The Cliffhanger Finale To Season 2: Sudoku Rat Run In The Fog

[@martysears]

Hello everyone, Thank you for all the love and support for Finkz and myself over the last 6 months. I’ve been planning this season 2 ending since the beginning of season 1. Up til, 2 weeks ago, all I knew was the title and the ending. I knew the puzzle would involve teleports and fog, and that I would end with a deadly pattern which can be resolved by find the location of a teleport hidden in the fog, and that this would reveal the narrative twist. (That is something I thought of all the way back in April.) The idea of setting it on Christmas Day and calling it Gifted, I only thought of in the first week of October. When I realised Christmas Day fell on a Wednesday, which is the usual day I release an episode, I knew I had to try and make that happen, which meant I would need to start releasing season 2 on October 23rd (10 weeks before Christmas Day.) However at that point I only had two episodes made for season 2 (Mirror maze and Connectedness), and although I had many of the other episodes planned in terms of concepts and constraints, I hadn’t started actually setting anything else yet. This left me with the daunting task of trying to set as many episodes as possible in just 3 weeks, to be comfortably able to start season 2 on October 23rd. Somehow, I managed to set 5 episodes in those 3 weeks, surpassing my goal of 4, leaving me with just three more to make - which really took the pressure off. So after I started releasing season 2, I only had to make Thermoregulation, Brainwaves, and Gifted. These ended up being three of the trickiest ones to set though. I had a few different ways I could go with Gifted. It was an unusual starting point for setting a puzzle. Usually I start from a concept and a ruleset. Here I was starting from a very particular ending. This made it quite hard to figure out the best combination of rules to use to yield the ending I wanted, the options were almost endless. I started setting a couple of the other ideas too and they were cool but turning out way too complicated. I might save some of those ideas for season 3. In the end I went with the simpler ‘consecutive’ constraint, coupled with the Christmas lights idea. The puzzle turned out being quite a bit more sudoku-heavy than I had aimed for, and with a shorter path than I would have liked, but I think this was ok for a change, even though it did give it a slightly different flavour from the standard Rat Run puzzle. All in all, I was happy to deliver the ending that I had been looking forward to for 8 months. Once again thank you to Chinstrap and VikingPrime for their invaluable testing and feedback, which really helped me to hone the puzzle and make certain things clearer. And big thanks again to Simon for continuing to feature every episode, which is something I never would have expected or dreamed of. It’s been so awesome seeing you follow the story of Finkz over the weeks, and getting to hear about other people’s experiences of solving the series too. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their festive break and has a great start to 2025 :) x

[@shaunelliott8583]

Thank you Marty, you are a gentleman and a scholar

[@davidenas]

@@martysears With what this puzzle is like, I thought you'd have set out to make a Rat Run puzzle with almost no walls, but I see you started from something completely different. I don't mind the short path on a single puzzle, it makes it play out differently from others, plus it still important path decisions until the end.

[@martysears]

@@davidenas I wanted the colour for this to be White, which seemed appropriate for christmas and also for the consecutive constraint (like white kropki dots), so I was aiming to have no walls at all. It was theoretically possible with this ruleset but I didn't quite pull it off, so I had the tinsel idea as a backup in case I needed a few walls that you could actually see. Maybe if I'd had another week to set this I would have managed it, but with this path layout I needed some walls near the cupcake to limit the options so that it didnt turn into too much of a case-checking headache. Trying to set a Rat Run puzzle with no walls just reminded me how lovely walls are to set with in usual episodes... they give me so much flexibility

[@MarcusTheDorkus]

Your rat runs are so immensely good. Whenever I see a new one pop up on CtC I'm always excited to try to solve it. Thank you for creating all of them!

[@Andizottel]

@@martysears Hey Marty! Have you thought about making a maze with glass / mirror (invisible) walls? (Probably yes, you seem to be bursting with ideas, lol) As opposed to the no walls idea, you would have more possibilities to narrow the path down, the walls would just have to be determined or found by the solver. Allow me to tell you one or two ideas for how this could be done: Put some Columns (round wall spots) in the grid - walls segments would have to be attached to other walls or to those columns (but columns wouldn't need to have walls next to them). Adjacent cells with the same parity must have a wall between them (this works well with a mirror maze themed puzzle). All your rat run puzzles are truly amazing, can't wait for season 3!

[@hummakavula3750]

Sudoku has foreshadowing now. I can't believe how far this has come in the last 5 years

[@darockdawson]

I will miss Finkz and her little weekly runs, but hopefully Marty Sears will soon come up with season 3 in 2025. Thank You Marty and Simon for those puzzles, they’re absolutely amazing !

[@JaymanOttawa]

The moment Simon thought he killed Finkz was PRICELESS! God bless you Simon... :)

[@martysears]

was looking forward to that bit

[@tinam5233]

While I was watching Simon solve the puzzle it was hailing where I live. When Finkz teleported and Simon thought she exploded the skies parted and it became sunny! It was like the universe was telling me she was going to be okay 😂😂😂

[@shadowpenguin3482]

1:19:44

[@simonsaysism]

Simon's genuine concern for Finkz' wellbeing is so heartwarming. During my solve, I made a deduction error, which happened to lead me to the correct digits anyway, but which revealed the cloned rat WAY earlier than intended. It's too bad that I spoiled the narrative for myself, but I'm glad I could experience the intended solve vicariously through this video!

[@TheBioRules]

Simon: puts a duplicate 5 in box 7. Also Simon: puts a duplicate 5 in column 9. Also also Simon: "How many times have I been made to look a fool in this puzzle? 5 times at least."

[@iabervon]

He got an early start on the duplicate theme. Just imagine if the teleporter malfunction had been in a 5. He'd have been sure it was his fault.

[@TheSeventhCellist]

Fast forward to season 7 where there will be 5 rats, 2 mice and a duck having to find their way through a hyper cube of 9 dimensions. I can't wait! Joke aside, thanks to Marty and Simon for those magnificent puzzles and their solving.

[@brachypelmasmith]

Some sort of wolf/sheep/grain cross the bridge puzzle inside 😂

[@TheKronaxx]

The duck needs to reach the pond. The path taken is on a German Whisperline. The rats need to get to the one cupcake (Each of them a different rule set). None of them can cross each others path. Go.

[@zewzit]

@@TheKronaxx Killer cages sum to the total on the top left. Normal math rules no longer apply

[@MaryVidal-pt8bx]

Thank you for the kind shoutout! Simon, Finkz, and a birthday message from my son. All I need is a bit of chocolate cake to complete an extraordinary day.

[@davidrattner9]

What a fabulous way to end the last Friday in 2024 with the conclusion of season 2 of the Rat Run series!! HUGE YOU THANK MARTY for all of these you have set for us. Just absolutely phenomenal from you and TONS OF RESPECT! Can't wait to see what adventures Finkz has in 2025.

[@martysears]

or 1975 :)

[@davidrattner9]

@martysears 😀😁

[@Andizottel]

@@martysears or 2025 - set by (hopefully) you in 2055 😆 What will they look like? The ones in 1985 will already be played in VR, with sound and animation and special effects and multiple grids of different sizes connected by staircases and of course exploding teleports...

[@koschkathedeathless]

This puzzle also scared me. I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought something happened to Finkz

[@gappy3234]

The concern shown in the video when the explosion was shown was glorious.

[@martysears]

💜

[@clericoflight476]

I can't help but be invested in the story of this little fictional sudoku rat!

[@WeaselOnaStick]

I teared up when Simon read the victory message and realized he didn't explode Finkz 🤣😭

[@PassionPopsicle]

@@WeaselOnaStick Right!? He was so relieved Finkz wasn't harmed

[@themiddleones11]

I felt the same while solving this one. Could this be how we get a wrogn puzzle?

[@thebishop4112]

What a lovely puzzle. I had a particularly interesting narrative experience as, due to my incompetence, I failed to consider that there might be something hidden in the fog in box 9 and so uncovered the plot twist early. I thought I'd killed Finkz due to a logical fallacy! On unwinding I then proceeded to complete the solve the "intended" way, all the time wondering whether the software had evolved to the point where putting incorrect digits in might reveal a different set of images in the grid. This sort of branching storyline might be entertaining in the future if the solver falls into a predictable trap... Many thanks to Marty for a thoroughly delightful puzzle, and to Simon for a thoroughly entertaining video.

[@maljamin]

Yes, same here! I had revealed the 1-telport first (just above the 2-teleport) then assumed I could expose 2 on the path, but got the 💥 and another teleport! Which to me suggested some sort of split-path weirdness (though at the time I thought it was some kind of punishment for a unfounded deduction).

[@total_dk6517]

Same! Including the explosion scare! I accidentally made the same assumption before having seen any of the teleports on the right side since the 1-teleport couldn't be a 5 and Finks "had to" come from the top (or a 1-teleport where the 5-teleport ended up being), making it a 1 going into a 2 either way.

[@scarletmanuka6170]

Same here! It's a pity the digits couldn't have been changed around so that we didn't reveal fog (especially such important fog) based on an incorrect assumption.

[@mikewyka5733]

I can only commend Marty for the excellent puzzle, but I must mildly scold as well. How DARE you make us think something bad happened to our friend Finkz! Also can't wait to guide two rats in the next season! How such panic turned into anticipation in the end is lovely, and I'm back to commending Marty in the end. Happy Holidays, all!

[@acadia2876]

Dynamic fog is both beautiful and stressful, when i put a digit in the grid and no fog gets cleared i always second self my answer.

[@TigerWalts]

And now we move into the evil Mirrorverse Finkz arc.

[@A_CC_K]

These videos are always amazing, the genius setting of Marty Sears and the brilliant solving by Simon. Pure bliss to watch.

[@Mx-Alba]

Suddenly I recalled that at a certain point in the series, Finkz only ate half of her cupcake... Was she saving the other half for the copy-rat?

[@SilvrSavior]

I can't help picturing that Marty will have 1 sudoku puzzle with 2 completely different answers depending on the path 1 of the Finkzs takes. The thing that would probably change the path would be the constraint on which digit has to be on the path next.

[@jonahfastre]

With 22 cels visited this may very well be the shortest path ever taken by Finkz.

[@martysears]

i think it is, yes

[@davidenas]

Rat Run 1 is shorter, but that's cheating because it's 6×6. It's definitely the shortest of the full sized ones, probably by far.

[@ubk-qm4rz]

@@davidenas But not officially. Results were voided.

[@levb258]

I love how the finished "maze" had only three bits of tinsel; it feels like a nice midpoint where an entirely mazeless maze appears entirely feasible but it still has a bit just to remind us of the origins of the maze.

[@sebastienlecoq3956]

Every time I watch those puzzle, I cannot not think to "flowers for Algernon"... And fearing for Finkz...

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 66:27 minutes. I suspected this twist several puzzle ago and I am so glad it is going to happen. I tried to create my own puzzle based on it using thermometer and renban rules where the rats would switch rulesets every time they crossed each other, but I am not good at setting so it just sits in my mind. I am so glad Marty is going in the direction of multiple rats. This puzzle was so fun to solve, especially the Christmas lights. I think my favorite part was the dual naked singles starting with 1 in r2c7, followed by the second naked single of 9 in r2c5. Those felt amazingly out of nowhere. The ending was tough for me, but seeing that teleport E's partner wasn't found yet, that made things super clear. Thank you Marty for all that you have done in this series. It is more appreciated than you may know. I look forward with great anticipation for season 3. Great Puzzle!

[@elainedenning]

@martysears, I have enjoyed this series so much! I can't wait for Series 3! Thank you for bringing so much entertainment to the sudoku world, and for introducing us to Finkz.

[@katiekawaii]

That last bit of teleporter logic was so satisfying to figure out. Thanks for making me feel like a genius, Marty! 😋 (And for the best series of puzzles I've ever played.) Season 3 can't start soon enough!

[@jeremyblack1929]

The only small setting issue I have is that if you don't realize a teleporter COULD be in the fog of a color you haven't found yet, then R6C9 will be (illogically, but correctly) guessed as a 2. I think this means a lot of people will get the plot twist early and in a wrong way.

[@GoldFinalStarmanDXJr]

I had this exact experience, then backed up and tried to solve it without that information. It did sour the experience slightly, but I still appreciate the puzzle.

[@janerobson2297]

Simon ignoring the yellow Christmas light I row 4 drove me mad for ages!

[@debbieauld1074]

Loved this! I was quite concerned about Finkz and just laughed when I read the note and laughed even more when Simon thought he killed her. This series is wonderful, Marty, thank you so much for creating these!

[@Jukka70]

can i just reiterate how brilliant these have been. I hope there's a season 3, Finkz always makes my day :)

[@TiagoMorbusSa]

Marty Sears is an absolute master!

[@brspies]

Fun puzzle, can't wait to see what's in store for season 3. What a cliffhanger, the possibilities are limitless!

[@QwDragon]

0:41:36, 0:42:05 There is another way. R7C3 is under the fog, so we can't know it doesn't have a teletort there. If it does, we leave box 7 by withiting that only cell. 0:43:38 This time 1-2 is correct because there is 2-3 and 3-2-3 repeacts 3 in a box. Other digit in the corner is impossible as can't get 4 anywhere (first column is odd, second doesn't have 4).

[@Pritchie45]

Step 1: 5 can't be in r9c5, it breaks the path Step 2: 3 can't be in r8c5, path breaks Continue with sudoku in box 9.

[@raduul26]

I had the same thought for that R7C3 cell, but going forward with the logic, I ended up breaking the puzzle in Box9, where the first row would have been a 248 (in any order). Following the logic in Box of even / odd, it would eventually break.

[@QwDragon]

@@Pritchie45 actually they are exactly there in a final solution...

[@MaierFlorian]

What a happy christmas ending for a perfect second season ♥

[@PerStarback]

I really loved the set-up where you started to wonder if the 24-3-24 sequence in box 9 would go to the 1 teleporter or the 5 teleporter; and then it was neither!

[@violetfactorial6806]

This is a wonderful series of puzzles, thanks so much to everyone involved especially the setter, Marty Sears - it's brilliant work and very entertaining.

[@giuliaconcialdi2758]

I'm so happy! To have my good wishes read on a Finks video is the best gift I could receive! And yes Simon, you said my name correctly! Me and Marco will enjoy this video ( fog sudokus are my favorite) and you'll hear from me for his birthday in April 🥰

[@ramipotato6053]

I love this series of puzzles; thank you Marty and Simon!

[@angelmendez-rivera351]

I like how Simon read about diagonal movement being limited to 2x2 regions, and then saying "I have no idea if I am allowed to do this," as if those exact rules he just read did not unambiguously give him the answer.

[@angelmendez-rivera351]

Kudos to Simon for exhausting all the sudoku he could towards the end of the puzzle before moving on to working on the path.

[@TFMurphy]

Just as a heads up, but Marty has updated Rat Run 20 on LMD, which changes the way the fog lifts at a certain part of the puzzle. If you've been following the comments, you can probably guess when and where, but I won't specify here since it's a spoiler if you haven't done the puzzle yet. KZbin doesn't like direct links, so I'll just list the SudokuPad page code instead: 13wfphkmhm Also, it's going to be a while until Phase 3 starts. So if you're looking for more Rat Run puzzles, there's a couple that have been posted to LMD by other setters, taking inspiration from the basic Rat Run ruleset: * Christmaze Lights by Phurba * Cat Fun by Scojo * Christmas Cat Run by phil_the *(Added 2 Jan)* I did go back further looking for any other similar puzzles, but while path-finding puzzles are relatively common, they usually lack the maze-like structure of Rat Run. Closest I could find is actually one of Marty's puzzles from earlier this year - Pseudo Cluedo - which has also been featured on this channel. Anyways, have fun puzzling, and let's look forward to Phase 3 sometime next year!

[@balanceseeker]

This was a case of multiple times going "I think I know the way this will go" followed by "Oh, no... I was a fool." Well played, Marty.

[@Mandragorn]

Leave it to marty to make sure we got our christmas 3 before the end of the year!

[@nickjayyoung7662]

The teleport malfunction has been hinted at in the "solve report", we just didn't know what was going to happen. Enjoyed the video. Edit: In fact, the "solve reports" on the Rat Runs with cells that doubled, mirrored, etc. a digit was also hinting at the twist in Finkz's story.

[@martysears]

😉

[@elric58]

That's why I left the orange and blue rows colored. That's the only thing that held Simon up at the end.

[@ShakalDraconis]

And now Simon knows why the experiment results mentioned that the teleporters have been overheating and malfunctioning. Foooooreshadowing...

[@craigyoung8008]

Simon pointing out how easy it is to make a mistake is spot on. I was quick to jump on the puzzle on Christmas day when it was published on LMD. A few people had already solved it, but there was a problem with the first digit not clearing fog from r4c1. At that stage in the puzzle, you can deduce that r4c1 is a dead end. But if it's still covered in fog, you have no way of knowing that it's not a teleport. Which means there is insufficient information to progress without guessing. This suggests that a few of the people who solved it might have mistakenly failed to consider the possibility that r4c1 is a teleporter, getting the right answer for the wrong reasons. Fortunately, when I retried the puzzle later, the problem had been solved, and I was quick to notice the additional fog clearance.

[@RichSmith77]

Someone else commented below that Simon overlooked the possibility of a teleporter 3 in r7c3 at 42:10. There doesn't seem to be a particularly clean logical path to eliminate this possibility. Only by bifurcating. Your comment has me wondering whether this is a similar situation as r4c1, and the puzzle would have been improved had r7c3 had its fog cleared earlier, to show there was no teleporter in that cell?

[@craigyoung8008]

@@RichSmith77 I have figured out a way to resolve it without bifurcating. I've added an explanation under that thread. It requires a bit more sudoku, and even some renban style thinking. Experimenting with fog reveals also makes me suspect that the delayed reveal of r7c3 was a deliberate choice by Marty. However, fog puzzles have got me thinking about the feasibility of detecting "flawed" puzzles. With non-fog puzzles, all you need to do is demonstrate multiple solutions that still adhere to the constraints. However, with a fog puzzle, it might not have multiple solutions once all fog is revealed. But that doesn't guarantee that faulty deductions aren't required to actually complete the puzzle due to some constraints being currently hidden. The only reason I'm confident that r4c1 needs to be revealed by the first digit for a "sound" puzzle, is because there really isn't much going on at that point. By contrast, if I hadn't found a way to resolve the location of 3 in box 7, I still wouldn't be certain that there isn't a way that I just failed to find.

[@RichSmith77]

​@@craigyoung8008Thanks for this. Interestingly, someone commented above that the puzzle on LMD has now been updated so that it does remove the fog from r7c3 once you enter the four digits on the black dots down there.

[@davidblake6889]

Great fun! I wondered how long it would take to remember the Christmas lights stopping the path going to r4c7. Not too long really. Looking forward to two Finkz's in the next set of puzzles. Thank you to Marty and Simon for some great entertainment. I did manage a couple of the easier puzzles early on, but these are a bit too crunchy for me. Simon's reaction when he thought he had killed Finkz was priceless!

[@mitsuki9693]

What a wonderful way to end 2024! I can't wait to see what Finkz and her new friend do next.

[@stevenbetts666v2]

I had fun solving this on Christmas morning!

[@jenniferlenfestey5335]

Great puzzle Marty, my Finkz, emerging from teleporter 2, ran straight to teleporter 1 in box 3 and attempted to enter teleporter 2 backwards. I haven’t seen him since.

[@annikamartenson866]

The West Wing - best series ever!! Now I have to watch it all over again ❤

[@Timlagor]

I don't think I could bear to given what's happened in USA politics since

[@slamcatX2]

@timlagor, you are so right. Breaks my heart. Thank goodness we have Marty and Finkz and Simon to shine some light in the darkness

[@maljamin]

I think I see how the second Finkz emerged! From the 3-teleport exit, two paths are possible. If we imagine a quantum Fink taking both paths... and if you imagine simultaneous paths, you can almost see the collision in the 2-teleport, that might force both to exit on the same end, despite one entering there (from the 1-teleport)! To the only un-taken path digit, the 3 in box 9. Is this a mechanic we can expect to see blossoming in the future with tandem/clone Finkzes??

[@maljamin]

Plot twist, IMO, the first Finkz to reach the cupcake was the one that took the 1-tele, for (entirely invented) rules and reasons about how quantum Finkzes might work that could see them colliding in the first place.

[@cloudbringer104]

I need this today. I can't believe I forgot it is Friday. This is my evening sorted out. Crossword after this.

[@uptoyouization]

I have to admit, I was very worried about Finkz potentially being hurt. What a plot twist! Fridays are my favorite day of CTC uploads, first crosswords, than Rat run. I'll definitely miss the series, I can't wait for Rat Run vol. 3

[@Antiknight]

This was a really cool puzzle that I solved a couple of days ago! I really enjoyed this one in the Rat Run series.

[@AaronPriceColby]

I was terrified Finkz was zapped and I was going to have to curse the creator for taking Finkz away from us on Christmas... glad the image was not what it appeared to be.

[@martysears]

I wouldn't do it to you Aaron, not at Christmas time

[@CauchyIntegralFormula]

50m06s. What a remarkable final deduction! I was trying to figure out which of three paths Finkz was going to take, only to discover that it was none of them!

[@kosumi68]

Now that was exciting! Especially the ending. Forgot about the light rules so it took forever to disambiguate the last teleport, but it was worth the wait. Looking forward to season 3 already. :-)

[@eddieharwood7788]

What a fitting end to the series - quite different and I thought quite a bit easier than one or two of the recent ones. It tookl me a while to start as I did not appreciate that the corner decorations were the lights mentioned in te rules. I then forgot about it when it came to placing the 4 in box 5, only realising I'd placed it wrongly when I finished to a wrong result so I had to rewind to there and fihish again. Really good fun the whole series.

[@roccov3614]

I'm also expecting 2 rats next season. Obviously, the tester would want to be able to differentiate between the 2 rats so I'm expecting them to be wearing 2 different colored ribbons or something.

[@nylimb8403]

At 31:05 Simon remarked on the hesitation before the fog cleared. I hadn't noticed that when I solved the puzzle, but it turns out that you need to put the correct digits in all 4 squares r89c67 to make it clear. The order doesn't matter; the fog always clears after entering the 4th digit.

[@Andizottel]

Oh, interesting - so you can make even more complicated stuff with the dynamic fog than I thought - neat!

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

17:14 for me. What a fantastic end to season 2!! Can't wait for the series to be back!

[@JordanG_3031]

I usually don’t attempt videos that take Simon 1+ hours to solve as they are usually too difficult. But this was worth the risk and I was able to solve it. Maybe I didn’t fully logic everything but I got it all right in just over an hour as well. Thank you and great puzzle+solve

[@constanza1648]

This sudoku seems to have a 5 overdose today!

[@bertbergers9171]

Finished in 87:29 after having to rediscover different logic to really follow the solve path. I made some assumptions too fast and found a teleport that i only proved to be there after colouring the final deadly pattern. Only then did i allow myself to use the knowledge of that teleport being there. Really difficult ending to this one, or a lack of imagination on my side.?? It was a marvellous puzzle up to there, so thank you Marty and Simon!

[@RoukoThyuan]

"Fog is all alround me" sounds like a video title

[@danbanks9325]

😱 two Finkz this is going to be interesting. Think Marty is playing with Simon mind 😂😂

[@DaleKingProfile]

My theory is that next season will have schroedinger rats. My theory is that the teleporters are spawning parallel universes so while one Finks took the discovered path another one went north from 3 teleporter in box 6 to the 1 teleporter and then to the 2 teleporter on box 9 while the other Finks was teleporting to the same space overloading the teleporter.

[@andersedgren1003]

As usual, just wonderful! 86 mins.

[@Paul-cn3ij]

Think I'm finally getting into the head of Marty, which is both a pleasure and a worry! I've learnt that if there's only one logical deduction on a number, enter it and ignore the fact you may have to rethink the path. This one flowed beautifully for me. 26:28 minutes of Saturday morning joy.

[@martysears]

wow thats an impressive time. welcome in to my head :)

[@Paul-cn3ij]

@@martysears Last week was an hour and a half plus a bit so it's more a broken clock scenario this week! ;)

[@mattconco]

I have to admit I got quite excited when the first green 5 got revealed and I could immediately see where the other one was 😂

[@martysears]

i'm happy about that. the whole idea of this puzzle was looking for teleporters in the fog :)

[@PurajitMalalur]

Woah interesting! Is dynamic fog unbounded in capability? I filled in the 6 teleport first, and it didn't reveal anything, and the bottom fog opened up only when I filled in the 2 in box 1. And after some experimenting, it looks like it expects that entire chain to be filled before revealing the fog - removing any digit there brings back the fog.

[@martysears]

thats right, the setter can tell a fog cell to only reveal when a specific set of cells are all filled correctly, regardless of the order they are filled in

[@PurajitMalalur]

@martysears hey thanks for the reply! The rat sudokus have been incredible, and it even got a couple friends who previously didn't care for the alt-sudokus into it!

[@martysears]

@@PurajitMalalur ah thats lovely to hear. Nice to bring new people in to this crazy world

[@roccov3614]

43:42 Oh Simon, you try so hard not to say nonsense but sometimes you still do. Have you been into the Christmas wine? TIP: Counting in reverse, a 1 does follow after a 3,2. Hope you have been enjoying the holiday festivities.

[@RichSmith77]

I don't think he doubted 1 could follow 2. He just thought there could be an alternative option in r8c3. (You know, that other digit consecutive to 2 that's not 1 or 3 🙂).

[@elizabethgrosvenor153]

Finkzy!!! 😱 Also, the ending of Series 2 of Young Sheldon was incredible, worthy of being a whole-show finale (although I'm glad there was still more of it)

[@Nick-jq5nl]

There was some astounding serendipity with this puzzle, which I hope someone else finds as amusing as I did. I kid you not: my final solve time for this puzzle was precisely 25:25 (I very well might have had some "accidental guesses", but that was the solve time). I had to FF to the end of Simon's video to confirm that this wasn't just a holiday surprise with the software, but I think it was my actual time, lol.

[@rikki-isabella]

Ive been enjoying Marty Sears Ratrun series

[@atBiarne]

Did the clone-Finkz maybe come from some marty-maze-multiverse, taking it's own path up from the 3-teleport? Up through the '2' and then into the 1-teleport, then down into the 2-teleport? Clashing with Finkz-original? I'm not sure about the reveal order when solving in different ways. But sure feels like Marty-madness to me!

[@Sternentier]

This puzzle did a good job of not making the logical path too forced, which is sometimes a problem with fog of war puzzles for me. I wish you guys would do more traditional fog of war puzzles, though. For some reason, I find them more fun to watch and solve.

[@compiling]

Solved in 39:41. I accidentally spoiled the twist for myself by forgetting about the possibility of a teleporter in the fog for how to get into box 9, then backtracked to solve that bit properly. Pretty funny way of setting a fog puzzle where you get told you're right about that digit, but for the wrong reason.

[@TheBioRules]

Same, I'd seen the results before I was meant to

[@RichSmith77]

Same here. And when it revealed the teleporter with the explosion, I wasn't sure if that meant that the teleporter was a non-functioning teleporter, that Finkz could have traversed while in box 9 without being teleported out of box 9. I eventually decided that would be an unreasonable implementation of the teleporter rule, as defined in the rules, so I ignored the explosion and continued as if I hadn't seen it. It did feel like I'd spoiled the ending for myself a little though. Pity that the 1 in box 6 was a correct digit

[@Coyotek4]

39:35 (I found no issues regarding hard-to-find digits; just had to remind myself that each teleporter had a match) ... What a crazy end to Season 2, and what a set-up to the future! Just a wonderful collection ... Season 3 can't come soon enough for me!

[@johncj75]

Why couldn't there have been a 3 in a teleporter under the fog in r7c3?

[@abcrtzyn]

After revealing something way too early the first time I solved it, I solved it again staying fully aware of teleporters under the fog. I tried placing a three there and eventually had a contradiction in box 9. I’m sure Simon would consider it bifurcation but I couldn’t find any other way to figure it out.

[@compiling]

I didn't consider that possibility either. Looking back, the 3 is restricted in box 7 to the upper right and lower left corners, which solves some more squares to reveal the cupcake. Then box 9 needs a 3 in the top row to get between the fog and the cupcake which resolves the 3 in box 7.

[@r.b.4009]

Yeah, I also don't understand why it couldnt have been a 3-teleporter in r7c3??

[@renedekker9806]

Simon indeed missed it, but at that point in the solve, you can deduce that r7c6 is a one. Placing that reveals the cupcake in box 9. Then placing a 3 in r7c3 makes the path in box 9 impossible. At least that how I did it, there might be a simpler way.

[@alexsmart2612]

Good sir, I regret to inform you that you are in fact the Grinch.

[@MarcusTheDorkus]

That puzzle was easier than I thought it would be... right up until the final disambiguation. I spent far too long not seeing the other possible path. At least 1/4 of my total time was spent on that, possibly more!

[@Ardalambdion]

Can someone give Finkz some fitting special goggles so she can navigate any fog and mist?

[@piarittersporn]

Brilliant rat run. R7C9 was very irritating for me, but there was no other way to the cake. So it must be the true path.

[@IntegralHamster]

Think Simon got lucky with 3 in cage 7. He said that escaping from it to cage 5 was impossible, but column 3 row 7 could have been a teleport instead, it was still in the fog. The correct logic is that there has to be a teleport 3 in box 7, which means column 2 row 7 is a 5.

[@aartbluestoke3352]

todays mathematical nugget of wisdom : 1 is not even.

[@ronjohnson6916]

Nice recoveries from bad entries.

[@braydenboudreau2118]

That bottom orange Christmas light really slowed down Simon at the end. I wonder if it would have helped disambiguate the path after leaving the 3 teleport

[@HunterJE]

!!spoilers!! ... ... YESSS been waiting for something like this since the first mentions of the teleporters misbehaving

[@leickrobinson5186]

I love solving this puzzle series! Can’t wait until Season 3! (39:40 for me) 😄

[@TurquoizeGoldscraper]

34:10 for me - I got stuck figuring out how Finkz was supposed to get to the cupcake area, if she came from R6C9 which would be a one, or R8C9 which would be a 5. Nice going hiding the teleporter (and another surprise) in R7C9.

[@markp7262]

56:12 finish. Enjoy your well-deserved rest, Finkz and Finkz. I am curious to see if you will both be joining us for next season. It would certainly make for an interesting twist!

[@fiartruck0125]

Oddly enough I made two logical blunders while filling in this puzzle, in both cases I successfully cleared fog with a correct digit, and in both cases what was revealed immediately unmasked my mistake! No choice but to desperately click undo, forget what I've seen, and get back on track. The first mistake was actually on the exploding portal. (I had eliminated it down to either a 2 or a 4 and reasoned it couldn't be a 4 because it wouldn't have a valid through path: I'd forgotten it could be a teleport!) I felt like the explosion was my fault for "cheating" and clearing some fog prematurely.

[@martysears]

I think if r7c9 wasn’t a teleport then it would have a valid through path as either a 2 or a 4. If it was a 4 you could use the green 5 teleport. I kind of set it up like that on purpose so that both 2 and 4 appear to work until you realise it must contain the other purple teleport… thanks for solving, hope the little blunders didn’t detract too much from the fun

[@fiartruck0125]

@martysears that's trueI That whole column was still in fog for me and, like I said, I briefly forgot the teleporters were a thing. So I was assuming the path had to go up into box six where the 5 and 3 were out of reach: "must be a 2!" (Which it was, but not for that reason.)

[@grantfraser5430]

​@@martysears Yep, that part was maddening because I was so fixated on the 1 or 5 teleporter, both having a viable path, that I completely forgot about the possibility of going down from the 3 teleporter to get to the purple one. Also, the suspense is the best part of this series. I'm dying to ask questions about what's coming up but at the same time I want to let my imagination run amok with what you might have planned. I do hope you keep CtC apprised of the date you expect to start releasing Phase 3. I look forward to setting aside Friday evenings again.

[@XavierBASTIEN-j8w]

Prepare yourself for some schrödinger cells on next season, Simon ^^

[@charlesh.1643]

you could have gotten the 7 in col 3 row 4 more quickly by realizing you were on an odd square (2 yellow lights pointing to the square with 7,8 on it.) But in the end, you got there.

[@aamocryp]

I mean the oddness of a square is only determined by the path goIng into it, so seeing if the path takes that square in the first place is key here

[@RichSmith77]

​@@aamocrypYes. It could have been an 8 if the path didn't visit that square. You have to work out the path is forced through r4c3 first, which is what Simon did.

[@nicocost33]

48.20 for me. Love it. Will we soon have two mice in the grid?

[@Unbounded7]

I accidently cheated by forgetting about the possibility of teleports and just assuming a 2 was there only to see the explosion symbol haha brilliant to use the fact that it is correct to scold me

[@wordclover]

Me2. It made me wonder a) whether I had killed Finkz b) how Sven had coded wrong digits to clear fog and revealing a different graphic. After that, I was more careful, and managed to finish in 58:10. Loved the deductions based on locating matching teleports.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

I suspect Finzk herself re-wired that teleport precisely in order to create for herself what she'd asked for at the end of the last episode. Anybody else get that idea?

[@jamesdonnelly9217]

I thought it was a deadly pattern for Finkz, but it resolved.

[@S_Black]

Maybe the second rat really turns out to be her evil twin

[@iGexogen]

So I've came up to same solution, but different path. I've assumed that explosion means broken teleport (acts like regular cell) and instead of moving from red 3 to violet 2, I've moved straight up to to yellow 1 and from yellow 1 through broken teleport to cupcake. It seems like also correct path, it doesn't violate chrismas lights and all it needs is broken teleport to be passable through.