The Sudoku Playmaker

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
Another beautiful sudoku today from the mind of Playmaker6174 with a mixture of arrows and region-sum lines. It's called When Allies Collide and you hopefully don't need to work at CERN to solve it. Give it at the link below:
tinyurl.com/4a...
Rules:
Normal Sudoku rules apply. Digits along an arrow must sum to the digit in that arrow's circle. For each blue line in the grid, digits on the line have an equal sum N within each box the line passes through.
Don't forget to check out our Bonus video - released this morning - featuring Thomas Snyder (former World Sudoku/Puzzle champion) speed-solving!
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[@nachosanz4630]

It always puts a smile on my face when Simon says he only tells "the secret" to his favourite people.

[@SpeedyBozar]

Why?

[@Playmaker6174]

Hello Simon and Mark, Playmaker6174 here and what a surprise treat to recieve after a long day! Thank you so much for your efforts at making everyone's day, including myself, more and more better! About the solve and the setting: this puzzle happened to be one of the rare occasions from mine where it actually has two different options to start instead of only one: the arrow side or the region sum side (although I began to construct on the arrow side first, then the region sum side later), and you chose the region sum one to start. Box 8 was a difficult spot to work on, since I needed to avoid as many deadly patterns as I could and in the end I got bunch of pairs that could easily be handled by some short sum lines (in this case, the line passing through R6C1 circle) :) * Small notes on the solve: on the arrow side, you could've forced the 789 triple in box 2 right after you forced R4C5 to be 5 or 6 only but you still got it shortly after that; then once you proved that R4C5 is 6, the 6789 in col 5 look at box 8 and force R9C6 to be 6789 since they can't all lie on the other two lines (otherwise the sum would already be greater than 30). But overall, a very nice and beautiful solve from you as always, I'm also happy that you enjoyed the funny bit with the 4 on that line, which I found really amusing (and it 'disguises' as a palindrome as well!). The reason for the puzzle's name is because it combines two of very similar constraints together: arrow and region sum line, they have lots of similarity in terms of their mechanics and logical thoughts so it's like a 'confrontation' between these two beautiful constraints. Also I think that this one is perhaps one of my cleanest looking puzzles so far! :}

[@David_K_Booth]

I too liked the way that the 4 gradually got pinned down to one arm of the line only to meet its twin on the other arm. There were several nice touches, it's a really enjoyable puzzle. Thank you!

[@deniseiln]

"you could've forced the 789 triple in box 2 right after you forced R4C5 to be 5 or 6 only" - interesting, because I noticed that as Simon was adding up the minimums for the arrows. 9 couldn't be on any of the arrows, so it had to be in col 5. 8 couldn't be on one of the three cell arrows, but it could be on one of the two-cell arrows - except that the 9 in box 2 ruled 9 out of r4c5, so 8 had to be in col 5, too. 7 could be on a three cell arrow, but not within box 2 (both remaining cells would need to be ones), and it couldn't be on one of the two-cell arrows because r4c5 couldn't be 8 or 9. So 7,8,9 all had to be in column 5 within box 2, and since r4c5 had to be at least 5, it had to be either 5 or 6. ...and I looked at that and thought, yes, and now I'm stuck. S. T. U. C. K. Stuck. So I unpaused the video and watched the rest.

[@davidrattner9]

As usual wonderful puzzle from you. Loved everything about this. Thank you for continually setting beauties. Enjoyed your story about how you set this and couple ways to approach it!!

[@crystalgehrt8861]

It's a brilliant and beautiful puzzle. Thank you!

[@Playmaker6174]

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments! I’m thoroughly happy to see the enjoyment from all of you ;)

[@DS-xh9fd]

I had a different way to do the logic in box 2. Start by asking where 9 goes in box 2. It can't go on an arrow, so it goes in c5. This rules it out of the circle in box 5. Now ask where 8 goes in box 2. Again, it must go in c5, which rules it out of the circle. Repeat again with 7.

[@istvanmagi473]

This is how I did it also. Now I had to watch the video to find out what Simon did.

[@geoff544]

Similar - but I asked where the col 5 circle cell can go in box 2 - only in row 1, so it cant be more than 6. I now see he does the same at min 16 ish.

[@tallcat]

Another mighty fine puzzle by Playmaker, but then arrows were my first sudoku love (so i might be a bit biased!). Playmaker's puzzles always have fascinating interactions and spectacular logic in - and are not usually brutally difficult. It's no surprise he has become one of my favorite setters.

[@julianriml4860]

Still seeing "video posted before 27 seconds" is probably a sign of my great taste in evening entertainment. Can't wait to see your solve. Thank you for the constant work you two are doing for us all!

[@aldjiinn4224]

Never thought in all my years I’d see a yugioh x sudoku crossover, but here we are!

[@BigPigEnergy]

Smh, the arrows don't even co-link

[@matejlaskomulej]

I see the dude from the newer Yu-Gi-Oh! on the thumbnail, but could someone explain what I'm not seeing ie. how is this sudoku connected with the manga (or anime or cards)?

[@BigPigEnergy]

@@matejlaskomulej The puzzle isn't, but the setter's handle includes "Playmaker", which is the name of the character in the thumbnail (the virtual avatar of VRAINS' protagonist)

[@matejlaskomulej]

@@BigPigEnergy Ah.. I googled as far to know the guy's from Vrains (I only watched the first 3 seasons), but not protagonist's name. Thank you for the clarification.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 02:59 Let's Get Cracking: 04:07 Simon's time: 35m38s Puzzle Solved: 39:45 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 3x (08:15, 08:22, 08:43) Bobbins: 2x (13:26, 30:26) Goodliffing: 2x (11:00, 22:47) Chocolate Teapot: 2x (11:49, 11:58) Cooking with Gas: 1x (28:19) Schrödinger Cell: 1x (15:00) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 13x (08:07, 11:08, 15:25, 15:26, 19:56, 21:36, 23:22, 26:05, 27:04, 28:37, 33:27, 36:17, 38:12) Beautiful: 5x (18:15, 28:26, 29:48, 38:47, 39:47) By Sudoku: 5x (20:43, 32:17, 33:12, 35:01, 36:56) Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (11:01, 22:49, 30:44, 32:33, 37:18) Lovely: 4x (20:13, 26:05, 30:55, 38:36) Clever: 3x (29:51, 31:01, 36:34) Sorry: 2x (14:50, 35:39) Gorgeous: 2x (28:37, 40:23) Hang On: 2x (08:07, 17:47) Obviously: 2x (06:38, 31:39) Wow: 2x (12:08, 18:15) Good Grief: 1x (34:23) Diddly Squat: 1x (26:45) Goodness: 1x (40:43) Apologies: 1x (37:51) Stuck: 1x (40:07) Brilliant: 1x (01:32) Breaks Open the Puzzle: 1x (40:19) Shouting: 1x (37:51) Surely: 1x (28:50) Disappointing: 1x (06:35) Corollary: 1x (31:42) In Fact: 1x (26:27) Whoopsie: 1x (38:56) What Does This Mean?: 1x (27:06) Cake!: 1x (01:26) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Sixteen (11 mentions) One (80 mentions) Blue (5 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (5) - Low (3) Even (2) - Odd (0) Row (14) - Column (5) 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!

[@stevenkinglolyt21]

Ur insane dude! (in a good way)

[@PauxloE]

"Not zero" seems to occur quite a few times (in both this and other videos), as the reason why some number can't be.

[@RickyRatte]

A Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINZ reference on this channel? I guess everything can happen

[@sampathkumar-ej7xl]

I felt like I passed a sudoku exam after solving this elegant puzzle using the techniques learnt watching simon and Mark. Great setting!!

[@SpeedyBozar]

The interaction between the 3 bottom lines, the side arrow and the top 3 arrows was pure pleasure to witness in my mind and in the puzzle.

[@Coyotek4]

I spent over 45 minutes on this puzzle ... before realizing those weren't Renban lines. Whoops! All things considered, I should be grateful that I finished in under 90 minutes (1:22:06) ... but that was rather silly of me, to say the least. Nice puzzle!

[@jimmygee9189]

I saw a Yu-Gi-Oh! character in the thumbnail on the day that the game got a new ban list without even looking at what channel uploaded it was a surprise for sure, but a welcome one.

[@MrPrzemistrz]

I really didn't expect to see a YGO thumbnail being literally at the other end of KZbin. :)

[@crystalgehrt8861]

I

[@wanderlustwarrior]

You had me at the Yugioh thumbnail.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Your paths at the beginning, exploring a few different potential break-ins, were quite interesting. I feel that I always learn something watching these videos - thank you so much for this one, Simon.

[@th.nd.r]

GEEZ GEEZ GEEZ. I’ve related sudokus to music before, and this one felt a lot less like a dubstep song where all the energy in the music contributes to a buildup leading to an awesome bass drop (break-in), and a lot more like a steady crescendo where everything builds on itself and the energy just continues building until the song’s over. This one had a clever break-in but really the beauty is in the sheer PLETHORA of beautiful successive deductions thereafter. And the pace at which you found them, going all across the grid and across constraints to get them, was incredible and really helped to unearth Playmaker6174’s genius setting. Incredible setting and incredible solving, hats off, and I can’t wait for the next Playmaker6174 CTC feature!

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

Absolutely true. I agree 100%. This is a logic materpiece. And by the way, your comparison with music was awesome.

[@th.nd.r]

@@Paolo_De_Leva Thank you! I think I have a tweet on the comparison, let me try to find it lol

[@th.nd.r]

@@Paolo_De_Leva check the screenshot under the tweet

[@Paolo_De_Leva]

@@th.nd.r Do you have a direct link to your tweet?

[@SmartHobbies]

I loved the look of the starting grid. I got excited when Simon starting focusing on block 8 and figured out the purple coloring.

[@arlenejenkins1127]

As did I. I started with box eight--I thought it was the most obvious, but then again, what do I know?

[@NixDolores]

I did NOT expect a yugioh vrains thumbnail from this channel

[@TheFreeBro]

That’s such a perfect shade of blue for the lines. Well done

[@Ray-iu7hg]

I really loved the way this puzzle flowed!

[@mikedonnan6541]

Finally crunched the numbers after far too long! 😆 Beautiful puzzle 🙏

[@PurpleSidewalk1]

The name is because equal sum lines and arrows are very similar in terms of their logic. That would make them "allies"

[@ericpraline1302]

Lovely puzzle, thanks. A nice level of difficulty, exercising the old grey matter without bashing it repeatedly.

[@jensstalberg8968]

I think was a new pb, 41.03. Not my time of course, it was waaaay longer, but the video time where I manage to solve it. The interesting thing is that I'm trying to be Simon's (farily lousy) apprentice, and my first question was "where does 9 go in box 2" (in Simon's dialect of course), followed by the same for 8 and 7. And by doing that, the triple in the vertical middle of box 2 was already done, restricting R4C5 a lot. Then the secret trick in box 7 broke it a bit more open. I struggled to finish, stared at the pairs at the bottom for a while... Brilliant, thanks for making my evenings better.

[@pickerjo2000]

Wow, was not expecting a Vrains reference on here

[@bellemieux]

Love that you used playmaker from Yu-Gi-Oh for the thumbnail

[@theother1s220]

Was quite surprised to see Yusaku Fujiki in the thumbnail there.

[@piarittersporn]

A really brilliant puzzle.

[@AndreAy1975]

Solved it with much help from the video.

[@clffliese26]

You got my surname right out of the box, Simon.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Happy Birthday - I hope you enjoyed your ice cream!

[@crystalgehrt8861]

You have given me a plan for my 70th birthday! Happy birthday!

[@michielgerretzen9777]

At ca. 22m you can prove that r9c6 = 7,8 and thus forming a 7,8 pair with r9c8. Makes life easier :-) Nevertheless, great solve by Simon!

[@Tiger21us]

49 minutes for me while ill and I had a blast!

[@markbennet9058]

@31 mins - I agree that is beautiful logic

[@srwapo]

37:54 with a lot of help from the video to get started, had to skip around through 75% of it.

[@arnodus70]

Advertisements are very loud.

[@crystalgehrt8861]

They have been much more loud compared to Simon recently. They shock me and force me to mute each time.

[@Swisswavey]

Very nice puzzle. Thanks for sharing it

[@PauxloE]

I saw many of the deductions which Simon found, but somehow missed that there could be a 4 in the purple cells (i.e. I got a 56789-quadruple in row 6, plus the 67 in the circle). That eventually lead to a dead end, when I already had a 2 on the arrow tip in row 9, but couldn't put anything on the middle + circle of the arrow.

[@michaelameyer7226]

Is it me, or does the puzzle have 2 solutions? Row 7 and 8 in the end, I tried the 67 pair one way and it worked and checked the other way and it also worked.

[@AlvinTOS]

29:12 "This means this can't be a 6", proceeds to put a 6 there.

[@AlvinTOS]

147:33 for me. I was stuck for an hour and a half at one point, before reluctantly using Maths to work out why a 87 pair in the blue line connecting to Box 8 in Box 6 is impossible.

[@TiagoMorbusSa]

that was a really good puzzle and a really good solve

[@FluffieEmpress]

I started by asking where 9 could go in box 2.. arrived at the logic much faster

[@orzelgryf]

I still feel you should try the game Filament. And no, I'm not sponsored or anything, I just think that this is absolutely brutal logic game, and I like to watch how pro guys will approach it. Also - The Room. Short and sweet and have a feeling of a puzzle box, especially the first one.

[@JohnRandomness105]

9:40 The bottom purple cells and the R6 white cells must be 16 or 17, because the circle can't contain a 5. The possibilities are still annoyingly too many, which is why I'm stuck at this point. 22:00 Column 3 has a 1234 quad. 23:15 There's also a 1245 quad in column 4, unless I blew it. (Things were going quite well, until I broke the puzzle.)

[@adipy8912]

1:59 Yes please do that. It's been over 5 months since you did it.

[@tonybrooms]

1. Box 2 Arrows 2. Boxes 4 & 6 feeding into Box 8 3. Solve Puzzle

[@MichaelLegedza]

Here are some suggestions for games to consider for streaming: Patrick's Parabox, Wilmot's Warehouse, Opus Magnum, The Signal State.

[@MrSimpsondennis]

wow, didn't expect a YuGiOh reference in the thumbnail XD

[@stephenbeck7222]

Does the use of N in the rules not imply each region sum in the entire grid is equal, i.e. that the sum is always 15? I know that contradicts row 6, but I don’t know why they use different phrasings of a rule in different puzzles that can lead to confusing results.

[@walourezo5099]

I wondered that too for a moment when I was a bit stuck, but quickly disproved it (it would have meant the sum was 15, but at this stage we already knew the domino in R9 added to 16 at least). I agree Mark and Simon should use standard wordings for the usual puzzles instead of rewriting the rules a bit differently each time.

[@kamnale1317]

was a nice challenge, had me thinking, 01:13:16 (took way too long to realize r9c6 needs to be big)

[@kwongshuchung]

63:53 for me fun to play at the beginning i dont think i can solve this puzzle but i found myself did the break-in🤣

[@linforcer]

3:39:55 Had to backtrack twice because of some stupid mistakes, and some of the last logic Simon spots I had to bifurcate my way in to

[@markbennet9058]

Getting rid of 5 in r4c5 works by maths one you get 28 (28-17=11)

[@MarushiaDark316]

People perplexed by the Yu-Gi-Oh thumbnail, when Yami Yugi is the king of puzzles.

[@PathOfShrines]

Nice puzzle. 40:33 for me

[@Nic0rasu]

Kaprekar's constant

[@mweh76]

My first thought, too, when I saw the setter's "name" 😀

[@fulgentiuswilly5043]

Why R1C3 and R2C3 cannot be 23 pair when Simon has the 8 in the circle and the 3 in box 2? :/

[@steve470]

Once Simon figured out that R6C1 had to be 6, its arrow now can't contain a 4, so one of R1C3 or R2C3 must be 4.

[@gregs2284]

If you hadn't given up so fast on R9C6 you could easily have shown that 5 can't get to a total of 16 or 17 so it has to be a 7 or 8. That gives you a 78 pair which gives you the other digits in row 9 columns 2,3,4.

[@igronus]

Please. Share. That. Chocolate. Teapot. Video.

[@igronus]

Was it kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqGXcpSdr5iZZ8U

[@wanderlustwarrior]

Alas, I kept breaking the puzzle by putting putting two digits on the 9 arrow in the wrong place, so I had to restart and look against the puzzle. Total solve time over an hour and a half.

[@LednacekZ]

45:01 for me. happy to have solved it.

[@aleixrocahernandez6240]

Why can't i open the link?

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

23:24 for me. was fun.

[@Pritchie45]

60 minutes

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

14:31 for me. Awesome puzzle!!

[@Swynndla]

Simon, lovely solve, but I think Thomas Snyder's speed solve has rubbed off on you because you went mighty fast in this one and there were bits of logic you glossed over too fast for me to understand, whereas you usually explain the logic with enough detail and slowness for me to understand everything.

[@krblumen]

Too tough for me

[@nileprimewastaken]

222nd! nice

[@rontyson6118]

LOL :)

[@nileprimewastaken]

@@rontyson6118 that was the first time I ever got a like on any comment why did it have to be this one

[@matthewjohnson6360]

STOP with saying the secret EVERYONE knows boxes columns and rows add to 45