Puzzle Of The Year?

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Guys, Anyone having trouble with the link: visit this page and (I hope) it'll be easier to copy/paste: www.patreon.com/posts/35678466

[@freddiehand6551]

Link works now, thanks!

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

@@freddiehand6551 Phew, thanks Freddie :)

[@batdowg]

Nope, no go

[@batdowg]

Although it does work on ipad - I believe it's proxy settings blocking it.

[@DiMono]

Why not tinyurl it?

[@gusbert]

Please please can you get an interview with one on the master setters who can perhaps take us through an old puzzle and demonstrate the setting process?

[@sagar110]

I'll second this. Sounds like a great idea.

[@buzzly108]

@@sagar110 Thirded

[@shpinak]

Yes!

[@KurtHugoSchneider]

Fantastic puzzle, a joy to solve :) thanks for all the awesome puzzles during this time!

[@DevilishlyDutch]

I never thought I'd hear Simon say "I think I've broken it", let alone twice in one video. It's very validating

[@richardfarrer5616]

And the first one was at exactly the same point where I thought the same thing.

[@LPdragonfly1989]

I would like to know what he would have done if he broke it. Would he ruled out the error on screen or would he stopped recording and done it another day. And if you think about him stopping the recording did that ever happen to one of them?

[@brachypelmasmith]

I'm going to be honest here and admit I won't even try this one 'cause I can barely wrap my head around it.

[@StevenJacks]

I appreciate your honesty. I did this with hand-holding, and it was ... quite the adventure.

[@KurtHugoSchneider]

can't wait to try this! sadly the link doesn't work over here :( EDIT: the link from patreon is great!

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Can you try accessing it via this link and let me know if it works: www.patreon.com/posts/35678466

[@JackFate76]

@@CrackingTheCryptic That’s one hell of a link. It does work, though!

[@Tahgtahv]

@@JackFate76 All the information for the puzzle is encoded in the URL.

[@JackFate76]

@@Tahgtahv Does that mean I solved it by simply clicking on the link? :-)

[@Tahgtahv]

​@@JackFate76 No? I'm not sure how you would confuse the puzzle description with the puzzle solution. It doesn't store the latter.

[@12tone]

Honestly... This was easier than I expected? Not 'cause it was easy: The logic was pretty brutal, especially establishing the 1s and 9s, and I definitely broke the puzzle my first time through with an incorrect assumption, but it was also super elegant so once things started flowing it all wrapped up pretty quickly. Fantastic setting.

[@Coyotek4]

O. M. G. !!!!!! Took me about an hour, maybe longer … but I am proud to say I was able to solve this incredible puzzle!

[@buzzly108]

I was able to solve it in 54 : 41. Piece of cake. The trick is to just put the same numbers in as Simon. I mean... it's RIGHT THERE! ^^^

[@TheDarthranc0r]

I don't know how or why your channel appeared on my home screen, but 2 hours later I'm glad it did.

[@XdivineExp]

I've never even attempted to solve a sudoku puzzle or any other kind of puzzle, but I've still found myself constantly watching these videos ever since they randomly showed up on my home page. It's just a joy to watch him solve these puzzles.

[@conexant51]

44:54 Simon: Now, if twelve doesn't work either, we have a BIG problem . . . Me: No Simon, YOU have a BIG problem... I'm outta this!

[@Pyromonkey83]

This is absolutely a puzzle of the year contender for sure. I don't actually know how long this took me as there was no timer, but its at least an hour for sure. I got stuck a couple of times, but never for long enough that I was frustrated. Hats off to Phistomefel for another masterpiece of setting, it's truly breathtaking.

[@Grapes-nk2vk]

Geez, if this is 4/5, I cant imagine what 5/5 is like😬

[@joeridumortier65]

Grapes1314 5/5 is just to long for a video. Remember the video that took him 2 hours?

[@xyzzyx7812]

@@joeridumortier65 what's long with a 2h video from time to time?

[@joeridumortier65]

@@xyzzyx7812 nothing, I didn't say anything was wrong with it, I just said that I think that was a 5/5 puzzle

[@TheDiggster13]

Absolutely no way on earth I'd have been able to do this without a lot of help from this video! Magnificent puzzle

[@WilliamSurles]

Sometimes I pause the video to think or write out some logic on a notepad. Usually about when he pauses to think also. Then I unpause...no change in the video. hmm, maybe the button didn't press. Hit space bar again and again, no change either way. 5 seconds later... "Ahhhhhh..." 10:45 -10:50. When his mind is going even breathing must stop, for the greater good.

[@MichaelJPartyka]

Thank goodness I couldn't get the link to work initially so I decided to just watch the video because this one would've had my head spinning. Funny story: At one point after clicking through an ad I thought, "Simon's paused an awful long time...but this is a Phistomefel puzzle, so that doesn't surprise me...," and then I realized I'd accidentally paused the video.

[@Afterthoughtbtw]

Really enjoyed this puzzle, but boy did it remind me how much I prefer your interface!

[@micheltordoir7734]

Yes, a Phistomefel! 48 min for Simon ... See you tomorrow with my comments on my solve! 😂😂😂

[@drusna]

took me 2.5 hours... having watched you solve killer and sandwich sudokus on this channel definitely helped

[@MrEpruitt]

Just stunning, thanks for all the great puzzles!

[@frankjiang1857]

Pretty fun puzzle. If you've done a lot of killer sudokus and sandwich sudokus, the logic is pretty straightforward, but it just takes time to figure out the possibilities. I never really got stuck which sometimes happens on even just classic sudokus, but going through the possible permutations can be a bear. I will say that I appreciate the work people put into translating the japanese app. I still prefer Mark and Simon's web app in that it's much more intuitive in removing numbers, and a lot of my time was spent finding out 1 number couldn't work in multiple boxes and then having to clear all the numbers that were possibilities and re-adding them minus the 1 number that couldn't work. Thanks for the puzzle!

[@StevenJacks]

2 things: 1. I find this puzzle easy, but only because I have a Simon to help me and hold my hand every. single. step. of. the. way. How Simon manages to do this magic without another Simon holding his hand is beyond me. 2. How did you not finish filling in all in the gray squares. :O!

[@kryptonsa36]

"If there is a gray cell in a cage, it has to contain a number." So the uncaged gray cells can be left blank

[@micheltordoir7734]

5 or 6 hours, something like that, but I cracked it without bifurcate. This Phistomefel drives me crazy! Now quickly, I'll rest my brain before tonight's puzzle !

[@RADZIO895]

37:54 he finished placing 19 pairs (only 1 digit so far)

[@blabla-rg7ky]

isn't that a beautiful, beautiful challenge?

[@glennmelven3414]

It didn't bother me that the link was broken. A Phistomefel puzzle means it's a day to just watch. I knew Simon didn't break the puzzle because I was watching it.

[@remigregoire2219]

Wow!, I'm so glad I waited before doing this, 22:39 to get the first digit in, looks like I'm finally getting the hang out of that Suduko Thing. -

[@EMETRL]

this puzzle gave me a good phisting

[@jamesmead3061]

underrated comment of 2020 right here

[@markcoburn8269]

Phistomefelt

[@TheBlackZodiacGhost]

I see an almost hour long video, I instantly press like! :D

[@blabla-rg7ky]

yeah.... when youtube has first crammed this channel down my throat out of the blue I would only watch clips around the 20 minutes mark, but as I got more intrigued by, and interested in the way this guy solves sudoku I have also started hunting only the clips that are at least 40 minutes long, because if it takes a professional solver 40 minutes to solve a sudoku it means that shit's real. And I wanna watch that :)

[@ohiosucks2010]

I can solidly count myself as a viewer that will never try this. It was great to watch but I don't think I will ever have the dedication to reach this level and I don't consider myself a bad solver either. Nice work to everyone that got this running and to anyone that even tries it!

[@ilanknafo]

Same here ! For me those ones is just admiring simon's solve.

[@cycklist]

This weekend's inquisitor was an excellent introduction to the genre, if you're looking for recommendations. Very satisfying, and a superb endgame.

[@lakarto19]

Solved over several hours across two days (don't have an exact time due to it being over two days & no timer on the software)....... My first attempt I wasted because I completely misunderstood the rule in the middle column, thinking (wrongly) that it was the killer clue that couldn't have an overlapping digit with the rest of the cells. I'll be honest, that was a very clever puzzle but also really, really exhausting...... Just proud that I persisted. Another way to think of the logic surrounding the 23 and 27 cage in the upper left section is to think of them as sums. For example with the 27 cage, whatever value you put into r1c2 (let's say it's X), we can then say r4c2~r8c2 sum to 27-X. Together with the 1 and the 9 in column 2, We can then deduce that the eight cells in column 2 (excluding r2c2) sum to 37. Thus, r2c2 = 45 - 37 = 8. In the 23 cage, applying similar logic, we can say that the five cells r2c1 + r3c1 + r3c3 + r3c4 + r3c5 sum to 23, with r2c1 + r3c1 + r3c3 in box 1 summing to a MINimum of 15, since they can't use 1/2/3. This means r3c4 + r3c5 sums to a MAXimum of 8, meaning that r3c5 cannot be 7 or 8, and must be 5. Subsequently, r3c4 must be either 2 or 3. In the end, it's actually the same logic as in the video solve, but I personally found it easier to think of it this way.

[@TheSlinkyConspiracy]

Mindblowing setup and mindblowing solution! I don't really mind longer videos if you're showing such good content. Looking forward to more of these!

[@micheltordoir7734]

It's also good to double check the * rule. I don't understand where is the clue by knowing it's a two-digit number. The cage is 9 cells, 1 clue and 8 digits. So the minimum is 36 (0+36) and maximum is 79 (35+44) , or am I missing something?

[@Tahgtahv]

Yes, the * must use 2 digits (it's part of the rules), which means the cage must use all 10 digits. Aside from that, valid sandwich clues are 0, 2-33, and 35.

[@57thorns]

The star indicates that the gray cell contains a two digit number, otherwise it could contain a one digit number. Eg: 5, with a 5 outside the cage and 2 and 3 between 1 and 9. It is not the sum of the cage.

[@micheltordoir7734]

@@57thorns Thanks, indeed it's not the sum of the cage.

[@ssbm4ever]

I even fail to understand the rules, but I still enjoy watching this shit lol

[@blabla-rg7ky]

you know shit's serious when 31 minutes into the puzzle Simon has penciled in only one digit

[@facilvenir]

55 minutes watching this is better than 55 minutes watching most of the current TV shows (if not all of them). As always, great video.

[@yahya092]

NOTE: get rid of the “...” in Simon’s hyperlink to get the link the work. Edit: it seems like getting rid of the dots does work but the puzzle itself is still not there. It just gives a blank puzzle. So not sure what to do there EDIT: the patron link that Simon provided works!!

[@SirCumference31]

Do you mean rjrudman.github.io/penpa-edit? That doesn't link to the puzzle though.

[@RangeWilson]

Um... how do you do that, exactly? Any chance you can just post a working link?

[@JamesCaseyPhD]

you need the stuff after the url to build the puzzle as the puzzle generates dynamically from the data you send in the link

[@yahya092]

James Casey which is missing, right?

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@amysoutherland37]

What an eloquent puzzle! Thank you so much

[@catnip420]

The link is broken. Not that I could ever solve it anyway looking at the length of this video.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@tzisorey]

Okay...... this one is going to require a second coffee....

[@iNeon-03]

Why does Anthony remind me of Dream Man/This Man

[@DougCube]

At 23:13 you say "if we make this [r1c2] as big as possible, it would be a 9" but it cannot be a 9 based on the location of the 19 in row 1.

[@joeridumortier65]

11:40 I know nobody cares but it’s bugging me so I’m saying it anyway. You can now which way around they go (the 2 and the 3), because the 3 can’t be in the same grid as the 30. Therefore, the 3 would, hypothetically be under the 2. However, I’m only 11:55 in yet so I wouldn’t know whether or not it’s 30 or 20 on top. Edit: 15:50. Well never mind in that case

[@JamesCaseyPhD]

Attempt 2 to post fixed link: tinyurl.com/utll78a

[@Justinsalehtv]

I thought you messed up horribly when you put the 4 in at 49:00 and placed a 4 in the sandwich after. I thought you were using normal sudoku rules and I was screaming at my computer "NOOOO SIMON!!!"

[@Apezz19]

What are those box in the middle of the grid with no number??those boxes in grid 5,6,8,9

[@aronlide]

The boxes without a total just mean that you can't have the same number twice in them.

[@ilanknafo]

Simon , i salute you !!! That was remarkable !!!!!!

[@stars_4_j3ann3]

hmm yes i don’t know what killer sudoku or sandwich sudoku are. lemme just watch the most confusing thing i’ve ever seen.

[@mxpxorsist]

neat puzzle

[@dimitrisdimitriadis4913]

Guys, I need some help to understand Simon's logic at 19:30. I can't understand it and it's killing me. If R1C1 is 9, how is 1 ruled out from R1C8? Isn't it possible, if the "outie" at R1C9 is an 8? 9 + (2+3+4+5+6+7=27) + 1 + 8 = 45 Edit: nvm, got it. If R1C8 is an 1, then the sandwich clue on the same 35 cage is 34. If it is 34, the cage has an "outie" =1. And the cage also needs an 1, so you need 2 separate 1s, so C8 breaks. Jesus Christ, Simon. You're a beast.

[@iosifoulis]

happy to sit and watch thank you

[@stevesebzda570]

Dizzying (and I'm not even at the end yet) I need a tylenol (acetaminophen) and a glass a' water. You're giving me a headache lol 😮😂☕

[@craigjones2075]

Wondering if you were supposed to fill in the rest of the gray cells at the very end to give the sandwich totals for all rows and columns?

[@vctrsigma]

Craig Jones I thought he usually did that to satisfy the ocd people. But maybe I misremember or thinking of a different channel/host.

[@stephenbeck7222]

Craig Jones normal sandwich sudoku doesn’t require any relationship between the various sandwich clues. The only reason to fill in clues in this puzzle was to make the cages work. No reason to fill in clues not in cages.

[@kryptonsa36]

"If there is a gray cell in a cage, it has to contain a number." So the uncaged gray cells can be left blank

[@TheLetterJ0]

That didn't actually seem that bad to me. It took me a long time to work through, but I was able to work through it logically without needing to bifurcate, which is more than I can say for some of the puzzles on this channel. What slowed me down the most was forgetting that the * was a two digit number and that 11, 22, and 33 are not allowed in the gray boxes.

[@TheMeanderingduck6]

I'm confused by the * clue. I thought that was a cage sum, so couldn't it only be 40 considering there is a massive amount of digits in the cage, all colinear?

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

The * clue is a Sandwich clue and must be 2 digits.

[@vctrsigma]

Ah. Yeah it visually seems like the * is for the cage total. but yeah that hint text says it is for the sandwich value. I missed that too. So much going on here my brain would melt 🤯 Great job.

[@Escviitash]

Why bother checking 25+2 for the 27 cage? This would cause a repdigit within that cage.

[@bluefloyd1]

Geniuses all round, setter, solver and facilitators. I'm totally out of my depth. I love it and hate it for that reason EDIT: I do not hate it enough to down-vote, surely the down-voters can save their misgivings, or their bots, for a few months

[@user-A168]

BEST

[@RocketsharK7]

Links not working for me

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@peterk7428]

@39:07 Anyone need a cigarette after that?

[@rtl4x4]

Cell contains 235 as options. He needs to remove the 5 because of new evidence. So he highlights it and types 2 3 5 to remove them all, then types 2 3 back in again. Why why why why why

[@RosenblumStudios]

He didn't type 2, 3, 5 to remove them. He deleted three times, then typed 2, 3.

[@RandomBurfness]

Now that you've got the ability to do sudoku puzzles with two-digit numbers, I'd HIGHLY recommend Nylimb's 10-in-9 killer sudoku puzzles for the channel. They are AMAZING.

[@christophseeliger5551]

Maybe the 10 in 9 sandwich. I’ve never felt so confused in my life.

[@RandomBurfness]

@@christophseeliger5551 Oh that was a lovely puzzle. It was truly mind-bending!

[@vctrsigma]

He didn’t fill in the blank sandwich cells at the end!! Lol🙀

[@kryptonsa36]

"If there is a gray cell in a cage, it has to contain a number." So the uncaged gray cells can be left blank

[@jampishon]

YES more diabolical level sudoku pls!

[@BlueCyann]

Well I did it, but between the complicated rule set and the awkward user interface, I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have. Edit: The video was cool, though. The 27 clue (top left) provided another one of those moments that seems to arise so often in puzzles of this difficulty level. I go through the exact same logic as Simon to eliminate a 9 from R5C2 (assuming the 30 cage clue is 0), but takes so long and feels so arduous and uncertain that I'm insecure about it even being correct. Then Simon comes by, spots AND solves it in about 30 seconds flat, and in the process demonstrates the smooth path forward where all I'd seen was a crawl through tripwires and quicksand. It's very interesting how that works.

[@richardfarrer5616]

A few problems with the software, including wiping out all of the numbers i'd got at one point - not a great loss, but I think I managed it in under two hours, and I was pleased with that. Took me far to long to get the significance of the centre column so my 19 positioning was a hard slog.

[@eddaumpeddaump4509]

I believe you made a logic error about the 19 minute mark. You said r1c8 could not be a 9. I believe at the point it could be. If anyone knows why it couldn't be a 9, please let me know

[@eddaumpeddaump4509]

@@DeletedUser410 wait but what if the clue on the left side was 27 then 9 could be at 1,8

[@eddaumpeddaump4509]

@@DeletedUser410 yeah I just saw that. My mind isn't working today

[@thedahakha]

I feel like such a troglodyte right now

[@ilmnarayana3202]

Another great puzzle! But I have a doubt and not able to figure it out myself. at 29:03 simon says it has to be 0 in top of the column c3. but it can be a 1 and the remaining cells which are in green can contain 3, 4, 5 which makes total in that cage = (1+3+4+5 = 13). Am I missing something here.

[@TheSarahskaninchen]

I think the grey cells can never contain the 1 because the grey cells are the sandwich clues. And you cannot sandwhich a 1 between the 1 and the 9 in the column, that is impossible because you would repeat the 1. Hope I'm explaining it in an understandable way

[@abdoroma6928]

Link doesn't work

[@cycklist]

Grey is spelled with an E, to us Brits. Not 'gray'.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Not when you copy/paste it from Logic Masters Germany's instructions :)

[@Apezz19]

I want to purchase the classic sudoku app on my iphone but im afraid i cant complete the puzzle cz im not that good with sudoku..will the app guide thru??

[@tenfive6]

Sadly the link is broken, but keep up the great videos.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@tenfive6]

@@CrackingTheCryptic Thank you that works perfectly. :)

[@elcano1de]

Isn't repeating 3 in a 13 cage wrong?

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

No because the 13 is not the sandwich sudoku clue - it is the killer sudoku total :)

[@Tahgtahv]

Is it possible to edit the public description after a video has been posted? (Never published anything on YT so idk)

[@RandomBurfness]

A question about this fork! Can we use it to input puzzles we find on the web?

[@Coyotek4]

Link doesn't appear to work. :(

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@DougCube]

At 41:04 you try a 2 in r1c2, but that forces the sandwich clue to be 25, which uses a '2' digit already.

[@AA-100]

3 4 5 6 7 is possible with that 2

[@hauntedmasc]

Extraordinary

[@travholt]

Working link: shorturl.at/pCLMQ

[@TheSarahskaninchen]

Why did he rule out the combination of R6C3 and R5C3 for 1+9 in 34:00 but not the combination of R4C3 and R5C3? Because both would have the same impact on row 5 doesn't it? Somehow i am really confused

[@MitsuoRLCoach]

Phistomefel you are supreme

[@DougCube]

At 17:19, you consider r1c8 being a 2 and thus the sandwich clue being 33. But the sandwich clue is inside a cage and thus cannot be 33 (11 or 22).

[@danieltaber4924]

The link is broken

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@danieltaber4924]

@@CrackingTheCryptic That link works. Thanks for the update!

[@ol1ver49]

Link is broke but could I have done it anyway? Probably not

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@arjanstoel]

28:30

[@JamesCaseyPhD]

I tried to post the fixed link (as a tinyurl), but I think it got deleted as spam...

[@Sakamori14]

One annoying mistake to mix up 2 crust positions and by the time I realized I had broken it, I didn't see it worth retrying. The rest would have been easier anyway.

[@BlueCyann]

Link doesn't work.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Please see the patreon link pinned above. Let me know if you still have trouble!

[@BlueCyann]

@@CrackingTheCryptic Thank you, I got it, but now I am just so confused by the rules. They say the asterix indicates gray cells in cages that have to be double digit, but almost all the numbers in gray cells are going to be double digit, aren't they? And only the one cell has an asterix. Will try to solve as if the star thing is only talking about that one cell, no confidence whatsoever that that's right.

[@iamtrash288]

You could say this puzzle was... devilishly hard

[@Mithical9]

Took 2 hours and change... but I did it!

[@edensaquaponics1941]

I had a go, but made the mistake of thinking that the 13 cage in r0c3 had to contain a 1.

[@Kaiser86]

How?

[@DNXTMaster]

I had to restart this puzzle seven times. I hate how I overlook things religiously

[@jasonmetcalfe4695]

Is there a puzzle that Simon just can't do? I'd love to see it if there is

[@remigregoire2219]

Too late, obviously ;-). If you know what I mean!

[@MegaJotie]

Colourblind squad where you at?

[@jasonmetcalfe4695]

I hate when he uses green to illustrate