Minesweeper Meets Sudoku

[@FlorianWortmann]

Thank you so much for the feature, Simon! A perfect solve along the solvepath I imagined... this made my saturday evening 🙂 We might indeed see more puzzles with the minesweeper rule, there have been ideas of incorporating doublers and other shenanigans.

[@ElDillas]

I'm hoping to expand the rulesets on my puzzles... might give the minesweeper ruleset a try!!

[@Bronzescorpion]

First thank you for the puzzle. Secondly, I find it a bit odd that you say Simon solved it perfectly along the solvepath. The 4-2-9-7 line was already revealed long before he found it and he did it in a roundabout sudoku way, instead of using the rules. He only used the line to remove a deadly pattern, whereas it would have given him clues to the other lines if he had marked it earlier.

[@emilywilliams3237]

This is a very good implementation of the sudoku/minesweeper combo - and then the double arrows! Thanks, Florian.

[@FlorianWortmann]

@@Bronzescorpion Thanks, I see your point and yes, the solve was certainly not flawless. To me, "perfect" has a different meaning. Simon caught all the key steps, maybe not immediately, maybe not in an optimal order, but there were no bypasses of the intended logic and overall the solve was very fun and enjoyable to watch.

[@mikedonnan6541]

One of my favourite puzzles this year. Thank you (from a ‘mere mortal’ level solver) Florian & Simon! 🙏

[@DevonParsons697]

Not only is Minesweeper still around, there are some truly incredible Minesweeper games with handcrafted puzzles available. Tametsi and Hexcells are both fantastic. Lately I've been playing the game Bombe which is truly unbelievable, you program it with the rules to solve minesweeper and then it automatically applies the rules whenever possible in the future. The UI is a little unintuitive but it's one of the most astounding minesweeper games ever created.

[@Minihood31770]

A personal favourite of mine is Hexceed

[@timothyjamison8172]

These are great finds! One game I find amazing is called 14 Minesweeper Variants. Every procedurally-generated board can be and indeed has to be solved logically. If you guess, then it generates and shows a possible mine layout indicating how your guess is wrong based on the clues revealed so far. Another game I like is Globesweeper, where you can play on a spherical map of the Earth.

[@KeiFlox]

Hexceed is my personal favorite Minesweeper version! Love love love minesweeper, was stoked to see this video in my notifications.

[@rea9lizer]

Personally I don't like hexagon-tiled minesweepers, but Tametsi looks cool as it has various tile types. My favorite is 14 Minesweeper Variants

[@TayaTerumi]

Bombe is amazing, thanks for the rec!

[@Orenotter]

There's cars like the graceful Delorean. There's great, mighty robots like Vorian. But most underrated Of things man's created Is this awesome puzzle by Florian.

[@brendonmurley8276]

Chapeaut, Orenotter!

[@goranpiljic9362]

The way you go back and forth between regular Sudoku, double-arrow Sudoku, Yin-Yang shadings and Minesweeper clues in this one is astounding. Each different sub-game gives hints for the other ones. Fantastic puzzle and great solve.

[@GumpelLoki]

30:07 "Five and eight add up to eleven" another knowledge bomb from Cracking the Cryptic :P

[@Kheldar633]

I'm glad someone else caught this too... :)

[@johnpauladamovsky86]

At this point in time, I think that Cracking the Cryptic has finally reached its critical-mass, and thus Simon and Mark will have enough new puzzles and demand to continue publishing at least 2 videos a day for the rest of their lives.

[@David_K_Booth]

Thanks to Sven's continuing development of the web app, if you click on a circle and hold, all of the circles are automagically selected. Well done Sven!

[@stevesebzda570]

Or double tap one. It would probably even work if you double clicked one (even faster). You're welcome.

[@koenth2359]

Sven is truly amazing!!!

[@EvaCottontail]

16:40 “…although these would be friends with one another they would have to spend their lives in each other’s company like turtledoves and never meet another living soul.” Such poetry in sudoku!

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 34:43 minutes. This was such an enjoyable puzzle. The way the Yin Yang and the minesweeper clues work was beautiful. I think my favorite part was first figuring out the perimeter with the bottom left limiting all shading to the right side. Everything about this puzzle was so smooth. It's a testament to Florian's skills as a constructor. I really enjoyed this one. Great Puzzle!

[@stevesebzda570]

That's a neat trick , @25:24: Those line cells can't be 5-6 now (adding to 11) because r4c6 (a 56) would have no fill. So, they're 3-8 now. I wonder if Simon will spot that? That moves the 5 over in box2. That's why it's important to look at sudoku always. A nice trick there by the setter though . I noticed. Very cool.

[@hundertzwoelf]

Yup, pretty nice trick. I came to the comments to see if somebody else saw it too 😁

[@stangerrits6712]

Yes, me too. Felt quite good spotting this before Simon :)

[@birbthetopicman2851]

I saw the same thing and went to the comments to find someone else who spotted it :D I love being able to spot things, makes me *think* I’m as smart as Simon.

[@mini.opular]

16:40 "We'd have a trapped domino of green in all this and although these would be friends with one another theyd have to spend their lives in each other's company like turtle doves and never meet another living soul." I'm crying????

[@tylerowens]

49:05 I absolutely love minesweeper and this puzzle was a *blast* from start to finish

[@woahcarlos1611]

I tried this one myself after a few minutes watching Simon, and it really is quite cool how the rules play off of each other. Despite the lengthy rule set, I never felt overwhelmed by the level of nuance. The construction here really leads you step by step, back and forth between each rule. Such a fun solve!

[@Baer1990]

46:20 One of the smarter people on youtube not seeing they would've created a 3×2 is comforting to me. Makes me feel less disappointed when I miss an obvious pattern 😁 Well done Simon, I love your explanations just as much as the puzzle

[@cataleal3197]

It did made me smile, fan of Pulp here. I just started following the channel , watching sudokus has helped me un unwind after long days , love the videos❤ Greetings from Chile

[@bertbergers9171]

58:30 for me, loved the interactions between the different rules. Now on to watch the video. Thank you Simon, great solve and being a marvellous teacher in the past on the yin yang bit helped a lot, loved this ruleset.

[@ghandigoots]

At 12:10, I realized that the 1 won't work in the corner because it would force 234 on the line, leaving no low digits for the black dot in the box. I love when there are multiple logic paths that lead to the same deductions

[@ashnikchauhan9103]

Well another good one from Florian Wortmann. I love hybrid sudokus. And thank you sharing the secret Simon, I had forgotten the periemeter secret that one really helped. Keep on cracking

[@bobh6728]

30:05 Knowledge bomb: 5 & 8 add up to 11. 😜

[@bookmarvel1]

Solved it in 85:52, listened to the yin-yang tips and then gave it a shot solving it on my own. I almost exclusively do GAS, with occasionally attempting these harder puzzles and checking the video when I get stuck, but I was able to get through this whole puzzle on my own which I am so very proud of and I had such a fun time doing it :))

[@xDanKaix]

wonderful solve and even more wonderful puzzle. I didn't know either of the Yin-Yang Secrets and could still solve it... wish I knew those tricks before doing this puzzle.

[@stevesebzda570]

Lol nice. I luv how Simon's cursor is sitting on something. Because here (@19:14): That cell (if grey) would create a "checkerboard," so it's green. Now that that's in, the next cell "can't create a 2x2" of green, so it's grey. What's Simon off to now though? I'm checking it out (

[@flash24g]

From 43:15: Around the 4 circle, exactly one of 3 and 8 is shaded (otherwise we would have a 2×2 or a chequerboard). We have 7 shaded already, and at least one of the 9 and 2 left of the 4 is shaded (else we would have a 2×2). This means at most one of the 1 and 2 below the 4 is shaded. Shading the 1 would thus mean we have a chequerboard, hence the 1 is unshaded.

[@tehbertl7926]

31:36 here. Had a lot of fun with this one. I still play Minesweeper daily, it eats into my productivity!

[@annamerkel7266]

Fantastic puzzle, this was such a fun solve! I definitely needed simon's tricks about how to do yin-yang since I've never solved any of those type before, but after that I was off to the races. Loved the ruleset and how the different rules played off of one another. Would love to do more "minesweeper" puzzles in the future for sure.

[@Jesthers]

Solved all on my own, really impressed with this one! I actually got really stuck near the end because I forgot about the yin-yang restriction on the borders, was gonna watch the video and then saw that Simon pretty much colors the whole border that I had missing (most of the top and right side) near instantly lol Great puzzle! Loved the new rule with the "minesweeper" cells. Highly recommend this one :D

[@audeng8485]

Wonderful solve! I haven’t seen anyone point out how the finished shading sort of looks like a face smirking/smiling at the viewer. Lovely setting of the puzzle, and even lovelier if intentional!

[@LeaAddams]

Thanks so much for the secrets on yin-yangs!!! 😅 I'd spent hours staring at this, trying to figure out how everything connected until it broke. Watched the first couple of minutes of your solve, decided to have another crack at it better informed, and suddenly all of the problems I'd been having just... dropped into place by themselves. Thankfully 2/3 of my deductions from earlier still held. 😅

[@stevesebzda570]

This solved nice (with a little help from Simon). The thing to recognize here though @30:39 was that the 7s were on the outside in boxes3&9. (I had to look twice to make sure) That would have disambiguated them. Yay, I spotted something Simon didn't. Yay. Solved nice, though. 😂👍🏻👍🏽 Cheers

[@tremkl]

I think a cleaner way of doing the finish is that you need a gray next to the 56, so no matter which way you go, the 3 must be green, and then the 8 must be gray, and it resolves from there.

[@JamieSMB]

My heart stopped when I saw this thumbnail because I love both Minesweeper & Sudoku so I had to click this one. xD

[@956675]

I really enjoyed that puzzle. There was a time I wouldn't attempt a puzzle with a video length of over 25 minutes. This puzzle was 51 for me to solve. I do love the yin-yang variant. Very entertaining Sunday morning for me.

[@goldcakes]

You know that moment, where you click the video thinking you haven't seen it or done the puzzle. Then you click the link and you see your previous solution. I just got that.

[@praematura]

32:02 for me (conflict checker off), this was a very cool puzzle! I found it a bit challenging to remember to keep track of all the various rules and stalled a few times when I forgot one. 😄 But a really great puzzle, props to Florian!

[@victoriam6569]

Thank you for the fun puzzle and a beautiful solve :)

[@zacharybufton4092]

Relatively new viewer, and certainly a new subscriber. The legion reference is great and I love the R.E.M reference for any three in the corner. Now, I don't want to break any traditions but I feel like "proving its position" is more apt than "losing its religion" (and the same number of syllables). If possible, my partner Mollie has her 29th birthday on the 18th of this month (July)... She's an avid Sudoku puzzler and would absolutely love a shout out on the channel. Keep on cracking on.

[@brendonmurley8276]

44:08 for me, with a major mistake 3/4 the way through that took me ages to work out. Great puzzle, thanks Florian!

[@ymiros0953]

48:00 It's even simpler than that, if you shade the 3 cells below the 4 you simply cannot shade a 4th cell without creating a green 2x2.

[@KSilverlode]

I really enjoyed the logic on the lines in this one, once I got myself to stop thinking of them as between lines, and the minesweeper twist was great as well.

[@emilywilliams3237]

This was a great video - the puzzle is very interesting, and I enjoyed watching you solve it, Simon. I think that this is probably within my ability, so it goes on my list. Thanks!

[@AFT3RDAY5]

Brilliant puzzle 🤩👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Was crazy solving that 👍🏻

[@scarbo3697]

48:14 for me. Probably the best puzzle I've done all year!

[@stevesebzda570]

That poem at 2:32 on that page. That adds a whole new meaning to "I caught her eye," you're right.. Funny

[@Nevir202]

Fun fact: If you like Minesweeper, there are actually at least a half dozen derivative games based on it now. From ones with novel rules, to ones with novel grid types, and even 3D minesweeper. My favorite? Demon Crawl, a minesweeper, fantasy, Rogue-like.

[@piarittersporn]

Wonderful and exciting puzzle.

[@lazarminion2590]

impressive. it took 88 minutes of struggle for me, and you're flying through it.

[@ColinBroderickMaths]

At the end, the wrong domino of grey was easy to identify if you remember you can't separate the two green regions! So easy to forget the rules. I often stare for several minutes at an impossible problem only to realise it was obvious all along!

[@crystalgehrt8861]

I didn't have as easy a time as Simon, but I did very much enjoy this puzzle and it gave me a bit more practice with yin and yang puzzles.

[@Coyotek4]

23:11 ... I fared far better on this one than I originally expected. I'm fine with that. Nice puzzle!

[@Talsin1989]

Wooo just in time, Chinese ordered

[@longwaytotipperary]

It was a nice Sunday morning for me! 😊

[@JackByrneMusic]

I chuckled when I put 3 in the corner and the software shot out animated confetti!

[@0Clewi0]

Haven't done much sudoku lately because I've been doing minesweeper so decided to give this a try, it was a slow 2 and a half hour solve, but surprised of seeing the 3 in a corner animation.

[@inspiringsand123]

Let's Get Cracking: 01:13 Simon's time: 47m17s Puzzle Solved: 48:30 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 10x (07:58, 08:04, 08:09, 08:14, 08:20, 10:30, 19:21, 19:25, 19:28, 19:34) Bobbins: 2x (20:49, 41:28) Maverick: 2x (24:48, 37:32) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (29:01) Three In the Corner: 1x (34:31) Diddly Squat: 1x (30:12) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 15x (13:03, 13:33, 14:00, 15:09, 20:49, 22:28, 24:48, 27:40, 32:30, 37:28, 37:35, 40:53, 41:28, 41:28, 42:37) Checkerboard: 13x (08:29, 09:32, 10:54, 11:43, 13:43, 18:59, 19:01, 20:22, 46:13, 46:17, 46:55, 47:13, 48:05) By Sudoku: 11x (23:32, 24:56, 29:08, 29:13, 29:19, 29:24, 31:31, 33:02, 35:26, 35:45, 39:52) Hang On: 6x (13:03, 23:55, 44:03, 45:28, 45:59, 47:16) Sorry: 4x (11:20, 12:31, 22:53, 38:22) Beautiful: 4x (14:00, 14:00, 30:20, 48:38) Gorgeous: 4x (03:46, 20:28, 20:30, 27:40) Lovely: 3x (00:22, 17:21, 48:42) Deadly Pattern: 3x (42:32, 42:35, 42:41) Wow: 3x (28:14, 30:20, 30:20) Pencil Mark/mark: 3x (29:24, 32:52, 35:54) Cake!: 3x (03:13, 03:16, 03:17) Goodness: 2x (21:11, 35:00) Stuck: 2x (01:37, 01:43) Shouting: 2x (03:09, 03:11) Naked Single: 1x (40:28) Elegant: 1x (46:40) Take a Bow: 1x (49:07) Famous Last Words: 1x (20:41) In Fact: 1x (12:40) We Can Do Better Than That: 1x (39:32) Marries Up: 1x (36:03) Progress: 1x (42:04) Unstuck: 1x (01:49) Bar Humbug: 1x (28:34) What Does This Mean?: 1x (23:51) That's Huge: 1x (35:42) Have a Think: 1x (26:10) Nature: 1x (15:09) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Eleven (6 mentions) Two (96 mentions) Green (56 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (2) - Low (1) Shaded (23) - Unshaded (8) Black (7) - White (0) Column (7) - Row (6) 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!

[@RainDancer98]

I slipped up somewhere with my 3s and had to watch part of the video to restart down the correct solve path. In total it took nearly 2 and a half hours. It was a nifty solution, once I got it

[@six_5000]

Got the numbers in exactly 60 minutes… final shading took some extra brain power

[@siricz]

35:12 (in vid) that's an advice I should have followed when I was younger

[@wanderlustwarrior]

39:21 for me as I catch up on old puzzles I haven't finished yet.

[@Landis963]

75:54 For me. Got a bit stuck on the perimeter logic partway through - couldn't initially see why the shaded portion necessarily needed to be larger than the unshaded, but still a respectable time, I think.

[@eve_the_eevee_rh]

54:14 this was really fun! Took me a while, but it was a fun while!

[@Scum42]

I had been working on this puzzle for quite a while on and off before this video, and I was well and truly stuck. I figured I would watch this video because I had already spent too long on it, but then the first thing you did is show some new secrets I'd never heard of that I KNOW are extremely useful with where I left off. Welp, gotta stop watching and keep working I guess!

[@timch5227]

omg i wanted to solve this one for myself and read the rules a bit too quick. Then started treating the lines as in-between lines, which worked for about 20 minutes until the puzzle broke what an absolute genius i am Edit: What a beautiful piece of logic. I used to love playing minesweeper on windows 7 on school-pcs and this just gave me a bit of nostalgia

[@chipsounder4633]

Great solve

[@Aliessil]

Didn't think I'd be able to do this with no given digits, but finished in 43:30. Would've been quicker but I kept forgetting whether the circles were supposed to be shaded or unshaded, and checking the rules YET AGAIN!! 🤣

[@stevesebzda570]

What's an "inverted comma," Simon mentioned here? @7:43 ? Those double commas at the bottom sometimes ya see?? That's a mystery (Not really, I could Google it - I thought I'd ask here though) ?? Cheers and enjoy. 🤔

[@RichSmith77]

Inverted commas are just another name for quotation marks. If you're reading out loud the description: 'This is a "simple" puzzle.' to someone, you would likely say "This is a simple, in inverted commas, puzzle" to clarify to the listener that this isn't simply 'a simple puzzle', it's 'a "simple" puzzle', and therefore may not be simple. 🙂 (You may also, optionally, do air quotes with your fingers).

[@MartinFindon]

32:28 Sixy sudoku things! Ha ha!

[@fruit3193]

Very solid puzzle

[@ArtemensiaK]

The green with the gray lines and the gray shading was quite something, I must admit. I could see it, but it challenged my concentration. The contrast was quite low, but who cares about something like that, when one can see Simon solve a puzzle

[@OjingeoChaemuchim]

32:23 not bad for minesweeper player with 53 second expert PB

[@Kezian2late]

In a rather unexpected turn, I was able to solve the sudoku *Without* completing the entire minesweeper: I basically didn't do anything minesweeper-related in boxes 4 or 7, and never finished boxes 5 or 8. This was very curious! I've never encountered one of these double-game Sudokus where you can solve the sudoku without fully completing the other!

[@tiarkrezar]

Same here, I ended up solving it pretty much the same way. Kinda surprising how those last few boxes can be solved just with the sudoku and sum constraints.

[@valeryolympia]

62:48, loved it!

[@BedWords_]

one thing i'm confused about... at about 19:02 he says "we must avoid a checkerboard", but i can't see why that's the case. wouldn't both those greens and greys have a path still? is this some pencil puzzle experience i'm missing?

[@cathybryant5119]

If you watch the intro he shows why the checkerboard pattern is impossible. Once you connect one of the colours, the other colour is stranded.

[@BedWords_]

@@cathybryant5119 i saw that but it only makes sense in the corner, elsewhere there are still escape paths, no? or am i missing something

[@cathybryant5119]

@@BedWords_ No, it just doesn't work. The best way to convince yourself might be try it and see if you can get both colours to join up. You'll see that no matter what you do, once one colour is joined, the other one cannot join.

[@BedWords_]

@@cathybryant5119 ohhh wait, i actually missed the part you were talking about somehow! i totally see now. thank you for responding and being patient with me :)

[@BedWords_]

and now i've solved it :) thanks!

[@jenniferlenfestey5335]

Wonderful puzzle, and not too hard. I'm beginning to enjoy yin-yang puzzles, and adding in the minesweeper hybrid is a lucky strike extra. 80:36

[@flash24g]

When I tried it, I totally missed the point made around 19:45. I had been looking at the possibilties for the circles near the top right, which this naturally solves. BTW it seems something has changed with the webapp. It told me I had solved it when I'd put all the numbers in place, without regard for the fact that I hadn't finished the shading.

[@57thorns]

34 minus for me and this was a lovely Sunday morning puzzle.

[@psiphiorg]

My time for the sudoku today was 58:58 (solver #1338). I took another couple of minutes to solve the minesweeper/yin-yang, but the timer had already stopped so I'm not exactly sure what my final time was. I'd guess somewhere around 1:01:01, just for the full house arrangement of digits!

[@stubbsz]

That last bit after solving the puzzle and finishing off the shading was hard for me.

[@Squirrel42300]

Wow I love minesweeper AND I love sudoku! This is the video for meeee :)

[@AleksandrYgA]

29:26 for me. This ruleset has quite strong restrictions so it felt pretty easy

[@CrankyOtter]

Sven, please add white outlines to the center pencilmarks so they stand out enough to remind Simon they exist.

[@AvatarBowler]

I actually thought the reason the circle at the start of the puzzle couldn’t be 1 in the corner would be because 2 gray cells would surround it, leading to a contradiction.

[@koenth2359]

I finished the numbers and it said it was correct before I finished the shading. I understand that the software cannot check the shading, but in principle, what do you think: is the shading part of the puzzle, or is it just a means to find the digits? Would a puzzle with an ambiguous shading be acceptable?

[@greenruby1000]

this puzzle took me about 90 minutes, would have been longer but when I got throughly stumped I watched this video until he pointed out something obvious I'd missed. when I finished the puzzle I was about 30 minutes into the video

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

I solved this one a few days ago and it was awesome!!

[@srwapo]

31:14, made a mistake on r5c6, incorrectly ruling out a 3. Fun solve besides that!

[@brettduffin8412]

30:07 knowledge bomb. 5 and 8 add up to 11. Wow.

[@ericpraline1302]

Ooh quite tough for me. I concentrated too much on yin-yang when I should have been concentrating on boring old sudoku. Drat it gets even worse, I completely forgot about the boundary change rule.

[@revandesigns]

Would have liked to see you find out that the 5,6 between the 2,3 double arrow would automatically knock out the 5,6 version of the 11 to make naked singles of the 3,8 along the line, very clever setting in that small corner of 4 digits

[@Kelarys]

lately I've just been doing the GAS puzzles but I do consider myself a very good minesweeper player (this turned out to matter very little haha) so I took a crack at this and I'm glad I did

[@stevesebzda570]

Oh, I see (Simon posing the question about the border

[@stevesebzda570]

@19:24

[@stevesebzda570]

19:54 Even better, the whole stretch just shy of that corner 2x2 is grey. Excellent spot, Simon. 👍🏻👍🏽😂

[@Fallenangel_85]

Stumbling around towards the end, missing the 2x2 green issue that instantly solves it, well done until then.

[@Squishy3757]

You were missing that the left side greens were not connected to the right side at the end unless you chose your solution.

[@RichSmith77]

? The only thing preventing greens joining in the "other" solution would be the creation of 2x2s in green though (or an incorrect count of greys). In other words, the exact reason Simon found.

[@benjiboy1337]

I spent a good half hour flummoxed trying to work out logic, because I missed the importance of the black dot in the first box and didn't have the needed information...

[@LeonardLew]

“We’re filling it in almost” 29 minutes left in the video 👀😄❤️

[@ghandigoots]

"why did I say that?" 😂😂

[@jsbrads1]

If the top right corner cell of box five is 5 or 6, then the line between 5&6 have to be the 38

[@TheFansOfFiction]

Solved! Time 45:10

[@joshybratwurst1398]

10:30 KZbinrs trying not to get cancelled

[@Rach881101]

39:18 for me. Nice puzzle!

[@kindlin]

93m for me, a good puzzle to wile away the day.

[@illchangemyfriend]

The most difficult puzzle I've ever solved, 191 minutes for me

[@ElDillas]

Ayy finished in 28:37 today!!