The Return Of The Miracle Sudoku

[@fafrd]

Thanks for the feature! I love playing around with these restrictive rules, I'm glad to see Simon enjoy all the odd patterns that show up.

[@wayneblackburn9645]

An astonishing puzzle - so little information but not as difficult as it at first appeared. Well done.

[@oathboundhero1782]

Simon getting so immersed in the new rules that he forgets regular sudoku but still gets the puzzle solved. Hilarious and beautiful.

[@kevinerose]

Bobbins mate! Aye, e's been snookered again! Always love it when Simon gets on with it and disregards sudoku.

[@confusedSoulof2010]

I got it in 20:18. Then again, I'm not talking through a puzzle like this for an audience to understand and enjoy. I greatly enjoyed it!

[@ShirtsAreRare]

I swear Simon forgets how normal sudoku rules work every time he does these 😂 wondering how to solve the top middle box when most of it has been given by sudoku for ages 😂

[@prahas777]

True. And - he has done a sudoku video every day for years. Not to mention testing for the books and so forth. So I think if he finds something new and fun to focus on, he gives himself a little treat. 🥰

[@MaxPower417]

He was clearly just trying to have fun because he realized there were multiple distinct solving methods and wanted to dabble in each. He also could have just followed the colouring logic around the grid in just a few minutes but he was just playing around with it instead.

[@st0rmforce]

Outrageous

[@nmappraiser9926]

What happens is, he's trying to be a "professor," instructing the viewers in some theorem, and ends up proving the most basic, pedantic principles. He discovered the principle of roping in this puzzle without ever mentioning - or even realizing - that's what he was doing. I think the channel believes they are doing this to encourage new viewers, but as an experienced viewer I am starting to find it tedious to be taught and retaught the same basics on a daily basis.

[@calebu2]

Honestly this is what makes these videos so fun. I can take 10x longer to finish the puzzle than Simon and yet feel vindicated shouting "There's a 6 in the top row you muppet!" at my phone screen.

[@boomermatic6035]

I think Simon's slight aversion to doing Sudoku in a Sudoku puzzle actually slowed him down in this puzzle. 😁

[@nmappraiser9926]

Always does.

[@james_wasson]

I'm impressed with this one because it shows how Simon unravels the logic of the setter. He follows a line to a deep end even while there are glaring simple sudoku you could do. But ultimately if you did it the simple way you'd never solve the full puzzle. Its interesting because sometimes I'll be talking/yelling at the screen about simple solutions but he always shows me a different way to solve the puzzle, which is always beneficial to a new solver like myself.

[@HunterJE]

One interesting way to think about "miracle" puzzles is they're sort of magic tricks where the stagecraft/misdirect is to achieve seemingly under-clued starting grids by hiding constrainedness in more-powerful-than-they-look global rules (like the adjacent difference restriction here) or combinations of rules (eg both anti-king and anti-knight in the original Miracle)

[@HunterJE]

(And like any good magic trick, knowing how it's done doesn't necessarily make the execution any less impressive and in some ways can make it more impressive to see it pulled off elegantly)

[@fafrd]

I agree, I certainly enjoy playing with restrictive rule sets and looking for those interesting patterns that will solve@@HunterJE

[@LithmusEarth]

Excellent assessment.

[@garethwilliams8531]

Loved the stammer when Simon realised he'd said ménage à trois 🤣 Beautifully constructed puzzle too

[@RedGamer321]

Another way i saw to begin resolving after you started coloring was that anytime there is a 4 next to a blue square, that blue square will *always* be a 1. And also anytime there's an orange square surrounded by green squares, the orange square wool always be a 9

[@williamvanduyn698]

Fascinating - Every number is in a different position in each 3x3 box. Box 1 is a magic square.. Thanks Simon

[@mccoyn6144]

There is also lots of roping. I noticed that and it sped up the solve.

[@dodekaedius]

Both box one and box eight have a six in their first (top left) cell. And both box one and box five have a 9 in their second cell.

[@simonhakansson9300]

"I'm probably mixing up modularity and entropy, sorry if I mislead everyone there" That's just such a Simon thing to say :D

[@psiphiorg]

This was a fun one! I saw right away that the black dots could only be 36 or 48, given the additional distance constraint. My coloring got a bit complicated, but somehow I muddled through. My time today was 32:30, solver number 427.

[@jonhansen9622]

I definitely think everyone should try this before you watch it!

[@seanmcdermott2035]

I see Mark has his very own clue in the Independent crossword today... 15-A Mark originally created 'Cracking The Cryptic' (4)

[@Rubrickety]

That's splendid, and a very nice clue! I love it when the surface sense states an actual fact.

[@Rubrickety]

Really lovely puzzle. The final pattern turned out to be less repetitive than I expected, which was nice.

[@markp7262]

17:06 finish. Once you start coloring, things fall into place. Very nice puzzle, excellent!

[@davidrattner9]

Cant wait for Tuesday as it will be special with everything going on!! Thank you Simon for the shout out! Enjoyable solve from you!

[@Paul-cn3ij]

I must admit that I don't always have time to watch the video after solving the puzzle but being a weekend I watched the solve. When Simon missed the simple sudoku for what seemed like a good chunk of my morning, he inadvertently told me my current mood. I've learnt that whether I laugh or yell at the screen is a great way to judge my mental state!

[@andremouss2536]

18:45 I almost fell off my chair laughing when I witnessed Simon carefully deducing that this cell (R2C5) 'can't be too close to five or six' !

[@longwaytotipperary]

What a wonderful puzzle!!! Looking forward to Sandra/Nala kickstarter and livestream next Tuesday! Just because Simon’s friend was resting his eyelids does not mean Simon isn’t scintillating (maybe his friend was tired from laughing). Happy birthday to David’s friend, Elaine! Elaine, you are very lucky to have such a wonderful friend!!! 😊

[@davidrattner9]

❤❤ Thank you for that. Totally agree about his eyelids. We would never be like that if Simon was with us. 🙂

[@longwaytotipperary]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@davidrattner9I am also very blessed to have you as my friend! And no, we would not be sleeping if we were lucky enough to be in Simon’s presence, we would be hanging on his every word! ❤❤

[@davidrattner9]

​@longwaytotipperary very lucky also to have a friend like you on here !!

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@davidrattner9 😊

[@joekerr3638]

I was jumping rope with this puzzle.

[@dingodonkey]

My insistence on coloring every single square once I'd started probably took more time than the actual solve😀 Fun puzzle!

[@siegel880]

This is a spectacular puzzle. Thanks for showing this one off, Simon, I think this might be the best one you've showcased yet!

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 05:58 Let's Get Cracking: 07:50 Simon's time: 21m53s Puzzle Solved: 29:43 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 3x (00:21, 05:53, 29:51) Bobbins: 2x (27:40, 27:40) Three In the Corner: 2x (27:36, 29:13) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (14:31) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Brilliant: 6x (00:55, 01:01, 13:13, 13:16, 20:05, 30:13) Ah: 5x (06:43, 10:27, 14:35, 17:29, 26:24) By Sudoku: 4x (14:21, 21:18, 22:43, 29:01) Clever: 3x (13:18, 18:34, 18:38) Lovely: 3x (02:08, 22:39, 22:39) In Fact: 3x (01:26, 07:04, 20:21) Sorry: 2x (10:33, 26:12) Stuck: 2x (18:50, 18:50) Beautiful: 2x (01:53, 03:59) Hang On: 2x (03:59, 16:17) Obviously: 2x (13:38, 18:28) Fabulous: 2x (29:44, 29:48) What Does This Mean?: 2x (06:16, 14:53) Naked Single: 1x (26:54) Naughty: 1x (11:11) Elegant: 1x (01:34) Astonishing: 1x (00:33) Take a Bow: 1x (29:48) Shouting: 1x (01:26) Nature: 1x (10:31) Cake!: 1x (05:49) Symmetry: 1x (12:05) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Eleven, Seventy Eight (2 mentions) Three (74 mentions) Blue (36 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (5) - High (3) Even (3) - Odd (0) Higher (2) - Lower (0) Black (7) - White (0) Column (7) - Row (6) 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!

[@TruckingNoob]

i absolutely love the fact that you’re voice is so calming, i watch your videos every night. most of the time i dont stay awake for the full solve, but sometimes i can watch the full thing without being put to sleep😂

[@josugp]

Hi! I'm entering this Sudoku world. After doing many of the first GAS sudokus this has been my first try for a new sudoku, and my mark has been... 150:23 😂 I did rather quickly the first box, but then I got stuck, and started to see the video to have any clue. Coloring did the trick for me, but still I needed a lot of time. The important part is I enjoyed it A LOT. So thanks to the creator, and specially thanks to Simon! I LOVE your way to explain these things!!

[@AngryKettle]

I, for one, like when Simon focuses on the tricks instead of Sudoku. There's always Sudoku, but the tricks are here for a fun time not a long time

[@stevieinselby]

Yes, I quickly spotted that we were looking at entropic sets and got my colouring pencils out 🎨 to finish the puzzle in 25 minutes. Although the modular sets are obvious patterns, it's interesting how they aren't completely regular in the way they repeat, unlike in a lot of miracle sudokus.

[@stevesebzda570]

Lol 😂 @3:24 Simon, the Sleep Master (or "Sleep Whisperer" as in "The Horse Whisperer") Lol nice 😂☕️☕️☕️(

[@stevesebzda570]

* 3:14 (A typo)

[@Kirbyfan87827]

Finished in 37:23. Not a good time compared to some of the comments. I didn't notice the roping until I was like 80% done, and at that point I was committed to still treating it as a coloring puzzle. But I'm glad enough I was able to do this on my own.

[@clarityc481]

Oh, Simon! (Amazed at this solve path, which is not how I did this puzzle AT ALL -- in some ways I think his three-color strategy might be more elegant, but the absolutely wild modular analysis happening around 24:00, incredibly insightful and smart, where he spends several minutes looking at number theory and somehow completely fails to notice the very easy roping? CLASSIC Simon.

[@adamheywood113]

Brilliant puzzle, solved in about 33 minutes which I'm very happy with because it's very late Somewhat daunted at first, given the scarcity of clues, but a couple of deductions gave me a foothold Pleasantly surprised to find that even when I had it about three-quarters done, it still needed the featured "3-away-from" logic to solve Thank you for featuring, this is one of the best channels on KZbin

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 59 minutes. I really had a tough time with this for some reason. It was quite difficult to calculate everything in my head. I messed up and had to start over three times. I slowed down and that helped. Great Puzzle!

[@Kelters]

Excellent puzzle. Bravo!! Took me twice as long as Simon, which is quite good for me. Good fun, too!

[@Mo1stPenguinz]

Somehow managed to make a sudoku with no starting numbers simple to solve. Brilliant puzzle and great solve!

[@myfyrmadocjones]

Roping down the columns too. Nice puzzle.

[@Travis_Varga]

And the rows

[@papi05]

this was an amazing puzzle, took me 60 minutes and 4 breaks hahahahaha. thank you so much hearing you think through the colors helped me finally finish it.

[@MeriaDuck]

Like some others say and having watched Simon solve it, this looks very much a genuinely approachable puzzle. What a beautiful discovery / construction.

[@jimi02468]

Once you get even a few digits, this puzzle deflates like a balloon when in addition to normal sudoku rules there are so many rules regarding the adjacent digits to the digits that you already have in the grid.

[@Music4Worship]

I don't understand why Simon didn't even realize that there was roping throughout the grid. I do hope he mentions this in a future video.

[@braydenswinhart]

I mean he kinda realized it when talking about the modulo sets. He noticed how it affected the rows, but didn’t make much use of it.

[@Anne_Mahoney]

Would it have helped, though? I frequently notice roping when it's in play and almost never find it actually useful. Maybe I'm doing the wrong kinds of puzzles.

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

@@Anne_Mahoney Yes, roping can be used to speed up this solve. At least for me it definitely helped.

[@tomgalli1188]

Wow! What a blast this was! More, please!

[@brennan985]

Not only do I want to chat with Simon at a party, but I now also want to eat a boatload of sushi with him!

[@dangrene617]

Started slow, taking a while disambiguate the center box possibilities hinging around the entropic identity of R4C4, but eventually I got that sorted and rolled fairly steadily after that. Clever puzzle! 25:38 solve time.

[@attker89]

I was not expecting to hear Simon say "menage à trois" today

[@srwapo]

44:21, took me quite a bit to work out boxes 2 and 5 after a quick start, totally didn't notice something obvious in Box 1. It flowed really quickly once I got into the groove.

[@laurasmith2173]

Simon, I love how you work through difficult logic and can expertly solve really difficult puzzles. If you feel stuck, maybe try basic sudoku even if you need to double click on digits to see that a 6 is in the row looking a 56 bivalued cell.

[@OlafDoschke]

I colored, too. Entropic, as you, low, middle and high. But I didn't spot, what you also didn't explicitly tell was happening: Roping. In both rows and columns. Everywhere. The entropic colouring hides it, it would need modular colouring to show up.

[@ComicRaptor8850]

Did you spot the proof for the roping?

[@OlafDoschke]

@@ComicRaptor8850 In the first place I just spotted the roping as a result of solving with mostly direct neighbor logic. The modular digits are obviously groups of digits that are 3 apart from each other, so you can permutate them in any order and they still fulfill the rule. It's just a matter of putting the right digits of different groups together when crossing from one to another group. If you concentrate on neighboring cell logic only and use some scanning you also get through this naturally, but indeed thinking about this on the biggest scale would be best to solve this even quicker. It's not a hard puzzle anyway, as there are more than necessary hints available once you get a start with the thermo and black dot combination. Really entertaining

[@ComicRaptor8850]

@@OlafDoschkeLol I didn't notice the roping until after I finished the puzzle. That explanation does make sense

[@KANPAI666OPPAI]

Took me 18:20 - really approachable despite so few clues. Fun solve!

[@sharath123sk]

What an astonishing sudoku, just like a wow!! Solved it in 16 min 17 secs

[@DarrenNakamura]

Finished in 58:58. I got a little bit stuck after the break in, but once I got past that hurdle it just flowed.

[@gregr28]

Oh my!! Simon has my dyslexia!? At 16:36 he says column 4 has 3 greens while he is highlighting oranges. I mix those 2 words up all the time (I think because of so many shared letters). I feel so validated!

[@anaayoung9142]

What a amazing miracle sudoku. Although I needed your help at first later it flow like water. Thanks for the solve.

[@bobblebardsley]

Took me exactly an hour and a lot of long-hand elimination in box 2, without using any of the entropy/colouring logic, but I managed it without bifurcating at any point - once the first few digits were filled in, a lot of things became naked singles or very close to it. I also felt like I understood how the thermos and kropki dots were disambiguating the lower-right parts of the puzzle so it didn't just become one huge deadly pattern, so that helped to decide where to look. Pretty satisfying solve doing some tricky eliminations in my head, not something I can normally keep track of.

[@racingstu]

I love how Simon gets so into the funky logic that he forgets to do sudoku in the sudoku puzzle

[@calebu2]

It would be awfully unfair of the setter to expect Simon to do sudoku in a sudoku puzzle.

[@frantri3246]

From a colorblind person: your green and orange I can't distinguish :/ Same goes for purple and blue. Blue yellow red work really well if you only need 3 colors.

[@stevieinselby]

And 🟦=cold, 🟨=medium and 🟥=hot is a really easy way to remember which entropy you're dealing with as you go through the puzzle.

[@stephenmooney6585]

Yes. I've tried to get Simon to recognise this. The frustrating thing is that he's aware of the issue, but doesn't quite get it right.😢

[@stephenmooney6585]

Unfortunately another one I had to turn off because of the colours Simon chose. Simon - I'd be happy to be a "tester" for your colour palette. I could give you most of the colours you should not use together.

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 31:06. Coloring helped, but sometimes I found that just looking at the number was more important. Fun little puzzle!

[@piarittersporn]

Lovely puzzle and quite easy. Before starting I thought, that it would be very difficult.

[@elizabethswann05]

I did the Simon and completely screwed sudoku at the beginning but once I realized what I missed I solved it really fast and had lots of fun with this puzzle! 🥰

[@Ruddigore]

Another great video, thanks Simon.

[@George4943]

When the upper left 4 boxes were filled I yelled "roping" at the screen.

[@thelemoid]

Yup, it's roping in both the columns and the rows too!

[@brianshilling]

Once I saw what was happening in box one it was a pretty quick extrapolation. Neat puzzle. Got it in 13:46

[@Ardalambdion]

Yes, the world needs miracles now.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Amen!!!✨

[@Ardalambdion]

Have you noticed that Simon tries NOT to do sudoku if he can place a digit by other logic?

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@Ardalambdion that’s his modus operandi and it works for him. 😉

[@higgy0789]

YESSS I really enjoyed chants of sennaar, hope you have a great time playing it!

[@JohnRandomness105]

This puzzle is about both entropy and modularity. It seems as if in a column, each block has one of each modularity, whereas in a row each block has digits of the same modularity. There's also roping. 20:00 I have to admit that I all too often don't notice things until I notice them. So should I be surprised that Simon has trouble putting a low digit next to a 4? 28:00 I only use coloring to help me to solve the puzzle. I needed color here. But coloring stresses my brain.

[@emilymiller4349]

Loved it! Thank you! Took me over an hour, but that's fine with me.

[@davidkay1612]

Simon finishes of the puzzle using mostly the the difference rule and totally missing simple sudoku 😊

[@emilywilliams3237]

This was fun, and I did have a go. I got messed up somewhere so decided to spend my time enjoying watching you solve it, but I will definitely come back to this soon. Thanks, Simon!

[@emilywilliams3237]

Adding: Happy birthday to David Rattner's friend Elaine - anyone he likes must be a gold-plated individual!

[@Landis963]

74:21! I don't normally do Miracle Sudoku, but I'm glad I tried this one, despite a breakage or two.

[@dollarsing]

Very interesting and unusual. Great fun. Thank you.

[@AnnaVahtera]

Simon: spots 456 not be able to be 56 because it is flanked by 789 Also Simon: cannot do the exact same thing with 123 being flanked by 456.

[@Rach881101]

20:36 for me. Nice and approachable puzzle!

[@EmonEconomist]

It did take me 51:20 but I solved it! It took me a while to notice the pattern and be able to eliminate certain combinations. I'm sure there was a better way to do it but hey, it got me to the solution in the end.

[@eddieharwood7788]

What a fabulous puzzle. I had to think hard at first and then it just all crumbled. Perfect distraction and level of difficulty for rather a stressful time.

[@britlion]

It took me 61 mins, so I never feel like a bear of any brain; but It's a delightful little puzzle that one. Took a while to get my head around some of the constraints, and it would have helped if I could colour correctly :D Lots of fun. Nice one Fafrd

[@olivier2553]

Unless I am mistaken, you also have double roping, both horizontal and vertical. With the horizontal roping being the same in each group of 3 rows (147, 258 and 369). I regret I did not try it.

[@RogueAPBT]

Really fun puzzle, thank you!

[@danielburger3682]

I was able to finish the puzzle without coloring. The coloring looked more fun though! I wish I had thought of that!

[@tedbanning9090]

That was a very satisfying sudoku!

[@shawnmichajluk2044]

Wonderful puzzle!

[@MarushiaDark316]

I would totally eat sushi with Simon and stay awake the entire time.

[@Orenotter]

While using our grey matter powers We made colors blossom like flowers. As we kept three apart Your half hour from start Took me right around two point five hours. (leaves a three virtual cupcakes of differing entropies)

[@ashwynwadhawan7908]

i didnt colour the grid at all and had a horrible time figuring out the logic in box 5. once i got past that, it was very easy, but it took 68 minutes in total

[@PathOfShrines]

Cool puzzle! 23:34

[@TheSonicPerson]

Nonconsecutive Nonbiconsecutive is a constraint I'd like to see more often.

[@bertbergers9171]

I am giving this one a shot tomorrow, looks insane now and no clue to get on after the first few obivousnesses. So good night, i go to bed.

[@penningmeestercgkdelft9159]

Solved it in 32:25! :-) By the way, the orange-dark green coloring is actually very difficult to distinguish for me...

[@ExodaCrown]

My gut kinda guess coloring in the beginning would help. Too bad I didn't listen to it, it would have helped. Though I did get stuck and watching the video help me get through the puzzle. The coloring really helped a lot.

[@juhakorhonen3251]

19:28. Nice one

[@msbuck007]

Half of the way through the solution I find myself yelling at the video about the blue squares next to the 4's that should be a 1... only to be filled in 5 minutes later... 🤣🤣

[@Atticus837]

I keep waiting for Simon to finally get the deet deet doots... And if you know, you know what i mean. I thought this time for sure.

[@samwatling]

You wouldn't make me fall asleep at a party. Perhaps those parties are too boring for you simon 😂

[@Poet13xRatedRKO]

I guessed a correct digit and solved it in 19:34.

[@TheClawNinja]

Great puzzle to say the least!

[@penningmeestercgkdelft9159]

Your friend probably fell asleep from too much sushi, not from your speeches ;-)

[@HunterJE]

Re: patterns in the grid, I feel like Simon circled around it but don't know if he ever straight up pointed it out - the solution has complete roping in both the columns and the rows...

[@InstantAce]

Come for the sudoku stay for the R.E.M. references

[@creativename3256]

I kept breaking it and restarting, but I finally solved it in 29:15 😊

[@Valeriem907]

That sushi boat is amazing!

[@wanderlustwarrior]

17:57 for me, that was a quickie!

[@grithog5399]

Just like Simon to spot more complex patterns and not the roping!