The Fourth Killer

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
Probably the most recommended sudoku of recent months is Marty Sears' The Fourth Killer - a Fog Of War puzzle with a sense of humour and as much wit as you can shake a stick at.
Play the puzzle at the link below:
sudokupad.app/26w1k7rwci
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Four yellow killer cages are hiding in the fog. Enter correct digits to clear the nearby fog. No guessing is necessary (or allowed!) Digits in a killer cage sum to the small number in the top left corner of that cage. Digits CAN repeat within a cage. In fact, a digit in a cage indicates exactly how many times that digit appears in that cage. Eg a 5 in a cage means that there are five 5s in that cage. Grey lines are bulbless thermometers ie Digits along a grey line must be arranged in ascending order, from one end to the other. Cells separated by a white dot must contain consecutive digits.
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▶ Contents Of This Video ◀
0:00 Theme Music & Puzzle Introduction
1:35 Chants of Sennaar: Streaming TONIGHT at 10pm UK time
2:20 New Fog-Of-War Kickstarter TODAY Perhaps?!
3:20 Happy Birthdays
5:20 Rules
7:45 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking
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[@martysears]

Thanks for this feature, I was delighted that you picked this one, and lovely to hear it was recommended so many times. The reason I wanted to see Simon solve this was obviously to see how he got on with 'that bit' at the end. Simon, I was very much hoping that you wouldn't remember about the 4th cage in advance of getting to that 'brick wall' where you can't go any further without having that realisation. Your getting stuck for a couple of minutes, and subsequent reaction was absolutely PERFECT... exactly what I hoped for, I was very pleased and had a little giggle to myself. I had the idea for this puzzle a little while ago, and I was originally going to call it 'Little and Large', and have just two cages. One would have been the 212 break-in cage, and the other would have been a megacage of the kind we see in the final puzzle. I made a first version of this and it had a nice flow to it, but for some reason I thought the I could do something even better. I really liked the concept and didn't want to waste it with a sub-par execution. The other day I started it again from scratch, keeping the same break-in, but I thought I would add a 3rd medium sized cage. I thought this would make a nice transition between little and large... a smoother 'story' to the puzzle, making it gradually get harder as you learn new things about how this ruleset works. I knew I wanted a cage that would exploit the Pythagaros trick that 5x5 is the same as (4x4) + (3x3)... this meant that the first thought to most people would be that the 29 cage would have five 5s and two 2s. But it's quite easy to realise that that's impossible, and there is a 2nd way :) I was also glad about the fact that the megacage total (131) remains mysterious for a bit, but is actually needed when you find it (to realise that 2s and 4s must also go in the cage, but not 3s.) As I was making this 2nd version, it was coming along quite nicely, and then I thought... 'I could stick a 1 cage in for a laugh.' This was just going to be a silly joke, where you find a 1 cage under the fog that serves no purpose at all. It took me quite a while to fiddle around with the configuration of the megacage to get it to actually join up and correctly contain all the correct number of each digit. It was so satisfying when I finally managed that. So I started doing a solve to see how far I would get, and added in a few white dots to help things along when I got stuck and couldn't progress. The silly 1 cage was originally up in R1C2. But then as I tried solving it and got right near the end, I had that 1-9 pair left at the end of row 4. And just a few bits of fog remaining. And then I realised, I could put the cage under there instead and actually make it necessary to realise it's there in advance in order to disambiguate, by specifying in the rules that there are 4 cages. As soon as I thought of that, I HAD to make it happen. But it was tricky. Even after entering the 1 into the 1 cage, and clearing that last bit of fog, I still had a deadly pattern left at the end resulting in an unsolvable puzzle. Anywhere I placed a white dot in order to disambiguate it, it unfortunately meant that that disambiguation could happen even before needing to enter the 1 into r4c9, meaning that the 1 cage would be found accidentally, effectively ruining that nice twist. What I needed was to add a clue that would let the deadly pattern remain ambiguous before finding the 1 cage, so that the last cell of fog still remained, but then have it able to disambiguate immediately after that. I tried regular thermos, but even they ruined the twist. Knowing the direction of the thermo was too much information. Eventually I hit on using the bulbless thermo idea, which had the perfect property of remaining absolutely useless whilst you still don't know if the Southern end is a 1 or 9, but once you do, it is powerful enough to finish everything off. Hope you found that little insight into how I set it interesting. If you didn't then I'm guessing you wouldn't still be reading this bit :) Really happy with the finished product and absolutely delighted that people are enjoying it. And Simon, I loved the compliment at the beginning about my puzzles being interesting regardless of whether they're easy or hard, as that is always my exact intention. I never focus on making the hardest puzzles possible, I just try and make it the sort of puzzle I would have fun solving myself, and however difficult it turns out is kind of incidental. Thanks again for a brilliant solve, and for this wonderful channel and community ♥

[@Jodawo]

It was brilliant. Making the solve path force you into that realization. As a setter I also try to put clues in the title. To create a puzzle like that, you have to be on guard with those who are able to circumvent your intended path. I have seen many times where Simon is able to totally ignore the low hanging fruit and be able to pick it up in a different way. That's what makes it difficult to make sure all the roads end up in the same place. I also want to commend you on the start of the puzzle. To make the logic force a cage you can't even see using the geometry of what is seen and unseen.

[@puritan7473]

Thank you soo much for such a wonderful puzzle, I loved the flow. I am about to watch Simon and judging from your comment Simon wasn't looking for the 4th cage. I was looking for it but imho it made it even better when I saw what and where it had to be! I loved that part and it made me laugh out loud. Thank you for taking the time and effort to find that, it was very enjoyable throughout. p.s. loved the break in too. Edit...OK, Simon getting stuck for a minute was hillarious!

[@Cthulhus_Mum]

I was actually thinking that this looked like good video game design lol - a simple example as a break-in, then a more complex one to cut your teeth, then the huge one and finally a twist. A bit like how good computer games guide you through learning their mechanics, yes? Anyway, good job 😊👍

[@brotherandy]

I somehow solved that thermo without realizing the sneaky 1 cage was there. Can't remember how now. EDIT: It's looks like it was actually mistakenly thinking 6 couldn't go on the end of the thermo in R3C8

[@Hakucho64]

I had the same stickage and subsequent forehead slapping! Very giggle-worthy indeed.

[@SpitfireDBD]

waiting for the moment simon realises the sneaky 1 cage at the end. i dont know how Marty had done it but having the last fog cell being the 1 cage is absolutely genius

[@studgerbil9081]

as soon as we saw the title "The Fourth Killer", we knew exactly where that 1 went.

[@SpitfireDBD]

@studgerbil9081 it took me a minute but I was like "wouldn't it be funny if the last cage is a 1" and guessed it but worked it logically after, but I was creasing myself when it worked

[@mhelvens]

I wasn't even thinking in terms of the title, and was just confused about why there were only 3 cages, though the rules specified 4. 😂 It took me a moment to conclude that if it wasn't a mistake in the rules, it would have to go into the last two fog cells, and then it clicked. Fantastic!

[@itap8880]

I started expecting a 1-cell cage when I realized I have 2 small fully visible cages and 1 covering almost half the board.

[@RachelTension]

That final clue is one of the cruelest I've ever seen on the channel, great work

[@joethornton5321]

Came here to say that. Ended up spending 15 mins just staring at the puzzle and back-tracking my logic. Would've finished in ~20 mins. Good puzzle though.

[@danielszanto2955]

I got lucky with it, halfway through building the giant cage I started wondering where the fourth one can go at all and was actively looking for it. And was betting myself whether Simon will realize it or find a completely bonkers detour around it.

[@TrailsAnemone]

I thought that was such a beautiful conclusion to the puzzle, it worked out perfectly for me!

[@pelahnar4]

I loved it so much, though I probably wouldn't have found it without the video title being a hint

[@bobbyjohn7225]

It also is the name of the puzzle

[@Jodawo]

The "fourth" cage in this puzzle is definitely genius. Sometimes when you get stuck you have to reread the rules, carefully. This was a very good puzzle and I think Simon did a great job solving it. There were times where cleaning up pencil marks was neglected but not as much as we are used to seeing. This puzzle had to be an absolute bear set and test. To make the path purposely make it necessary to understand the rules to be able to solve it is absolutely genius.

[@_aullik]

The 4th cage was a troll. I don't get why you have to reread the rules there, or i did something very much wrong / not the intended way. EDIT: After checking the video... yep, i skipped the last part because i had a typo in my pencil marking.... what a shame.

[@Aoderic]

Had to read the rules 3 times more to catch the clue, and I was just 🤦‍♂

[@michaelbartmann7957]

I suspect you wouldn’t have to use the title as a hint. There was logic missed by Simon which forced a six on the line.

[@mentalcasanova6420]

​@@michaelbartmann7957the puzzle was explicitly designed for that solve path, so it is highly likely you are mistaken

[@_aullik]

@@michaelbartmann7957 wait what logic? Cause when i do this the wrong way round the sudoku part is still fine.

[@SpyrosSolda]

I think the sudoku pad dev should add a "lock fog" option, so you can put real big numbers to test some thoughts without the fear of revealing hidden cells

[@HunterJE]

I feel like in the early fog days when they weren't in Sven's software one used a platform that did have that option and it totally messed with a solve because Simon forgot he'd toggled the lock and thought he broke the puzzle

[@aberrant322]

Bifurcation is strictly prohibited!

[@jasond4084]

@@aberrant322 I contend coloring is bifurcation taken to the extreme. That being said, I bifurcate the hell out of some puzzles 😂

[@SirJefferE]

​@@jasond4084I disagree, but only because I'm lying to myself. I'd never bifurcate, but I sure do love colouring.

[@stephenbeck7222]

@@aberrant322it’s not really bifurcation in a Fog puzzle because you’re not seeing the new clues that would pop up, just doing a mental exercise

[@patrickgass787]

Marty Sears has been completely unstoppable lately. If there is such a thing as a sudoku-setting Hall of Fame, Marty should have already been inducted.

[@laurenmortimer8558]

I’m Lauren of the birthday shout out! I’d never done a fog of war sudoku before and I loved it. A not impressive time of 92 minutes… I can partially blame the kids not being in bed yet but mostly that I forgot about the 4th cage and then forgot about one of the white dots! Thank you for the shout out and for the enjoyable puzzle 😊 I’m off to find some more fog of war ones!

[@Fun_maths]

This puzzle was honestly brilliant, the amount of "aha!" moments was absolutely incredible.

[@azrobbins01]

I absolutely LOVE these Fog of War puzzles! What a time to be alive!

[@Rubrickety]

Something I just noticed for the first time: even in a Fog of War puzzle, Simon still regularly mistypes a "big" digit then corrects it - _except_ when it's adjacent to fog. Somehow he manages to suppress this tendency near fog, despite also never seeming to notice whether a digit will clear fog or not until _after_ he enters it. 🤯

[@DuncanBooth]

I'd like to see a short delay before the fog is revealed (like the pause before the 3 in a corner explodes). That would give people a chance to correct accidentally hitting the wrong key and could also be used to penalise anyone attempting to guess if the delay doubled in length each time you got a digit wrong (only if the timeout expires with the wrong digit, if you change it within the timeout it should just restart and not increase).

[@mebutoldernow]

I just finished this a few minutes ago - now I can watch Simon probably not make the same blunder like me in the end :)

[@mebutoldernow]

I had to sleep over it - and Simon found it in one minute :)

[@soadandedge]

This is by far the best Fog of War sudoku I've ever solved or seen. The way it's being solved from start to the finish, where you have all cells revealed except that one, that's just out of this world. Fortunately for me, as soon as I realized that 131 cage is going to be enormous I was wondering where can the fourth cage even fit. Had a feeling it's going to be a 1 cage and that made the finish even more joyful. Amazing puzzle, kudos to Marty.

[@martysears]

thanks for this lovely comment! Really happy you enjoyed it as much as I did making it

[@demonduck132]

I figured out the size of the third cage when I finished the second cage. I wondered where the top left corner was of the pieces of cage in box 5.

[@SeriousPigi]

The endless variety of beatiful puzzles created in sudoku realm never ceases to amaze me, congratulations to Marty Sears for this gem and, of course, to CtC for spreading the gospel!

[@RichSmith77]

@16:45 I'd be interested to know how Simon thinks a two cell bulbless thermometer could possibly tell him anything. 😂 That ending with, a fourth cage being necessary, was brilliant. It was just as I got to the deadly pattern that I thought, "wait a second, weren't there supposed to be four killer cages... don't I just have three!? ... Oh, wow, that's clever!" 🙂 Also, when the new cage in r4c6 was revealed, and it didn't have a cage total in it, it was worth pondering where it's top-left cell, with a cage total, could possibly be. It had to loop around the bottom, go up the left, and reach row 3 in box 1!

[@Daiwie44]

That's so interesting! I just managed to fill in the 2nd cage by itself and got the remainder of 1,5,6, and 7. (8 and 9 being impossible because box 2 and 3 were unreachable) Never thought to think of the cage total!

[@RichSmith77]

@@Daiwie44 As Simon, and yourself, found, it turned out to be an unnecessary step. I thought it might end up being important, that it had to reach a cell that could become its "top left-most" cell. (I also see now it didn't have to reach the third row. The fourth row to the left of r4c6 was all that was required for the cage total.)

[@tiemen9095]

When I saw the r4c6 cell I immediately thought something was wrong because there was no cell that could be the top-left of that cage. Until I saw where it was, and went: ooohhhhh. Then I saw the 1567 and realized I needed the 7! I also realized quickly that it was not going to be a 2-cell bulbless thermo, taking 9 away as a possibility for r3c9.

[@MaritWatery]

The suspense until Simon realizes that he has only found 3 cages so far @42:00 is killing me... it's a true killer cage :D loved every second of the solve!

[@enchanter1520]

28:04 for me. I am glad I gave this puzzle a try, that ending was magnificent when I was wondering how to resolve final pairs and the realization hit.

[@SSGranor]

At around 15:45, Simon makes an error by not considering the possibility that 4 is in r3c2 with 2 in r3c3 and a 34 triple in r45c3. (This can't be argued against by uniqueness because the same white dot that lets you clear fog to disprove this would also break the uniqueness problem.)

[@visitor017]

Noticed the same - I was following along and thought of this scenario first. Can someone explain why this doesn’t work and why Simon was sure of that 4 being in r3c3?

[@SSGranor]

@@visitor017 Given the information Simon had at the time, it _does_ work. The way to disprove it is by resolving the white dot, which reveals enough fog to see that r3c2 isn't in the cage.

[@visitor017]

@@SSGranorI see - correct me if I’m wrong, but from the information available we can see that r3c4 is either 2,3,4,5 (from r4c4), but it’s not 2,3,4 because of box 2. This leaves only a 5 in r3c4, which clears the fog and forces the 4 across the white dot!

[@SSGranor]

@@visitor017 Exactly my point. Until the fog is cleared, placing the 4 is unjustified; and, working out that the white dot forces a 5 is what clears the fog.

[@mattmayoh9680]

@@visitor017 It's a mistake, he didn't rule 2 out of r3c3. The logical deduction there is that r4c4 is 4, because 3 breaks the white dot. Alternatively, thinking about the cage shape proves that the fourth 4 must be in r3 of box 1, which resolves the 34 pair in box 2 and makes the white dot logic more obvious.

[@deathpigeon2]

The fucking one cage is the funniest Sudoku joke we've seen in ages.

[@mozza1985]

This is one of the first over 30 minute solves in the channel which I’ve actually managed to solve myself. Managed to solve it in 40mins and 12 seconds. Normally I get stuck pretty quick on such hard / strange rule sudokus so very happy with this one :)

[@tessabrisac7423]

🎉🎉🎉

[@AndersEngblom]

I was feeling really good about myself. I found the break in and got a slow and steady pace going through the puzzle. 35 minutes in and I was feeling quite proud that I was going to finish a (for me) rather long fog-of-war puzzle and then - a brick wall! After 15 minutes I resorted to skimming through the video and i saw Simon throw his hands up and I knew I've missed the trick. Wonderful, slightly cheeky puzzle! :)

[@RyanAtOptimism]

This was *exactly* my experience! :)

[@Hakucho64]

Oh no, so close!

[@wrathofnerds]

That was a STING AND A HALF in the tail. I never would have gotten it without Simon.

[@Leslie_AF]

This puzzle was AMAZING!!! My time was 25:15. That final bit was such a fun idea! It was brilliant the whole way through, constantly making you think you broke it until you make some awesome realization.

[@PeterZaitcev]

hah, you beat me by 4s. 25:19 is my time. )

[@dmb-zw8nn]

I was 25:51 so you both beat me haha

[@Vorash00]

31:25 and my first time beating Simon. So I feel, even as the slowest, that I still won.

[@keithshane8597]

That final bit is incredible, the whole long while its just staring me plainly in the face while I'm blankly staring back...

[@Bittyfun]

The impact of the title gave me such a laugh when I got to it - I'm really glad I tried this puzzle.

[@renatordutra]

I got stuck in the fourth killer and laughed madly at your solve. I guess I need to start reading the sudoku titles...

[@5celntuta]

the fourth killer killed me with its brilliance and evilness I’m in awe

[@jonhansen9622]

Yes! Another fog puzzle! I love these puzzles, thank you to all the setters for putting these together

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

If you like fog puzzles then tomorrow should be fun. The Kickstarter is delayed and will launch then (ie Wednesday)... Prepare for a LOT OF FOG :)

[@messerita]

Simon!! Getting to that bit was the most fun part of the video. Watching this right after Crux was such a joy. Absolutely love solving with you! Great puzzle, Marty! ❤

[@themorebeer3072]

Solved this a few days ago from a recommendation on the discord... and it was amazing. I was really looking forward to seeing Simon try it, and his reactions to the revelations was everything I had hoped for! Brilliant and cheeky puzzle.

[@hmafussel94]

wow this was one incredible puzzle. thank you guys for introducing me into these variant sudokus. they are so much fun

[@Rubrickety]

I absolutely loved this puzzle. Between the title and the "sense of humor and wit" teaser I guessed the punchline fairly early in my solve, but that didn't detract from the experience. Both FoW and the recent "numbers documenting how many times they appear" innovations have really been transformative.

[@stevieinselby]

Ah, see my downfall is that I don't really look at the titles, and as soon as the video starts I pause it and fire up the puzzle, so clues like that that give a teaser about the solve are lost on me!

[@Rubrickety]

@@stevieinselby The teaser was in the text description, so I noticed it when I was finding the puzzle link; Like you, I don't watch the video until after I've attempted the puzzle. Occasionally the text or video title give away too much IMO (as in the recent Positive Diagonal, where I guessed the joke).

[@russellyowell6255]

I’ve done about 40 of these puzzles in the last week since I’ve discovered the channel, but that 1 cage was the first time I’ve laughed out loud when I realized what it was.

[@matthewread9001]

“The fourth killer” that still felt like a guess of there being another killer with 1 until I realized there MUST be a fourth killer via the rules.

[@Animallover5316]

Haha. I was practically screaming at you about the 1 cage. So hilarious! Especially the moment I realized it was hidden in the last bit of fog. Brilliant setting. I’ve been watching for a few years now and this is genuinely a contender for my favorite solve on the channel :)

[@sanctionbuster]

The fourth killer caught me out. I needed Simon's help for the last little bit. Cheers, big guy.

[@thecommexokid]

By the end of the rules explanation, just based on the title, I had already guessed (approximately) the punchline of the puzzle. So I was watching Simon's solve with bated breath the whole time as the amount of remaining fog dwindled further and further. I had my eye on R1C2 for a while, but while Simon was celebrating his 3 in the corner, I was laughing out loud that it really was going to be hiding in the final cell of fog to be uncovered.

[@martysears]

Haha brilliant. R1C2 was indeed the original location of the 1 cage, until I realised I could make it into a fun finale in the very last foggy cell. Glad you had fun waiting for that moment in Simon’s solve (as did I!)

[@glum_hippo]

What a banger of a puzzle! I was going to recommend it myself but felt fairly sure it’d be a coals to Newcastle sort of situation

[@artursruseckis4242]

Never have I ever swore so much watching KZbin sudoku video. My initial solve bumped into unresolvable deadlock pairs. I looked very very long time on how to solve all sorts of fives in different pairs and perfect 1-9 deadlock pair. I assumed I made a small mistake somewhere because everything else went so smoothly (and fog of war seemed to agree with my deductions). Many many minutes later I concluded that I cannot retrace the source of error and restarted. Second solve I did much longer doing very careful deductions and assumptions, making sure there is no error nor lucky guess involved. I stopped at same position - same deadlocks across the board. Ok, apparently I am not good enough, lets peek into Simon's video. I scrolled video till the end so I can see the entire solved grid and see where is my mistake... To my huge surprise, there were no mistakes at all, all my numbers were correct and all my pairs matched the actual values in the grid. How? (obviously I did not pay attention to the extra killer cage appearing out of nowhere). Back to analyzing my solution, now I know that I am on the right way, so there must be some route to proceed further. More time wasted without results, including (apparently not so thorough) re-reading of rules to see if I have forgotten something. No, I can't see how this solves, I give up. I returned to Simons video, to see what diabolic combination of maths, logic and sudoku witchcraft is required to finish the puzzle. Finally I got till the place where Simons said "the key is in the title". No way, that's unfair. It should be in rules... oh, it is. Never have I ever swore so much watching KZbin sudoku video...

[@martysears]

Hahaaa, I do apologise for making you swear... but I did enjoy reading your little story. Made me laugh. Thanks for playing :)

[@TheRealVenusian]

When I figured out what the final clue was, I cackled out loud. Thank you for showcasing and solving this puzzle, Simon!

[@jeffreybrookner9251]

I love how the 4th killer gets caught. Very clever!

[@anaayoung9142]

The 4th killer! It really made fool of me! Thank you for the solve and the lovely puzzle!

[@dorien99]

My time was 28:22, spread over two days, started late in the evening and realized I was too tired to get it, and continued this morning. Once again a great FOW puzzle!

[@rafasroka5449]

I've solved this and then I've scrolled the whole video just to see your reaction when you realize where the 4th killer was. Hats off for Marty.

[@tomgalli1188]

OMG! 34:13!!! This is my first time ever beating Simon or Mark! Clearly, my favorite puzzle yet! I would have loved it regardless of the time, though. It just made my smile a little wider! :D

[@steve470]

17:13 for me. That was an absolute delight to solve - this may now be my favourite puzzle ever. It's that good. It's not hugely difficult, but it remains interesting the entire time, with absolutely beautiful logic throughout - and it rewards paying attention. 😉 I am gobsmacked at how good this puzzle is. Phenomenal job, Marty!

[@martysears]

Wow, this channel features so many extremely brilliant puzzles, so I am blown away by this compliment. Thanks so much, and I am glad it brought you so much joy

[@steve470]

@@martysears Thank you for the joy!

[@Salman-os7pr]

This was just amazing! I had solved this yesterday on discord and had taken me nearly 80 minutess to disambiguate the 131 cage! I had seen the spoiler disclaimer on the post that said remember the name of the puzzle, thanks to that I almost saw this coming when I was confused as to where the fourth cage would be! Great solve as always! The sudoku world never fails to amaze with it's continuously evolving creative ideas like this!

[@bobblebardsley]

I'm so used to 'sensible' killer cage totals that I read this as "disambiguate the 1, 3, 1 cage" and thought, I don't remember a 1, 3, 1 cage but it doesn't sound that hard... 🤣

[@Bowoneshi]

At 15:57 Simon guesses the 4 in r3c3 when it was possible that it was a 2 with a 34 pair in box 4 and the last 4 in r3c2. Simon doesn’t like using uniqueness as logic so I don’t think one should argue that here. I think this is where the white dot comes in. Obviously it’s a 5 in r3c4 which would clear the fog around r3c3 showing the cage does not enter r3c2 and therefore the caged 2 was in box 4 not box 1.

[@kimspence-jones4765]

The “oh!” moment when you remember the fourth cage rule (which I’d worked out a good few minutes earlier must be a one-cell cage somewhere, but then forgotten 🤦) was one of the sweetest moments I’ve ever had in a solve. “Beautiful”, as Simon usually says at such times.

[@sxmchn]

That 4th cage had me scratching my head for half an hour.

[@martysears]

Hahaha my apologies. I hope it was a somewhat enjoyable half an hour though

[@catnip420]

Brilliant puzzle. Not only it's fog sudoku, but it makes sure you pay attention to the rules. The final killer cage got me stumped for a good few minutes.

[@hatterson]

Absolutely loved the end of the puzzle. The cheeky cage at the end to disambiguate everything was just an excellent touch.

[@karsaanita]

This plot twist was absolutely hilarious! Hats off to Marty Sears! Amazing puzzle

[@praematura]

Surprisingly finished this in 27:56, wasn't sure I'd get through it! Very awesome puzzle, many thanks to Marty Sears!

[@tonybates6551]

What a coincidence: I signed up for Logic Masters Germany for the first time yesterday, after a long history of being too intimidated to participate. I just happened to click on this puzzle as my first one to solve, and had an absolute blast. Thanks to Marty for a great puzzle and to CTC for helping to build my skills to tackle puzzles like this one! What fun.

[@ComicRaptor8850]

I laughed out loud when I realized what and where the final killer had to be

[@werefrogofassyria6609]

Sure, you did better if you hadn't explained everything, but The Werefrog knew immediately where that cage was you found in the end wondering where a fourth cage would fit. Loved watching.

[@EvieOConnorxoxo]

To be honest, having seen the title and read the rules, I thought "wouldn't it be funny if there were just a 1 cell cage hidden in the fog until last minute". The realisation that that had actually happened when there was one cell of fog left - brilliant lol.

[@rion2499]

The One was amazing: I caught it just moments before you and it cracked me up oml. What a journey of a puzzle. X’P

[@j.v.3283]

Loved this sudoku! Thanks to Marty and Simon.

[@tremkl]

Wonderful puzzle. Wonderful solve. I also laughed out loud when I noticed the sting in the tail, and was really looking forward to seeing you discover it too. I do slightly wish there had been a moment where Simon noticed there was no clue in r4c6, but not noticing that made it all the more impressive that he noticed the absurd size of the big cage when he did.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 05:29 Let's Get Cracking: 07:53 Simon's time: 35m19s Puzzle Solved: 43:12 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Three In the Corner: 3x (24:49, 37:38, 37:55) Bobbins: 1x (24:49) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 15x (15:13, 15:59, 23:20, 24:34, 24:36, 25:01, 26:37, 26:42, 30:35, 30:42, 31:46, 32:10, 39:03, 39:09, 40:01) Hang On: 9x (08:03, 15:13, 15:21, 17:22, 20:26, 21:55, 28:49, 30:03, 35:53) Sorry: 8x (10:50, 13:35, 21:07, 28:00, 38:29, 38:46, 38:57, 40:32) Brilliant: 7x (01:31, 41:53, 42:31, 43:12, 43:41, 43:41, 44:08) Clever: 6x (26:57, 41:35, 41:41, 41:41, 41:45, 41:47) Beautiful: 5x (02:45, 14:34, 18:43, 23:39, 23:39) By Sudoku: 4x (23:04, 24:20, 32:16, 36:05) Naked Single: 3x (23:27, 28:46, 33:00) Lovely: 3x (20:56, 21:00, 35:59) In Fact: 3x (06:34, 09:34, 29:27) Ridiculous: 2x (17:42, 44:03) Surely: 2x (29:35, 33:49) Cake!: 2x (04:08, 04:47) What on Earth: 1x (19:09) Goodness: 1x (43:09) Bother: 1x (30:55) The Answer is: 1x (19:55) In the Spotlight: 1x (37:58) Stuck: 1x (41:27) Break the Puzzle: 1x (43:24) Incredible: 1x (44:12) Bonkers: 1x (14:03) Obviously: 1x (12:02) Wow: 1x (35:59) What Does This Mean?: 1x (23:54) That's Huge: 1x (18:43) Pencil Mark/mark: 1x (34:24) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Twenty Nine (4 mentions) One (69 mentions) Yellow (16 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Even (2) - Odd (0) Higher (3) - Lower (2) White (4) - Black (0) Row (10) - Column (2) 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!

[@gamaxgbg]

No weird? I love his weird

[@inspiringsand123]

@@gamaxgbg Good one! Just added it!

[@sevejohn1]

I just did this one the other day! It was very clever and fun. Glad to see you solve it.

[@agoristtaxadvice]

Loved the construction of the super large box where it became obvious that a 7 had to be in the cage, and it could only be in 7 boxes, and whittling it down from there.

[@bonanzaguy04]

Incredible puzzle. Absolutely loved it. I don't think anyone who watches the channel would complain about the ending--like you (and me!), they will find it brilliant. (but also evil)

[@adamkamp8929]

28:40. Delightful. The moment of terror for me was realizing that the cage that ended up being the 131 cage was really THAT LARGE. Fortunately, I had the "where the heck will the fourth cage go" question in my head throughout so I saw the trick as soon as the top corner started getting tight.

[@gregr28]

To construct this entire puzzle so that it has a single remaining Fog cell, and that Fog cell is hiding the final, single digit Killer clue, like a criminal trying to hide in the last vestige of shadow... Stunning. Just stunning. Thing is, I don't even know if the brilliant construction or the equally brilliant word play is the best part. I am in awe of the setting of this puzzle.

[@martysears]

thanks Greg! Yes I did think of the cages kind of like characters while I was designing it haha. Nice when you can put a bit of story, even just a hint of it, into something this abstract

[@article82plays15]

This was very good. When you were reading the rules it did strike me as unusual to be told how many cages appeared and I assumed that there was some utility to that knowledge. But I had also completely forgotten this key piece of information at the end of the solve. Very clever that the information is not revealed (or re-revealed) by the clearing of fog.

[@acdcfenderman]

35:37 for me, a really fun solve! I just love the instant-gratifying nature of fog sudokus

[@jamesdonnelly9217]

When I'm in doubt and stuck with a feeling that I'm missing something, I usually reread the rules. This time I watched Simon get stuck at the same exact spot that I did and he reread the rules.

[@joshkeppeler3349]

A brilliant puzzle kicking myself for missing that final bit. Halfway through the large cage solve I was idly thinking the final cage didn't have room to cross any boxes so would have to be a 1cell 1 cage and still got to the final bit and spent minutes checking and doublechecking that either 1 or 9 worked before finally recalling the Fourth Killer. Kudos Marty a delightful puzzle.

[@nickjayyoung7662]

The last part was a laugh, I had kept track of how many cages Simon had discovered. Lovely video.

[@aberrant322]

The four in R3C3 was a lucky guess. There was another arrangement he hadn't considered yet and was completely possible if you dont put 5 into R3C4 first. 😢

[@dhycampbell]

No, it is logically sound. You can't put the 4 anywhere else because it isn't possible to have more than three cells in a row in that cage and you can't extend the cage anywhere other than R3C3. It's not the easiest way to get the digit, the white dot was put there to quickly resolve the 3-4 pair, but I guess that's not the way Simon's brain works.

[@RichSmith77]

​@@dhycampbellAm I missing something, or would it have been possible to have 4 in r3c2, 2 in r3c3, and a 34 pair in box 4 below the 2? (At the point Simon confidently placed a 4 in r3c3)

[@dhycampbell]

@@RichSmith77 Ah, yes, I think you're right. I guess I didn't think too hard about it because I just used the white dot as intended. My apologies, it does indeed appear to have been a lucky guess.

[@Hakucho64]

Yes, lucky guess at 14:30. Simon is a genius but sometimes he needs to pick the low-hanging fruit (in this case the white dot) first.

[@katharinahochkamp5415]

Ha, I totally fell for it and was confused in the end, had to watch Simon for the resolution! Great puzzle

[@markp7262]

20:47 finish. A bit of math, some simple logic and a few devilish sidesteps make for another outstanding puzzle. Excellent!

[@Hakucho64]

65 mins for me, lovely puzzle! Now to marvel at Simon's solve and simultaneous explanation...

[@mareksroka5629]

Wonderful puzzle, Had a ton of tun solving it. And the final deduction was gold!

[@bradmccallum1]

As soon as he got that 3 in box 3, I was shouting at my screen for Simon to remember the rules, and the title of the puzzle. That 4th killer did it for me...

[@musicaholicsoul7663]

I really enjoyed this puzzle and also loved the small detail that cage numbers are in the top left corner, meaning that you could realise pretty quickly which are the most upper left cells in a cage. So you could notice immediatly, that the cell with the 7 in box 5 has to be part of the big cage the moment it revealed. What a fun little detail!!

[@christopherpolito5826]

That was really an amazing finish. I really like how the 4th cage played out in my solve.

[@rentalcustard]

26:06 for me. Realizing where the final cage was and watching the puzzle finish from there was genuinely breathtaking, and also made me laugh in the way a really good crossword clue makes me laugh. Amazing stuff.

[@mrpokefan8369]

What a wonderful sudoku.I almost overlooked the 131 sum in the big cage and was thus stucked a while. 38 minutes here.

[@SirBradiator]

Fog puzzles really allow the setter to restrict the linear solve path to leave these lovely deductions that have to be made at the end. A really enjoyable puzzle with a brilliant finish.

[@pixllo]

I was 'done' after 20 minutes but ended in a deadly pattern and it was bugging me that I only found 3 cages. Took a whole 10 minutes to figure out how dumb I can be. Brilliant puzzle!

[@tiagomarques9822]

I’m not a very skilled sudoku solver, but I do like mathematics, so I actually realized half way through the puzzle that there had to be a small cage (the fourth one) with either a 221 or a single 1. That led to my last fogged cell to be R1C9, rather than the delightful 1 on C9. Still I had a lot of fun solving this puzzle, and then enjoyed how Simon skillfully noticed those quintuples I missed during my solve. Congratulations to both Marty and Simon, and thank you both for this one.

[@brianarsuaga5008]

This was very very fun! It's not the hardest puzzle- I'd say it's very approachable, even for a fog puzzle. Which is why I was so confused when I hit that brick wall and had to come crawling back to Simon for that last damned hint. I don't think I've laughed so hard playing a puzzle as this one in a long while, especially that realization about the very silly cage.

[@DanJS]

Brilliant. I forgot the rule and the title got stuck for about 20 minutes at the end, gave up, and watched the video and the penny only dropped when I saw Simon read the rules and remembered the “four cages” bit.

[@JCHall110]

I don't know how, but almost as soon as the massive cage revealed itself, I thought to myself "the last cage has to be a one". I had thought at first that it was going to be in the top left corner, but the actual location was just absolutely brilliant. An excellent puzzle!

[@martysears]

It originally was going to be in the top left corner 😉

[@18mattd]

Loved this puzzle, especially the ending!

[@stevieinselby]

That was great fun - not too difficult to get started and make progress, but an absolutely evil 😈 finish!

[@tonyawright6020]

I stared forever before figuring out that last trick. I narrowed each cell down to two options and ran through both ways (using corner marks so the last fog didn't unveil) and both ways seemed completely valid. When I finally saw the rule I'd missed, FOUR killer cages in the puzzle, I laughed.

[@EmonEconomist]

Finished in 29:20. I liked that! As soon as I read the rules I guessed there'd be a 1 cage hidden in the fog; glad to see my prediction was correct!

[@Chayat0freak]

I couldn't hope to be as good at solving as you are but you're verbalising the problem makes it easy for me to follow. That means occasionally I get to feel super clever by spotting something and then getting excited that I realised it before you. Surely because my brain isn't doing all the heavy lifting of the main problem. I was trying to work out where the other cages could be all along because that might have forced some other digits.

[@jasono8783]

25:26 for me today! I was approaching the end of the puzzle, and as I was idly going through and cascading through the third cage, something was itching at the back of my brain... I reread the rules and whaddaya know, a rather auspicious 4 haha Incredible puzzle!

[@FedoG88]

That one sneaky killer, a smooth criminal. Loved it!

[@FOmar151]

I probably could have figured it out with the thermo line, but I finished the puzzle by realizing that I had only seen three of the four yellow cages. That's an incredible finish. 17 and a half minutes for me.

[@thecommexokid]

In fact, you could not have! You need the realization that you're missing a cage in order to disambiguate the remaining pairs/triples.

[@amysteele2488]

Brilliance! Sheer brilliance - that ending!

[@fizzmaister]

The last cage was just so brilliant!

[@Volriker]

One of the most entertaining puzzles I've seen on this channel :) I guessed the 4th cage almost immediately though :)

[@eddieharwood7788]

That was utterly fabulous. I managed it in an amazing 45 minutes for me. I didn't really get stuck at any point, probably sorting out the first cage was my slowest. Once I realised we had to visit 7 cages I realised that there would be a single 1 cage somewhere.

[@TheDandyAndy26]

Came to the channel for the Sudoku. Stayed for the 3 in the corner

[@tessabrisac7423]

😂😂😂