One Of The Cleverest Puzzles EVER

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
We are absolutely gobsmacked by this one. It's called Chaotic Equality and it's the work of Knickolas. If you read this Knickolas, we'd love to showcase a video on how you constructed this puzzle because it defies belief. Oh and it isn't easy!!
Play the puzzle at the link below:
app.crackingth...
Rules:
Divide the grid into nine regions, each consisting of nine orthogonally-connected cells. Each row, column and region must contain the digits 1 to 9 once each. Each line must pass through at least two regions. A “line segment” consists of the digits along the line within a region from the point that line starts in that region to when it next leaves it (or ends). The sum of digits along each line segment along a line must be the same. Different lines can have different line segment totals. Digits in a circle indicate the number of cells that are part of a line in that cell's region.
** ORDER OUR UPCOMING BOOK HERE **
www.kickstarte...
** NEW CONTENT ON PATREON **
As well as the Phistomefel and Jay Dyer extravaganzas, Simon's solve of Magnus Josefsson's puzzle Castle Wall Yin Yang #1 is now available as a bonus video. You can play the puzzle at the link below (and the logic-masters link contains an example):
app.crackingth...
logic-masters....
Joining us on Patreon costs as little as $2 a month.
Remember that patrons gets access to their own special channel on the CtC Fan Discord server - where you can find hints ;)
/ crackingthecryptic
** NEW GAS PACK IS OUT **
The new GAS pack is out on Steam for PC here:
store.steampow...
It's already out on Android and App Store. 60 original puzzles by Sam Cappleman-Lynes, Clover and Philip Newman!! Earn party hats and dinosaurs with these brand new puzzles!
We've also released a FREE app full of handmade puzzles to celebrate reaching 500k subscribers - simply download the Cracking The Cryptic app on Android, Steam or App Store and then select the 500k pack. We're streaming a playthrough of this app and you can watch all seven episodes
▶ Contact Us ◀
Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic
email: [e-mail]
Our PO Box address:
Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
Box 102
56 Gloucester Road
London
SW7 4UB
(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
▶ SUDOKU PAD - Use Our Software For Your Puzzles ◀
You can input classic sudoku puzzles into our software and help support Sven, the programmer responsible for the wonderful user interface we all use to play these puzzles everyday. The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us:
iOS:
apps.apple.com...
Steam: store.steampow...
Android:
play.google.co...
ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
**************************************************************
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Twitter: #crypticcracking
@crypticcracking
Instagram (for how to solve daily clues from The Times): www.instagram....

[@Knickolas]

Hi everyone, Knickolas here! And wow, what an impressive solve from Simon. His ability to find and articulate his way through such difficult logic will never cease to amaze me! Thank you so much for the feature and for your incredibly kind words :)

[@charliemcadams07]

Knickolas, Thank you so much for creating this masterpiece. For what its worth I think this is the best puzzle I have ever seen. Absolutely staggering.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

I know it can take a huge amount of work to create a puzzle. Thank you for sharing this with us all.

[@JaymanOttawa]

You have created a truly brilliant puzzle Knickolas! You should be very proud of your efforts... :)

[@likara6667]

This is an amazing puzzle, and I'm with Simon; how the heck did you create this? The logic and brainpower required to create this seems superhuman to me!

[@AllenBaranov]

Beautiful puzzle. Well done.

[@mattinm]

49:10 - Simon: “Why couldn’t that be 3 (in blue)? No reason at all…” Normal sudoku: “Am I a joke to you!?”

[@birkheadc]

I have never screamed so loud at a KZbin video

[@PhaythGaming]

I came to the comments for this alone. I’ve never felt so much rage.

[@jimi02468]

This made me mad

[@marcelopicheth6111]

Every time that there is an additional rule to "normal sudoku applies", Simon forgets entirely about normal sudoku rules... hahahahaha

[@Soccerjakob]

This was the first time I had the inevitable "yelling at Simon" moment... Normally If I see something before him I'm just happy to have spotted it, but this one got me

[@loqueestamal3465]

I love how Simon marks the outer edges of regions, lest they go a-meandering outside the grid.

[@boriserjavec6470]

LOL

[@blcmd]

I did the same. If nothing else, it just looks better.

[@th.nd.r]

@@blcmdi gotta agree!

[@1manApocalypse_CP]

To be fair there are puzzles that are bigger than 9x9 xD

[@SpydersByte]

it would look pretty weird with the inner lines boldened but not the outer one lol

[@BenCragg1]

At around 50:00 there is a seemingly erroneous claim regarding the bottom left region not being able to be 9 cells; Simon's experiment includes a cell it doesn't need to, and would theoretically allow exactly one 9 cell region. Luckily for Simon, this region would require exactly 3 cells on the line, which would clash with the 3 in red (R3C1) - which he hasn't placed yet, but is easily placed by Sudoku. So the logic can proceed as normal from this point :)

[@bennettgardiner8936]

Spotted the error, but not the resolution, nice one

[@bennettgardiner8936]

That's an absurdly intricate piece of logic to build into the solve if necessary to see, I share Simon's amazement with this one

[@davidbouldin3326]

Noticed this too and came to the comments to see if it had already been spotted. Thank you for saving me the explanation by explaining better than I could have anyway!

[@gerdkah6064]

but WHY?! why didnt Simon explore it further and just filled it in while saying 50:33 _"so i think .."_ - this makes me shouting and stampeding and all sorts of madness ^v^

[@BenCragg1]

@@bennettgardiner8936 I spotted it relatively easily - it did help that I already had the 3 that Simon missed when he decided to do Suduko briefly, but also decided not to use the digits he already had XD That said sometimes one just spots things :)

[@thekilla1234]

1:45:13 I get much more invested in the longer videos than I do the shorter ones. If I see a video over 1 hour I am watching it all the way through every time because the length pretty much confirms that there will be some very wacky things happening and it's always very entertaining to see it unfold.

[@TrackpadProductions]

_"It took our testers over a _*_month_*_ to solve it - so this might be a longer video."_ Video length: 1:46:13 I don't think he really fully grasps how incredible this sentence is.

[@amerkayal]

Same here!

[@humanbirdsong]

“Three of our testers failed, and the other took a month. Anyway, do have a go.”

[@tychoderkommentator2989]

I am always impressed how fast you notice the next region where you can have a breakthrough. Most of my time is searching for the next weak place, but you find them immediately and then only have to think about why that place is weak.

[@dennishebert2801]

It never ceases to amaze me that every time Simon solves a puzzle, I think to myself, "Well, I could have solved that," simply because he makes it look so easy and explains everything so delicately. Wonderful solve yet again!

[@th.nd.r]

UTTERLY UTTERLY INCREDIBLE. Needs to go in a future CTC book. One of the best in a while. I hope Knickolas gets another channel feature soon based on this. The length of this video was absolutely justified. It was difficult, yes, but there really wasn’t any moment where Simon spent a lot of time mulling over things, meaning two things: (1) Simon is brilliant, and (2) Knickolas was somehow able to pack over 90 minutes of pure condensed joy into one, regionless, digitless 9X9 grid with just a few circles and lines in it. Absolutely spectacular setting and solving. Favorite quotes from today’s video: - “That is a blue domino of blueliness.” - “Again, we cannot go a-meandering.”

[@WilliamSurles]

I need to go to bed. But clicked this thinking "I'll just watch for a few min" Nope. 1:45 later... here I am at the end. And my eyes are wide at how freaking clever this puzzle is, and how brilliant Simon is to figure it out. He just knows what square to pick on to squeeze out that next bit of logic, like no other.

[@danielepicone1480]

What an amazing puzzle, I was hooked for the whole video of almost two hours and I was still craving for more. The solution path is just so elegant and the way Simon is methodical about his solve it also makes you see almost all the tricks together with him just by following his cursor.

[@jacobroberts5604]

Finished in 51:05, absolutely beautiful puzzle. It's a testament to how much I've learned watching this channel that I even finished at all, I couldn't have imagined solving this two years ago!

[@pardox28]

Trust Simon to ask "where does the 3 go in row 3" & not see that he would already know it goes in r3c1 if he thought about sudoku ruling out the two blue cells in row 3. He must figure that out the most difficult way possible.

[@glum_hippo]

This is indeed an astonishing puzzle! Normally I'd say "More please", but I'm not sure we'd be able to digest more such fantastic logic and sleuthery!

[@adamusher468]

Long time watcher, first time commenter. What a joy this solve was to watch! The best puzzles are like an adventure narrative and have you gripped like any of the best feature length films! Thank you Knickolas and Simon for the premium entertainment! I am in awe of you both!

[@Astervista]

Oh no it’s going to be another two hours beautiful puzzle I won’t be able to stop watching, isn’t it

[@LiquorStoreJon]

I hope so!

[@daleomiller]

Yes, yes it is. 0:22

[@Astervista]

Indeed, it was

[@Posiadam.]

50:29 you’ve got really lucky here Simon! The orange region could theoretically go to the circle in R8C5 - the only thing that wasn’t taken to the account was that the new region in the bottom left would contain 3 segments of the line - exactly the same as the red region and therefore both circles in row 7 would contain 3… SICK!. The rest looks perfect, such a great puzzle!

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 02:09 Let's Get Cracking: 09:10 Simon's time: 1h34m29s Puzzle Solved: 1:43:39 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Bobbins: 3x (36:39, 47:28, 1:29:36) Three In the Corner: 1x (28:24) The Secret: 1x (29:08) Phistomefel: 1x (02:52) You Rotten Thing: 1x (57:21) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 20x (07:49, 12:52, 12:52, 25:58, 29:32, 33:50, 41:37, 42:41, 47:34, 49:30, 57:14, 57:33, 57:40, 1:06:36, 1:06:48, 1:13:12, 1:18:13, 1:19:12, 1:23:46, 1:41:02) Beautiful: 13x (22:32, 33:07, 33:53, 33:54, 54:42, 55:36, 55:39, 55:41, 1:07:27, 1:10:46, 1:10:48, 1:26:20, 1:36:16) By Sudoku: 10x (1:19:50, 1:26:32, 1:28:06, 1:30:13, 1:30:29, 1:34:28, 1:34:58, 1:35:49, 1:38:45, 1:41:34) In Fact: 10x (00:22, 26:41, 50:13, 59:05, 1:11:40, 1:24:31, 1:26:39, 1:30:18) Lovely: 8x (21:32, 21:36, 21:55, 1:18:16, 1:27:04, 1:27:04, 1:27:20, 1:28:28) Hang On: 8x (56:21, 56:25, 1:02:21, 1:06:48, 1:06:48, 1:06:48, 1:13:24, 1:21:39) Obviously: 8x (11:53, 19:32, 42:00, 51:29, 56:38, 1:08:25, 1:25:14, 1:40:40) Brilliant: 7x (01:16, 02:04, 04:43, 1:21:03, 1:44:19, 1:45:30, 1:45:34) Clever: 5x (29:38, 1:05:04, 1:18:20, 1:31:13, 1:44:04) Wow: 5x (48:38, 52:49, 52:53, 1:43:31, 1:43:43) Sorry: 4x (28:27, 41:15, 57:05, 1:00:38) Apologies: 3x (03:58, 03:59, 04:26) Naked Single: 3x (1:28:27, 1:42:05, 1:42:58) The Answer is: 3x (21:55, 51:55, 1:34:53) Stunning: 3x (33:09, 1:40:00, 1:44:23) Unique: 3x (01:45, 01:50, 1:11:01) Good Grief: 2x (57:45, 1:45:52) In the Spotlight: 2x (47:53, 47:56) I Have no Clue: 2x (29:35, 48:43) Stuck: 2x (40:40, 1:22:29) Break the Puzzle: 2x (13:18, 1:15:09) Incredible: 2x (1:44:34, 1:44:50) Gorgeous: 2x (1:29:38, 1:33:57) That is Sick: 2x (1:19:12) What on Earth: 1x (09:16) Goodness: 1x (1:19:12) Out of Nowhere: 1x (1:28:24) Fascinating: 1x (18:56) Ridiculous: 1x (1:04:50) Shouting: 1x (03:09) Of All Things: 1x (1:28:06) Full stop: 1x (1:20:59) Phone is Buzzing: 1x (1:17:32) Progress: 1x (40:05) What Does This Mean?: 1x (1:38:33) Cake!: 1x (04:47) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Ten (12 mentions) Three (163 mentions) Blue (88 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (2) - High (0) Even (14) - Odd (0) Black (2) - White (1) Row (17) - Column (13) 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!

[@PhaythGaming]

Just letting you know that your rules link is almost always wrong!

[@jessienewman3879]

Rules isn't until 5:43

[@jakekapitz]

@@PhaythGaming Probably because Simon usually says the word "Rules" before launching into the announcements (in this case "I'll read you the rules in just a moment")... Presumably the bot is just listening for the first instance of the word "rules" for the timestamp.

[@PhaythGaming]

@@jakekapitz for sure, I assumed the same. Just letting them know in case they want to attempt to fix it. There are many potential solutions but I just thought to mention it as I know it’s a bot and when they first started doing these they responded quite often, so you know.

[@JBroMCMXCI]

Change your bot to select the last time he says "rules" before he says "let's get cracking"

[@mrmichaelhallett]

I love your enthusiasm. Its so contagious. I could not solve such a puzzle in my wildest dream.

[@jonathanweber2893]

Surprised myself by actually spotting where to begin this by noting every region needed a circle and asking which ones could reach the top left. Simon pretty quickly left me behind him from there, but a credit to watching him solve so many puzzles that I was able to spot that at all!

[@kevinjschuster]

I did the same thing ... found that spot quickly, and just as quickly I got stuck and waited for Simon to catchup and pull me along.

[@Lucroq]

My favourite part of all these genius puzzles is Simon's genuine praise after solving one of these beauties. I think it's easy to overlook how tightly all the constraints have to work together to force the solution at the end. And Simon's clear explanations of his own thinking does illuminate some of the internal logic bit by bit. So whether you can see some parts way earlier, or you are just following along, it does paint a beautiful picture that necessarily leads to the complete whole at the end. I would really like to watch a video where one of the puzzle creators explains their process to get to a fully determined state with one of these masterpieces at the end.

[@abcde_5949]

49:09 But why couldn't this blue line segment have a three on it? No reason at all (except being literally surrounded by threes)

[@Astervista]

“Are these threes trying to tell me something?” 😂

[@moosesox]

There was a single cell gap on each side, and one of the 3s wasn't pointing at those cells at all. Only world-class scanning would have picked that up.

[@jamestimberlake7762]

What an amazing construction! Take a bow, Knickolas!

[@Pulsar77]

This one was absolutely brutal. After two hours of battle, I broke the puzzle, and I had to check with Simon where I had gone wrong. Turns out that I had accidentally placed two 8s into the same region... I'm very pleased that my region construction was right though. A few months ago I wouldn't have even attempted this, because chaos construction is so unforgiving. One wrong deduction and you might as well start from scratch (or cry yourself to sleep).

[@auntielaura5]

You’ve earned your lunch Simon! Fascinating puzzle! The really long videos are my favorites, because I know that the puzzle is so difficult I wouldn’t even attempt it. Yet, due to your brilliance, I will end the video understanding every bit of the logic. I don’t know if it makes me any smarter, but I definitely *feel* smarter. 😁❤️

[@glitchxero4687]

It was a pleasure to watch you work through this incredible puzzle. Great work by yourself and Knickolas, this might be my favorite solve on the channel.

[@EllaABo]

This is without a doubt one of the best puzzles I have ever seen being solved and I am amazed something so beautiful can exist.

[@nedb147]

49:12 “why couldn’t this have a three” is possibly your worst ever, Simon.

[@RichSmith77]

😂

[@MrWolfy777]

Please keep streaming this. It’s the best thing hearing you experience this for the first time!

[@joethornton5321]

Spent well over two hours solving in several sittings and have rarely been so proud of a solve, having listened to Simon's introduction. Definitely one of the toughest puzzles I've managed, and what a beautiful creation it is. Many thanks to the setter for sharing it.

[@coconuts2513]

Re-watching this 1 year later. I forgot all the logic, and was blown away again 😂 Absolutely incredible puzzle. Enjoy your lunch Simon 🎉

[@MaierFlorian]

How you can make me happy at 10 pm? Giving a 3 a song for not being in the corner but for being in the spotlight ♥

[@puritan7473]

Wow, what an absolutely astonishing puzzle. Simply Genius, thank you Knockolas. And Thank You Simon so much for the wonderful solve!

[@e7diablo]

The actual sudoku use of [number] in the beginning of this puzzle makes this just beyond beautiful.

[@AnaFromTheShire]

There's nothing better than watching someone else solving puzzles Simon! We'd all watch even longer I'm sure lol

[@chitraagarwal8259]

There's no way i could have even begun to solve this puzzle so instead I watched this video in about 4 hrs over two days in multiple installments... pausing each time to figure what the next steps could be and then like Simon just spending so much time thinking of HOW, JUST HOW could someone come up with such amazing logic. Knickolas definitely ranks really really high among very illustrious company of the out of the world puzzle creators who are the reason this channel continues to amaze and enthrall its regular followers. Awaiting the constructor video for this that absolutely must be made. Thanks so much as always to Simon and Mark for providing this platform so we get to see these genius creations, and for being our intellectual 'sherpas' guiding our thinking through logic we wouldn't have figured on our own.

[@Cairful]

I've been patiently hoping this puzzle would appear on the channel after tackling it a few months ago. One of my favorite puzzles of all time, and such a joy to watch the logic back again!

[@no-feetmcgee5577]

A puzzle after my own heart!! A lot of the logic reminds me of the build-your-own sudokus that I've had featured on the channel a long time back. But I would never be able to combine all of these rules so elegantly. Bravo!!

[@charliemcadams07]

I have watched ALL of your videos. This is the best one ever in my opinion. Big thanks to you Simon for taking the time to do this.

[@d4r4butler74]

Simon's admiration for the puzzles and their creators is the best expressed joy I have seen. And through his eyes and his words we can all see the joy.

[@melinaalba63]

Thank you Simon, for a great video obviously but also, you can't imagine how agitated I was because you didn't fenced in the border of the grid when you finished the first two regions and then you did and said sorry!? I was so thankful that you did!!! :D And I actually love the purple, yellow, Red and orange together! I looks like a sunset :D

[@weeklytorahperspective3500]

Now, what does the existence of this puzzle tell us about the universe? Minimally two things: it has got to be a pretty amazing universe when it can produce Knickolas *and* Simon *and* this community coexisting at the same time...

[@longwaytotipperary]

Yes!

[@davidrattner9]

Wonderful choice of words!!!

[@_J_A_G_]

Sorry to be nitpicking, but isn't that just one thing? I want to know the second secret too!

[@aml6646]

This puzzel was fascinating. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through. What i also admire is the waysimon articulates his thoughts. He takes one by the hand and never leaves one confused.❤

[@classic30]

Thanks Simon. Wonderful solve to a wonderful puzzle. You have my vote for the long videos.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

Yesterday, the minor key outro music was appropriate. Today, it should have been played like the finale of the 1812 overture with cannons and fireworks!

[@pekuja]

49:15 No reason at all... 😄

[@Shurtugal1427]

That was just simply amazing! 106 minutes of absolute joy!

[@annesorensen4004]

27:40 - i love that the colours in the top Right corner, matches Simons clothes. Green, blue and purple 😊

[@guilhermemonsores]

Incredible puzzle indeed! took me a couple hours actually to crack it but it was just so worth it. Even more rewarding when i come back to the video and watch Simon taking the same logical path to the solution (but in a much more elegant and quick way).

[@matthewgiallourakis7645]

There's something so satisfying about region-finding puzzles, clustering the logic instead of spreading it out evenly across the board.

[@Trandhal]

For all the years I've watched CtC, this is the FIRST puzzle where I've been mentally ahead of Simon at all times. I don't know it that means that Simon was particularly slow today or if I've gotten massively smarter overnight. Both seem equally unlikely.

[@SirJefferE]

I'm always slightly ahead of Simon when I watch the videos, and massively behind him when I try to solve on my own. I suspect I'm lying to myself about how much his comments and train of thought help me "get ahead" of him.

[@nicfab1]

@@SirJefferE that's common with almost all instances of watching other people solve challenging problems. They have their mental faculties engaged in the thing they currently do, you just watch what they currently do and have all your mental faculties available to think about what to do next, benefitting from their work

[@clarematthews4051]

A 90 minute solve time? I'm not even trying it. I'm not even trying it. I watched the first few minutes of the solve. Everything Simon said I'd already worked out - the circles being in different regions. When he clicked on the top left square I stopped watching because my head had an "Ahhhhhh!" moment of realisation of which circles it couldn't go with. Solving it myself was lots of fun. Times of wondering "how the heck did that work out so beautifully?" interspersed. I agree, it was a very excellent puzzle and I'm very happy to have completed it, just in time for the Glum_Hippo email to arrive, six minutes ago as it turns out. But that'll have to wait for tomorrow. Finding regions has worn me out and being engrossed by it caused me to miss a bus.

[@FleursetRebellion]

Wow! Took me about twice as long as you, but I did it! Feel proud to have made it through this one without needing any hints from the video. Especially coloring in the areas, which made me more than a little nervous that I might've messed up somehow!

[@henrikdinter3679]

Towering achievement in puzzle building... Spectacular!

[@markp7262]

1:15:03 finish. Absolutely loved this puzzle. The logic flowed so nicely, and yet it still took so much focus to spot it. Another beautiful puzzle!

[@darrenbent7601]

I love your light-hearted approach with your commentary. I had a go at it, and I gave up, couldn't even get off of the starting block. I don't think that I had the power of Greyskull. And those threes, how you worked that out, just plain WOW!!!!!

[@Jesthers]

Solved this one all on my own! Very fun puzzle, kinda felt like two different puzzles: finding the regions then solving the sudoku lol Very fun, I highly recommend this one!

[@Tsunami14]

No 3 in the corner, but there are absolutely 3's in thevspotlights. Fantastic puzzle to watch!

[@davidrattner9]

Hour and 46 movie today!?!? Bring on more popcorn and right into you streaming tonight

[@chrishawkins963]

Simon didn't see what i think is the intended logic at 50:10 as this set-up is actually just barely doable if you give r6c2 to the bottom left region, but that makes r7c1 equal to r7c5, and thats the only possible setup to make r7c1 not orange.

[@clem8422]

Thanks for this comment, I noticed that possibility, but couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work! Btw, I think you wrote r5c2 in your explanation, instead of r6c2. Might be worth an edit :)

[@chrishawkins963]

@@clem8422 yeah you're right, thanks.

[@mceajc]

I usually wait until the end, but this time I had to pause at 27:29 and "like" the video the moment Simon said "Blueliness". Sublime.

[@laurasmith2173]

I love the long videos. Challenging myself to follow the logic, guess which cell would be which color despite not seeing the color palette, and spot why certain cells might have to be a certain number is an absolute blast. I don't have the ability to solve these puzzles myself but watching them be solved is one of my favorite things.

[@Lumeth]

Awseome video already, as always totally mesmerizing! A question/request to you Simon: Could you possible a different colour for drawing lines and borders (it used to be some kind of sweater-green a while ago...)? It was easier to discern than black vs thin black vs even thinner black, especially when there is a lot going on. Nevertheless, you always help me to decompress from my job by getting me to thinking just for thinking's sake. Keep it up - you rock!

[@prahas777]

This puzzle shares the rarified air of the top tier constructions in the world. Bravo Knickolas, and bravo Simon for a brilliant solve.

[@Tsevion.7]

An absolutely beautiful puzzle... and I'm overly pleased that I beat the video length, finishing in 98 minutes. I think one of the things I found most interesting is how even the difficulty curve is. It's not like some puzzles where the breakin requires whole new upside-down outside the box thinking. It just requires noticing certain things and applying good logic. And the puzzle proceeds just like that. Every next step is hard, but not insanely so. But the puzzle impressively keeps that difficulty right up to the end. Even once it's down to essentially an irregular sudoku, it's still a tough one, but never ridiculously so. So yeah... Some of the most impressive setting I've ever seen... Taking both Simon and I an hour and a half, and neither one of us ever really gets stuck... just an hour and a half of solid puzzle solving. A Masterpiece.

[@brianpronk9809]

What i find so amazing, it that even when he says a tester takes a month solving this puzzle, Simon manages to solve it in well under 2 hours ánd explains every step he takes. Legend.

[@sakkikoyumikishi]

No time machine, sorry Simon. But it would appear that the next step here (29:49) is to replicate the "pink" logic in yellow. The yellow cell can't connect to the circle immediately below it, since that would make it impossible for another region to reach the line. The only(!) other circle that is close enough to be reached by the yellow cell, now that we've used up the circles in rows 1 and 2, is the circle in row 5. This, again, requires an efficient connection in order to not use up more than 9 cells. Which in turn means that part of the line in r3,c3/4 and r4,c4 needs to be in yellow, and the rest of it is likely in blue, since the yellow connection is cutting it off from the lower regions of the puzzle and we don't have enough space for a complete new region above yellow but below pink. By the same token, r2,c2 has to be yellow, since we don't have room for a different region to move in and grab it and the only other region close enough to pick it up (blue) would not be able to reach a circle if it extended to r2,c2. Maybe someone else has a time machine to get that info back to the time of recording 😂

[@ericpraline1302]

Another mind-boggler. Was happy to make some deductions quite quickly but then as so often hit a wall and became more or less comatose before finally cracking on. I think the people who come up with puzzles like these are, in the nicest possible way, slightly mad - I'm very glad they are the way they are - but as Simon often remarks it is completely incomprehensible to me how they do it.

[@shukryal-hilal3932]

I will say .... Thanks for making this one ❤️.... And thanks for solving it 👍

[@BlazingsNL]

1:40:30 when Simon finally starts on Red, only to get distracted right after. Can't scream at the screen though, the way Simon figured this out was insane.

[@simonkaincz1919]

49:27 why couldn't there be a three in the blue cells.... Oh man

[@DHREAVER]

Solved in 2h48m without using the video, my par time is usually double the video length, so pretty happy with that! Going back to Simon's solve afterwards shows there were loads of different ways to get digits in the sudoku section at the end. He spotted so many things that I didn't, but I muddled around them anyway.

[@geodave227]

"Why can't this have a 3 on it? No reason at all." Except for the 2 3s in those columns!!

[@robertrohde1812]

Managed to solve it in just under 2 hours. Pretty happy with that today. Very clever puzzle.

[@simonpenelle2574]

this one is my favorite ever amazing work Knickolas

[@happinesswins]

Well. I watch these to fall asleep and it finally happened. I stayed awake and watched the whole dang thing!

[@deltaangelfire]

i hope on april 1st, Simon does an entire sudoku while being handed notes or messages "from the future" that tell him where he should look next :P

[@elizabethshort9632]

I had to do the region building with Simon's help but proud of myself that I managed the sodoku bit once the regions were in. I really liked this one for a difficult puzzle as each bit of logic was rewardingly tricky but not exasperating.

[@yant3303]

67:50 for me. What a beautiful puzzle with a nice flow all along. Thanks knickolas!

[@remiselitax]

Me: I find these videos really soothing, I’ll put one on to fall asleep to *1 hour later* Me: Well how on earth is he gonna get a 3 in the grey region????

[@asktheraccoon]

@49:00 “Why couldn’t there be a 3 in here ? *mouses over the 3s in the same columns* No reason at all” this is peak Simon

[@SpydersByte]

oh man that section where he finishes the green and blue and orange was PAINFUL. Now, I dont want this to come off like "Im smarter than Simon" because I wouldnt have even been able to get this far in the first place, and I know he always tries to thoroughly prove or disprove something and that can sometimes be why he seems to be missing the obvious but I couldnt help wanting to shout at the screen on numerous occasions in that short time span. Like not noticing the green couldnt take just a single cell from the bottom left line because it would equal the cell above it, or that it couldnt be a 1/4 split cuz of math (despite using that exact logic on the bottom right line), or that green had to be the one picking up the bottom right line cuz otherwise it'd have to be either the 3 or the 4 that was directly above it, only for him to stop working on it and shift over to orange for a minute >.< lol Im just glad it finally got resolved :D

[@trisha2584]

Thank you for a beautiful video of this work of art

[@ryaneakins7269]

I've seen so many of these that I'm starting to get a reasonable hit-rate on predicting the next colour he'll use. I knew Simon would use yellow at 23:47. And blue just after that.

[@bezowee]

Simon is so predictable yet it's take him so much time to pick next colour

[@Tahgtahv]

@@mjh4444444 I'm not sure what you're talking about. The upper region is color #F7BBF7, which is definitely a bright purple. Pink would be something like #F7BBBB.

[@Nevir202]

I almost got it, I predicted blue, and was wrong, but then I was sure it would be blue next and was correct. lol

[@khoozu7802]

59.46 Another reason for cell R5C8 cannot be blue is that will make the line from R5C7 to C9 to become three 1-cell regions which are sharing the same digit in each cell.

[@oneeyedman4431]

Wow, that’s it, just wow. A few months ago I thought variant sudoku had peaked, it obviously hasn’t. Can’t wait to see what appears next……….

[@rgoyal107]

49:18 - Because of the 3s looking directly at them 😂😂😂

[@corey1598]

Watched that from start to finish. That was an absolute pleasure to watch.

[@jay4110]

This is why i love the chaos con . Over hidden sudoku …!!! Love that solve

[@gregs2284]

The logic at 22:00 is *sick*. Imagine putting logic like that into a puzzle not in the actual grid but in the hypothetical grid that you're ruling out.

[@PeterWTaylor]

Its got to the point where the hardest part of solving a puzzle is working out what the puzzle is.

[@quothacreations]

sometimes I think the "harder" puzzles are actually easier because they seem to force you to look for what is often only one place that gives under the logic; maybe they're considered harder because they generally take longer. regardless, a brilliant puzzle--thanks Knickolas. and as always Simon, you bring a great deal of joy

[@AdventCloudStrife]

Once that third 3 hit a circle, I thought for a moment that every circle had to be a 3 as a joke, until of course I looked and saw them aligned in some rows/columns.

[@daleomiller]

Absolutely incredible puzzle 1:45:53

[@bass2564]

48:58 when you're so deep in a sudoku puzzle that you try to do sudoku using only three known digits, but then forget to actually use those digits for sudoku 🙂

[@MustBeTuesday]

That's one of the hardest puzzles I've done, it took me over 3 hours even with help from the video, but somehow I got all the 3s much earlier than Simon and I can't remember how! Perplexing lol. But that was really interesting!

[@rontyson7941]

Yay, 3-hour club. :P

[@altioar]

50:27 XD, "I dont think i can connect orange to here while leaving enough room" he says as he connects orange while leaving enough room. That made me laugh, his brain is automatically solving the question while he is thinking about it still. (Even though that assumption might have been wrong, idk havent finished the video)

[@abdullahm4830]

Simon says his tester used one month to solve and apologizes that his video might be long. I think that is the most he would have ever praised himself.

[@RJ_Eckie]

I really love these kinds of box color puzzles! And it would save me a whole lot of anxiety if Simon would just start the puzzle by thick-outlining the entire grid 😅😅

[@Akatsuki69387]

They even included the strongest shape in the right of the grid!