Thank God It's Finkz-Day (The Best Sudoku Series Ever Continues...)

[@martysears]

Hey Ratrunners, thanks again for another brilliant solve, I'm really loving (and always appreciating) these Friday Finkz features! 💜 Simon followed my intended path exactly, except for one part, where he missed that the cage at the bottom would be unable to sum to 5 due to a 1 and 4 in box 8 and a 2 or 3 on Finkz. So the total of 7 for cages can be deduced earlier, but Simon's way of finding this later using box 5 logic was even more interesting and satisfying! This was surprisingly the hardest puzzle to set of all the episodes that have been published so far. (I will tell you about episode 18 when the time comes!) I say surprising, because this constraint (a regionometer as ThePedallingPianist likes to call it) is not crazily constrained, like last week's 13 rule was. It feels like something that should be fairly easy to set using a standard 'forwards method'. By this I mean, not necessary to find a filled grid first and then clue it afterwards (which I did have to do with episode 13), but instead set it by laying clues in largely the same order that it will eventually be solved, basically playing the role of Finkz myself and chasing each bit of logic, and adding walls and blackcurrants and cages along the way to nudge and force things in useful directions. The first part of the puzzle, up to getting the 9 segment and entering box 5, I set several months ago (way before season 1 was complete) and I really liked that break-in and desperately wanted to keep that as it was. I had a 2nd half of the puzzle set back then too, which worked and resulted in a unique path and filled grid, but I was unsatisfied with it, because the path didn't really go to too many parts of the grid. It originally just went in and out of box 5 a few times, and then straight up to box 1 and then back down to the cupcake, with boxes 2 and 3 not getting much of a look-in, and the logic in the 2nd half of the solve not being overly interesting. I knew the sort of thing I wanted to do, but time and time again I couldn't finish the 2nd half without it breaking. I tried so many slightly different things. Sometimes it would get so near and just break on one very small thing. I kept leaving it and coming back to it, until eventually time was running out. I only finished setting it last weekend, and was so happy when I eventually found this layout that worked, after much playing around with different extra clue types (grapes, redcurrants, motion sensors and whatnot). The idea which I really wanted to make work was that thing of realising that the segment going downward to box 7 must have a total of 23, and therefore constraining the segments between 17 and 23, with a small degree of flexibility but not much. What kept breaking was either the big segment in box 2 being too low or too high, based on where the 1234 had ended up in that box. However with a bit of jiggery pokery in box 1, I managed to make pleasing use of that placement of 1234 in box 2 to force a segment with total 21, and a couple of final blackcurrants in box 1 helped nail down the 18 segment. In the end, very happy with the outcome and glad I could eventually pull this puzzle off completely in the way I hoped. Makes me happy that some people have said this is their favourite episode so far. Apologies for accidentally forgetting to put the lightning symbols on top of the colouring layer (thats why they disappeared when you coloured the cells)... I will fix that! Have a lovely weekend everyone 🐭

[@longwaytotipperary]

❤ Finkzy puzzles! Thank you for sharing information about your intended solve path and your thoughts on creating the puzzle!! That makes it even more enjoyable!!

[@zirco77]

The break-in was sensational! It felt so good figure it out after a moment of "wait a minute, have I missed an option here?". The geometrical setup is so clever! Thanks again for all the joy you bring! and thanks a lot for sharing the "making of", that's really interesting. It feels like setting up such a puzzle is like trying to get out of a huge maze. Your tone also "suggest a happy and healthy Marty Sears"; this is purely a personnal observation 😅 Starting to think those "maze experiment reports" may not (all) be about Finkz afterall...

[@mscha]

Thanks for another wonderful episode in the life of Finkz, Marty! It took me forever to figure out how the path worked in boxes 8 and 9 - very frustrating that Simon immediately got that - but after that, the whole puzzle flowed beautifully.

[@r.b.4009]

Looking forward to seeeing Simon's solve. For me this was the most difficult to solve yet. I stared at the grid for a full day without getting anywhere, drew Finks' path in the pool, scribbling combinations of numbers onto every paper I found. People at the hotel were looking at me as if I were crazy 🤣 I solved it without any hints or checks, which made me proud, but I feel I didn't always use the correct logic to deduce the way to go, sometimes it was "just" trial and error with path x + path y + path z + 1 or 2 digits have to equal to 45, writing down all combinations and then strike out what doesn't fit due to other constraints... Thank you @marty_sears for this brilliant series!!!

[@martysears]

@ thankyou for your lovely comments, I think you will find Simon’s solve very informative. Hope you enjoyed your holiday and puzzly pool time 😀

[@jakejarvis6683]

It makes my day every time Simon reminds me that I'm one of his favorite people

[@PEZenfuego]

"This is the greatest series in Sudoku history bar none" is quite a bold statement to make, Simon! But you know what? I completely agree :)

[@HalfBakedLunatic]

Absolutely!

[@KeplersDream]

At this rate, by the end of the series Finkz will be so intelligent she'll have Marty running round the maze.

[@aralornwolf3140]

I think she's training Marty at this point. :D

[@KeplersDream]

@@aralornwolf3140 Maybe she's related to the hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional mice that are running the show and experimenting on humans?

[@stephencolwill148]

I'm surprised that she and Simon haven't already met.

[@13vatra]

I'm going to guess that will be phase 3. After 20 Finkz will ascend and make Marty the maze runner for the next 10 puzzles.

[@Naib0930]

Only 4 squares away I'm sure this will be an easy one.

[@Pointlesschan]

Lol 😂

[@brianj959]

Mefinkz otherwise. :)

[@aloi4]

Traveled 1300% greater distance

[@PegV.A]

This community sparkles with wit!

[@funshinex]

Hmm one wonders if Finkz is Simon and the experiments are being conducted on him by Marty each week live on KZbin

[@RichSmith77]

It's a theory, but I'm not sure Marty would say "that the thrill and tenacity we saw in Phase 1 has waned somewhat" if he was secretly talking about Simon. 🙂

[@Tepalus]

It's fadcinating how the initial logic in Finkz Puzzles is to prove why she can't just go straight to the cupcake 😊

[@srwapo]

59:42, I'm SUPER impressed with how the path goes out and back into box 8, I thought it was broken before I saw that possibility. I also laughed at how quickly I saw that Finkz couldn't just go directly to the cupcake.

[@raydarable]

The video's only 59:25 long.

[@andrikamm]

@@raydarable i guess 59:42 is the time it took @srwapo to complete the puzzle

[@srwapo]

@@andrikamm yes

[@GamerBadger82]

I’m at 52:16, and Simon still hasn’t realised he knows the value of r5c9 from the rules 😂 I’m impressed at how much he’s progressed without needing it! ❤

[@gasp1424]

Marty Sears and the Ratrun series have been my favourite solves, generally I grab the link, give it a shot and only use the video for a bit of help but for this puzzle I was so engrossed with the solve and in love with the logic that after solving it on my own in over an hour I then came back to watch Simon solve it to see the logic all over again.

[@Vorash00]

If it helps the puzzle drops on logic masters Germany on Wednesday, I try to do it then and when Simon posts I can just watch it. I like that be leaves a couple of days delay

[@RaTosk]

Saw Finkz in the notification, instant click!😊

[@longwaytotipperary]

Same!

[@Foxyjosh]

I tried to give Finkz an easy win today but, she insisted on exploring every box multiple times. I admire her adventurous spirit but, for her to ignore the cupcake like that makes me feel like I have broken my rat. More tests are necessary.

[@Qurqirish_Dragon]

Don't exaggerate, Finkz only visited 8 of the boxes multiple times.

[@jasonveale8467]

I love how Simon worked out that the cages summed to 7 in his unique 'Simon' way, when he could have just seen that the cage in row 9 couldn't 5 be as the row already had a 3 and box 8 had a 1 and a 4 in it!

[@David_K_Booth]

Though it took me lot longer than Simon to complete the puzzle, I enjoyed every minute. Well done, Marty, these puzzles have all been a pleasure to solve.

[@tomsterbg8130]

Didn't expect to catch one early! I was just preparing to sleep, and thank goodness it's this video because sometimes the channel just makes me want to sleep so thank you for this.

[@Vivo-cp2rb]

Oh I am so glad that the 3 4 cage on the right didn't get resolved by something else Simon found 30 minutes after it was available like things like these usually go.

[@Qurqirish_Dragon]

Nothing better than to finish work and find a new Finkz puzzle waiting for me 🙂 The king may be a fink, but the queen is a Finkz!

[@docpayce1]

That was one of my favourites so far! Amazing setting!!! ❤❤❤

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 03:40 Let's Get Cracking: 10:13 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 2x (16:33, 16:42) Bobbins: 1x (52:35) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (27:08) Three In the Corner: 1x (50:27) Phistomefel: 1x (06:19) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 14x (01:54, 17:40, 17:44, 19:44, 20:27, 21:35, 27:54, 30:06, 30:06, 34:23, 38:19, 41:20, 46:01, 50:06) Hang On: 8x (15:23, 24:03, 26:07, 30:06, 33:12, 35:54, 35:54) Cake!: 6x (04:04, 04:08, 04:25, 04:29, 05:43, 06:32) Sorry: 5x (23:00, 25:40, 31:46, 48:10, 56:35) By Sudoku: 5x (23:46, 26:59, 34:00, 51:14, 53:36) In Fact: 5x (14:04, 18:27, 20:45, 21:04, 55:21) Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (12:11, 34:54, 38:17, 44:03, 54:06) Beautiful: 4x (33:57, 34:23, 36:26, 43:35) Triangular Number: 4x (11:38, 14:39, 40:53, 44:43) Good Grief: 3x (36:29, 36:34, 43:35) Gorgeous: 3x (22:25, 27:54, 50:17) Goodness: 2x (00:42, 59:09) Clever: 2x (34:40, 36:29) Lovely: 2x (39:54, 47:42) Shouting: 2x (05:25, 05:34) Lunacy: 2x (34:30, 36:37) The Answer is: 1x (32:00) Stuck: 1x (24:14) Brilliant: 1x (04:23) Extraordinary: 1x (10:46) First Digit: 1x (18:46) Approachable: 1x (03:36) Alacrity: 1x (40:44) Surely: 1x (29:24) Whoopsie: 1x (53:36) Box Thingy: 1x (35:02) We Can Do Better Than That: 1x (23:52) Progress: 1x (06:22) Wow: 1x (57:08) Fabulous: 1x (58:42) That's Huge: 1x (36:34) Serendipitous: 1x (34:34) Weird: 1x (08:51) Most popular number(>9), digit, colour and box this video: Ten (18 mentions) Four (64 mentions) Black (12 mentions) Box 3 (2 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (4) - Low (4) Even (5) - Odd (0) Lower (8) - Higher (4) Lowest (2) - Highest (1) Black (12) - White (0) Column (5) - Row (4) 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!

[@Craft_CEO]

37:48 is another ah

[@aliengeo]

"No threes in the corner, you'll be relieved to know" Simon the fun part of a three in the corner is how excited you get :'(

[@emilywilliams3237]

I have skipped over a few that I missed in order to go back and watch this one. No disappointment, of course! Thanks, Simon.

[@willemkossen]

These puzzles could be a new pack in the ctc app. Share the profit with Marty. This will sell! Love it

[@dwdei8815]

Absolutely loved this box/sections constraint!

[@lancelot848]

I am sure one of these days, Flinkz will be able to see the cupcake right next to her but then take a long-winded, ludicrous path to eventually get there

[@samleek3625]

Taking almost 20 minutes to notice the shock cage values was incredibly Simon of you Simon

[@Jodawo]

It seems Simon's brain does not like to look at low-hanging fruit. It also took a while for him to get the 4 in Box one. His genius is finding the hardest path his folly is missing the blatantly obvious. Somehow I think it's good that he shows us the hard path only if of course we can see the easy ones he has missed.

[@artsenor254]

The best sudoku series ever indeed, this one was mind-blowing !

[@nathanmays7926]

I’m looking forward to Marty putting Finkz next to the cupcake, and one of the very last deductions of the puzzle is to determine she goes directly to it.

[@kavitajagannathan6329]

This was the first Rat puzzle i solved before watching the video. Loved it - the solve as well as Simon's video!

[@xerodeus2337]

65 minute solve! Was a really smooth progressive solve for me except for box 1 near the end, that tripped me up for a bit. Way to go Marty as always, these RPG Sudokus are so much fun!

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 88 minutes. As always, Marty delivers on another excellent RatRun puzzle. The increasing value rule was really fun to figure out, especially ruling out the top right box completely. I think my favorite part was seeing that the cages couldn't sum to 4 as this would leave no 4 available in box 6. These forced a deliberate path of minimums as Finkz had to avoid the shocked cells. This was a lot of fun. Great Puzzle!

[@debrabowen4276]

Such a lovely way to spend an hour!

[@kosumi68]

Wonderful puzzle, thank you so much!

[@stumbling]

We are definitely in the "lines" era of sudoku.

[@praematura]

Oof, I struggled with this one a bit, pausing to watch Simon's solve only to realize what I'd missed while listening to him talk about possibilities. 😣 Without any spoilers, I did finish it in 59:19 (conflict checker off); I blame the wine (no, not wine clicks, Simon, just brain fog from the wine 😄). Still, many thanks to Marty for yet another awesome Finkz puzzle!

[@philc2729]

Great solve. Didn't understand two aspects, how were you able to enter right cage with total 7, when knowledge bomb 7>5? Second, how was a cage deactivated as described in epilogue?

[@martysears]

Hi Phil, it is not the total that has to be less than 5, but the shock value as indicated by the electricity symbol. If a shock value is lower than 5 then the cage is deactivated and so safe to enter. That latter point was explained the first time we saw cages in puzzle 9… sorry, I probably should have clarified that again here

[@RichSmith77]

It's only the digit on the electricity symbol in the cage that determines the cage shock value. In the case of the first cage on the path, the symbol is in r5c8, and has a value of just 3. (This is also why it gets described as being a deactivated cage entered, in the epilogue).

[@wilesfiles1]

This got me, too. I had to fast-forward to figure out how Finx got through that cage. I still don't understand.

[@philc2729]

@@martysears I haven't been able to catch all the rat race puzzles so it was foreign to me. Thanks for elaborating on that point.

[@cloudbringer104]

I really enjoyed your crossword today Simon. You are far too hard on yourself. Time to enjoy sudoku.

[@piarittersporn]

At last Finkz is back. I'm so addicted to this rat. Wonderful puzzle

[@sasukuto]

These Finks Puzzles really are making me excited for Fridays!

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

27:20 for me. I did miss an obvious step, but there's no way this is a 3-star puzzle. Difficulty aside, the solvepath was fantastic. Great rat run as always!!

[@A_CC_K]

Yes, the best part of a Friday, a Marty Sears Rat Run Puzzle. Time to settle down with a bowl of ice cream and watch Simon battle Marty Sears.

[@y_prime]

solved in 22:53 - good as always, really liked the cage calculations in boxes 1, 4, and 5

[@Aliessil]

Finished in 43:48, I've loved every one of these Finkz puzzles! So far, I think my favourite is still #7 with the teleporters 🤔

[@martysears]

You may enjoy next week then 😉

[@raccomunk1717]

Definitely the hardest puzzle in the series for me so far, but I got through it in the end

[@applecheck]

🎶 And that's 3 in the cupcake 🎶

[@grahamania]

00:50:37 for me. Ahhhhhh, how can these Finkz puzzles be this good every time! Kind comment.

[@dollarsing]

Great fun. Thank you!

[@Jukka70]

Yay, it's Finkz day, so happy to see this

[@iris.holmes]

I love Finkz-Day!! 🥰🥰🥰

[@maljamin]

You can nail down a whole consecutive sequence of segments between boxes 2 and 7 once you determine box 7s total (by sudoku and cage logic), then it's all forced back to box 2. The smaller box1 total can be sniffed out via sudoku and the secret (given the larger segment total).

[@MatthewMorris6148]

48:09 Had a slight issue near the beginning where I accidentally made an assumption about the cages, realized I made an assumption, and had to put the puzzle on hold until I corrected the assumption. It was correct to begin with, but still. Anyways, I always look forwards to Finkz puzzles, they’re always brilliant! I don’t know how Marty consistently pulls off these puzzles, but I’m glad he does!

[@ericpraline1302]

I got tripped up at the start as it seemed impossible - I misread or didn't understand the rules. After that it was characteristically enjoyable, although with every one of these puzzles I feel I am outsmarted by a rat (or a mad scientist) at least once.

[@darthrainbows]

Yay more Finkz! Solved this one in 47:49.

[@elektrikblu7331]

What I'm learning more and more is that if there's a super wacky and unlikely path, that's almost certainly going to be the path lol

[@idyl8954]

I really liked this one!

[@BijickY]

Being told the secret never gets old. ❤

[@chaejulee]

Finished in 41:04 , Great rat run puzzle!

[@mudscuffer]

1:05:49 for me. Got stuck for 20min before finally realizing I could differentiate the cages.

[@petermawhorter9016]

Got this one in 01:35:03, which is excellent by my standards. As expected, an extremely fun one, although I did make a mistake I had to back out of. I really love the break-in, as I'm sure most did.

[@HunterJE]

Something big available as soon as the rough path of Finkz’s first visit to box 1 is established around 42:00-since that visit will be three cells, two of which are on a blackcurrant, AND must sum to at least 18, the blackcurrant must be a 36 or a 48

[@sneakyghoti]

A new Sudoku game came out a few days ago on steam called Sudoku Topology. It takes basic sudoku variants and puts them on various shapes like a torus or dodecahedron. Would be interesting to see you stream it.

[@williammorris7279]

Zetamath is ahead of you! He has already started streaming these on his channel.

[@roccov3614]

I followed a similar path except when Simon figured out why the one cell cages were off limits, I couldn't figure it out. I know they had to be off limits because it didn't make sense that all the cages were safe, and I realized I had to know, to progress. In the end I just assumed they were off limits and everything else went the same.

[@Ruddigore]

It is an excellent solve as always, but it does my head in that Simon doesn't clean the boxes of colours at the end.

[@teliots]

Nicely designed puzzle.

[@belgarat101]

Ohh the shockcell applies to the whole cage, that could have saved me some time :-( Lucky the rule is not necessary to solve the puzzle. Reading comprehension D-

[@Coyotek4]

40:47 ... I'm starting to wonder if this is turning into a 'Lawnmower Dog' situation (for all you R&M fans out there)! Still loving all these puzzles!

[@TurquoizeGoldscraper]

59:50 - I made a mistake early on and totally screwed it up, didn't realize until I was over 40 minutes in. I restarted but kept the timer, and got it under an hour total.

[@janeflett4971]

Genius puzzle

[@Tepalus]

I await the day Finkz just has to move 1 square to get the cupcakek. :D

[@markthompson2874]

I had initially blocked off the path going through the 9 in box 6 until I realized that the minimum 15 in box 7 made it impossible. Took me about 20 minutes to figure out that you had to skip into the 4 in box 9. Once I figured that out, clear sailing...brilliant puzzle though I do think that Marty Sears is kindof twisted!

[@martysears]

🙃

[@wordclover]

Me2. I was really convinced the puzzle was broken until it clicked for me. What a wonderful break-in, @martysears!

[@RaphaelBriand]

I had a lot of fun doing this one and am happy with my time of 88:00.

[@chipsounder4633]

All cage totals are the same.. Was i right to shout at the screen? Surely row 5 column 9 is forced 😂

[@awilliams1701]

I finally completed the parity ladder puzzle in the fog app. That was the last one. It's honestly the hardest puzzle and the hints do not help at all. lol Ironcially after my first attempt I got stuck and the answer was much easier than I thought it would be. I wasn't counting the parities on the line I got stuck on. That's it. That's all it was, but it was still hard after that.

[@ATrueZen]

4 minutes ago? I'm hyped!

[@tBagley43]

1:04:11 very fun puzzle :)

[@noxumbra173]

At the 20-minute mark, Simon knows the 4/2 on the black dot in box 8,9.

[@77kaczka77]

I am beginning to love rats 😉👍👍👍👍

[@ashnose]

I thought this was one of the tougher ones but got through it

[@titirenee]

Titi's Time: 54:17

[@Cymon343]

57:57 I just want to say that 13/11/1974 is more than 2 days ago.

[@pwfd]

I really really hope the last puzzle in the series finks finally just goes straight to the cupcake without the ludicrous pathing 😂

[@mscha]

Yes! But it must be very hard to prove that that is the only path, and that there is one tiny thing making the usual ludicrously long path impossible.

[@martysears]

@@mscha the hardest thing would be making it so that the grid can be filled with digits without any path information to help. It would need a lot of blackcurrants / cages etc, and would just feel like a normal sudoku rather than a Rat Run

[@AaronPriceColby]

Shoot keep missing rules, I got so convinced that each box had to be only 1 higher... doh, got confused at box 2

[@angec9908]

Let’s get Finkzing! #TeamFinkz

[@danielforslin]

Damnit! There I was, had my whole evening planned, was gonna be productive… then a rat puzzle showed up and ruined everything

[@martysears]

I can only apologise 😅

[@林老師-i5d]

61:12 for me nice puzzle

[@katiekawaii]

Woo! Let's goooo!

[@Thomas_Acharya]

44:45 or she could have gone diagonal in the top of box 2 just to show she has free will!

[@aartbluestoke3352]

Todays maths insight: 10 is more than 9.

[@KrisCadwell]

He's forgotten all cages have the same total aaaaaahhhhhhhh

[@aberrant322]

cmon man, 20 minutes that caged 7 goes unmarked ... your killin me smalls.

[@CharlieGrant88]

The test date was actually 50 years & 2 days ago ... 13/11/1974 🙂

[@grantfraser5430]

I'm just about to tackle this puzzle. But first I would like to apologize to Marty. Of course I noticed the short path, no obstacles. What trickery could prevent me from finally finding an easy solve? Upon noticing the length 4 path that leads to the cupcake, realizing that the 1 cell cupcake can't total 11, an unkind word was directed at Marty. I apologize Marty, it was involuntary, you're too nice a guy providing us with all this entertainment and I didn't mean it. Please forgive me. (edit) And of course after solving, what can I say? Another wow! How does he come up with these brilliant ways to force the solve. So much more fun than taking the illegal, I mean easy path. Thank you Marty. I don't mind saying I was briefly consternated halfway through the break-in until I realized how to bounce through boxes 8 & 9. But that's part of the fun, doubting myself even on those rare occasions when I'm on the right track.

[@martysears]

nono, I deserve it - I swear at myself sometimes 😅

[@LednacekZ]

39:56 for me. quite tough.

[@artursruseckis4242]

Simon again being the usual self. Ignoring the boxes that were resolved for ages until the very end and somehow moving forward solving the puzzle without using them at all. I solved the puzzle twice. First time I made a crucial typo/math brainfade filling the 8 path as 1-2-6 instead of 1-2-5. It was quite hard but still solved until the almost very end with only four 78 pairs remaining in deadly pattern. Since the main logic path was quite obvious and it worked, I assumed that I made some minor error and tried to rewind back and to my surprise the error was almost the beginning, I was surprised that logic worked that far. I restarted and the second time felt much easier, not only because I already new the main decision points, but also because the correct placing of numbers resulted in much easier deductions / more obvious sudoku rules.

[@stephencolwill148]

A rat run puzzle and no cursed three in any corner! I can die happy...

[@larrymawby6202]

I do not see why the end of the path is determined. Finkz could go down into row nine and pick up three cells there, skipping the 7 in row eight, still fulfilling all the rules.

[@poppyholly1759]

No, row 9 is not passable because the electric shock in the cage is set to 5.

[@mattjones2477]

The cage in row 9 has a shock value above the safe threshold (based on r9c4), so Finkz can’t take the circuitous path via row 9 at the end.

[@mattjones2477]

Oh sorry @poppyholly1759, didn’t see your reply!

[@larrymawby6202]

I misunderstood the rule, sorry.

[@andrewgrant6516]

Bored with rats now.

[@Lykrast]

rat!!

[@iceberg54321]

There are multiple solutions since the puzzle doesn't state that Finkz's square is on the path. You can simply move to the cupcake.

[@iceberg54321]

The puzzle also does not state that the cupcake is one the end of the path, so you can use finkz' starting square as well and move to the cupcake.