The Largest Cage

** WE ARE STREAMING TONIGHT **
We've have just released a free app full of handmade puzzles to celebrate reaching 500,000 subscribers on KZbin. Simply download the (free) Cracking The Cryptic app on Android, Steam or App Store and then select the 500k pack. We'll be streaming a playthrough of this app TONIGHT at 10pm UK time here:
• Simon & Mark Solve Sud...
** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
Today's puzzle is a colloboration between rockratzero and Agent called Shimadoku. It has a perfect rating on Logic Masters Germany but is only of "average" difficulty - whatever that means ;)
You can try it at the link below:
app.crackingthecryptic.com/su...
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Shade a single group of orthogonally connected cells in each dashed cage. Shaded groups may not share a dashed border. Each cage must contain at least one shaded cell, and two cages which share a border cannot contain the same number of shaded cells. Digits MAY REPEAT in cages. Some cages have one or two sums indicated. The first value given is the sum of all digits in shaded cells in that cage and, if given, the second is the sum of all digits in unshaded cells in the cage. A cage sum given as "X" is to be determined by the solver and is the same value in all appearances.
NB We have slightly amended the rules above from those which appear in the video to make it clearer that no two cages that share a border can have equal numbers of shaded cells.
** Join Our Sudoku Club On Patreon **
We just released September's Monthly Reward. It's a sequence of Linked Sudokus and we've already had several hundred correct solutions! Submit your entry by 20 September for a chance to win a prize!
Join us on Patreon for as little as $2/month to try it out here:
/ crackingthecryptic
** Our New App Is OUT **
Our new app is OUT on App Store AND Android AND ON PC (via Steam)!!
We've completely revamped the interface. Now you download the basic app free and you can choose to download additional content. So there's a FREE pack of puzzles by Prasanna Seshadri and a paid pack: DOMINO SUDOKU!!! Prasanna's free pack includes one puzzle for each variant of our existing apps (so there's a killer sudoku, a miracle sudoku, a thermo sudoku, etc). Domino Sudoku is a pack of 100 handmade puzzles (40 on launch, 5 added each month for a year) by some of the best constructors in the World: Phistomefel, clover, jovi_al, Christoph Seeliger, Qodec, Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Richard Stolk have all contributed sudokus!!
apps.apple.com/us/app/crackin...
play.google.com/store/apps/de...
store.steampowered.com/app/20...
▶ Contact Us ◀
Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic
email: [e-mail]
Our PO Box address:
Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
Box 102
56 Gloucester Road
London
SW7 4UB
(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
▶ SUDOKU PAD - Our New App ◀
You can input classic sudoku puzzles into our software. The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us:
iOS:
apps.apple.com/us/app/svens-s...
Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/17...
Android:
play.google.com/store/apps/de...
ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
**************************************************************
▶ SIMON REACTION BOARD (!) ◀
With thanks to Andrea for creating this :)
simonreacts.avris.it/
▶ CTC FAN DISCORD SERVER◀
/ discord
NEW: Guide To Our Discord Server:
tinyurl.com/CTCDiscordGuide
▶ OUR BACK CATALOGUE - ALL CATEGORISED WITH LINKS!◀
tinyurl.com/CTCCatalogue
▶ NEW CRACKING THE CRYPTIC MERCHANDISE◀
teespring.com/en-GB/stores/cr...
▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀
[e-mail]
▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: #crypticcracking
@crypticcracking
Instagram (for how to solve daily clues from The Times): crackingthe...
▶Logo Design◀
Melvyn Mainini

[@AlexanderDaniel]

simon, whenever you got a 3 in the corner and you say “that’s 3 in the corner, that’s 3 in the spotlight loosing it’s religion,” i never knew what you were talking about. my parents were listening to the radio just now, and my head did a quick turn when i heard the guy on the radio start singing “that’s me in the corner, that’s me in the spotlight loosing me religion.” it’s a decent song !

[@ragnkja]

You hadn’t heard “Losing my religion” by REM before??

[@AlexanderDaniel]

@@ragnkja nope

[@shawnward6607]

@@AlexanderDaniel Check out "Its the end of the world as we know it" also by REM. They are an excellent band.

[@MrJungle123]

@@ragnkja you'd think that was clear from her post, what a strange thing to ask.

[@orcishh]

@@MrJungle123 It was a rhetorical question, used to express shock. Perhaps you could look into those and amplify your English :)

[@greyZ0]

I've watched so much Cracking The Cryptic at this point, that I'll never have to worry about the meaning of the word "orthogonally" for the rest of my life

[@AndrewRingle]

One thing I really love about this Channel is that every single episode is pretty much the exact same level of entry, since he always explains each jump of logic, and reproves every single theorem he uses every single time they come up

[@S00thsayer4]

I'm really proud of myself on this one. I solved it in 0:00 and that has absolutely nothing to do with forgetting to restart the timer after reading the rules, why do you ask?

[@ZeAgentboo]

Thank you Simon for the solve! And thanks again to rockratzero for making all of this possible. To anyone reading this, I hope you enjoyed solving our collab puzzle and/or watching Simon's solve. About the rules: the word "region" refers to the groups of cells delimited with a dashed border. They aren't exactly like killer cages because digits can repeat in them.

[@sampathkumar-ej7xl]

Thanks for an excellent puzzle. Like Simon mentioned the flow was smooth one leading to the other. And it was nice of you to give an opening like in the single 6 region to get us going. It is never fun to stare at an empty grid for long.

[@gdshoe5822]

The rules as written made the puzzle impossible to solve. Using both "cage" and "region" repeatedly gave the overwhelming impression that there was a distinction being made. Boxes are occasionally called "regions"... especially by people who dabble in chaos constructions. If the rules had used only one term, and stuck to it, it would have been much, much clearer.

[@rockratzero]

@@gdshoe5822 thanks for your comment. A valid point. Sorry for the confusion.

[@therabbits69]

staring at the 7/7 cage for 20 mins hoping Simon would notice the free digit was honestly causing anxiety.

[@Thedudeman8282]

I'm from the US and my job has asked my to visit the office in Surrey. To run into Simon would make my day.

[@yadiracamacho499]

Those bags to explain set theory, and your joy at receiving them, made my day.

[@CrankyOtter]

The little bags of numbered tiles are a perfect manifestation of his hypothetical example. Very thoughtful.

[@thecardczar8764]

It was an incredible gift, the kind that not only makes the day of the recipient but all those that get to witness them receiving it :D

[@rockratzero]

Thanks Simon for the solve, the enjoyable video, and all the kind words.❤️ We were all screaming at our screens for a few moments 😜 but well done nonetheless 🎊 Thank you to everyone for enjoying our puzzle and for all the kind comments! As for the cages vs regions debate - sorry for any confusion. CtC slightly reworded our ruleset, which made it less clear than the original. Fwiw, I have updated the posts where this puzzle lives to say cages in both places.

[@Bonar09]

29:18 - you can't really assume that the 10 cage is 1234 at this point though, as 1225, 1126 or 1135 are all valid for now. Seems like cages with repeats are tripping you up. :D

[@Jimbo2189]

Got lucky it was!

[@mattinm]

I’m so disappointed that this didn’t result in a non-solution.

[@lorenb6066]

I assumed it at first, too. Then realised while doing some other bits of sudoku and rewound to that point. Looks like I could have carried on!

[@cyril2702]

I was 🤞 hoping he was right

[@kevinmartin7760]

I noticed that too. Later on he makes some deductions based on that 1/2/3/4 assignment, so I suspect that he has failed to prove this is a unique solution.

[@robinbrown6530]

Of course Simon would resolve the 15 domino in some long roundabout fashion rather than see the 8 staring at the 68 cell for what felt like an hour. Simon... please don't change your strange but wonderful brain anytime soon. 😀

[@AndyUrWald]

aaahhh the ole backhanded insult, love it.

[@robinbrown6530]

@@AndyUrWald The best part is Simon is becoming more self aware of it in his solves which I find humorous. "Why do I do these things? ". We don't know Simon. We just don't know. 😂

[@geminimaxxim]

Simon once again finding the most obtuse way to disambiguate the six in box 4. Never change, Sudoku-man

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 06:48 Let's Get Cracking: 09:28 Simon's time: 34m18s Puzzle Solved: 43:46 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 4x (18:29, 18:42, 18:42, 18:50) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (14:09) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 13x (11:56, 14:12, 15:14, 15:40, 16:08, 25:20, 25:54, 26:44, 27:53, 32:12, 34:23, 38:54, 42:13) Sorry: 10x (03:50, 05:31, 05:35, 05:36, 05:38, 15:08, 17:07, 21:20, 22:01, 25:20) Lovely: 7x (01:15, 04:44, 10:44, 30:56, 34:23, 44:36, 44:36) Brilliant: 7x (03:20, 03:48, 04:23, 04:32, 05:33, 06:43, 34:44) By Sudoku: 7x (33:35, 34:28, 36:03, 36:29, 40:48, 41:34, 41:48) Cake!: 5x (04:15, 04:30, 05:06, 05:06, 05:35) Beautiful: 4x (21:04, 28:58, 28:58, 29:00) Hang On: 4x (13:50, 24:04, 25:54, 27:53) In Fact: 4x (20:55, 33:30, 36:01, 38:57) Clever: 3x (21:06, 30:56, 44:02) What Does This Mean?: 3x (09:57, 13:05, 14:46) Stuck: 2x (25:20, 25:23) Surely: 2x (20:57, 41:09) Apologies: 1x (04:39) The Answer is: 1x (34:28) Break the Puzzle: 1x (21:47) Shouting: 1x (09:31) Approachable: 1x (01:22) Irritating: 1x (27:29) We Can Do Better Than That: 1x (20:55) Progress: 1x (30:05) Scrabble Tiles: 1x (03:12) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Twenty Three, Thirty Nine (9 mentions) One (80 mentions) Green (11 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Even (4) - Odd (1) Shaded (73) - Unshaded (18) Column (8) - Row (7) 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!

[@yammarques]

good bot

[@nattixer]

This day made me feel defeated, but being able to watch another CtC Video at the end of it gives me a sense of victory and makes me glad I persevered. Thank you !

[@oliverandersson820]

It is outrageous how much sudoku has to be done... starting to become the best phrase whenever Simon solves a sudoku puzzle

[@LednacekZ]

29:21 it can be different than 1234. You can repeat number in cages. He got lucky here.

[@Valkeryu]

What other combination adds up to 10?

[@Hitobat]

@@Valkeryu eg. 1153. Because for this puzzle you may repeat digits in same cage.

[@sergeiivanov8889]

Yes, you are right. But Simon used these wrong pencil marks only at 39:54 when put 6 in the grid

[@gordonbos5447]

Towards the end I realized I made that mistake as well and started wondering if I would get away with it. I did...

[@lewsouth1539]

I did exactly the same thing, not realizing it until I was almost finished.

[@robertlong3561]

“I’ve just seen I can do sudoku!” I love when we get random knowledge bombs on this channel. LMBO Love you guys!

[@heitron81]

Hurray! That was the first puzzle (on the channel), I solved without any glance into the video!

[@amara560]

Congrats! Amazing feeling, right?

[@zmaj12321]

Shimaguni is an *incredibly* satisfying genre. Glad to see it get some love on the channel!

[@TimmahDee]

"We've ruled out all but 1-3-5 of them" is such a great expression

[@UnderscoreYourWorld]

10:43 The rules say no two adjacent *regions* may have the same number of shaded cells. I took this to mean no two adjacent boxes in the grid, not adjacent cages. -.-

[@rockratzero]

Sorry for the confusion, we've changed things to just say cages everywhere

[@TiagoMorbusSa]

29:20 that box could be a 1 2 6 1, for example, this is unearned guess.

[@peterli100]

yeah and I think 2215 could also be one guess!

[@th.nd.r]

Well set and well solved!! Surprisingly approachable for a 45 minute video - less that the logic is complex and more that there’s a lot of it to do. Beautiful puzzle btw, my favorite part was how a lot of the sudoku stuff started unfolding kinda late on tbh.

[@leftysheppey]

500k subscribers? I still can't get over the fact that two middle aged men from UK who enjoy doing puzzles are probably making quite a comfortable living from just doing puzzles and uploading it to KZbin and forming a wonderful community whilst doing it. Very wholesome

[@Rubrickety]

My solve was unfortunately derailed very early due to the instructions referring first to "cages" and then later to "regions". Since I couldn't see any reason the rules wouldn't keep calling them "cages", I thought "regions" must mean sudoku regions, i.e. boxes. After being stuck for a long while I finally watched the video instructions.

[@rockratzero]

Sorry about the confusion. Rules have been updated

[@violetfactorial6806]

This was a really fun one, I got stuck for a bit (I forgot that 21 in 3 cells could be made without a 9), and I thought I'd broken the puzzle. That's always a horrible feeling, but I saw my mistake after a little thinking and pushed through. Thanks again to all involved

[@Coyotek4]

26:03 ... a welcome respite (after yesterday's failure on my part), and a most unique sudoku Wonderful puzzle!

[@emilywilliams3237]

Very interesting, and (though I did not try the puzzle) I felt that the flow was very good based on how you seemed to enjoy it. I love this channel! Thanks so much, Simon.

[@markp7262]

25:20 finish. This one just opened itself up to me, absolutely loved it! Phenomenal rules, good job!

[@BlueCyann]

Made two mistakes on my first try and had to start over: Forgot about the no-repeats rule not being in place for the cages and thus ruled 47 out of the "11" part of the 15/11 cage. And also missed the one unshaded cell in box 9 while adding up the big cage. One or the other led me to conclude that the X value was 8 and it broke shortly after. There was one cool piece of "logic" along the way, though, a potential third 8 in rows 5 and 6 that led me to eliminate one of the coloring possibilities for all those central cages. I loved that logic while it lasted, lol. Got it all right on the second try. Very cool puzzle.

[@markheclim2741]

23:22 - "Where do I go now?" Just take the low hanging fruit Simon! The shaded cell in the 7 cage in box 1 is a 7, the 8 you put in box 1 resolves your 8-9 pair, and places an 8 in the top row in box 3, which means that the rest of the cells in the cage are unshaded. (It only took him a minute of looking at the most difficult part of the puzzle before he switched back, though he didn't get the 7 for quite a while). I can't find many of the more complex logic solutions that Simon regularly finds on my own (yet), and sometimes attempt to use flawed logic (mostly just that the logical deduction I found doesn't apply because of some possibility I failed to consider. Something like Roteki mentioned about the 10 cage.), so listening to Simon solve is helpful. On the other hand, it always amazes me how much logic Simon will do to avoid Sudoku or simple deductions from the puzzle's ruleset... 37:25 is another example - "I would like to resolve this 7-9 pair" well since 33:40 you could place the 6 in box 4, which would let you do the math the other way around and place the 9.

[@Wildhorn666]

The 7 in that 7/7 cage... been screaming for so long...

[@ericpraline1302]

Interesting variant which I haven't seen before, and not overly taxing, thanks.

[@CM-yh4gn]

Simon, thank you so much for my shout out! I am apparently late to my own party. 😅 Jeremy is your biggest fan! We solve your puzzles together.

[@MisterM2402]

I managed this in 28:58 vs Simon's ~34:10. I had zero chance of beating any of their times for a long while after I started watching the channel (early 2020), and while it still only happens once in a blue moon, it's nice to see I'm gradually getting better! There are still plenty of puzzles they do that I have no idea how to even start though...

[@MatthewGilliard]

Simon's didn't have to worry about the unlabeled cage - if every cage was counted you could deduce X immediately by arithmetic on the total of the whole grid.

[@annonamis]

The cages display the total of the shaded cells not the total of all cells in the cage

[@MatthewGilliard]

@@annonamis ahh true good point

[@raswartz]

@@annonamis If there's no second digit, does that mean all of the cells are shaded, or can you still have both shaded and unshaded cells?

[@victoriam6569]

It's so enjoyable to color. Thank you for the puzzle!

[@nijiru4448]

Finished in 53:12, was a fan of when I realized what X was and how that propagated through the board.

[@hotwheelsnholdem4873]

always enjoy your videos Simon

[@B1GB1RDB4G3L]

Aw the scrabble tiles are such a cute gift

[@insectbah]

Those scrabble bags are just too neat!

[@Hertog_von_Berkshire]

3:06 Love the blue & orange bags.

[@martincollins11]

This was so enjoyable to solve 😀 nearly had a panic attack though when I accidentally unshaded diagonally adjacent cells in the 41 region 😅

[@wanderlustwarrior]

Once again I wasted a ton of time (over an hour) because I missed a rule, this time it was "no two adjacent regions may contain the same number of shaded cells". I restarted once I recognized that rule, but I remembered some information from my earlier attempt, so I got it in 36:11

[@pocoapoco2]

@29:21 because digits can repeat you can't assume the four shaded cells have to be 1-2-3-4 even though that turned out to be true.

[@rockratzero]

True! It's a good thing we didn't build the puzzle around that, huh? ;)

[@eriksnel5650]

Verry confusing ruleset. It seemed that regions and cages are two words meaning the same. I thought region was same as a box.

[@rockratzero]

Sorry for that, we've changed it to say "cages" in the posts where this puzzle lives

[@tomkinsg]

Whoa. What's going on with YT? That's was 22 ads during that. Not happy with that

[@kea2878]

For shading puzzles, I prefer grey and yellow to grey and green. I think they have a greater contrast between dark and light (perhaps even for colour-blind people), and I think of them as grey = rock and yellow = torch-lit open area.

[@stevieinselby]

Yes, the grey and green are quite similar in intensity, which isn't brilliant for contrast. Strangely, the contrast looks better on the video than when doing the puzzle myself!

[@rockratzero]

Well for shimaguni, the usual color scheme is gray and purple, which is often even worse for contrast :)

[@Nerdnumberone]

29:12 Is his logic correct here? Since cages could have duplicates, couldn't you get a 1,1,2,6 shaded area or something similar?

[@CaptianKatsura]

Yeah, Simon got lucky that 1234 worked out.

[@profxjkun9482]

Could be 1135 as well, don’t think the logic is right there either

[@Nerdnumberone]

@@profxjkun9482 or 1225

[@user-qo3qm7ud1d]

@@CaptianKatsura it is not luck - it is the theory of probability ))) which gives more than 85% of probability that it will be 1234

[@CaptianKatsura]

@@user-qo3qm7ud1d You're gonna have to do some explaining on that math, because there are 4 ways to make 10 using 4 digits with only one repeat allowed (1234, 1126, 1135, 1225), so 1234 is only a 25% chance, barring outside info (which if I remember correctly, there weren't enough numbers looking at that cage to rule any of these possibilities out at that time).

[@crystalgehrt8861]

What a fun puzzle!

[@MLWJ1993]

Simon says I'm one of his favourite people, in turn I'll leave a like on the video just for that. Fantastic puzzle by the way, this one flows very nicely.

[@PepperKoi]

39:32 I realized far too late into the puzzle that I had the 10/X cage backwards in my head and I was really worried that I had broken the puzzle a long time ago but luckily I hadn't based any logic around it for like a half hour lol

[@lucky1time811]

Someone now needs to send Simon 9 sets of tiles numbered 1-9! 😂

[@stevieinselby]

Really disappointed that Simon realised that 39 could be 9-9-8-7-6 before he narrows it down to having to fit in 5 cells ... not that I would fail to realise that, think I'd broken the puzzle, restart, get to exactly the same point, restart a third time, get to exactly the same point again, give up, then have a brainwave an hour later while not even trying to think about it. Then I bobbinsed it up by omitting to doubt the single isolated cell towards the 41 and thought I had a degree of freedom. Finally on the fifth attempt I completed it, and all without watching the video for help!

[@Raven-Creations]

The LMD rating for this was spot on. Fun to solve, not too difficult, but still requiring a bit of thought. When you were considering the large cage, the X cage in C2 meant the shaded couldn't go in the left side, because any arrangement including 5 or 6 cells would see all of the X cage. You put 1234 in the 10/X cage, but that was wrong. At that stage it could have been 1126, or 1135. Only once you got the 148 at the top of box 3 could these be ruled out. For ages, you had the 8 in C2 looking up at the 68 which made R4 in box 2 967. It's the old problem, you place a digit, and don't bother looking what it does.

[@Johnscatman5503]

I've missed quite a lot of videos in the last few months :( but getting back into the channel again. Any recent beautiful puzzles or solves people recommend?

[@wypmangames]

Honestly, all of them If you get the time, binge-watch them

[@stephenrivas8819]

@@wypmangames I concur!

[@Johnscatman5503]

@@wypmangames I'll try my best! On holiday at the minute so was gonna try get through as many as possible, just wondered if I should start anywhere in particular. It seems nothing has changed though and every video is a classic :)

[@dwebb2805]

there was a puzzle a week or 2 ago they called the modular miracle sudoku which was fascinating, very much recommend that!

[@LavenderGooms]

Average difficulty means I have a chance at solving it! And I did, this was a fun one.

[@jurjenvanderhoek316]

35:17 That r5c8 is a 9 was already obvious, because it is equal to X, something you already concluded at 29:25

[@voidify3]

I got “x can’t be a 7” by goodliffing row 1 (with the same solved digits you had at 27:10) and seeing that r1c6 was either 1,2,4, so the shaded digits in the X cage were incapable of adding up to 7 without breaking the cell above them

[@hadinossanosam4459]

82:20, after I swapped where the 15 and 11 in that cage belonged. Very nice puzzle though, and the logic isn't too spaghettified, so I could actually track where the error had propagated and avoid starting over.

[@n_mckean]

That lone 7 sitting unfilled in box 1 was infuriating.

[@DanJS]

44m55s for me, but I got lucky in exactly the same way Simon did and only noticed when I'd nearly finished. I forgot about the repeating digits in cages (fortunately only once) so assumed the 10-cage was 1234. Very fun solve though. I was completely stuck for a few minutes figuring it out at the start but then it just flowed so nicely.

[@evil5nake]

Exactly this, I didn't mark any there as a combination of 1,2,5,2 was possible. there might be other number, but I was still able to complete it. got stuck at a simple sudoku I overlooked, and started to watch video when I realised Simon did that

[@miradrgn]

the assumption that the shaded cells in the 10/X cage make a 1234 wasn't quite accurate - r3c9 and r4c8 don't see each other (digits can repeat in cages), so it would be feasible for it to be something like 1135 or 2215. i would've gotten to feel VERY smug if that wound up coming back to bite him but alas, lmao

[@user-oe6md1sc6d]

Is it possible to solve this puzzle by assuming that region means box? I'm not sure if Simon's understanding of the rules is what the setters actually meant. In other puzzles where regions are mentioned they usually mean the 9 areas where you have to put the 9 digits in. Also, the rules say to shade a single group of cells in each "cage" and that each "region" needs to have at least one shaded cell. If "region" and "cage" was the same, then the second rule I just mentioned would be unnecessary. So I assumed region means box. I'm trying to solve it that way but I haven't gotten very far yet 😅

[@moonlitxangel5771]

I've seen other commenters say that they got entirely stumped when they thought about it the way you said. If Simon had guessed it wrong, he likely wouldn't have been able to solve it at all since sudoku puzzles only have a single solution. The rules should be clearer but I'm fairly certain Simon has it correct since he was able to solve it.

[@harryhenderson3636]

Simon got it right as usual but the rules were unclear.

[@rockratzero]

It seems CtC slightly reworded our ruleset from what we posted, which made it more ambiguous. I think the posted rules were clear, but have just now changed it to say "cages" in both ruleset sections for clarity

[@_-_-Sipita-_-_]

22:18 for me. i was confused and had to restart because i didnt read a rule. and then i reset. i though the first rule meant "all shaded cells are connected ortogonally" and the second rule said "orthogonal means neighboring digits"

[@comicKkrakK]

Shout out to Audrey in Manitoba. Happy Birthday from Terence in Winnipeg!

[@a.m.valera6806]

R3C2 being left untouched for so long when you already had 7 for it. 😅

[@stevesebzda570]

This time mark will highlight this [@35:04] Down in box9, those remaining cells are 2345 [and there's a 4,5 in row7]. That forms a 2345 quad across row7. That gave the 1 then 6 then 7 across there. I really liked how the Constructor set that up. So many things happened by Sudoku. [Look to "Sudoku" 1st, Simon. There w was a whole other solve path after that -- yeah if you only looked at Sudoku -- which is what there are --and why I 1st tuned into this station 4 or 41/2 years ago lol ]. You're getting further and further away from Sudoku.

[@stevesebzda570]

P.S Granted, I never saw that "/11" clue in box5 [It solves without it] Do it without it in other words [it'll force you to do Sudoku -- which was probably intended -- that 2345 quadruple in box9 and row7 after all] I had a 7,8 pair across row6 now that I think about it [probably because I didn't notice that "/11" clue in the unshaded cells in that region on the right of box5]. Now that I think about it, also, in row6, the 6s were in row6 of box6 [the middle and right two cells]. They aligned with the 6s (the "68s") in box9 putting the 6 in col7 of box3 [the left]. [[Row3c7 to be exact ]] Yeah, some things were different, Simon. Good job, Constructor. Kudos to You ;)) 😂😎☕️☕️

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

17:38 for me. Great puzzle!

[@Kris_not_Chris]

Simon, I love you, but you need to do Sudoku more in these puzzles, as soon as you got the 8 and 9 in box 7 you could have placed 6 in box 4 which would have given you the 7s and 9s much faster. It was driving me crazy! I love the channel, I've taken up doing sudoku again because of your channel

[@stuartmcconnachie]

And the mystery box (without a clue) sums to X = 9!

[@pardox28]

Would wording the instructions as "no two adjacent CAGES may contain the same number of shaded cells" be better than "regions?" I took regions to mean each 3x3 box in the grid, but only when I listened to Simon speak on the video did I realize that it means cages, not boxes. Semantics, maybe?

[@luckass90]

Same here.

[@rockratzero]

Yup, sorry for that

[@haniapopowska8966]

I'm halfway through this video and I've gotta tell you, Simon...I know these are complex number riddles. I get it. But they're still set in sudoku. It's literally the first rule. PLEASE do some sudoku while solving these 😛 you can't just enter a digit and ignore all the consequences of that 😆 please, it drives me crazy in these videos and I'm sure I'm not alone. Lots of love 💌 ☺

[@Bunny-sl5yi]

I had a dream about Simon last night. 😁😆😅🤣😂 I think I have been watching this channel a bit too much maybe.

[@leickrobinson5186]

What does “region” mean here? It would be very helpful if you could vet the wording of the rules to be as precise and free of ambiguity as possible. Simon read “region” to be synonymous with “cage”. But, when I read them, I saw that both the earlier and later parts of the rules called them “cages”, so I inferred that this part of the rules was talking about the 3x3 “regions“ (aka, “boxes”). It would be very helpful to not switch nomenclature partway through the rules (much less switch back at the end)! [Of course, this presumes that Simon doesn’t discover that it was meant the other way! I suppose I shall have to watch the rest of the solve to learn which.] Cheers! :-D

[@Habes]

Yeah that's what was getting me when I started the puzzle too.

[@leickrobinson5186]

@@Habes It certainly made the puzzle much harder! 😄

[@Rubrickety]

Just added my own comment making the same point before I noticed yours. I first attempted the puzzle without watching the video intro, and naturally got completely stuck.

[@rockratzero]

Thanks for your comment. I just changed the rules in the posts where this puzzle lives at least to "cages" in both places.

[@sxmchn]

Really liked it. Surprisingly approachable given the rules seem a bit too much at first. 40:41 for me.

[@AlphaNumericNZ0]

It took me way too long to realize I missed the rule about all values of x being the same.

[@BCGpp]

The usage of "region" in the rules is ambiguous, and I got stuck because of it. It should say "cage" instead of "region".

[@rockratzero]

Thanks! I fixed this to be "cages" in the posts where this puzzle lives.

[@abraxasnl]

A little bit of Japanese insight, which I like to provide when I can. You referred to Shimaguni puzzles. Shimaguni (島国) literally means “island country” (eg. Japan or Britain). With sudoku (数独) meaning “single digit” (in reverse word order), perhaps we should interpret Shimadoku as “single island” 😊

[@przemekmajewski1]

39 mins solve here, "point eight simon" solve ;D (simon, the time unit, hence not capitalized)

[@PhoenicisEstuans]

27:00 still waiting for him to place the 7 in R3C2....

[@Ardalambdion]

Thank you, but my head hurts when I meet a long, strange ruleset.

[@nimbletim]

holy mother of complicated rules.

[@Sam_weiqi]

26:49. Very fun.

[@rubysauce]

Did the cell total of the top right box matter at the end? Also maybe the bottom right box which didn't have a total would've made it too easy?

[@rockratzero]

Yes, we could have picked any of the isolated digits in box 3 for shading. Making it 8 leaves the most ambiguity so that it's not helpful to the solve (which an detail the path) And the included cage region was deliberate. As Simon pointed out, that would have become a write-in, and we didn't want to do that and bypass other logic. :)

[@njuham]

Why must 1 be 1 in box 9 at around 33:55? I know unshaded area is being minimised but couldn't the 1 be in box 6 row 9?

[@rontyson6118]

Well, if that wasn't the "1" then you'd wind up with more than 41 for the unshaded region. Don't understand what the "1" in box 6 has to do with this though. I hope this helps.

[@RichSmith77]

We're minimising the total for the unshaded cells in the cage/region marked 39/41. There's only one of these cells in box 9, so it has to be the minimum possible value for a single cell, namely 1. (Also not sure what you mean by "box 6 row 9". Those two entities don't intersect. Middle right box and the bottom row?)

[@njuham]

@@RichSmith77 Doh! Of course, thanks, that's where I got stuck.

[@crazydaddy4934]

Darn, I broke the puzzle a few times, because in my head both the shaded AND unshaded cells in a cage had to be connected orthogonally... reading is hard.😅

[@JalebJay]

34:08 I kept forgetting some of the rules, but was very nice path.

[@markoknezhevikj4144]

The shaded part of the 10/X cage was not forced to be 1234 quad, or I'm missing something?

[@rockratzero]

Correct, it is not forced until later. This was an easy logical leap many miss in testing. Thankfully, we didn't build the puzzle around other options :)

[@janicefitzgerald5743]

Wait a minute! Math in the 39/41 cage doesn’t add up! You end up with 39/40. That tripped me up!

[@janicefitzgerald5743]

Still a fun puzzle.

[@janicefitzgerald5743]

Dang! The 1 in box 9! Sneaky.

[@lionelleroux1132]

I'am not sure to understand the rules, does "region" stands for a box or a cage ? How do you conclude that it's the cage ?

[@Hitobat]

It's good question, I didn't think of it until you ask. Simon is using region=cage meaning (not box) so I just go along with it.

[@ufdDarkLord]

yeah, i thought the same. Cage does not equal region in most puzzles. so when Simon started using the no adjacent CAGES may contain the same number of shaded cells, i was confused.

[@phileo_ss]

They have apparently corrected this in the rules on the linked puzzle page. It now consistently says 'cages'.

[@rockratzero]

@@phileo_ss in fact I just changed things to say "cages" in all the posts where this puzzle lives. CtC slightly reworded our ruleset, which made it slightly unclear

[@nikkiking4044]

I thought I had heard there was a physical book of puzzles put out recently? Am I hallucinating that? I looked through the video description and I couldn't see anything for that. I'd like to buy one for my husband's birthday.

[@emilywilliams3237]

There is one - check out Mark's video from tonight - the book is mentioned in that description box, and there is a discount code that applies for a period of time.

[@DarrenNakamura]

I got about 15 minutes in and realized I made some bad logic about how the shaded regions and unshaded regions had to act. Restarted and finished with 52:48 on the timer, but it was probably closer to 79 minutes.

[@ShaggyDemiurge]

Isn't it a mistake at 29:21? 4-cell ten doesn't have to be 1-2-3-4, if digits can repeat, it's possible to make 1-1-3-5 or 1-2-2-5 by putting repeating digits in r3c9 and r4c8?

[@rockratzero]

Correct, it is not forced until later. This was an easy logical leap many miss in testing. Thankfully, we didn't build the puzzle around other options :)

[@ServantOfSatania]

67:38 took me some time but was fun nonetheless

[@maurobraunstein9497]

I actually couldn't solve this puzzle, so I was very surprised to hear you say that it was only 3/5 stars for difficulty. Turns out the rules had confused me. Throughout the rules, they make references to the cages, but in one sentence they use the word "region" -- every region must contain a shaded cell, and adjacent regions can't have the same number of cells. I took that to mean the usual meaning of "region", a box of the sudoku. Turns out they actually meant cages, not boxes. I wonder if the rules were taken directly from the other puzzle, and the words got crossed? It's a bit weird to have different words referring to the same thing in the rules.

[@rockratzero]

Sorry for the confusion. CtC slightly reworded from our original ruleset and it made it less clear. Fwiw, rules just say "cages" now in posts where this puzzle lives

[@rachelrose7027]

Simon tries so hard not to do sudoku in sudoku puzzles

[@harryhenderson3636]

Clarification on the rules please. The rules say REGIONS - which I thought meant the 3x3 boxes next to each other must have different number of shaded cells but around the 10 min mark Simon suggests it's the cages. Why do the rules say regions if it's the cages?

[@harryhenderson3636]

@argon Yes I figured it out from reading other posts but it is very confusing. My issue is that the rules switch back and forth between "cages and "regions". Another puzzle where the rules weren't explained properly.

[@gdshoe5822]

This explains why I was completely stumped! Chaos construction sudoku use "regions" instead of boxes. Region does sometimes mean box. Here, the use of both "region" and "cage" indicated that there was a difference between them. This is very bad rule writing.

[@rockratzero]

@@gdshoe5822 Sorry to offend :P

[@rockratzero]

fwiw, I have changed the rules to say "cages" in the posts where this puzzle lives.

[@gdshoe5822]

@@rockratzero Sorry for being so critical. I was very frustrated. I spent a very long time re-reading the rules, and staring at the puzzle, trying to figure out what I was missing. it felt like a personal failure, until I turned to the video and to comments. It felt unfair. Sometimes the "trick" to a good puzzle is a very careful, subtle choice of words. One puzzle recently was stumping me until I reread the rules and found the word "all". That single word changed the puzzle entirely. And it WAS my fault that I had missed it. IMO, I consider well worded rules to be foundational to a good puzzle experience. I am aware that I might be a bit picky in this regards.

[@srwapo]

@10:00, AND that's as far as I got in this puzzle.

[@yanivshemtov9430]

Actually the 10 cell on the middle right could have been 1126, 1225 and 1135 because of repeat digits. But got lucky