Only ONE Person Has Solved This Puzzle...

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
Simon attempted this sudoku by Darth Paradox called Renrenbanban without much hope. Only one person is known to have solved it on Logic Masters Germany and our testers couldn't do it. But the ruleset was intriguing so he gave it a go...
Play the puzzle at the link below:
app.crackingthecryptic.com/su...
Rules:
Place the digits 1-9 once into each row, column, and 3x3 box. Digits must not repeat along the marked diagonal. The grey lines are palindromes and must contain the same sequence of digits in both directions along the line. The purple lines are Double Renban lines. Each such line contains two equal-sized sets of consecutive digits. The sets might overlap partially or completely, and the digits can be in any order along the line. For example, 123123, 172839, and 142332 are each valid ways to fill a six-cell Double Renban line.
** NEW SUDOKU HUNT NOVEL BY DIMONO JUST OUT **
A new sudoku hunt wrapped in a real novella has just been released as our May monthly reward on Patreon. It's by DiMono and you need to keep solving puzzles to access the later chapters of the story!
Join us on Patreon for as little as $2 a month to play.
/ crackingthecryptic
** NEW GAS PACK: VOLUME 2 IS OUT **
The new GAS (Genuinely Approachable Sudoku) pack is out on all platforms here:
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60 original puzzles by Clover, Bill Murphy and Philip Newman!! Earn party hats and dinosaurs with these brand new puzzles!
▶ 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:
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ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
** ORDER OUR UPCOMING BOOK HERE **
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▶ Contents Of This Video ◀
0:00 Theme music and puzzle introduction
2:01 Birthdays & Anniversaries
5:00 DiMono's New Sudoku Hunt On Patreon
5:18 The Rules Of The Puzzle
7:55 Start Of Solve - Let's Get Cracking!
▶ 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/us/app/svens-s...
Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/17...
Android:
play.google.com/store/apps/de...
ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
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[@chrisbattey]

Thank you so much for taking a chance on my puzzle! I'm so glad you stuck with it, as hopeless as it seemed at times. (And huge thanks to SenatorGronk for the recommendation! Truly, I'm honored.) -Darth Paradox

[@sskar9390]

It's a magnificent puzzle

[@davidrattner9]

This was just phenomenal from you!

[@victoriam6569]

Thank you for your puzzle! I had much fun solving it

[@longwaytotipperary]

Amazing!

[@charliec.6285]

Hey Chris -- Senator Gronk here. So yeah -- I really, really liked this one and am so glad it finally got the exposure it deserves. Cheers!

[@kevinrobehr5016]

You know it’s a good puzzle when Simon turns it into a coloring book

[@Qaos]

You also know it's good when the first digit isn't placed until the one-hour mark.

[@AmmoBoks]

Please make a 2nd CTC Channel and put all unsolved puzzles there. I think it would be very insightful.

[@AcidDotCom]

Could be cool to watch it 'in the background'

[@srwapo]

They posted a couple of unsolved puzzles and they were pretty interesting. Wish they'd do that more often, maybe have a once a year or a Friday the 13th type thing.

[@EnderW33]

Confounding the Cryptic

[@Novellous210]

I would love to see Simon defeated by a puzzle

[@Jodawo]

It would be good to have such a channel. Not to see Mark and Simon fail but to give some recognition to those setters who put their hard work out there for free and only want to be featured as payment. It takes setters sometimes days or weeks to create their puzzles. It would be a shame they don't get featured just because their puzzle was a little too hard to be solved that day.

[@oregonexpat]

You have got to be kidding! TWO HOURS? And a SINGLE DIGIT to begin? Oh Simon, I have to work tomorrow, and it’s going to be Your fault. (Wagging finger and grinning)

[@olivier2553]

I only had 3 hours of sleep last night (no special reason why), it is very hard to concentrate enough to appreciate this solve.

[@clara931]

​@@olivier2553😮

[@vataksegen2588]

Thanks for this solve, for the channel in general, and thumbs up for the ´new´ chapters!

[@jaredwonnacott9732]

You know, sometimes Simon gets to the first digit and says something like, "Goodness, we've been going for a half hour and we're only just now getting a digit, this is crazy." You know this is bonkers, because at half an hour Simon puts in hos first pencil mark and is just like, "I think I've figured out something about this puzle."

[@tasmanwinchcombe9774]

First digit at 1:01:00.

[@sanctionbuster]

After all that effort, 2:02:00 in I was shouting - "Check the palindrome at the top to get the 34 pair!" Love ya Simon. Not much elicits such a passionate response in this ol' man.

[@maxsilva11]

There was a solid, like, 20 minutes where spotting that palindrome would have saved him so much grief

[@eddeh0772]

I’m still going through but now actively shouting at the screen around 1:39:00 where he has yellow green grey in the 4th, 5th and 6th row of the 7th column. He already found the 6 within that double renban line, and knew there was definitely a yellow, so the three remaining have to be a triplet of 1, 2 and 5 within a single sudoku window, which would resolve the 2/3 grey cell in that same window and possibly create a waterfall! But what a breakthrough with that initial 6! I never would have spotted it. So excited to see this all just resolve itself now!

[@eddeh0772]

Never mind, he spotted it like a second later lol!

[@eddeh0772]

(Just got to that same part as you, guessing I wouldn’t have spotted it myself but now I’m joining your shouting once more! A lesson in not learning to check the comments prematurely)

[@christiansimon1116]

Yes, i found that palindrom as well

[@troymcdougal9010]

The fact you can solve this puzzle, Simon, is sheer genius, no question whatsoever on that point. Simon, stand up and take a bow.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 05:26 Let's Get Cracking: 07:59 Simon's time: 2h2m44s Puzzle Solved: 2:10:43 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Bobbins: 2x (1:17:18, 1:17:18) Phistomefel: 2x (15:03, 1:18:33) Three In the Corner: 1x (2:09:06) Maverick: 1x (12:54) The Secret: 1x (2:12:31) You Rotten Thing: 1x (1:17:18) Nori Nori: 1x (1:35:01) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 26x (16:45, 17:29, 19:01, 19:04, 22:55, 36:54, 52:02, 53:21, 59:12, 59:12, 1:00:52, 1:00:52, 1:11:37, 1:13:56, 1:15:41, 1:17:18, 1:24:34, 1:41:46, 1:43:25, 1:45:37, 1:46:58, 1:52:53, 1:53:34, 1:54:33, 1:56:42, 2:00:00, 2:06:07) Hang On: 11x (17:20, 59:12, 1:07:42, 1:13:56, 1:31:19, 1:43:25, 1:44:47, 1:45:37, 1:45:50, 1:52:31, 1:58:34) Sorry: 10x (47:01, 53:21, 59:44, 1:11:37, 1:30:15, 1:49:37, 1:56:27, 2:03:50, 2:06:14, 2:12:38) In Fact: 8x (22:21, 22:29, 40:16, 1:15:12, 1:18:37, 1:50:00, 2:08:19, 2:10:53) Incredible: 7x (44:42, 44:45, 2:06:25, 2:11:16, 2:11:19, 2:11:44, 2:11:44) By Sudoku: 7x (1:11:48, 1:16:59, 1:35:38, 1:44:23, 1:50:29, 1:53:37, 2:05:37) Obviously: 7x (14:11, 36:07, 37:08, 42:26, 1:16:14, 1:52:06, 2:02:58) Cake!: 7x (03:02, 03:03, 03:08, 03:08, 03:50, 04:49, 04:51) Beautiful: 6x (1:00:54, 1:07:58, 1:09:07, 1:14:00, 1:24:34, 1:24:34) I Have no Clue: 5x (15:59, 29:18, 56:39, 1:03:09, 1:54:18) Wow: 5x (32:21, 43:48, 50:45, 1:02:29, 1:20:48) Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (46:49, 1:15:39, 1:21:20, 1:35:56, 2:05:59) Brilliant: 3x (02:57, 1:45:16, 1:45:19) Come on Simon: 3x (1:04:17, 1:27:36, 1:46:26) I've Got It!: 3x (33:27, 59:15, 2:11:51) What on Earth: 2x (08:04, 1:59:52) Goodness: 2x (1:33:31, 2:06:09) Nonsense: 2x (1:15:28, 1:24:00) Stuck: 2x (1:30:25, 1:52:56) Lovely: 2x (1:19:34, 2:07:52) Extraordinary: 2x (00:59, 2:11:13) Bonkers: 2x (01:54, 01:57) Shouting: 2x (2:06:22, 2:06:30) Surely: 2x (21:24, 1:44:44) Progress: 2x (1:18:22, 1:18:55) What Does This Mean?: 2x (44:35, 2:04:11) Nature: 2x (09:42, 1:47:22) The Answer is: 1x (1:08:07) Clever: 1x (1:18:45) Break the Puzzle: 1x (21:24) Fascinating: 1x (1:17:56) Deadly Pattern: 1x (2:10:03) Gorgeous: 1x (1:41:46) Our old Friend Sudoku: 1x (2:09:05) Famous Last Words: 1x (2:09:50) Of All Things: 1x (2:08:28) Magnificent: 1x (2:12:06) Plonk: 1x (2:08:38) Juxtaposition: 1x (1:18:11) That's Huge: 1x (1:24:57) Have a Think: 1x (10:10) Middly Digit: 1x (49:20) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Twelve (6 mentions) Two (215 mentions) Red (136 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (3) - Low (2) Even (8) - Odd (0) Lower (2) - Higher (0) Outside (2) - Inside (0) Row (35) - Column (33) 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!

[@highpath4776]

Is the time to do this proportional to the solve/vid length ?!

[@natalieeuley1734]

@@highpath4776 yeah. The entire video has to process through the bot. A video this long takes a long time to process through a bot

[@deadlygrounds]

There's an unmarked "Maverick" at 1:27:12. Aside from this I happened to notice, what a remarkable bot! I absolutely love it! I remember when it started popping up in the comments, I'm glad to see it's still around!

[@elialinnanmaki5749]

Ah yes, red is my favorite number (am I misunderstandimg something, or is it supposed list "red" as a number?)

[@whythosenames]

@@elialinnanmaki5749 it says "number (>9), digit and color"

[@aplanosgc6963]

The fact that at 2:07:00, Simon found the position of the 5, without using the palindrome on the top left that has been staring at him for a good half hour at that point, blew my mind. This is a level of disrespectful genius I had never seen before.

[@MichaelLamparty]

I have been talking to my screen about the palindrome for at least 20 minutes now. Just like Simon to figure out the hard way to do it.

[@josephblack2757]

Only for Simon to then say "that might've been on the palindrome. Doesn't matter, I didn't see it." That's a full life lesson right there.

[@bobh6728]

One extra strategy that Simon could use that would speed of some of his solves is this: when he gets stuck, which he admitted to several times, is “Have I used all the rules?” And then go through all of them fairly quickly. This one had renban, diagonal and palindrome (EDIT: and sudoku, lol). He spent over an hour almost exclusively using the renban and never looked at the palindrome. 1:44:15 he took a 2 out of one side of the palindrome but did not on the other end. Reviewing all the rules would have helped. The rest was genius!!!!!

[@jensstalberg8968]

I will have to wipe my screen now after a good half an hour of shouting regarding that palindrome. Don't get me wrong, I would never have got that far and the intention is only to help when I finally found something on my level...

[@ronjohnson6916]

That's pure Simon. And part of the reason we're here. I love those special moments and I don't think I'm alone. I love the paradox of knowing I'd never have been able to get started and moaning about the palindrome.

[@tomh9425]

I always enjoy the paradoxical pronouncement that "you won't ever see this video"

[@Harry-sp3fz]

I am feeling quite smug. I was shouting "palindrome" for about half an hour towards the end. I doubt I would ever beat this puzzle though. I understood the logic but no chance I would get it on my own.

[@simsplayer9952]

Mark and Simon do not always believe in their ability to solve Sudoku puzzles.

[@ivan_osorio]

I'd absolutely ADORE a "partial solves of cracking the cryptic" videos, by the way. Sounds like amazing content that would be extremely insightful into puzzles and logic. If this is the sort of stuff you solve, I'd love to see the ones you give up halfway through.

[@jestfullgremblim8002]

True lol

[@PeaceOfThePuzzleGaming]

Without a doubt, this is the most complicated puzzle I've seen you complete, in terms of pencil marks and notation. Huge props to the writer of your Sudoku tool, pretty sure you used all of it's features in this example. it's proven itself to be incredibly flexible. Oh and good job on the solve 😉

[@jestfullgremblim8002]

Hell yeah, Sven sure knew what he was doing when making this

[@liviaromanova77]

I'd watch 2 hours long video of Simon solving this kind of beast, over any "blockbuster" movie these days. This is proper action, drama, fun and excitement. Thank you.

[@theodesselas157]

I am average at best at sudoku, and I always start these videos thinking 'I'm definitely not going to watch the whole thing'. Yet you inevitably draw me in with your crystal clear explanations and communicative joy, amazing job! About not seeing the thermometer clue at the end don't worry one bit, wondering when you're going to find it just adds to the suspense :) Seeing you finding other ways to find digit does make me wonder about a special mechanic though: do you know of any puzzles where the clues might be revealed as you go? Like a thermometer that would only appear if X box is filled in?

[@tessabrisac7423]

That’s what the “fog of war” sudoku rules do, you can find a few in this year’s solves.

[@crashtextdummie]

This puzzle is an utter work of genius. The double renban rule sounds kind of inconspicuous, but the way it produced novel logic throughout the entire solve path was nothing short of mesmerizing. I was shouting about the 2 towards the end, but I still greatly enjoyed Simon's solve as well.

[@dczzzz55]

I was looking to see if any one else was shouting '2'!

[@gled9880]

As Simon speculated, you can use geometry to speed up the solve. There are 27 special digits (1s, 5s, and 9s) in the grid. 10 of them are on the length 8 line, another 4 on the length 16 line, and 3 are in the central box. That's a total of 17 special digits, which leaves the remaining 10 special digits on the Phistomefel Ring. You can use this at 1:09:30 in the solve. At this point 6 of the 10 special digits have been placed in the Phistomefel corner blocks, and 4 cells within the blocks have been shown not to contain a special digit, leaving 4 special digits to place in 6 cells. But R2C2 and R7C7 cannot both be red, because of the diagonal, and R2C1 and R7C2 cannot both be green because then there is nowhere to put another green on the length 16 line. Therefore R1C7 is green, R2C7 is yellow, exactly one of R2C2 and R7C2 is red, and exactly one of R2C1 and R7C7 is green.

[@jsdp]

Nice logic! But in the last line I figure you mean R1C8 is green, R2C8 is yellow. Cheers:)

[@gled9880]

@@jsdp Yes. My mistake.

[@Arkhanno]

Cracking The Bloopers would be a fun channel to see a montage of Simon and Mark getting stuck on puzzles

[@BinaryBolias]

Blooping The Cryptic

[@dannstarrjp]

As much as Simon deserves a big applause for solving this puzzle (I gave up after like 15min), the last 30-40min I was screaming at obvious things like I never did before. So many things he just didn’t see that were a straight forward path to the finish😅 but it’s probably understandable as his brain must’ve been overheated from all the logic he did for the first 1.5h~

[@alexroberts3566]

I think the double renban description needs updating. The examples suggest that for each set, the numbers appear ordered. Adding an example like 192738 would make it clear that indeed the numbers in each set don't need to be ordered. I showed that there is no solution for the ordered case (obviously, since Simon's solution is not ordered).

[@ReneePrower]

What an incredible puzzle. I think my only critique would be with the examples of valid sequences for the double renbans given in the rules. To me, it seemed implied that - overlapping or not - the sequences were always required to be in order. For example 1234 would be a valid half of a double renban, but 1243 would not. Obviously in the final solve this was not the case, which would've been a huge sticking point for me if I attempted to solve it. That said, I don't think I'd have had much chance of ever solving this anyhow, as the logic required is just incredible. I can't imagine how you even begin setting something like this. It's wonderful.

[@uncountablyinfinite3429]

Is that not what consecutive means? I was confused by that as well.

[@bumboclat]

@@uncountablyinfinite3429 the rules explicitly state "any order"

[@ginnya4246]

yes I agree I thought that when he put in the digits around 33:12, based upon the sequences having to be in order, those cells in fact could not be 2s or 8s

[@jaad0u]

I have in fact been gently yelling at you Simon about that 2 at the end as it makes me feel so smart when I can spot something before you do for once! I am always blown away by how you manage to solve those extremely difficult puzzles while explaining the logic in a way that us beginners can follow. I love these videos so much

[@mtmcdougall7097]

1:40:46 for me (almost under the 100 minute mark), I was so focused on the palindromes at the start of the puzzle that it took me a while to get the break-in, and then at the end I thought I was left with a deadly pattern on 2s and 4s in columns 2 and 3 and laughed at myself when I saw that it was resolved by one of the palindromes that I spent so much time staring at at the start of the puzzle.

[@Orenotter]

What if these sudoku puzzles are actually tests created by aliens to see how intelligent Earthlings are, and after watching Simon solve this puzzle, they decide not to invade because they conclude humans would wipe the floor with them? Thank you, Simon, for saving the Earth!

[@longwaytotipperary]

@Orenotter ❤ this comment!

[@leannemanoe]

😂😂😂

[@windybeach2184]

Maybe they plan to beam him up

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@windybeach2184 I hope not - we need him more than they do! 😁

[@wandrin2925]

Created tech to send data across the emptiness between stars and galaxies; Prepared to send an invading force an unfathomable distance in order to take over an entire planet, currently occupied by highly aggressive, territorial, weaponized primates; Scared off by a single human taking multiple hours and having significant trouble solving a Sudoku puzzle of above average difficulty 😅 Sounds like a good B-movie, thanks for the laugh :)

[@Astervista]

It’s the first time I get the break-in before Simon speaking at 2x. The idea is simple, you have to slice the four sets of the outer rows and column in 4-sized chunks for the renban. First deduction: you can never overlap cuts, otherwise you would use more digits when you overlap but less when you don’t. So you have only four choices: 1-4, 2-5, 5-8 and 6-9. Second deduction: splitting the four sets like that you leave out either 1, 5 or 9 you weren’t able to fit in the two sets. You are left with four from 1, 5, 9 that are in the four sets but not in your cuts. These are the ones you have to double count, and the only way to double count them in the sets are to put them in the corners. Therefore, the corners must be the 1, 5 and 9 that are left from the cuts. If you had put anything else, eg a 3, you would have removed a 3 that leaves a 1 and a 2 without a group.

[@stephenmor66]

That's nice. My argument was that every 4 digit sequence needs one of 1, 5 or 9, giving eight in the perimeter. If they weren't in the corners we would have twelve, so the corners must be 1, 5 and 9 to get down to eight. I used the same logic as you to get more insight as to what the sequences can be.

[@Emmibean77]

This was such a marathon! Well done, Simon! You muscled through, and, as ever, your persistance and logic are admirable.

[@theritchie2173]

I've stepped away from Sudoku for a couple of months (life happens), and I come back to a 2-hour beast. Judging by the name I'm not sure I'm up to nested Renbans, maybe I should catch up on a few GAS videos as a nice gentle warmup first.

[@AaronCB1321]

Love your content and yes, absolutely start a second channel with partially solved puzzles! We would love to see that and make us mere mortals feel better lol!

[@walkomidit]

I love watching you do these seemingly impossible puzzles and seeing their little trickle of info turn into a massive river.

[@stevenape377]

I loved it! The solve flowed beautifully and I appreciated the process of slowly coming to grips with this crazy setup and things falling into place. I couldn't have solved this myself given any amount of time, I'm pretty sure. I mostly like shorter puzzles on the channel because it means I have a chance to do them myself, but I enjoy the occasional feature film :) Thanks!

[@trentoliphant]

I have to admit on some longer videos I don't pay attention to every single deduction - but on this one I was absolutely mesmerized the whole way through. I was so excited when I saw that he could put the 1 in R6C3 long before he did, but thats just because I wasn't able to do all of the other fantastic deductions that he did. Thank you so much for the way you walk through your thinking on all of these puzzles - it is a joy to watch you - even when you struggle.

[@stuartmckinnon9190]

Just observing Simon persist and tackle a challenging puzzle is a great life lesson in itself for young and old. A key to success in whatever endeavour one partakes in.

[@davidhughes7174]

I fear we will run out of superlatives to describe you Simon. Absolutely amazing, incredible, beguiling, stunning, mesmerising to start for the puzzle, the solve, your patience and perseverance. Thank you.

[@mattmayoh9680]

Placeholders help in this one. It's still extremely hard, but I think it makes it easier to visualise the logic, a little less confusing than the colouring. Red is either high or low, and all the renbans means the order matters a lot. So just make red A. A = 1 or 9, B = 2 or 8, C = 3 or 7, D = 4 or 6, E = 5. Now the perimeter renbans must have 2 x ABCD, 2 x BCDE, 3 x FGHI, 1 x EFGH. So @52:00-@56:00, grey must be the three digits between yellow & green, they are an EI pair, so grey is an FGH triple. And pencilmarking the quads means simon's yellow group, r9c2-5, must be FGHI, so r1c1 is I, r9c9 = E = 5, and you can pencil the entire perimeter with quads/triples. And eventually the given 4 will disambiguate everything else. edit - for me, my pencil marking meant that at the point Simon reached in the video @1:20:00 or so, I could force red into r2c2, and more importantly, I had a D in r7c7, and D is 4 or 6, so I could change all my letters into numbers, and have the given 4 do a lot of work for me.

[@DoubleTrouble-li5wi]

This was absolutely lovely! Thank you so much for all you do!

[@JohnFiala]

My god, this was amazing to watch. I loved it. So much fun to watch you work this out bit by bit. Chef's Kiss.

[@psiphiorg]

I think the gift of sudoku should be either for the 9th anniversary or the 45th!

[@David_K_Booth]

My thought exactly!

[@Urutsini]

The setter and the solver are beyond human in extraordinary intelligence and wisdom. Well done Darth Paradox and Simon

[@Riqu213]

It's this kind of genius that keeps me wanting to watch you solve puzzles Simon. I can yell at you on a nightly basis for finding the hard way to deduce a cell is number A and not number B while a B sits right next to it but then you make this break-in look as if it should be everyone's first thought. What a solve on an AMAZING puzzle.

[@dannstarrjp]

1:18:14 if only Simon remembered what he said in the very beginning of the puzzle about the “inner ring 8 cell line”, it can never have two yellows or two reds because it would have 5 digits in c8 from a set of 4 digits. It’s much easier to see it that way😅

[@emilywilliams3237]

This was so amazing. Simon, I am not surprised that you were tired by the time you put your first digit in - and you kept going. (Frankly, I am surprised that you don't need a biobreak at some point in these longer videos, let alone a stand-up-and-do-some-jumping-jacks break, or even a brief nap!) One of the reasons I love this channel is that when you attempt these super difficult puzzles, you attack them rigorously and thoroughly - you do not take shortcuts. (Yes, sometimes you take "long cuts" but I am totally OK with that - I don't mind in the slightest.) I enjoy videos where you clearly enjoy the puzzle and find the process of solving interesting. I love it when you get excited about things. I loved this video.

[@davidrattner9]

Just an absolute extraordinary 130 minutes of edge of your seat excitement!! Fabulous solve , reasoning , explanations , deductions Simon to this brute !

[@degebergaskola]

Wow! Congrats Simon! Great solve, working through all that hard logic - and a wonderful puzzle! I am very impressed, this is probably the most diffcult puzzle I have seen on this channel.

[@thejeqff]

Simon, after hours of excruciating, mind-boggling deductions: I'm so sorry, you've probably seen [X] for so long Literally everyone else except the only other person who solved the puzzle: ... yeah, we'll let that slide ;-) Absolutely impressive solve. And Simon as humble as ever. What a fun one to watch.

[@WarlockEmpire]

I’ve started watching these videos to fall asleep, they’re so fun and soothing to watch! But I usually fall asleep before the puzzle is solved, so I have to return in the morning to see how it turned out! 😭😭 thank you for posting these fun videos!

[@eveengineer4147]

Amazing job Simon, I really enjoyed the first 30 minutes of the solve because any sudoku that opens with set theory is a big winner in my book. I do have to tell you that the palindrome logic to sort of the grey digits in row 1 was available for a while as you feared. It was actually super useful to me when it came to sorting out grey digits and the 5 in box 7.

[@omardengel4498]

A truly mesmerizingly beautiful puzzle! Did it myself over the course of 10 hours during my workday. getting to that first 5 was sooo satisfying and rewarding. Astonishing work there

[@miyahollands6136]

An amazing solution, Simon - all credit to your resolve! I for one, am a fan of the long video

[@aleksandrajanicka6949]

That was one of the most enjoyable videos throughout this channel I've viewed.

[@Talon227]

So impressive and mesmerizing to watch. Great job Simon!

[@chuckjones4294]

OH... this was wonderful to watch. Thank you!

[@johnsouza4391]

I never know why certain puzzles draw me in to watch for the whole 2 plus hours. This one did. Thank you.

[@CuteHalo]

I give this video top marks for entertainment value! I derive inspiration from seeing how you circumvent obstacles and disambiguate logical puzzles! I feel exhausted, as if after a football game, even though I just watched it! Thank YOU for all the suspense and resolve, Simon, I really loved this!

[@milliams]

A beautiful puzzle and a brilliant solve. One of my favourites in a while. Great work Darth Paradox and Simon!

[@edvardpiano]

Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this, great solve! Way beyond my abilities but watching you explain all the logic behind every step is so rewarding

[@xXVintersorgXx]

Whenever I'm yelling at Simon watching these.. it's to tell him to go back to doing sudoku.. dizzying deductions but doesn't see the simple thing staring him in the face. Great job

[@AlexL1805]

I've started watching CtC to fall asleep to as it's both interesting and relaxing, however this posed a bit of a problem today... I finished a night shift, got in bed about 10am, fell asleep within a couple of minutes of the start of the solve, got woken up an hour later and after dealing with a few things rewound to start watching again. It's now 4pm, I've just finished watching that incredible solve and I've not been back to sleep!

[@charlesrubano4161]

Thank you for taking the time to solve this one for us, i really enjoyed watching it. I will be watching this one again.

[@52392daner]

I was very proud of myself because I was playing along and figured out a lot of stuff then would play your video to see what you got and about 70% of the time I agreed with you, which is an accomplishment for me!

[@volrath__]

I would love to see a second channel for unsolved puzzles! 1. It means that yoh dont fully waste your time not completing a solve and, more importantly... 2. We get to see you and Mark struggle which would be highly entertaining!

[@callmemarcy77]

I had to move and unpack today and this was the perfect thing to have on while I unloaded all my boxes. Love the channel, thank you so much :)

[@TheCrizoo]

Incredible work on solving, I stuck with you for the whole 2 hours for every crumb of clue

[@Jimbobiscuit]

I'm extremely poor at Maths, infact I'm fairly surely I have Dyscalculia. But for some very strange reason I am absolutely riveted by these videos! Watching your brain work out these very complex puzzles is very satisfying and I even end up finding answers through your explanation! What a brilliant idea these videos are

[@ManaSong]

I don't know how I got here but I am absolutely fascinated by how you worked out that puzzle! I can't believe I just sat and watched this for 2 hours and was absolutely absorbed in it the entire time. This is so cool. I used to do regular sudoku puzzles, but this makes me want to seek out some harder ones with interesting rules like this (but not this difficult, my logic skills are not there lol)

[@sfcpudding]

This was an absolutely incredible puzzle and in an incredible solve! It took me a LOT longer than it took you, but I got there eventually. Thank you so much for sharing this puzzle and your solve, brilliant stuff.

[@OrionFyre]

I'm 1:20 into this video and I'm absolutely captivated by your attempt at this puzzle, and I'm not even an average sudoku player. Aaannnd I just finished it. BRAVO! Absolutely flabbergasted by your accomplishment!!! What a wonderful roller coaster ride it was. I can't believe I was captivated by a 2 hour sudoku solve.

[@flobiish]

I can definitely tell you're getting tired there toward the end. I'm glad you stuck through it. Fantastic video.

[@devangoad]

I’ve only found one guy on KZbin that both frustrates and excites me. I watch a lot of KZbin, I guarantee this is a real accomplishment.

[@raxdev4578]

This was a fantastic solve! I am so glad you were able to crack it! It was superb to see the thought process! Only once did I see something you were 5 seconds from seeing.

[@gillsmoke]

Watched to the end, as a novice solver this one was wild to me. there were several leaps of logic I didn't follow but there were plenty I did. Thank you and there's no way I'd even attempt a puzzle like this

[@vinicopinico]

So i just finished watching the vid. I probably have played sudoku less than 10 times in my life but i always have got a pretty good logic. I simply love this vids and please keep going

[@simonplanting5948]

Love hearing the blackbird in the background…. He’s trying to help you… what a solve… beautiful..

[@Anarelion]

I needed to watch this in multiple days, but I really enjoyed it. I think puzzles that escalate slowly in the logic are beautiful. Grand as the Irish say. Go for more!!!! TBH, I enjoyed seeing Simon struggle.

[@Rapandreas]

It's always special to see you work your way through some of the most difficult logic on the planet only to miss something seemingly obvious. (Palindrome preventing r1c3 from being 2) I wouldn't have made it anywhere near far enough to get that myself, so suffice to say, you are a total genius.

[@SleepyHarryZzz]

Fantastic solve as always, very impressed.

[@shteevuk]

Stunning puzzle. Certainly a contender fir the best featured on the channel this year!

[@dargonflames7127]

Seeing you do the beginning was magnificent. I was definitely blown away by how you deduced all of that information. Then I started hoping you'd see the double renban in box 1 n 4 would resolve the As n Bs as well as the rest of the puzzle when you had gotten to that part.

[@martinbull-gundersen8878]

I think that 6 came into use at the perfect moment. I'm not a very big fan of sudokus that essentially have two "opposite" solutions that are disambiguated by something at the very end. Here all the nice logic of the opening was possible to do without "crazy" labeling (or using some stand in letter or number), then you got that dismbiguated and could continue (to watch for my part). Very nice puzzle and solve btw 🙂

[@dustdirtandstone]

I don't know why youtube started recommending me these videos but this was enthralling. Well done. Couldn't stop watching, now I need to brush my teeth and go to bed.

[@KingCrusoe]

Even some of the most complicated sudokus you do on the channel I can follow along with what you're saying and even make a handful of my own deductions along the way, but this one I can't even follow. That to me is a testament to just how good at problem solving Simon is with a little time lol

[@acantilado]

Oh my goodness that might be the most difficult solve I have ever seen on this channel (and I have watched hundreds of these videos). Masterclass by Simon

[@vit0382]

Amazing solve Simon! Way to persevere.

[@jeffmacdonald501]

Simon, it's such an experience watching you heartily work through these puzzles! Very relaxing while also challenging our minds. Also, your joy is infectious, please keep it up! ❤️💛💚🧡🩶

[@simoonsingame3833]

I solved it in 97:20, I'm so proud :D ! What a puzzle! For the placeholder vs bifurcation, I am in the placeholder team. Or, in fact, I see it more like a dual problem, like in many math problems. I create a new problem, with the given digits changed to pencil marks (46), and one of my pencil marks changed to a given digit. Then, once I have the solution to my dual problem (for which there is provably one and only one solution if and only if there is one and only one solution to the original problem), I can deduce the solution to the original problem without any additional logic. As a matter of fact, I chose the wrong one for this puzzle and it didn't take me much more additional time (like 1 min') than if I took the right one from the start. However, when you avoid doing it, you generally have nice color solves which look way more elegant and enjoyable to watch than my dual solves :D ! So in the end, for my own pleasure, I would say: continue complexifying your life :D ! Great solve, incredible puzzle, thank you for sharing!!!

[@darktemplar441]

Simon - Apologize for nothing! This was an absolute wonder to watch. I was lost for most of it. But just watching the logic come together was awe inducing. bravo!

[@guihermeborracha7412]

You gotta love this a lot to spend your time doing it. I'm not ashamed to say that would take me a lifetime to even have a chance.

[@paulpieralde1653]

I am not sure what is more SICK... the sheer genius of Simon Anthony or me watching a 2h10m solve. BRAVO, Simon. That was ridiculous.

[@sirieve]

Couldnt follow half of it, but watched the whole in utter fascination. Amazing skills there mate.

[@alainculos9294]

This is simply staggeringly stunning. Both the puzzle and the solve. There is no way on earth I could ever have solved this one.

[@celestia7411]

A mesmerizing ruleset, puzzle, and solve!

[@AFT3RDAY5]

That really blew me away 🤯 I could follow most of the way but it’s absolutely mindblowing. Amazing how you solved this 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@elizabethswann05]

I actually thought about how much I'd love to see the unsolved puzzles every time Simon mentions that possibility in a video so yes please do that second channel

[@Jodawo]

I am quite surprised. Simon is doing a puzzle only one person has solved on LMD. Yet Mark and the testers think "Empty Grid 2" will be too difficult for him. 🤔

[@francoisduez601]

Mark is a master in solving puzzles, and a real master at fast-solving, but for the hardest ones I think he can miss a bit of resilience, unlike Simon...

[@Jodawo]

@@francoisduez601 Empty Grid 2 is not a puzzle to be bifurcated. It has a logical solve and is not prone to the if this is this then this is that type of solving. Mark has a tendency to go that route when he starts to get stuck. I do think Simon will have trouble with it because he has trouble with Disjointed Set type of puzzles. Simon will probably also have a little trouble with the Prime Box constraint. It does have an element that he might like where you have to find two 3x3 boxes. After seeing what Simon did today Empty Grid 2 should not pose that much of a problem but will probably take him at least an hour to solve.

[@SzanyiAtti]

Haven't seen "Empty Grid 2" yet, where can I find it?

[@viviencollomb-clerc5526]

OMG this was beautiful. Thank you Simon. 🙏

[@maartenmarien]

What a solve! And what a puzzle! Mindblowing stuff.

[@matt2641]

You should make a channel called Cracked Cryptics for puzzles that defeat you. Because I would be amazed to see those puzzles. As far as Im concerned you are brilliant to even undertake something like this, let alone be able to solve it. Simply brilliant.

[@pjbrady47]

That was an absolutely insane puzzle. I stared at it for a while, played with some colors, then said "NOPE!" I'm glad you were able to solve and and post the solve. Thank you!

[@Torkav]

A marathon indeed, delightful solve Simon!

[@StriderGW2]

the way the solution path spirals towards the middle is just completely stunning, what a beautiful construction.

[@markheclim2741]

So about an hour into the video, I was really starting to see what was going on, so I decided I would have a go at it... After several restarts (I think I was mostly just messing up sudoku by colors)... I went to bed, restarted again and finally solved it. 386:15 was my full time... Very cool puzzle, loved the mini sets, especially since they mostly stuck together through the whole puzzle.

[@martysears]

this was astounding. What a break-in!