The Arkenstone: The Sudoku Quest

[@blobz-1]

Great solve, Simon … nice job finding the right questions to ask to deduce how Bilbo made his way through the grid. I will reiterate your comment about the LOTR puzzle hunt in that those puzzles are far more approachable than this one.

[@stangerrits6712]

Good to know, was in doubt whether I should even start this month’s hunt 😅

[@Anne_Mahoney]

@@stangerrits6712 I did the first puzzle from the hunt this morning and it was a very nice difficulty -- nothing like the Arkenstone here, but a pleasant challenge and an attractive puzzle. Have no fear: dive in! 😺

[@stangerrits6712]

@@Anne_Mahoney I did, and indeed not bad at all 😅

[@epsilonzero77]

*hat tip* to the “secret” passage.

[@enchanter1520]

At 21:12 It's hilarious that Simon actually got the shape of modular line correct! What are the odds of that 😂

[@samuelraustein187]

Yea its crazy! This Deserves more likes

[@francoisduez601]

It seems unlikely at first blush... But the odds are probably not that high since there are not so many possibilities considering where the cages are placed... (and the no-branching rule for this path)

[@angec9908]

I know when I don’t understand the rules I’m really going to enjoy the video 😂

[@longwaytotipperary]

I enjoy watching Simon solve these difficult puzzles and explain as he goes along with lots of humor and beguilement. I watch with snacks and beverage and am very much entertained. Would I try to do this puzzle on my own - no way! 🤪

[@stephenbeck7222]

Around 56:00 Simon could use the cave rule that the wall has to reach the border of the grid, a much more clear and familiar rule than the Hobbit rules here, to conclude R8C4 was cave.

[@bobh6728]

r8c5

[@Esperi74]

Also the rule that the modular line does not branch, so has to be enclosed by grey along its path.

[@TheBioRules]

The fact the Lair digits were one off from being 3 rings for the elven kings under the sky, 7 for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone, 9 for mortal men doomed to die, and 1 for the dark lord on his dark throne, is infinitely unsatisfying.

[@kamalidimock8726]

Nice!

[@DontMockMySmock]

lmao

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 278 minutes. This was a tough puzzle. I didn't understand the rules at first. I thought all the shaded cells had to be orthogonally connected throughout the grid. It kept breaking and I couldn't figure out why. I skimmed the video and saw that Simon had some isolated shaded cells. I guess I messed that up, so 87 minutes was sort of wasted. Having the shaded cells being isolated from each other groups made this puzzle infinitely harder. I, slowly, made my way from the bottom left of the grid, desperately trying to get out. Finally, I was able to prove that r8c1&2 had to be shaded. This made the rest of the puzzle much more manageable, still hard but manageable. I was so happy when I finished the puzzle. I almost gave up, but I'm glad I didn't. Great Puzzle!

[@enigma-mixed5933]

One thousand and eleventy-one runtime. Kinda fitting

[@enigma-mixed5933]

Actually it shouldve been. Eleventy thousand and eleventy-one

[@Squishy3757]

I feel like he’s making the 2nd half of the puzzle much harder than it should be.

[@TheBioRules]

He absolutely is, he's already drawn the german whisper tunnel all the way to the lair and located the lair, and is still thinking "well it could still be a german whisper after the lair" when the rules say "the whisper tunnel goes to the lair and then you use the modular passage".

[@SverreHvammenJohansen]

The first half of the puzzle is much easier than he makes it.

[@H0lyMoley]

I just used the same colour for the two passages as the starting / ending squares, so pink for the whispers line and green for the modular one. So much confusion saved right there.

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 58:03. I actually solved it in reverse. I was able to figure out what each end passage was from the cages since there were specific rules about that which allowed me to map the entire end passage. From the 26 steps from the lair I was able to deduce where the lair was based on the end passage. I did get tripped up a little with the tunnels as I made 2 bad assumptions which lead me into a couple of bad situations cage and sudoku wise, and it took a decent while to unravel those problems. Fun journey, there and back again!

[@stevieinselby]

Agreed, while it doesn't fit the narrative story so well, it was definitely easier to start with the way out than the way in! The passage is far more restricted than the tunnels by virtue of not being able to branch.

[@H0lyMoley]

I suspect we may have not only solved the puzzle the exact same way, but made the same two wrong assumptions. Did one of them involve the number 45 by any chance? It took me freakin' ages to work out that there could be two "4"s if one of the other digits was reduced by three... I was under your time by a minute by the way. Although I feel like we might both have finished a lot faster if we didn't make that one assumption.

[@stevieinselby]

@@H0lyMoley I did initially think that meant the passage had to be the digits 1 to 9 once each, but then realised before I used that logic too far that it could repeat digits and could potentially be longer (or shorter), although the exact length would either have to be divisible by 3 or if not then it would depend on the starting digit.

[@frankjiang1857]

@@H0lyMoley My assumptions were different. For some reason I miscounted for hi/lows for German Whispers in box 1 and was certain the box at R2C1 couldn't be on the German Whisper tunnel but I hadn't read carefully enough that the German Whisper clues included dead-ends. Your assumption actually made sense. I DID specifically guard against it, but then I made a non-sensical assumption when it was against the rules.

[@In_42_Space]

Loved the rule set and the solve. But I am a big Tolkien fan so was invested from the start.

[@coconuts2513]

The puzzles the last few days have been fantastic! Pathfinding puzzles are always a fun adventure, and puzzles where the solve path includes figuring out which rule applies are always a great watch ❤🎉😊

[@uigrad]

I finished the Sudoku hunt last night, and just found this puzzle now. Just like the hunt, it is exceptionally good! I don't know if the difficulty on this is much harder than the hunt. In fact, if you have trouble with this one, you may have trouble with the puzzles in the hunt as well. Of course, there's always the Patreon-only channel in Discord to help out when you get stuck!

[@tcmsurfer]

Thank you very much for the birthday shout out for my son. It actually wasn't chocolate cake this time around. He wanted a gf pound cake/birthday cake with strawberry icing 😅 I will have to show him this in the morning, thanks again!

[@sly1024]

GF pound? 😲 I do that sometimes. 😂

[@andersosterholm2538]

Brilliant puzzle! The way the rules worked together to form the path was great!

[@emilywilliams3237]

The thematic elements of this puzzle made the video a pure pleasure to watch, but even more amazing was the logic and all of your skill, Simon. This puzzle is out of my league, but I already spent an enjoyable stretch of time solving the first one in the Patreon pack - just fantastic.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 09:17 Let's Get Cracking: 12:48 Simon's time: 56m06s Puzzle Solved: 1:08:54 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 6x (02:47, 07:50, 08:27, 53:36, 53:53, 1:04:32) Bobbins: 5x (06:17, 06:21, 11:51, 47:16, 1:07:56) Three In the Corner: 2x (33:53, 34:22) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Hang On: 14x (06:35, 10:47, 11:49, 20:30, 29:48, 33:24, 36:43, 38:58, 38:58, 41:13, 55:45, 1:01:35, 1:01:52, 1:04:05) Checkerboard: 10x (09:43, 22:03, 27:17, 37:24, 37:29, 43:29, 45:03, 52:28, 54:17, 54:25) Sorry: 6x (06:52, 11:51, 14:13, 33:24, 37:30, 52:17) Touch Itself: 4x (09:48, 23:43, 24:00, 30:04) Lovely: 4x (05:14, 40:11, 41:20, 48:06) In Fact: 4x (01:08, 01:08, 26:59, 1:00:21) Ah: 4x (39:47, 46:38, 52:08, 1:03:48) Cake!: 4x (02:56, 03:03, 03:05, 04:32) Clever: 3x (45:19, 45:23, 1:09:44) Naked Single: 2x (1:05:54, 1:07:00) The Answer is: 2x (44:18, 45:43) Brilliant: 2x (1:10:23, 1:10:25) Shouting: 2x (02:52, 04:16) Obviously: 2x (23:40, 37:46) That's Huge: 2x (39:17, 39:21) Pencil Mark/mark: 2x (1:03:38, 1:04:23) Goodness: 1x (30:28) Beautiful: 1x (1:10:02) Break the Puzzle: 1x (25:33) Incredible: 1x (00:39) Gorgeous: 1x (1:05:16) By Sudoku: 1x (51:36) Surely: 1x (46:24) Whoopsie: 1x (1:06:41) Nature: 1x (09:00) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Twenty Six (10 mentions) Two (99 mentions) Green (45 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (19) - High (14) Even (9) - Odd (1) Unshaded (14) - Shaded (5) Lower (5) - Higher (3) Column (10) - Row (8) 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!

[@crab0traps0now]

I am finding the complicated unique rule set puzzles not as enjoyable as some of the simpler ones. To each his own I guess. Still extraordinary to see Simon solve these complicated things.

[@loppemaster]

Yeah, I usually didn't mind complicated rules as long as they're well defined which these "RP rules rarely are, but I tried to give it a go and sketched what seemed like an intuitive path. The path turned out to be correct but I didn't even know if it was valid given the rules

[@jonhansen9622]

Kind of the same, here! Some of these puzzles, I feel like I have an outside chance that I could complete it with enough time. This one, I don't think I could ever finish

[@colej.banning2419]

If you're familiar with the pencil puzzle types this puzzle is riffing off, the rules themselves aren't really all that difficult to understand.

[@jonhansen9622]

@@colej.banning2419 and if you aren't, you're facing a giant uphill battle

[@debrabowen4276]

Simon seems to have an infinite capacity for assimilating the logic of foreign worlds. Fascinating to watch him think!

[@dinane]

Near the end where you just keep hoping the lair has some extra rules is just a more elaborate way of trying to evade doing sudoku in a sudoku puzzle. 😂

[@AirinTov]

These videos are amazing instructional tools. I've been watching through the rule set, then seeing what I can do on my own, bouncing back and forth between puzzle and video when I get stuck, or as I see something to try out. Finished the puzzle in 75:29, 59 minutes into the video. I'm having a lot of fun learning to do these puzzles.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

25:39 for me. Really enjoyed it, although the ruleset itself was maybe a bit too challenging. The solve path was fantastic though, great puzzle!

[@MattYDdraig]

36:01 Lots going on to getting the german whisper tunnel to work, but the modular line practically solved itself once the first half was done. Really nicely out together both as puzzle and theme.

[@sly1024]

It was cute when Simon checked if the shaded or unshaded area could not have a checkerboard 2x2 😂

[@andrewnicholson3810]

really satisfying how the puzzle came together. I enioyed how much you progress you could make from local deductions with the whisper and cave rules before having to think about the larger size restrictions

[@anaayoung9142]

I started to watch you explain the rules and I am already lost. But I love the references! I will deffinitly enjoy watch the video later! Thank you 😊

[@AndreAy1975]

Solved it without any help from the video quickly. Great idea!

[@mstmar]

my solve went completely differently from simons i went backwards. the first thing i noticed is that you can only go into box 5 to go in/out of the lair. otherwise you'd get a checkerboard. because the paths can't loop (or it would isolate a wall), turning around becomes hard. you need a 2 straight paths along the edges with all wall between. r6c2 and r8c6 would therefore force you to either turn around right away or continue past it. if we go past r8c6 then we would either bump into the modular part or the lair too quickly, so we have to go up from the modular line. this isolates r8c8 from the whisper path, so it must be modular. from there it has to pass r8c6 to get to the lair. we know that r6c2 is a whisper, so so are r7c3 and r7c4, so the modular line can't take them not bump into itself, so it has to get to the lair going up. the whisper must then come down into the lair, and by parity of the whisper line (26 cells is opposite bishop color as the start), we know it must get into the lair from either r3c4, r4c5 or r3c6. r3c4 would either be too short of a whisper, r4c5 would either be too short or create a checkerboard, so the lair is in the top right corner connecting to r3c6. the modular line has to go straight up from r8c6 or either touch itself or the whisper which gives us the polarity of the whisper as r3c6 already sees 7 cells. from there my solve converges with simon's start

[@keysersoze1522]

Really enjoyable puzzle. Started in the top RH corner with the checkerboard and it flowed really nicely for me. Not often I do a puzzle in less than Simon's time, let alone half!

[@Cal-qu3dv]

Hi Simon. Some friends of mine and I from Zurich have been watching your stuff for years and we've got our finals tomorrow so i was wondering if you could wish us luck.

[@TheRubySpider]

You know the puzzle's a doozy when 36 minutes in Simon says "I feel like we're quite close to getting started."

[@RichSmith77]

I loved it. I thought the rules were long, but perfectly understandable. I was happy to rely on the fact there was no way to fit a path 26 cells long, before reaching the central lair, if the entrance passageway went along the bottom of the grid. It just had to wind right-to-left along those four connected cells at the start of rows 6 and 7, and then go up. There wasn't enough room at the bottom of the grid otherwise, baring in mind it couldn't touch r6c8, which was definitely part of the exit path. Then, since that path had to connect orthogonally to the central lair, the forced wall cell r5c2 had to escape to the edge of the grid via r6c4-5, below the central lair. I'm not sure what Simon's confusion was about the exit path possibly joining the entrance path via r8c5? Wouldn't that be branching, which the exit path couldn't do? (It also isolated wall cells from the edge of the grid.)

[@codahighland]

I had another way to identify that the modular line didn't go that far: It adds up to 45. If it went that far it would have too many cells in proximity to be able to satisfy all of the rules.

[@munkeysama]

…should we tell him the secret?

[@sinerged]

I might be on the minority here, judging from other comments, but I find this type of puzzle much more approachable than the more "standard" variant sudokus with a bunch of colorful lines and cages, which typically require ungodly amounts of pencil marks. Basically, I can typically solve most of Simon's videos up to 90 mins length, but any Mark video that goes over 40 mins is almost impossible for me.

[@Urutsini]

R7C5 has to be grey to join the centre greys to the edge and R5C8 has to be green to avoid a 2x2.

[@colej.banning2419]

I could tell a lot of cells were going to end up grey just by uniqueness, before Simon actually managed to prove them.

[@jackiekwan]

The rule book is gigantic.

[@srwapo]

56:02, had to look at the video after not seeing how to start after like 20 minutes of trial, kinda assumed it would have to go through the cells on the left side of the grid in rows 6 and 7, but didn't see how to start using that. Ended up I was thinking about the first cell of the tunnels when I had to think about the cells above it. It went really quickly once I got the tunnels into box 1.

[@aberrant322]

i know he takes his time to explain and justify placements of everything he does but it still feels good when i beat his time XD 43:00

[@RealCadde]

Have you ever heard Tolkien speak? All debates on how to pronounce Saruon and Smaug are null and void if you use English text-to-speech prompts as Tolkien himself speaks in a very heavy dialect. There's supposedly a recording somewhere where Tolkien reads from his book and pronounces Smaug. But i can't find it. I did however find him saying Sauron, and according to Tolkien it's "Sour-on" but when i listened to him he said "soor-onn" so all bets are off unless one can point at a recording of Tolkien himself saying it. And even then it's pretty pointless because i've heard him say Sauron a bunch of different ways now. He's not even consistent in his own pronunciation so how are we supposed to come to a definitive answer? Don't bother is what i am saying.

[@tomparkeresque]

I get that the story implies that the two passages are independent. But do any of the rules actually prohibit R7C3 and R7C4 from being different passages? I.e., one is whisper and one is modular? I never understood how Simon started with the assumption that everything in a large region of the bottom left were solely whisper lines.

[@lasagna312]

If the two paths were to meet, they would either have to cross each other (and the modular passage can't branch), or they would have to abut each other, which would form a 2x2

[@timdunkley9173]

@@lasagna312 But why can't a whisper deadend touch the modular line orthogonally?

[@lasagna312]

@@timdunkley9173 because that would count as the modular line branching which it's not allowed to do

[@suzannevenneker3597]

Hi Simon! My partner and I have watched your videos for years now! We usually watch just before going to bed (your voice is very soothing), we enjoy your puzzle-solving abilities so much. It’s my partner’s birthday on June 5th. If you happen to make a video on, before or after June 5th. Would it be possible to get a shout out for him? He doesn’t know I’m sending this :) He’s turning 35, his name is Roan and we’re from Haarlem, The Netherlands. Thanks so much! :D

[@EelcoWind]

49 minutes for me (could've been faster if I didn't watch news on my 2nd screen). I started at the escape, figured that it would be easier without the branching and the checkerboard-start was already there. Never ended up counting to 26, so could just ignore that clue. Things didn't get difficult, so if people are stuck I'd suggest to start at the escape exit :)

[@giladooshlon]

47 minutes for me. The ending was a bit of a head scratcher, but the rest of it was quite fun.

[@Yttria]

Fun solve! Finished in 61:45.

[@57thorns]

Hmm, 20 minutes, right, that was the teaser puzzle for the puzzle hunt. 🙂

[@stangerrits6712]

I hope this ruleset isn’t exemplary for the puzzles in this month’s hunt 😮 Quite a nice flow despite the ruleset though!

[@EkuuleusNorth]

wow, usually my best time is 2x at best and sometimes hours. Tis puzzle just jumped off the page. 29 minutes :)

[@EkuuleusNorth]

HAHAHA - I was doing the teaser puzzle. Well, I was shocked, but mystery solved.

[@roccov3614]

It's not as hard as the hour length video and Simon would suggest. I did it. I usually can't do puzzles that take Simon an hour.

[@jonathanbarz9898]

at 34:05 extending the three that way would not make the other cell a 4, it can still extend upwards

[@RichSmith77]

I don't think he's saying the other cell (r9c4) becomes a 4. He's saying if the path from r9c1 extended right along the bottom 3 cells, it would reach a 4th, making r9c1 a 4, and not a 3.

[@megwinberg936]

Bilbo Bobbins!!! 😂😂😂 @47:20

[@virtuous-sloth]

58:18 And we will not be losing our religion.

[@agoristtaxadvice]

The "dead end" rule KEEP messing me up!

[@unobic]

I miss good old "2-3 sentences rule" types of puzzles...

[@adipy8912]

One thing I hate about KZbin is that the time in the video is one second less than in thumbnail.

[@Ardalambdion]

Yes, and it took you more than that lost second to post this comment.

[@zachnichols8642]

1:06:46 nice

[@stephenbeck7222]

I didn’t think the rules were overly complicated to make it a bad video. Maybe Simon could have rewritten them for the video description to be in more formal logical phrasing and removed the lore.

[@Bokkie100k]

1:11:11 😮

[@empathogen75]

I'll watch the solve, but I really dislike the complexity of this rule set.

[@LednacekZ]

i would not call the rules challenging. i would go for incomprehensible.

[@theredstoneengineer6934]

35:50 for me

[@Ardalambdion]

I chose my youtube name as a tribute to Tolkien.

[@PeterZaitcev]

The rules are incomplete, once again. That's not the opposite side if a lair!

[@alejandrogabrielmonastra8795]

Lately too many puzzles with too many rules

[@WalshamUK]

Far too many rules.

[@handlesareanunfortunatefeature]

I'm not a fan of these kinds of puzzles where there are lots and lots of rules to keep track of. When there's this much is starts to feel like one of those fake video game "beat the game" videos where you have yo ground pound tennl times, die to the goomba 5 times, etc etc. Not elegant like a lot of the other puzzles you do and not really enjoyable IMO.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

What? I will not solve this and will not watch the video. The ruleset is monstruosly convolute.