-able after the first little bit. Just takes a while. Took me 2hrs 20.

[@smylesg]

Don't you mean, "blinkered, philistine pig ignorance"?

[@stevieinselby]

I love Simon's laser-sharp focus on a region 1cm across and his blinkers preventing him from seeing the exact same things happening a single cell away...

[@Nevir202]

Just like Simon to ignore a 3 on a black dot for half the solve lol.

[@JayBea]

Haha, why is this kind of thing so frustrating to me? Simon sees the most devious, hidden bits of logic that I could never spot in a million years and it delights me, but when he misses something that I see I end up yelling at my screen. "Of course 6 isn't a bomb, because you have a 3 on a black dot looking into a region with 3 bombs!!!" Of course, my frustration isn't "real" frustration, I still enjoy the entire solve video thoroughly.

[@michaelsinger2608]

@@JayBea Yeah, I know that he is solving this live but many many many times, instead of finishing what he finds out, he moves to something else. The orange should have gotten done and the 4 on the black dot removed 6. He needs to finish off the work that completes something. A few videos I couldn't watch because of it :)

[@JayBea]

I know they read these comments, and I know Simon can be hard on himself, so I have to add - when I talk about my "frustration" it's 100% all in good fun. I love these videos so much and appreciate what this entire channel and community have been providing, for free, for so long now. Any frustration I might feel while watching this is matched equally with pride that I'm even able to comprehend the puzzle, let alone see a piece of logic before Simon notices it. And I have Simon's videos to thank for that pride and excitement. I wouldn't trade the frustration for anything, and please don't change a single thing about the channel.

[@Daemonworks]

I spent the better part of an hour yelling "ask what colour the center 1 can be" at the screen :)

[@elliejordan3233]

I’m starting to be convinced he does it for the audience. That way we feel good when we notice this stuff, but we also get to see his brilliant but unnecessary logic to get to the same conclusion

[@chris5619]

Mark yesterday: here's a puzzle that's more on the easy side which some of the comments have been asking for lately. Simon today: this puzzle has absolutely laid waste to our testers.

[@zetamathdoespuzzles]

I do worry about the reputation i am building with the testers!

[@tallcat]

@@zetamathdoespuzzles I hear tell they put a bounty on your head...

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@zetamathdoespuzzles As a viewer, I ❤ your puzzles!!

[@zetamathdoespuzzles]

@@longwaytotipperary Thank you so much, I'm glad they make good videos (-:

[@user-oj2xx1rk7d]

Also Simon: I'm not sure this is a difficult puzzle, I'm sure it could be done in 25 minutes of you knew where to look. Narrator: but it was a difficult puzzle.

[@BCSBuck]

There is no way I could solve this myself, but there were so many times I could see obvious things that Simon was missing. He was operating at such a high level he was skipping the obvious things and moving on to other higher level things. Was amazing and frustrating at the same time!

[@cthulhutentacles4716]

This is the beauty of Simon's solves. He is working on a different level so you get to feel clever by spotting the trivial things that he missed

[@tedg1278]

He does that all the time. Sometimes, especially with this puzzle, skipping those little obvious things makes the whole thing take much longer.

[@BramMertens]

Perhaps Simon should enlist someone as a side kick to point those out to him as he goes along.

[@bkPaladin80]

I almost woke the house yelling at him that the 2 was on an arrow. :)

[@HunterJE]

Might be smart on build-your-own irregulars like this to use the pen tool to outline known completed 9-cell regions and then un-color them, it would both free up the "good" colors for reuse on other incomplete regions and also clearly identify which regions are complete and which still need to take cells...

[@IG-64]

I had the same thought. If he had done that with the green region at 40:05 he could have immediately seen that r8c8 had to be orange, which wasn't spotted until some time later.

[@fabianschultz]

Cool Idea, going to use that in the future

[@zetamathdoespuzzles]

I have found this very useful when solving puzzles like this myself!

[@LEEBLISSY]

also ideal for colorblind viewers I imagine

[@complainer406]

Adding lines anywhere he knew was the edge of a region could've helped, e.g. it would've been a way to signal to himself that purple and yellow might be the same (no line) and that later they couldn't be (by adding a line), or when he knew he couldn't extend grey because of the 6 he could've out one in

[@brianarsuaga5008]

"Do have a go" (checks video length) "Absolutely not"

[@concofps]

Was thinking about attempting this one but then i saw that it took Simon almost 2 hours, and i decided that id like to do something else with my week 😂

[@Sam_on_YouTube]

Anything longer than 45 minutes, there is no time in which I could solve it without just constant guessing. This is a definite watch, don't solve.

[@longwaytotipperary]

😂

[@raylawler13]

I actually regret not trying it. Usually Simon is way ahead of me on picking up clues, but on this one I found myself yelling at the screen the whole time, haha.

[@concofps]

@@raylawler13 I mean there is always something that I see before Simon does, but for everyone of those there are 5 things he spots before I ever would.

[@Tepalus]

I usually am slower than Simoj but it took me about 1h to solve this one. You really should give it a try. :) I found it to be not that hard once you really get the rules.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

Simon, you explain the logic so well that I find myself applying it to your grid whenever you get stuck. Then I have to have the patience to wait for you to see it because i know you will.

[@spelldaddy5386]

In the phistomefel live stream, Simon took 1:57 from start to finish on the puzzle itself. In this video, he takes 1:54. Zetamath really has something to be proud of, stumping Simon almost as much as phistomefel

[@zincfive]

Having been foiled again, tonight, at the lair of the GCG, (Genius Constructors' Guild) work continues to produce the mighty 2 hour SSS (Simon Sudoko Solve) Tune in next week!

[@highpath4776]

The 48 on the dot was missed in the 8 elimination from the bomb pair - but maybe that could not be done until all possible bomb numbers were pencilled in.

[@Urroner]

I remember back in the day when Simon got a mite spiffed if the video got to be 45 minutes . Now he does 2 hour puzzle and is not upset in the slightest. The channel is sooooo much better these days.

[@paulv3lv]

It's amazing how little sudoku Simon actually does while doing a sudoku puzzle.

[@timedforpress]

Imagine having to do Sudoku in a Sudoku puzzle…

[@ZoraHimself]

That's the beauty of sudoku puzzles with special rules

[@GotG113]

Wow! 2 hours!? Hubby is making popcorn right now lol He doesn't watch but he knows what's up 🤣🤣

[@leojs5673]

Been refreshing like crazy for this one!! We finally made it to a two hour edition of CTC and I can say confidently, this excites me a lot more than most feature films. We’re in for a real treat :-)

[@killhour]

"That's telling me that this square is a thingy thing" is probably the best part of the video.

[@tallcat]

Very happy to see this puzzle!! It's really intricate and very clever as we have come to expect from Zeta. For some reason, this one just 'clicked' in my brain so it's an 'i solved faster than Simon' puzzle - which, given their rareness, I am happy to be slightly smug about. I hope this inspires to get you and Mark back to bomb defusing quickly ;) Also, Flash is DC.

[@superdan2593]

Congrats! This was definitely a hard puzzle! Simon could have got a better time if he spotted some more obvious deductions a bit sooner. We know Simon, why go the easy way when you can prove the same deduction in a more complicated way! 🤣

[@tallcat]

@@superdan2593 That unresolved kropki staring at the other kropki....

[@superdan2593]

@@tallcat lol, Yep, that one bothered me for a while 😉

[@uberchops]

Normally I'd never attempt a puzzle anywhere near this long, my previous "hardest" solve being for a 70-minute video, but something compelled me to try this one. And unlike other similarly insane puzzles, I didn't cave and take hints even after many screw-ups. It took me almost 5 hours but against all sense of reason and self-preservation, I actually solved it and feel absolutely incredible. Of course now I'm kicking my self whilst tabbing through Simon's solve and seeing that early 12 pair having to be in the same region via the negative kropke constraint. I had to to take a far more circuitous route to reach that conclusion. I'm sure to find many others, alas.

[@zetamathdoespuzzles]

Great job making it through!

[@victoriam6569]

You should be proud of yourself! Great job!

[@NothingMoreButMusic]

18:02 Simon: "I use blue. Orange and blue are the most colorblind friendly options!" 23:42 Simon uses red and green 🤣

[@QwDragon]

Thanks for a great puzzle and great solve! --- 24:57 No, R8C5 can be the last cell of orange. 29:33 Bomb on black dot at R8C6 is 3 with 6 bellow it. Top to bottom 12, 21, 24, 42, 63 and 84 are impossible (because bottom digit will be repeated in orange), in 48 the 4 is known as not a bomb (there are 3 bombs in R9 already, so 4 and 1 are not bombs), so 36 only is fine. 40:04 R8C8 is orange as green is finished. 43:51 And 6 is not a bomb because R9C6 is 6 (see description for 29:33). So R8C5 is 3 and R8C6 is 6. 46:46 3 on black dot, and where is 6?) 1:06:05 R3C2 is already yellow and a bomb due to yellow 2 arrow. And the purple region is forced (if takes more than one cell not in C1 [R4C2 and R4C3] than yellow gets more than nice cells) and it forces 8/9 yellow cells. 1:15:45 Definetely not 9, sudoku is only nine cells wide))) 1:27:54 Can remove 9 from all silver bombs. 1:35:12 The third 3 not marked as a bomb... And 4 in R1 is referencing the bomb before it - the black bomb which gives 789 triple in C8 and leaves 45 pair in C8. 1:44:20 Draw the lines between regions :) 1:50:50 (Actually I understood it at 1:52:46) And now it [R5C6] can't be a silver bomb as gray already has a silver bomb. So silver goes to R3C6 which is 79 and silver resolves to 7. Now black can't be 7 and resolves to 9. So only 8 of 789 is not a bomb and can be writen into R9C2 and R1C6.

[@girnyimykola]

24:57 Actually we can prove this cell is blue, because if it was orange, then blue must go in r7c456 to reach a bomb. And because of the boundary in r67c7 there will be at least a 3 cell blocked out white region that has to be blue, which it cannot be because blue will have a total of more than 9 cells. Hope I've explained it clearly)

[@G4M1L]

@@girnyimykola True, I'm not so certain though, Simon saw this in that moment, although I'm also not quite certain he didn't, but he probably would have explained it then.

[@girnyimykola]

@@G4M1L I also don't think that Simon saw this. All I wanted to say is that even if he noticed this mistake, he could still prove that cell is blue.

[@chithien305]

that is dedication

[@chithien305]

1:29:33 also that r4c3 cant be a 8 because there will be a 48 pair that clashes r4c6

[@reddcube]

Got to love puzzle with a negative constraint.

[@zetamathdoespuzzles]

This particular negative constraint paired with chaos construction is one of my favorites. I've used it a number of times and will certainly use it more (-:

[@paulmorenkov]

I can’t believe I solved this! It took me around 5 hours of work over the course of the day. I found the break-in on my own, but really got stuck soon after. I had to check the video one time halfway through because I thought I messed it up, but I had just accidentally pressed the wrong button. Usually I have trouble solving anything that takes Simon over 30 minutes, so I’m really happy with this one!

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 02:22 Let's Get Cracking: 05:58 Puzzle Solved: 2:00:23 Simon's time: 1h54m25s What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Goodliffing: 2x (45:24, 1:43:24) Bobbins: 1x (57:01) You Rotten Thing: 1x (1:16:49) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Hang On: 40x (11:08, 17:13, 17:47, 18:11, 18:29, 22:31, 22:57, 25:19, 25:19, 25:26, 27:41, 27:43, 27:46, 27:46, 31:44, 32:17, 32:18, 33:38, 35:37, 35:37, 42:18, 42:56, 45:51, 45:51, 53:07, 53:16, 53:30, 57:55, 58:18, 58:18, 1:02:09, 1:03:15, 1:07:36, 1:08:17, 1:16:20, 1:29:05, 1:33:43, 1:36:30, 1:39:58, 1:42:03) Sorry: 17x (01:49, 12:08, 13:20, 17:13, 25:46, 25:46, 26:39, 45:31, 45:39, 51:39, 54:38, 1:00:06, 1:05:24, 1:23:55, 1:28:04, 1:39:54, 1:53:34) Wow: 15x (04:03, 11:32, 21:59, 40:17, 49:50, 1:19:27, 1:21:05, 1:21:05, 1:21:31, 1:21:31, 1:25:48, 1:25:48, 1:25:54, 1:33:51, 1:33:52) By Sudoku: 14x (32:37, 36:06, 49:24, 49:47, 1:14:50, 1:16:29, 1:17:42, 1:21:03, 1:48:51, 1:53:25, 1:54:58, 1:55:00, 1:55:11) Beautiful: 13x (33:57, 40:05, 49:20, 54:12, 1:03:27, 1:03:27, 1:11:23, 1:12:08, 1:25:54, 1:35:30, 1:39:25, 1:39:29, 1:42:22) Goodness: 8x (13:12, 48:53, 54:34, 1:37:11, 1:37:14, 2:00:02, 2:01:18, 2:01:21) Lovely: 7x (08:57, 37:25, 42:22, 49:07, 1:15:06, 1:22:44, 1:23:10) Good Grief: 6x (03:46, 38:36, 48:24, 1:21:16, 1:21:36, 1:35:32) In Fact: 6x (10:11, 15:20, 31:37, 1:07:34, 1:58:33, 2:00:34) Clever: 5x (25:08, 34:00, 36:13, 38:35, 1:21:35) The Answer is: 4x (1:14:31, 1:30:38, 1:39:33, 1:40:55) Nonsense: 4x (27:06, 27:25, 30:45, 1:12:32) Gorgeous: 4x (32:20, 43:46, 53:16, 1:21:05) What on Earth: 3x (37:54, 1:10:27, 1:45:14) Useless: 3x (1:17:00, 1:17:00, 1:38:44) Obviously: 3x (08:42, 1:25:18, 1:29:53) Bother: 2x (49:28, 1:40:59) Secret: 2x (1:40:20, 1:40:24) Brilliant: 2x (01:25, 01:54) Whoopsie: 2x (1:35:06, 1:35:06) Progress: 2x (07:19, 21:18) Axiomatically: 1x (48:01) Apologies: 1x (13:18) Naked Single: 1x (58:44) Out of Nowhere: 1x (09:17) Missing Something: 1x (1:41:49) I Have no Clue: 1x (38:04) Stuck: 1x (1:06:57) Break the Puzzle: 1x (45:56) Hypothecate: 1x (1:22:21) Come on Simon: 1x (44:10) Bonkers: 1x (01:06) If I Trust my Pencil Marks: 1x (1:21:10) Surely: 1x (1:49:30) Mea Culpa: 1x (1:43:27) I've Got It!: 1x (1:25:59) Stunning: 1x (40:20) Phone is Buzzing: 1x (1:18:00) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Ten (6 mentions) Two (184 mentions) Orange (75 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (5) - High (0) Even (15) - Odd (0) 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!

[@baxterb94]

The scale on this is amazing. Simon said two 184 times!

[@kwongshuchung]

I wonder how you can manage to find out all the moments........

[@ScienceMeetsFiction]

By my estimate, the solve time in the "Lighthouse" live stream was 1h56m43s. Also, way back on 1/2/2020, Simon said it took him 2 hours to solve the "Coded Sandwich Sudoku," but that wasn't recorded live. So it's roughly a time between those three which one has been the hardest. (Aside from the ones they mess up and have to discard.)

[@RickyRatte]

The rules are at 2:22, not 1:01

[@jorrr9096]

He also said 'cog' two times

[@vctrsigma]

1:50:48 finally, the question "what color is the only uncolored 1 left in the grid" was bugging me for so long as he was looking for ways to extend the regions :-D

[@JoyanneBecker]

That poor little grey 1! It was so neglected. I was rooting for about a half hour. 😥 Plus it would have fixed 7 as the grey flash bomb at 1:31:07 😣

[@gbs5009]

Me too! Usually Simon always sees stuff way before me, but this one there were several region deductions that jumped out at me early. Maybe it's time for me to actually "have a go" at some of these before watching his solve.

[@pianosaresexxy]

I love the long solves and have been waiting for this one to show up on the channel, very excited!

[@kavaianimu4631]

solved it all on my own, im so proud, this is literally the first time in my live i actually tried do solve a sudoku, ive binged watched a few videos of this guy in the last few days but never actually tried to solve one. what can i say, im hooked

[@Jukka70]

I know that it's a long video, but I love watching Simon solve these puzzles. Especially ones by zetamath. He just loves doing his puzzles, and boy are they hard. Although basic puzzles are hard to me. The only thing I was surprised at was how long it took him to see the gray 1, going by his coloring. But honestly, he should never be upset with himself, I mean this was just incredible to watch.

[@zetamathdoespuzzles]

I was quite impressed by how quickly Simon homed in on the fact that coloring 789s was going to be important.

[@timcolla5686]

I thoroughly enjoyed this solve! I was just a little frustrated for 29 minutes :D The deduction at 1:50:45 that the 1 in R5C5 is dark grey I had been screaming at my screen at since the beautiful deduction at 1:21:40. Making the 1 in R2C7 purple, leaving the one 1 not coloured yet left to be part of dark grey. Then at 1:31:21 you deduction of where the grey flash bomb could go in column 6 would have instantly told you it was a 7, because the 48 pair was in the dark grey area which already had a grey flash bomb in column 9.

[@JoyanneBecker]

The poor little grey 1! It was so neglected 😭

[@10bd1]

I was doing the same thing! Just hoping he would finally see it!

[@katam6471]

There's no way I could have solved this, but watching Simon doing was such a pleasure. And as I feel a bit bad after my third covid jab, it was a perfect day for a CTC-movie. Thanks Zetamath and Simon!

[@annabellethorpe2542]

Don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of a solve than this one. Only took me 10mins more than Simon. What a beautiful puzzle by zetamaths, never felt like there wasn’t something to look at. And the panic in the final stretch felt much like the panic in the last seconds of keep talking as the communication that was so easy flowing at the start changes

[@ritchards]

Applause, applause, absolutely fantastic! I got very small deductions before you did... but nothing compared to the masterclass of the full solve!

[@Coyotek4]

I made a vow to myself to solve every Sudoku featured on this channel. Still going ... after taking over an hour and a half (1:35:35) on this one, but definitely a keeper for my collection. Stupendous puzzle!

[@MentalVideographer]

This was a really interesting solve, because there were points where I went 'Oh, well hang on, he's a clever deduction he could spot' (E.G. once you had all the 1s placed and all but one was paired off, the last one had to be grey immediately), but at the same time, there were just as many moments where I would have gotten irrevocably stuck. Feels like it speaks to the massive complexity of the puzzle that both of those feelings can coexist. Extremely impressive solve.

[@danielwolters9082]

This is so amazing. Well done! Love to watch you solve puzzles. It's incredibly relaxing

[@AndreasChrisWilhelmer]

Oh man, this solve was amazing and way faster than I could've done this. But still I was sitting on needles the whole time the last '1' hadn't been assigned to the grey region - especially once it would've immediately disambiguated which bomb has which value. Something about that tickled a very special nerve of mine. ^^

[@d4r4butler74]

YES! And the not coloured 3, all lonely sitting there...waiting. Not to mention he hovered over *and* highlighted the 1 more than once while bemoaning a lack of direction.... Tap dancing on that special nerve.

[@yerel_nimni_avni]

WOW, my head exploded just from watching and trying to follow the logic. Great puzzle and an awesome solve. Zetamath and Simon take a bow.

[@Torisson]

I felt a bit overwhelmed by this one, and then I checked the video length and laughed. But the opening gave me a morale boost and some idea of where to start, and one additional prompt later when I was flailing. Happy to say I handled the rest of it. Some of these feel like they'd be better to tackle with a partner; the videos can sort of stand in for that. Thanks for posting it - and thanks for the puzzle.

[@e15364]

I find myself skipping over the 30 minute videos in favor of the hour+ videos because I just know the puzzles that take that long are going to be mind boggling. I'm really happy that you upload the long ones, even if I have to watch it in three parts because of other activities throughout the day.

[@gonzoron]

Incredible puzzle, and yet felt somewhat approachable. I messed up a few times along the way and needed Simon to set me straight, but managed to get through eventually. Awesome puzzle, awesome video!

[@Remontius]

Those long vids with live solving and no prep are awesome 😁👍

[@AdventCloudStrife]

Now that I'm far enough in the video, I can confidently say you are not inept. A few times I saw something earlier than you, but you always found it. And that's to say nothing about the sheer volume of deductions you saw that I never would. Good stuff!

[@RealGrouchy]

After coming back to this every couple of days, I surprised myself with a 'solve' time of 1:08:03-implausibly less than Simon's time-only to come back to my KZbin tab to realize that I only started solving the puzzle after watching the first 37 minutes of Simon's solve! But after watching the breakin, I didn't have to come back for more help, so in that sense it was somewhat approachable!

[@eddiejcc]

Thank You @Zetamath Wow I was blown away by this puzzle, absoluteley loved it!! I think this must be the first puzzle I ever beat Simons time on :)

[@seanmcdonough2683]

Absolutely loved this. The bombs and discovering areas worked so well together having to work them both at the same time. Then about halfway through I was coloring the different possible bombs. Finally, even at the end it was still difficult for me to sort out the last 3 regions.

[@karassov]

Simon, thats a great solve! Really an art. Thank you! I have a big family and it's difficult for me to watch KZbin video for two hours, but that was really wonderful logic. It's been a pleasure. It amazes me how you always find way to solution, even in so hard situations.

[@ericpraline1302]

Approached this with a degree of trepidation given the length of the video, but was pleasantly surprised as it was not as horrendous as I thought. Excellent fun. Strange how some puzzles seem to get more difficult as you progress - took me ages to fully resolve the last few regions. Gotta love Simon's interpretation of not having an insight for thirty seconds as running into a brick wall.

[@chinchilla_blubber]

102 minutes for me. This is a brilliant monster of a puzzle!

[@foalspreshow]

I’ve watched every video since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, and this is hands down my favourite puzzle in a CTC video

[@joeg451]

Simon at the 2 hour mark: "so we're actually getting on a bit with the sudoku which is... moderately exciting"

[@LorisLaboratory]

I really enjoy these epic ones, particularly when there is some clever new logic and puzzling to work out (vs some kind of acrobatic SET maneuvering) Well done!

[@gadois8674]

Bravo Zetamath 👏, more of these type please. i love the puzzles where you have to define regions too. So much intertwined logic, premium setting! interestingly my solve differed in parts from Simon's, as there was scope to follow different logic trails in different orders hugely enjoyable

[@pewdipiehp11]

amazing video, love the long hard sudokus that you solve, this was a hard one :D

[@pianosaresexxy]

Finally finished, had to watch in pieces today, last comment, I promise - the sound effect at the end was lovely. Great job with the solve!

[@Scum42]

I love the Keep Talking sound effects of you finishing the bomb at the same moment you finished the puzzle! Lovely touch!

[@cansudemirden893]

I was so invested. Simon, you are genious. I would never fit the logic to solve this kinda puzzles but I was screeming to my phone with easy fill-ins that you didn't see in the first place. I got literal adrenaline rush at the end. It was really nice to watch.

[@Reversinator]

This puzzle makes a strong case for letting the software use more colors.

[@bibliopolist]

No, it makes a strong case for removing colors and shades as soon as they aren't necessary anymore.

[@Reversinator]

but the puzzle looks pretty with all the colors at the end :(

[@jessevennard2640]

You two keep me entertained just when I think there’s nothing fun or interesting left on the internet

[@dinane]

I actually loved this puzzle. It was time consuming and brain consuming but I always felt like there was something to look for. Thank you!

[@hangugeohaksaeng]

What a marathon! Great video, and an unforgettable puzzle! I've never seen a puzzle fight back that hard, on the channel before! Fun to watch the dominoes fall at the end. Watched it with my puzzling friend, and we had a blast!

[@xeanayafoxzelaine9002]

glad to see he had finally gotten there in the end. spent ages saying 8 is safe *chuckles* really love these challenges since I stumbled across the inception video.

[@sgtdiddle]

I can't believe I finished this one! I've not even attempted any of the puzzles Simon's solved on the channel. I usually end up making some logical faux pas and get stuck. And it took me 2 hours too! I'm so proud of myself for finishing this fantastic puzzle.

[@adnagapot]

What a great way to unwind after work, love the video

[@jasonveale8467]

This was such a fun puzzle to do. I don't normally have a go at the puzzles that Simon and Mark take a long time to solve, but I managed to get this one done. Thanks CTC and a big thanks to zetamath.

[@jessicatait1867]

Such a great solve path that requires finding digits concurrently with determining region boundaries. I feel a lot of these sorts of region-determining puzzles have been a few digits and all of the regions, then a irregular sudoku to finish. Loved watching this solve! Great setting and solving!

[@aere481]

Great puzzle. Took me 1h40. I think SImon could've been quicker if he saw that the pair in R4C34 must be 36 because of R4C6.

[@osherlerner344]

Lovely challenge! Took a few hours, but the perseverance was satisfying. Thanks for featuring it

[@osherlerner344]

Watching Simon's solve I'm realizing how many negative constraints I missed! Seems bifurcated geometric reasoning would alternatively resolve much of the puzzle without that constraint, albeit not the most efficient path :D

[@rhubaruth]

I am amazed how long there was the last 1 without its region. - says someone who didn't noticed how long is the video, thoughts it's 20 minutes and now he watched 2 hour video about solving a sudoku instead of learning on tommorws exam or sleeping. Amazing puzzle, it was fun watching you Simon

[@Tepalus]

Took me about 60min :) edit: It's facinating... The less sudoku rules a puzzle has, the faster I solve it. Beautiful setting as always!

[@elvagabundo4607]

When I watched this Simon, I had an inexplicable desire to see you take a try at plate spinning!

[@monsterhunterayame4941]

The 9th orange cell had me screaming for nearly 20 minutes. He even stated it could only be orange but didn't fill it in. lmao

[@monsterhunterayame4941]

I want to be clear, I'm not upset about it. I think Simon is brilliant and a far better solver than I ever will be. I just thought it was funny that he had even stated that it must be orange, but because it was tied to a different deduction, he hadn't put it together.

[@gaelm4015]

I am so happy I tried this one despite the video length. Great puzzle

[@crystalgehrt8861]

This puzzle was freaking awesome! And I was able to do it, which felt awesome, too. Thanks Simon and zetamath!

[@AkadFan]

At 25:15, I don't think the assumption that r8c5 is Blue is right. It could well be orange and blue could go around it to reach. Therefore, the whole assumption that r8c4 and r9c4 are the same colour can't be made at that time.

[@girnyimykola]

Actually we can prove this cell is blue, because if it was orange, then blue must go in r7c456 to reach a bomb. And because of the boundary in r67c7 there will be at least a 3 cell blocked out white region that has to be blue, which it cannot be because blue will have a total of more than 9 cells. Hope I've explained it clearly)

[@OyvindSOyvindS]

That was awesome, both the setting and the solving.

[@joehelfrich7456]

This man's ability to take the long way around to find answers the grid has been trying to show him for half an hour is always astounding. He always wants to jump to the hard logic questions and doesn't want to bother with the routine stuff. :)

[@foofoothegreat]

This was definitely one where I saw some things long before Simon (but Simon still blows my mind with the ability to see things like white/grey flash bombs)

[@timedforpress]

If this kind of Sudoku takes off they definitely should call it Minesweeper Sudoku.

[@wariolandgoldpiramid]

Wow! Yet another two hour CTC movie! This is going to be an epic experience. But are you trying to intentionally mess with sleep schedule? haha 😆 I'll be back tomorrow to experience this. But I already have the feeling that Zetamath is a mad genius.

[@gringene_bio]

1:53:11 Simon has decided to play "Who's on First" "Where is the grey bomb in row 5? 'cos It can't be in grey, 'cos it would repeat in grey... so *that* is a grey bomb!"

[@jamessweatt985]

Kudos to Simon and especially the testers and especially especially the tester who completed it.

[@dingleford1611]

2 hours! Gonna have to save this one for another day - got my piano practice to do and evening dog walk and get my beauty sleep!

[@Anne_Mahoney]

I always, always do my piano practice before dinner so I can spend my evenings with CTC! Of course, that meant I was up pretty late last night -- but, worth it.

[@harryhenderson3636]

As the saying goes better late then never! This video randomly popped up in my youtube feed and I couldn't believe I missed this puzzle! Kudos to Simon for some clever thinking with the bombs at the end. It took me awhile to understand he was looking for digits that are the same - something I wouldn't have thought of. The end of the puzzle was very tricky but I think I understand the logic now.

[@CauchyIntegralFormula]

125'45". Two hours! But it was so much fun. I found myself wanting even more types of pencil markings; I was already using colors for the regions, so I ended up using 0 penciled into the center for my unknown-number bombs, but the key step at the end was me distinguishing between the two unknown bomb types, which required me to pencil them in as "01" and "02". If I had access to, say, letters, I would've penciled them in as A and B (and a third type as C) and saved myself quite a bit of time. I don't need these advanced pencilings on most puzzles, but for doozies like this, extra marking types would be very helpful!

Fantastic puzzle and fantastic solve. As usual.

[@michaelhoffman2011]

Well that took me 3 hours (over a few days) and well worth the effort... very fun... very hard.. but also doable.. thanks for the great puzzle.. Loved it.

[@jimmyh2137]

Maybe it's just luck (where to look next) but i felt like today Simon was super slow, i was noticing a couple steps ahead all the time in the first hour of the video and near the end of the video... Anyway, doesn't matter how fast. A solve is a solve! Very cool puzzle.

[@user-ox9oo6wp6d]

I can't believe I can finish this puzzle within about 2 hours! That's such a milestone for me in solving sudoku!

[@victoriam6569]

I enjoyed solving this one so much! Thank you!

[@Ashuowl]

"Keep Solving And Simon Wont Explode" Brilliant title. Edit: I watched for a bit, but I found myself solving the color combination along side and thought it'd be fun to have a crack at it myself, so went over and tried it. 3 hours about. It was fun, although I got quite hardstuck with the bomb numbers for quite some time but once I got 1 or 2 digits finally it all came crashing down beautifully.

[@amysteele2488]

Epic puzzle, in more ways than one... when I saw the thumbnail for this, the 2 hours confused me, because the live streams of keep talking and no-one explodes tend to be 2 hours or so long. That did not feel like 2 hours though, it absolutely flew by!

[@andrewnelson2525]

The trick in this puzzle was constantly having to switch between arrow logic, black dot logic (with a negative constraint), build a region logic, and irregular sudoku logic. Normally Simon can focus his intense concentration in one area and get quite a lot done before having to switch gears. This time, it was get one or two deductions then hit a wall. I loved it.

[@joelstevens5670]

I really enjoyed that. It was such a new and interesting idea which, provided you didn’t forget to use the negative constraint (as I did to begin with), was not actually too difficult once you had made a start and identified the key logic (that there are exactly 3 bombs in every row, column and region; that any digits which are not bomb digits can immediately be ruled out from cells containing bombs; that any cells containing digits with a 1:2 ratio without a black kropki must be in the same region; that no region can entirely contain another). It could take you a while (as Simon found out) if you missed a simpler deduction (such as when bombs were actually the same and could therefore have their options reduced significantly) but otherwise it was a hugely satisfying puzzle to solve. I also liked being able to use the pen tool circles to mark the bomb digits (it made the bombs easier to keep track of while adding an element of fun as a bonus). All in all, a very entertaining sudoku variant, thanks zetamath and congratulations to Simon for a valiant and ultimately successful effort. :)

[@lancheair5278]

I found this more entertaining than most of the other sudoku videos. imho everything was wrogn #2 movie is right up there with this one on constant deductions and excitement.

[@Vomarsk]

"Yellow is not purple anymore" Great out of context sentence

[@gregs2284]

I feel like there's many times when you prove something and put it aside and then forget it moments later when it would be useful. Like you proved you needed another blue cell in one of two cells and then when you found the purple 2 in one of those cells you didn't mark the other one blue. Or other times you announced that "4 is not a bomb" and then you used some big complex sequence of logic to show that the arrow couldn't be pointing at the 4

[@SourabhDas95]

Predicted early on that r1c1 had to 7 because of uniqueness because of a solve Mark did not too long ago where he made a similar prediction for a cell (nothing else to determine 7's and 9's in this puzzle). Always nice to be able to apply something I learnt from the channel.

[@kevinmattsson5718]

I almost skipped this because I thought it was a live stream vod... alas it's a 2 hour solve, excited to see this

[@stephenbeck7222]

Yeah, lol he made the title and thumb nail look too much like the live stream, plus the actual video length.

[@kamotskykir]

Did this thing as my first CTC puzzle in 261:26, used only 1 hint from Simon in r1c4 (was unable to see that if it's 3 it'll make 4 bombs in a line). Managed to solve all the numbers in r6 to r9 and got all the bomb numbers before completing the top cage LOL. Best 4 hours in my life!

[@kristerlarsson4633]

This is the best puzzle I've ever attempted. And the hardest that I've actually solved. Really nice one.