The World's Hardest Sudoku

NEW COMPETITION - PALPATINE'S DESIGN - THE WORLD'S HARDEST SUDOKU BY PHILIP NEWMAN
As mentioned in the video, there is a new classic sudoku available on Patreon which has the distinction of being the world's hardest!!! It is solvable using a trick and Philip will be judging the best entries we receive that explain how to solve the puzzle logically. (ie don't just send us the completed grid if you want to win!!). Best of luck!
/ crackingthecryptic
(You can join us on Patreon for as little as $2 a month.)
** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
Speaking of hard puzzles, today's is a killer sudoku called Overflow by TotallyNormalCat. It's yet another example of this constructor's seemingly unending genius. Oh and it's quite hard :)
You can play it at the link below:
app.crackingth...
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. In cages, digits must sum to the small clue in the top left corner of the cage. Digits cannot repeat within a cage.
▶ NEW PATREON CONTENT ◀
We have released a new crossword video featuring Mark's attempt at the a Friday New York Times crossword, Matt Gaffney's meta crossword and the Listener crossword (which was a numerical).
We've also just released March's reward, a sudoku hunt called Guess Again. Send in your solution by 20 March for a chance to win a prize.
Also new on Patreon is Simon's solve of Sam Cappleman-Lynes' Tie Fighter Starbattle.
Other Patreon exclusives:
- Simon's solve of Balance = Entropy, a brilliant new sudoku from JeremyDover and Raumplaner.
- Mark's latest fight with The Times Club Monthly Special cryptic crossword.
- The QAS ("Quite Approachable Sudoku") Hunt (solutions due tomorrow please!)
You can join us on Patreon for as little as $2/month here:
/ crackingthecryptic
▶ Contant Us ◀
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email: [e-mail]
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Box 102
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London
SW7 4UB
(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
▶ SUDOKU PAD - Our New App ◀
It's OUT on Windows (released yesterday!) via Steam here:
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You can now input your own classic sudoku puzzles into our software using our new App! The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us and we're also releasing occasional bonus puzzles too. Already available on IOS and Android.
** Our Book **
The PDF is available as of today and the physical copy shouldn't be far behind. If you don't own the book then it can still be ordered here:
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You can get the German language edition of the book here:
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**************************************************************
▶ OUR ARROW SUDOKU APP IS OUT ON ALL PLATFORMS!
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Steam:
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App Store:
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Google Play:
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▶ OUR KILLER SUDOKU APP IS OUT ON ALL PLATFORMS◀
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▶ SIMON REACTION BOARD (!) ◀
With thanks to Andrea for creating this :)
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▶ NEW CRACKING THE CRYPTIC MERCHANDISE◀
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▶ OUR CHESS SUDOKU APP IS NOW OUT!◀
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▶TRY OUR CLASSIC SUDOKU APP◀
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[@NikitaKaramov]

No matter how many videos I've seen, I am always thrilled to hear the secret that Simon only tells to his favourite people 😮

[@wallacexixctc7115]

Love the emoji

[@NicoM137]

It is one of my favorite things!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Me too! To be one of my favorite people's favorite people. 🤗

[@itsKBme]

I feel special every time he tells me

[@veganostra7388]

Perfect. It has been a difficult day, I'm infected with covid-19 for the second time and heard some bad news about human rights issues as well today... The world has felt like a chaotic hurricane and there's nothing better to calm down to than Simon solving a long puzzle. A reminder that there's logic and pattern in the world, sometimes we aren't just able to see them in the world, but at least they are present in sudoku.

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

Get well soon and thank you for the kind words.

[@geezerama]

Well said.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@Vega Nostra If you are able to, and the weather is nice where you are - go for a walk outside. In addition to Simon and Mark, being outside in warm sunshine is a great boost to your spirit! Take care and get well quickly!

[@bobblebardsley]

@@longwaytotipperary Also (without wanting to sound too conspiracy-theorist) sunlight is good for Vitamin D which may help your immune system. Get well soon Vega, I hope the symptoms aren't too rough on you.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@bobblebardsley What they said 👆

[@HunterJE]

It's fascinating how different minds prefer to see the exact same things in different ways, so often Simon characterizes a conflict as "this would force both of these numbers in to cell X" when my default way of looking at the same situation is "this would leave no valid fill for cell Y"

[@CaptianKatsura]

Another example is around 44 minutes in when Simon removes the 6s from the 18 cage in Box 7 based on the existence of a 1/Green/Orange triplet, when the thing I immediately focused on was the existence of the Blue/6 pair in Box 8. Same outcome, completely different way of seeing it.

[@bobblebardsley]

Also in the final stage of a puzzle, resolving any remaining pairs, Simon always fills them in the opposite way than I would. eg if you had 89 pairs, Simon will say "this is an 8, which makes this an 8, and this a 9," whereas I would say "this is an 8 so this must be a 9, which makes this an 8". Not sure that's gonna make much sense without a visual. It is fascinating though and I'm quite strongly left-handed so used to doing a lot of things in life the opposite way around, but I don't think that's the reason here.

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@bobblebardsley I noticed he seems to fill in pairs opposite of the way I would also - he does the one further away first - also difficult to explain without a visual. I'm right-handed so not the answer in my case.

[@HunterJE]

Also same on the fill-ins - he often fills the digit not pointed at by the known first which is definitely never the way I'd do...

[@mremumerm]

@@bobblebardsley totally makes sense because my brain seems to function the same was as yours, and Simon's way of seeing it always surprises me even after all this time

[@TheSonicPerson]

This puzzle was absolutely amazing from TotallyNormalCat. I am so glad it got featured on the channel because the logic was absolute genius.

[@ryaneakins7269]

This was a very interesting puzzle to watch. Above my pay grade to actually solve myself, but every time Simon pointed out a new bit of logic, I'd see some ramification of that and have to wait for Simon to catch up. Not a criticism of Simon as a solver, but a testament to his skills as a teacher.

[@davidhughes7174]

I see it too, but only after the previous logic which i fail to see is shown.

[@ellaenchanted2399]

TNC take a bow certainly, but let's not forget Simon. You've certainly earned one today. This was an utterly beautiful showing of an excellent puzzle. I kept seeing the generalizations of where the logic would go (law of leftovers resulting in 8 logic etc), but the ability to actually put it into action was beyond me. Great job!

[@longwaytotipperary]

What they said 👆

[@Anne_Mahoney]

It's not fair. I have a houseful of totally normal cats and, to my knowledge, not one of them has ever constructed a sudoku at all -- never mind a fabulous one like this one.

[@PsychTricks]

I want to reassure you - if you were wasting our time, we'd stop watching. We love watching you do what you do and choose to spend our time doing so because you bring joy into our lives. No apology for you spending time needed!

[@emilywilliams3237]

Exactly what I think every time he apologizes for wasting my time or for a long video. No worries, Simon, I choose to watch your videos, long or short, because I love them.

[@ymiros0953]

You forgot colouring a 3, my disappointment is immeasurable :P I have to say this puzzle somehow felt weird to me, all the steps felt like they were consecutive without getting stuck anywhere, but it still took quite a long time to solve

[@orzelgryf]

38C degrees, headache, lying in bed, sick as heck... well at least I have Simon on my phone to light my mood a bit. Thank you Simon, I will propably fall asleep before 30 minute mark, don't feel bad for that.

[@tallcat]

Masterful TNC puzzle. Superb construction that the rest of us mere mortals can only dream of

[@BobDylan530]

Its a shame, you're just too tall to be totally normal

[@derendohoda3891]

"it's purple by sudoku" never gets old

[@karliej6484]

I had a giggle at “this is Totally Normal Cat laughing at me” 😆 very much enjoy your channel, thanks so much Simon and Mark!

[@fakeaccount6694]

There is 2 puzzles in here : the world's hardest Sudoku and Simon trying to arrange colors so people can see them.

[@peterkelley6344]

If they released the palette more broadly they would not have that problem.

[@XX-is7ps]

I’m a complete beginner (latecomer) to Sudoku but finding it absolutely fascinating watching these videos how many more mathematical and geometric “tricks” to Sudoku than I had figured out for myself via blind experimentation, it’s absolutely fascinating. I especially enjoy the “special”/strange sudoku puzzles with unique rule sets because it requires Mark (and you and I) to try and figure out innovate new solving techniques rather than relying on trusted/known “shortcuts”. I admit to struggling to follow the logic and/or speed of the solve in some of Marks videos, clearly a much sharper mind than mine!

[@bobbie0976]

So glad I found this channel 2 years ago. There’s no way I could have ever solved a puzzle like this back then. But a 2/day puzzle (minus the gas), made this one straightforward.

[@masu33]

"Let's do our coloring so we can feel content with the world." Then skips to color ONE of the numbers (accidentally)... my OCD is tingling... :D

[@aidarosullivan5269]

To quote Simon: Oh noo...

[@devinpelech]

That poor uncolored 3 in box 3

[@dibenp]

It was losing its religion.

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 05:52 Let's Get Cracking: 06:18 Simon's time: 1h5m34s Puzzle Solved: 1:11:52 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! The Secret: 6x (07:20, 07:25, 07:30, 07:31, 07:36, 09:58) Schrödinger Cell: 2x (11:21, 13:36) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (40:21) You Rotten Thing: 1x (1:01:00) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Ah: 18x (16:57, 16:57, 19:28, 24:33, 24:33, 32:46, 33:14, 41:59, 48:39, 51:11, 59:40, 1:00:58, 1:01:04, 1:06:16, 1:07:18, 1:07:19, 1:08:29, 1:10:34) Beautiful: 11x (01:32, 04:24, 04:31, 05:04, 05:08, 26:44, 26:46, 45:33, 46:17, 58:59, 1:12:33) Sorry: 9x (09:04, 09:51, 13:08, 31:01, 38:50, 39:10, 54:01, 55:46, 59:38) Hang On: 8x (21:21, 21:21, 32:55, 36:31, 42:39, 54:01, 57:11, 58:55) The Answer is: 6x (11:40, 19:53, 45:44, 46:12, 49:24, 54:33) Clever: 6x (01:21, 27:14, 35:09, 35:40, 35:40, 39:47) Obviously: 6x (06:10, 10:11, 19:28, 22:16, 22:16, 51:14) Good Grief: 4x (24:36, 33:45, 34:58, 58:44) Ridiculous: 4x (39:49, 44:46, 44:49, 1:12:06) By Sudoku: 4x (11:59, 45:50, 51:31, 53:01) In Fact: 4x (15:33, 28:40, 47:37, 47:42) Nature: 4x (02:34, 04:40, 39:54, 39:58) Going Mad: 3x (29:31, 32:56) I've Got It!: 3x (16:52, 34:55, 34:55) What Does This Mean?: 3x (15:55, 19:51, 24:13) Nonsense: 2x (20:19, 24:21) Lovely: 2x (22:12, 1:10:54) Surely: 2x (35:56, 57:11) Wow: 2x (43:39, 43:41) Useless: 1x (22:37) Bother: 1x (04:58) Naked Single: 1x (1:03:18) I Have no Clue: 1x (01:32) Stuck: 1x (1:06:08) Brilliant: 1x (44:44) Fascinating: 1x (32:11) Elegant: 1x (1:13:33) Take a Bow: 1x (1:13:15) Come on Simon: 1x (31:47) Bonkers: 1x (1:12:31) Shouting: 1x (58:14) Corollary: 1x (41:59) Box Thingy: 1x (31:14) Progress: 1x (06:37) Fabulous: 1x (01:57) Have a Think: 1x (26:11) Thingy Thing: 1x (31:14) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Thirty Seven (23 mentions) One (118 mentions) Blue (44 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (22) - Low (9) 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!

[@liorramati265]

Pretty sure there's 3 Ahs at 24:33

[@th.nd.r]

Corollary shows up a few times

[@longwaytotipperary]

Finally finished watching the puzzle solve. That was marvelous! Yay Simon!! Yay TNC!! You too are well matched! 👏👏

[@Coyotek4]

Took me just over an hour (1:01:37) ... one of the most incredible pure killer sudokus I've ever solved. Wonderful puzzle!

[@bugfacedog44]

TotallyNormalCat - please never quit setting puzzles!!! You are my favorite setter. "Crossroads" is the best soduku I have ever seen. (It's called "the monster from the jaws of hell" on the channel for those curious)

[@thumper8684]

12:00 I am actally shouting at the screen, my first time ever. (yellow and orange aren't the same but this is not why) {edit} The actual logic comes via cell r1c1. It sees all cells in both cages. If the 37 cage excludes the digits the 8 cage uses, they would use all the digits and the top left cell could have no value. The two cages use one pair of digits that sum to 7 (which are forced into the outies). The remaining cells in the box must contain the other pair, proceed to colouring.

[@JK7H]

Thank you i was having a hard time getting why two cell in both cages had to be the same

[@samplename5159]

The title lured me, and what a wonderful puzzle. Not the hardest but i forgive the title and agree that it was brilliant and felt fresh. Two hours it took me, some cage tricks i saw faster and better than Simon (caged digits around box 7 have to add up to 4 more than uncaged inside, at some point in the solve that's 23+ in 3 cells) and some of them were really well hidden in plain sight, prolonging my enjoyment.

[@Wannabanauthor]

I was so lost from the very beginning and spent hours just trying to understand a few seconds of your logic, and I may have to come back to this video later when I'm a better solver. I'm going to check out your other videos though. This one was just too hard for me to follow along. Kudos to you sir for doing this puzzle.

[@Omega_Orion]

Always love it when there's an inverse ratio between the size of the rules text and the length of the video

[@kapochung9990]

This puzzle setter is not normal, he is a genius. He is a totally crazy cat

[@TheFreeBro]

The sad cat in the thumbnail corner told me this was going to be a special video

[@therocknrollmillennial535]

20:55: A prison guard looking for empty space to bring in another prisoner. This was an amazing puzzle, which I expected nothing less from TNC. I'm thrilled I solved this under an hour (With MUCH of Simon's help, of course). Thank you, Simon, for the constant guidance into these puzzles! :)

[@christophstahl8169]

This felt very hard and at any step i thought i might not be able to solve it. But then one little deduction after the other I managed. The break-in and early steps were just sublime. Fantastic puzzle.

[@headoftss]

An outrageous puzzle. Fantastic work by TNC, great solve by Simon.

[@pbush071987]

Started this puzzle 10 minutes after the video went up. 3 restarts later due to mistakes, I solved it with only one hint from Simon's video, after I got stuck for a little over an hour. I might be addicted.

[@beyondlimitss]

Thoroughly enjoyed solving this one....took a little over 90 mins with 10 interruptions :)

[@th.nd.r]

Brilliant puzzle and solve yet again! TNC is way too good at this, and there are a few moments in this puzzle where I’m like, “that’s beautiful, but it certainly takes a Simon to spot it and not a me” lol.

[@nickthompson1812]

You’ve been featuring a lot of real thinkers lately! Thank you for putting on these solves for us.

[@jpatrick1967]

The 3 in box 3 was left uncolored. Thanks for my OCD hitting another high.

[@ericpraline1302]

It feels good to have solved the world's hardest sudoku, even if life now seems empty and pointless.

[@markp7262]

1:01:15 finish. I was able to spot the break in immediately, and I STILL struggled as I continued on. Always a fun time of sudoku!

[@wokkawicca]

Took me over 2 hours, but was happy to be able to solve a TNC gem....I loved the complementary corners with the interrelated 8/37 "same-flavor" interactions and high-low implications in the lower left cages, and the 'overflow' maths at the righthand corners being useless at first then bouncing back to resolve the outies later. I got to a quicker start for once because I colored the 2345 pairs right away...of course, then I bogged down. Wish I knew how Simon springs from one insight to the next with such minimal delay...I can stare for 15 minutes and get nowhere.

[@erickehr4475]

I don’t normally try them if Simon takes more than hour, but I gave this one a go and did it in 47:56.

[@longwaytotipperary]

yay!

[@PathOfShrines]

Wow, quite the puzzle. Found what I thought was the break-in fairly quickly, but then it was still quite challenging to get through the "midgame". Just a gem. 76:26

[@karlmortenlunna2417]

Fantastic solve of a fantastic puzzle! If you go to the tools/settings you can turn large digits off, and then the corner marks doesn't cover the cage-totals.

[@pulsefel9210]

the fact i made a spreadsheet to help me with store books of sum puzzles actually helped here abit lol. though those only ever went to 5 digits. those 37s made me realize i gotta put the time into make it longer. but at least with your 45 hint i was able to get the digits relative locations in the bottom right!

[@joelstevens5670]

Absolutely loved the break in logic for this one, it was just stunning. I have to say that Simon chose a far more difficult approach to the cages in boxes 1 and 5 (though that emphasises his level of thinking). The easiest thing to spot is that the two cages in those boxes form a larger region which adds to 45, so you can perform a ‘set equivalence’ trick (highlighting the combined region and the box in two different colours, then eliminating the cells common to both). This leaves you with two pairs of cells which add to the same value. Now look at the top right of those cells (the first cell in box 2 if you are considering box 1). It cannot repeat in its own cage or row. It also cannot go in the bottom right cell of the box since this would imply that the cells in each pair were the same, which is impossible as the other cells are in the same column so cannot be the same value (e.g. if the pairs added to 5 and the top and bottom right cells were both 1, then this would leave two 4s in the same column). Thus the top right cell must go in the 8 cage in both cases and is therefore different to the other cell in that pair. Now consider the bottom left cell (the first cell in box 4 if you are considering box 1). Almost the exact same logic can be applied (it can’t go in its column and if it were again in the bottom right cell it would imply both pairs were the same, this time putting the other cells in the same row). This forces both cells in the pair into the 37 cage and since no digit above 5 can be missing from the cage but neither cell in the pair can be greater than 5 (due to the properties of a 3-cell 8 cage), both pairs must add up to 37-(6+7+8+9)=7. Thus all of the cells are different and must be a 2,5 and a 3,4 pair (there cannot be a 1 in the 37 cage). Performing the same logic on the other box allows us to determine that the two cells in each position (top right/bottom left of the combined region) are the same, which places a 1 into the 7th cell of box 5. There now cannot be a 1 in the 23 cage (there must be a 1 in the 18 cage in box 7) so there must be both a digit 2 and a digit 3 in it. This forces the bottom left digit of the pair to be a 4 or 5 and the top right digit to be a 2 or 3. There is now only one place for the top right digit in the 23 cage, row 7 column 2. But this digit cannot go in the 18 cage, which we know must contain a 2. Therefore the top right digit is a 3. Thank you to TotallyNormalCat for yet another incredible sudoku and well done Simon for another impressive solve.

[@robert-skibelo]

Thanks. Very good explanation. You're very diplomatic about Simon's explanation, which owing to the demands of trying to think and talk to the viewers at the same time had a monstrous gap in it at 12:41. At that point, having correctly concluded that the 8 cage cannot contain the three digits missing from the 37 cage, he says: Therefore, TWO of the digits in the 8 cage must also be in the 37 cage. This TWO comes as an unexplained bolt from the blue. Why wouldn't just one of them do? I know the answer now, having stopped the video and worked out the consequences. It may have been a clever leap on Simon's part, but I think an explanation along the lines you suggest wold have been more helpful to viewers.

[@joelstevens5670]

@@robert-skibelo It’s a difficult one to call really. The majority of Simon’s solves are incredibly well handled given the challenges of doing them on video (I really enjoy most of them) but occasionally the solve seems slightly more unclear as was the case here (though the way Simon thought about it was very interesting). Generally speaking I’m just amazed by Simon’s ability to consistently solve quality puzzles (and that was certainly quality). Glad you found the explanation helpful. ;)

[@davidhughes7174]

a beautiful puzzle and solve. Well don Simon, most enjoyable.

[@Subscriber9192]

55:23 im just happy i saw that a 4 had to go in the bottom of the 20 cage, seeing as im not that good at sudoku, and its 1am hahaha

[@Swisswavey]

That was great. It took me a while, 67 minutes, but I loved it. I love a bit of killer sudoku and this was a great example. I'm sure I missed a few tricks so I'll watch to see what Simon can teach me. (I tend to attack these from a maths angle, not sudoku logic, so Simon often takes a totally different approach). Looking forward to watching it. Fantastic puzzle again, thanks so much for sharing it

[@bencarroll2708]

are you implying that simon uses a sudoku-based approach??

[@Swisswavey]

@@bencarroll2708 Hahaha. Well, more than I do because he's so much better at it

[@longwaytotipperary]

For the rest of us - I hope you post how to solve the ridiculously difficult puzzle after someone wins!! 😄

[@BRBTheFireball]

I solved this puzzle directly from LMD last week in 42 minutes. I mentioned in the comments that I was eager to see Simon struggle with it, and I was certainly not disappointed. Take a bow, UtterlyWeirdCaracal.

[@wallacexixctc7115]

Simon can you make sven put the corner pencil mark on the top right of the cell instead of top left.That blocks the cage total all the time which has been an issue for a long time.

[@jefffrank177]

If you turn off large digits, it actually moves the top left digit sligthly more toward the center which in most cases solves this problem.

[@Sylvester.vanWelij]

To distinguish cells that contain two exclusive versions of a pair of numbers uses two colors in this video. For example blue/green for a 2-5 pair and yellow/orange for a 3-4 pair. It is difficult to remember which colors are coupled and the possible number of pairs is limited. A better way (which Mark occasionally uses) is to give the opposing versions a dark or large grey flash. So one couple would be blue/light-grey versus blue/dark-grey (might be called light blue and dark blue for conciseness). Then another could be light orange and dark orange etc,. It woud be obvious which shadings would belong together and more couples can be made. In case a color in in two possible cells place, one could add a black flash (and why is there no white flash?).

[@billstevens3796]

First digit placed at 33:20. Second at 40:35. Yup, that's hard.

[@DreamCracker]

38:50 Another way to look at it is that the 23 cage must have 2 and 3 in it but it doesn't have orange. Therefore orange cannot be 2 or 3.

[@57thorns]

The explanation at 12 minutes I think could be easier explained by saying that r1c1 sees all nine digits, breaking the puzzle.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

25:43 for me. What a great puzzle that was, I enjoyed the solve a lot!!

[@waldolala2]

The numbers are going over the thingy @25:16 because large digits are on in the settings

[@JimOMoore]

Why does the rule set not begin with "Totally normal sudoku rules apply"? 😀

[@nicholasbrinkmeyer7120]

The 3 in box 3 was not colored. This was a great puzzle and loved watching. I wish you would spend a little more time paying attention to your coloring.

[@bogdanlupu3679]

Great puzzle mate. I enjoy every video from this channel. I started doing killer sudoku but is almost impossible for me at this stage. The fastest time was 4 5 hours for an "easy" one 😂.

[@JASPACB750RR]

Simon, Can you do a live stream where you talk through the logic, but only input cells into the grid that are agreed upon and voted in by the chat? So we get to hear your voice, watch your beautiful mind work, and have your wisdom there to help “coach” us less experienced solvers complete a hard puzzle. Granted, there are probably not very many novice solvers in this community of collective genius, but I myself am not a good solver, but with the aid of the community and your logic, I could go farther than possible in my own. You could make that a series, the live interactive community solve. And if that happens, could I be a moderator? I feel that a “Groupthink” would bring a whole new level of harmony and connectivity between the channel’s community to each other, the community to the channel, and everyone as a whole to the love of these puzzles. Please reach out and let me know if this idea comes to fruition, or on your thoughts in general. I have been a follower/subscriber of this channel since the beginning. I have watched the numbers grow, watched the channel grow, and have been thinking of ways to help it grow even more. And this just came to me. Especially when you say, “I know you all are probably shouting at your screen right now that I’m missing something obvious, if you shout loud enough I may hear you.” This idea would join us together in those moments, making the solving and logical path we journey down during the solve, that much more enjoyable. Community, Can I get some likes if you all would love to see this happen? For us to share in the experiences that these puzzles share with us.

[@alienrenders]

79:56 I had to finish it by enumerating all the possible combinations for some of the cages and then seeing what worked together. Sorry, but that's just too tedious for my liking. I don't mind a little bit of math. But this was a bit much. Nice setting for what it is though.

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

43:47 for me. That late guess saved a lot of time

[@_starfiend]

There was a jump in logic early on that I just never got, and I've watched that bit a few times trying to work it out. At 13:00 Simon told us to imagine that the 8 cage in boxes 1&4 were a 125 triple, and that somehow then proved that the 2&5 were in the 37 cage. Where did that leap of logic come from? Why couldn't it have been the 1&2 or the 1&5? Why did it have to be the 2&5?

[@RichSmith77]

The three digits that the 37 cage are missing must sum to 8, and you cannot make 8 without including a 1, so the 37 cage is missing a 1. You could also think about the maximum you could make a 6 cell cage sum to if it includes a 1: 1+(9+8+7+6+5) = 36, not big enough.

[@_starfiend]

@@RichSmith77 Yes of course. Thank you.

[@SolinoOruki]

I think the Sudoku pad needs at least 9 colors for puzzles like this. At least for me it would work much better if I had 9 colors to play around with.

[@asterix4621]

i appreciate that you try to not place red and orange next to one another, though for me it would be much more important to do the same thing with green and yellow, and with blue and purple. it makes following the solve much more difficult for me as i have to remember which cell is green and which is yellow for example.

[@michaelhoffman2011]

That was a tough one.. took me 2 hours. Very clever puzzle.

[@filipbrannstrom31]

I got stuck at 54:30 and just forgot that blue number had to go somewhere. I spent a lot of time trying to see what I missed. Eventually I watched Simon. I had done all he did up until that point. The puzzle was done in just a few minutes more.

[@yuriys5642]

13:20 why does it have to be 2,5 pair in 37 cage? I don't really understand :/ How do we know that 2 or 5 are not part of the missing digits from the 37 cage? (since we are also missing digits summing up to 8)

[@jensstalberg8968]

It doesn't , at this stage it is just an example, to see how it is sorted out what pair it is, look at 38:30.

[@atharvv]

Yeah I don’t get this either yet. It’s explained how at least one digit in the 8 cage is in the 37 cage, but why can’t just one digit in the 8 cage be in the 37 cage?

[@purpleli4760]

Example, which he forgot to undo but later undid

[@longwaytotipperary]

I was wondering that also. I'm scrolling through the comments trying to find the answer... 🤔

[@wpsetzer]

Suppose you have a 45-cage. Take away the 37-cage from it and you're left with a 3-digit cage summing to 8. So a 1-3-4 or a 1-2-5. Now Simon has established that the 3-digit 8 cage in box 1 is not the "leftovers". That is, if the 37-cage is missing 1-2-5, then the 8 cage is NOT 1-2-5. Since it's the other possible 3-cage summing to 8, it's the 1-3-4 one, and the 3 & 4 are in the the 37-cage (which is missing 1-2-5). The logic is analogous if you swap 3-4 and 2-5.

[@rowkingsbury945]

Lowkey keep watching to hear Simon say I'm his favorite people

[@peterkelley6344]

Trying to be funny: Totally normal cat's never bow. They tend to walk aloofly away.

[@irrotational]

I think I'm missing something? Is the logic at the very start wrong? Simon assumes that the three digits missing from the 37 cage must add to 8, which is true, but he assumes they must all be different and therefore a "1" must be missing...however because of the shape and position of the cage couldn't there actually be missing repeated digits? r3c3 could be a 2 as could r2c4?

[@MegaKotai]

I don't know how but I finished in 33:35. Reading the comments feels like I done the impossible. The break in seemed obvious to me and I just flowed through the whole thing.

[@1fosters]

The 'numbers are going over the thingy' because you have large digits turned on in settings. Turn it off and pencil marks won't obscure the cage totals

[@jimbeauchamp2144]

No Simon you’re one of MY favorite people 🥺

[@imblackmagic1209]

missed a 3 :c sad, also, at some point, green only had 1 spot on row9

[@G4M1L]

Brillant puzzle, leaving me with very mixed feelings about my solve. I understood the logic of the 2345s early on, next tackled the cages around box7 in a slightly different way from Simon's, using the fact that the three uncaged cells in box 7 had to be 4 greater than the four caged cells reaching out from that box due to the cage sums and 'the secret', so the four outer cage cells could add up to 20 at most, 4 less than the possible maximum of 24 for 789. Also realizing there had to be two of the remaining low digits from 2345 adding up to 7 in the outer cage cells, I then made a mistake, treating these outer cells as if they were in one cage and so disregarded the possibility of repeated digits, which made me think they had to be 2567. The low digit pair adding up to 7 left 13 or less for the two remaining cells with high digits (>5). Not thinking of the possibility of double 6 giving a total of 12 I continued under the wrong assumption these remaining cells had to be 6 and 7. This unfortunatley allowed me to progress quite a bit, until it broke down just when I thought I was on the home stretch. It took me a considerable time to realize my blunder, but at least finally I was able to fix it.

[@Raven-Creations]

Brilliant killer from TNC. No gimmicky SET, just some evil-genius geometry and a bit of nice arithmetic. You were slowed at the start by your poor colour scheme - choosing green for two different values, and orange for another pair. At least you corrected this, rather than persevering. If you think light grey is too close to dark grey, your monitor's gamma setting must be completely wrong. The light grey is much closer to white than dark grey. If your gamma's set correctly, the dark grey should appear about mid way between light grey and black (which is really a very dark grey). If you're using Windows, click Start and search for "Calibrate Display Colour".

[@debblez]

4:23:40 for me. Didn’t see that trick with r9c9 needing to be 8 or 9 or the naked single 4. I dont know how you make it look so easy

[@fulltimeslackerii8229]

i had fun for 20 minutes thinking about where 1 couldn’t go in the puzzle and coloring

[@n_mckean]

Got there in a marathon. Don't break my brain on a weekend.

[@josephrion3514]

I have been staring at it but the c2r9 cell in box 7 can't be green so it must be a 1/4 pair only. Orange or 1 you been cluttering it with digits. 1 hour and two minutes in that box can't be a one because it won't be big enough if you minimize box three to be a one and the other cell to be a seven you'd still need a three or higher.

[@Ari666Dei]

after all these colors and pencil marks, it would be fun too see simon solve a sudoku with pen and paper for once! hehe

[@Biese99]

I would love to see the watchtime statistics on this channel! :D

[@AndreasKungl]

Holy crap, what a tough nut. One of those puzzles, where at one point you forget that it's still sudoku. I probably missed some simpler stuff, but digging deep into hidden deductions was part of the fun. Just when I wanted to give up for the night, I discovered an extremely obfuscated naked single that unravelled the whole thing. Very impressive construction. Edit: Ah, I saw now that Simon went the same path, and the same digit was also his key to unlock the rest.

[@mef8201]

1:03:17 I got stuck on this moment and could not decide further... spent 2 hours only at this point, without this sequel is dead... in my whole life I solved only 2-3 sudoku and immediately took up solving this one. Why? For what? It was a difficult 4-5 hours T_T

[@my_beer_stories]

12:40 never mention Schrodinger's Cat around an actual cat, they get nervous

[@msolec2000]

RIP 3 in box 3 not getting yellow. I need to issue an effective DNF for that (Yes, I know it's harsh, but that's how you learn) ;) :)

[@bristolrovers27]

Brilliant puzzle

[@lylecampbell8288]

My path through was identical to yours although of course I was slower.

[@jamesdonnelly9217]

Am I the only one who thinks of the Kinks whenever Simon says "low digit"?

[@andrewnelson2525]

It took me twice as long as the video length, which is unsurprising for TotallyNormalCat, perhaps the second most torturous (in a good way) setter regularly featured. I wasted some time going nowhere and thinking "Well maybe it's set theory." It wasn't set theory. Still, it's so satisfying when these seemingly impossible puzzles finally fall apart (or grind to a finish as the case may be).

[@maurobraunstein9497]

Wow. Took me several hours to get to a point where I had a sudoku mistake and had to give up on the puzzle. Turns out it was because I got 2's and 5's where I should have gotten 3's and 4's, messing up that 18 cage at the bottom. Whoops! The puzzle's much harder when you don't have the right numbers in!

[@3Jeroen3]

If you’ve combined the logic in box 2,3 and 6 you could have deduced there is a 1 in the corner of box 3 and more easily deduce the 2/5 and 3/4 pares.

[@deilusi]

27:53 at this moment he could have place one in 5:7 which gives a lot of power :)

[@julieannmyers8714]

Oh no! No yellow for the 3 in box 3. 😳

[@rogerdouglas2306]

just had an idea. this would be easier and safer on yours and our eyes, and my oled if you had a black board rather than white. black board with white lines try it once!

[@blueninja572]

5:52 for the actual start guys

[@davidstorrs]

Speaking of birthday wishes and other non-sudoku things, what happened with that lost dog?

[@tiemen9095]

that uncolored 3 in r3c9 is staring at me during the outro :p.

[@professortrog7742]

I can only see the three B-2’s flying through the grid, must be a visual thing 🤓

[@ChrissyBiOhMy]

This was way harder for me because I somehow missed the 3 in r4c7 looking at r7c7.