These rules... They're GORGEOUS

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
We should probably do more puzzles by the genius constructor KNT but, although they get recommended a lot, the recommendations always suggest that the videos may need to be in instalments such is the complexity involved!
Today though we attempt Exclusions - an 8x8 sudoku with hardly any rules. How can this possibly solve uniquely?
Play the puzzle at the link below:
sudokupad.app/3rr7h8xl3w
Rules:
Place the digits from 1 to 8 exactly once in every row, column, and region. Each region consists of eight orthogonally connected cells and must be located by the solver. A cell with an arrow (or arrows) indicates how many cells in the indicated directions combined do NOT belong to the same region as that cell.
Jane Street's Bug Bytes puzzle is available here:
www.janestreet.com/bug-byte/
(Simon's solve of this puzzle is on Patreon.)
** NEW SUDOKU HUNT ON PATREON **
We're delighted to share with you a brand new sudoku hunt themed around snake egg puzzles by Glum Hippo. If you've never tried snake egg logic puzzles before, prepare for serious fun - these sudokus are outstanding! Finish by May 20 to enter the competition!
Other treats on Patreon include:
- the Sumgeons & Diagrams sudoku by sunnyjum;
- Simon's latest forays into the world of Islands Of Insight;
- Mark's video looking at the new OneUp puzzle from Rodolfo Kurchan;
- his solve of Region Geometry by Emre Kolotoğlu (3hr 36min long...!);
- and Mark's latest solve of The Times Club Monthly cryptic crossword
/ crackingthecryptic
** GET OUR FOG KICKSTARTER DELUXE & OUR BOOKS **
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▶ SUDOKU PAD - Use Our Software For Your Puzzles ◀
You can input classic sudoku puzzles into our software and help support Sven, the programmer responsible for the wonderful user interface we all use to play these puzzles everyday. The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us:
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ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”
▶ Contents Of This Video ◀
0:00 Theme music & puzzle intro
2:34 Simon vs Bug Byte - a new Jane Street puzzle
3:00 Snake Egg Sudoku Hunt
3:18 Happy Birthdays & other announcements
5:20 Rules
8:30 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking
▶ Contact Us ◀
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email: [e-mail]
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Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
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(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)
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[@KNT_awesome12345]

thanks for the solve! look forward to watching this later. A funny note - I haven’t set puzzles really at all in the past 6 months or so, but last week I posted two chaos constructions. This puzzle was mostly an exercise for me getting back in shape for setting, I think it took about the length of this video to make, it was a relatively quick and fluid process. The other one is a bit more involved, and as a result has less solves which I am much more used to due to length/difficulty of my typical set. Regardless, a nice surprise to see on the channel!

[@davidrattner9]

Just again fabulous from you!! Tons of respect!!! Loved everything about it. Welcome back!!

[@nonyobisniss7928]

I personally feel puzzles like this are more tiresome than fun. Sure there's some hard to find deductions to make, but they're not really satisfying. The fact it took you roughly the same time to make as it took Simon to solve might suggest you use a program to verify uniqueness, but the fact it's a chaos construction would suggest otherwise, unless you have your own program you use? Sorry for the negativity, but consider it chaotic constructive criticism.

[@KNT_awesome12345]

@@nonyobisniss7928 You are correct; I did everything up to the R6C7 arrow by hand, then did some trial and error and found a minimal ending with only one extra clue. You can achieve this by using the f-puzzles solver (there are many newer better ones now, but i'm old and still do validation checks on f-puzzles) by setting the regions to be 1xN rows, and using partial killer cages to track regions. I am cognizant of the fact the irregular is difficult, but this was, as I said, a quick set that I had no intention of dwelling on, and I liked the minimalism of the grid. It is indeed possible to put helpful arrows in R5C5 as well as any other on a 1 or a 5 in the first four columns to make the irregular smoother - but I decided against it for the aesthetic vision. Any known setter besides maybe one or two that I respect greatly and also shall remain nameless will admit to regularly using solver assistance for finishing a sudoku, especially with chaos construction. I do _not_ set for the CTC channel (though seeing them is always a pleasant surprise); I primarily set non-sudoku type puzzles with more novel or lesser known rules, and because non-sudokus are not constrained by grid size, I have the liberty of making the puzzle length scale much larger. I am regularly accustomed to spending 15+ hours on any of these, and completely without solver use -- sometimes even using physical pen and paper. Your 'constructive criticism' is noted but you are not telling me anything I do not already know. I have an inkling that this made it to this channel because I am aware they get many requests for some of my more ambitious sets, which are not video appropriate, and an '8x8 KNT puzzle' in the sudoku category is enticing for the reason they can say they did a KNT puzzle without actually doing one.

[@chipsounder4633]

Very clever puzzle. Nice and clear rules. I actually think this could be the best kind of fog of war especially with that break in ❤. Love it.😊

[@prodigis.]

The other one is monstrous haha but very good. I love the added flair from the ambiguity rule

[@vjtocco]

I have never felt more validated than right now, with Simon agonizing over the same “do I start the sudoku now or do I finish the regions” question that I wrestled with for hours

[@praematura]

Thank you so much for the kind words, Simon. He was my life, and just trying to find my way forward without him. Your channel definitely does help.

[@BumperChip_]

im so so sorry for your loss

[@longwaytotipperary]

😔❤️❤️

[@laschlein9470]

28 years, what an incredible innings! I am so, so sorry. Unfortunately grief is the price we are all forced to pay for love, but I'm sure you have so many fond memories, and I'm sure you were lucky to have each other. Hope you are able to take you time to grieve ❤

[@pouletbelette]

Sorry for your loss. I can understand how this channel can help you find some of the courage much needed to move forward. You have all my sympathy.

[@angec9908]

Simon: is recording Maverick: 🛫😈

[@st3phgr1ce]

I want to commend Simon for his tenacity when solving these impossible-seeming puzzles to me. I have learned so much about solving from you and Mark not the least of which is noting that I have a tendency to make assumptions that are not logical. Enjoy watching the solves daily! ❤

[@jackk5024]

at 1:26:27 Simon did not in fact get a 3 in the corner, but rather a B in the corner, a B in the spotlight, losing its religion.

[@cypher686]

😂

[@Kirbyfan87827]

I'm finally getting around to watching this and I'm already confused. Simon seems convinced that the four arrow cell is an 8, but couldn't it be a 9 by only including SIX of the green cells seen by the arrows and adding an eighth cell NOT seen by the arrows to the region? At 11:21 he talks about doing exactly this like it's something he can't do but doesn't explain WHY he can't do it. Edit: I'm a dumbass, I completely forgot it's an 8x8. The number 9 for all intents and purposes doesn't exist.

[@irc_ninja6906]

game does not have 9

[@TAGAnimus]

to be fair he uses the phrase "... digits 1 through 9 ..." often in his explanations, likely out of habitually saying it for regular sudoku

[@uigrad]

The discovery he makes at 1:11:25 is absolutely astounding to me. Essentially, he is asking where R5C2 goes into row 2. And this question is the right question to advance, but why would he look for a row 5 value in row 2? I usually make the same observations as Simon, just a little slower, but I don't think I would have ever found that.

[@spin-rg9ib]

i think he was looking at the regions and scanning the 3. maybe noticed the pattern of the region, and realizing 3 was restricted lead him to row 2. That is my best guess. i think the better at scanning the grid you are the better you are able to avoid headaches in these difficult sudokus.

[@Brekin_Constras]

You may be right spin considering that thinking about 3s is how I found that same thing. In row 2 the 3 is limited to r2c1 and r2c2. Since r5c2 is in the red region that means regardless of which cell the 3 goes to in row 2 it can’t be there.

[@davidrattner9]

Always love your enthusiasm and passion in solving Simon!! You constantly give credit to the setters!! Your reactions are 2nd to none!! Thank you for always being you!!

[@longwaytotipperary]

Very well said and totally agree!

[@davidrattner9]

@@longwaytotipperary 🤎💜

[@Tepalus]

Sometimes I forget how good Simon actually is at Sudoku, but solving a half finished Sudoku and ignoring the fact that dark green needed a 6 and still managing to almost solve the entire thing let me remember that fact. Gz Simon :)

[@kevinharris9054]

Smug me after 30 minutes: I've got all the arrow cells and most of the regions. How did Simon manage to drag this out for 1 hr 30.... Non-smug me 60 minutes later after putting in about 2 more digits: Okay how do you finish this puzzle????!!! Finally solved it in just over 2 hours. Once more my hat is doffed to Simon.

[@kevinharris9054]

It took me 30 mins to get to the 1 hour point of this video and that's when I got stuck

[@prodigis.]

To your point, I had started KNT's recent 10x10 take on this and panicked when I saw your thumbnail thinking I didn't finish it in time, so I went back to try to "wrap it up"...3 hours later I'm stonewalled by the ending. Was glad to see I could still watch today's video without spoilers once I gave up and clicked 😅

[@RecreationalCynic]

Solved it in 153:38. Geez louise, how do people come up with stuff like this. I hadn't heard of KNT before, I don't check LMD, and I didn't check the video length, so I didn't know what I signed up for when I started it. At first I thought "wow, this is quite easy", and then it was not quite easy. I wrestled with the bottom right three regions before I succumbed to doing sudoku, which, with the 8 and 6 in col 5, is what finished the last three regions. I can't think of any other way to resolve them aside from doing that.

[@S3c13nt]

I Was watching your chanel during 1st year of pandemic, after lockdown i kind of forgotten about you. KZbin decided to push this video on me 4 years later and I still enjoyed watching it. It is lovely to see you grow in such short period of time. Much Love!

[@MattYDdraig]

61:03 This started gently with a beautiful flow from one section to the next and ended with some extremely difficult deductions marrying the sudoku with the region restrictions. Brilliant puzzle.

[@Stupid_Egg]

Yay imma solve this with you in my dream tonight

[@harkelin]

I'll join you! No way I can do it by myself!

[@blumousey]

I have found some clues that could be added to make it easier: Down arrow in r1c3 Down arrow in r7c2 Up and down arrows in r4c2 Right arrow in r7c1 Up and down arrows in r4c7 Up and down arrows in r3c4 Up-left, up-right, left and right arrows in r2c5 Quite fun to find them, I bet there's loads more

[@JaymanOttawa]

This was an impressive solve Simon!

[@Poldx]

i mean, in defense of alexa, I also would get turned on everytime simon says "let's get cracking" :3

[@chipsounder4633]

Under rated comment 😂😂

[@thatonerisottosimp6791]

HELLO?? Digital footprint?? /lh

[@chipsounder4633]

Fantastic solve again Simon. This ruleset has Fog of War written all over it. ❤

[@ericpraline1302]

I'm glad Simon didn't sail through the irregular sudoku bit as that was brutal. That said, I actually quite enjoy challenges like that, possibly because I have masochistic tendencies but also because when you make some progress it feels like a real achievement. I made this puzzle tougher than it needed to be at the start by deciding to re-write the rules in my head, possibly due to aforementioned masochistic tendencies. Anyway, very clever puzzle, thanks.

[@AlbieStarr]

1:00:55 me screaming at simon that since he put the yellow flashes potentially completing yellow the only thing R8C6 can possibly be is purple and him only seeing it 20 minutes later at 1:22:45

[@bobbie0976]

This puzzle was brutal!! Glad I was able to solve it, for a long time it didn’t look like it.

[@RootingForYouRoot]

This was fun to do along 😊

[@DanielVita]

I found it handy to draw a border around a region when it for sure had all 8 of it' cells determined. I think that might be why the grid was dotted. Just a note that made it easier for me to visualize the next steps.

[@anaayoung9142]

Not only a quite hard caos construction, but a even harder sudoku! Great solve!

[@nicka3697]

I took much longer to finalise the regions (resolving A and B first) and my suduko solving was less elegant. Well done Simon it is a very intractable solve. Watching you struggling over the same points in the solve i never felt like shouting this time. There were no obvious paths it was all a matter of teasing out a few more digits and then doing the Paddington HARD STARE until it yeilded a bit more.

[@johngilbert7359]

Super tough, very pleased to have survived this one!

[@evanbasnaw]

Beautiful puzzle

[@angec9908]

Simon. I would never describe you as “stupid”

[@janerobson2297]

I do find it funny that I spend so much time shouting at the screen. Except when Simon says I think people will be shouting. Then I say, nope! I'm stuck as well.

[@jimi02468]

At 15:44 I got a digit before Simon! Three goes to R4C4 because the only way for it to be anything other than three is if the red and orange squares were the same region but they're not.

[@TheokeS85]

The dashed lines… they look like they are made for the pen tool… 🤷 And then at 1:02:50 aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh! Never change Simon, never change!

[@johnnyw4life]

I was going to comment on how he forgot his pen tool today 😫

[@Sergi4]

awesome puzzle

[@srwapo]

89:32 with a little help coloring and a LOT of help with the sudoku. Started alright, went fast, then just hit a wall.

[@debrabowen4276]

Programmer here: software likely checks for arrays of digits, without regard for regions.

[@josephbentley7780]

91:19 for me, I found the coloring part at the beginning much more enjoyable

[@frankjiang1857]

Finished in 105:37. I got through the new ruleset in like 20 minutes, but then got stuck for a while on solving the irregular regions. After struggling for like 40 minutes, I had to clear it and re-solve the solution, because I had eliminated some values too early. I'm guessing that my solving irregular region sudokus is probably below par :(. Fun puzzle!

[@gabrielgrey2708]

At around 35:40, couldn't the black region with the 6 join with the region with 4 on the top row? Making the cell left of the 6 not necessarily be in the same region as the 6?

[@michaellautermilch9185]

New to serting puzzles, how do you get them into Sven's app?

[@dqdr]

I’m quite new to harder/off-piste sudokus like this (let’s give me a 1.5 on logic masters Germany to give you a steer) I can follow Simon’s logic regarding the areas but I genuinely cannot fathom from the ruleset how he’s able to so confidently place the numbers especially early on. Is it a rule innate in the type of puzzle it is, or am I missing something obvious? Thanks in advance to anyone who replies 😅

[@RichSmith77]

It's a hard puzzle, and a rule set that I've not seen before, so it takes awhile (for me at least) to get to grips with what the arrows are actually saying. But the only thing that starts putting digits into the grid is to properly understand that the digit in a cell with any arrows in it, is counting the number of cells (in all pointed directions combined) that do not belong to that cells region. You can quickly get some upper limits on what that counts can be. For instance, it's an 8x8 grid and we're only using the digits 1-8. No cell with an arrow can have a digit greater than the total count of cells seen by the arrow(s). So a cell with a single arrow that points to the edge of the grid cannot have a digit greater than the number of cells between it and the edge of the grid. I could get to where Simon was at around the 45 minute mark, and the digits in the cells with arrows are fairly straightforward as they're just counting cells in other regions. Placing digits in the other cells then comes down to irregular sudoku, which I'm not particularly good at, and as Simon says, this puzzle became brutal at this point. 🙂

[@dqdr]

@@RichSmith77 God, thanks so much for this. It makes so much more sense now. I hugely appreciate such a detailed response and I’m sure it’ll help other people too. It’s beyond my pay grade at the moment but am only a recent discoverer of beyond-the-norm sudoku so trying to learn as much as I can. Thanks again Rich.

[@piarittersporn]

Hard work. I wasn't patient enough to manage the puzzle on my own completely .... so I had to look at Simon again and again......

[@jinkela7295]

Why Simon didn't delineate the region bondary during his solve this time (and seemingly the only time since pen tool was added)?

[@PathOfShrines]

Really fun puzzle. The leaps at the end of the solve are a lot of fun! 128:40 for me

[@KyleBaran90]

1:22:00 - another way to see the broken 4 is that green would have to take one of the white cells above the pink 4, and then orange couldn't place their 4

[@laurasmith2173]

Pausing the video at 8:46 to say, Simon I thought you were going to turn Alexa off.

[@nmappraiser9926]

It's like 2001. You say, "Alexa, turn yourself off," and she says, "I'm afraid I can't do that, Simon."

[@LednacekZ]

1:08:01 for me. the irregular sudoku was incredibly hard.

[@RealCadde]

36:05 Now you most definitely have 8 regions. Purple IS its own region even though it's not finished yet. You cannot join any other unfinished regions without going over 8 cells. Light green IS ALSO its own region, though it isn't finished yet. You've proven that it can't join any other region without breaking the puzzle. So it's between light gray, dark green and black and yellow. One of them has to join the others. Well, black, dark green and yellow you have proven that they cannot be the same. So light gray HAS to join one of them. Light gray CANNOT join dark green. Because if you do, you will leave at most 15 cells for light green and black to make two regions. Likewise, yellow and purple would have to fill 17 cells. Light gray also can't join yellow, because if you do, you are saying that three different regions above light gray will have to share 20 cells. You would need 4 more cells. Therefore, light gray IS black. And it has a very specific shape as it MUST take R2C5 to stop light greens arrow from being incorrect. R2C6 MUST be light green or else that region cannot grow to 8 cells. This leaves EXACTLY 8 cells for light gray/black combo to take.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

71:25 for me. Surprisingly, the beginning with the arrows was the easy part. Then it just turned into a very hard irregular sudoku. Got stuck a few times, but I managed to finish it.

[@compiling]

85:48. I really struggled with the rules on this one - I kept inverting the arrow rule in my head and coming up with the same region with a different arrow number.

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

1:07:54 for me. the arrows weren't difficult, but it gave too little information for the chaos construction, had to guess in the end

[@HelloNotMe9999]

All I can think as I watch Simon struggle is “Hoist the Colors” from Pirates of the Caribbean… Purple is the key.

[@jinkela7295]

7:20 If Simon looked at the cell with 4 arrows in it, then he might be able to place the first digit instantly i.e. placing the digit 8 in r3c2

[@richbuckingham]

Simons solve would have been a lot easier if he also pencil marked the possible region colors for yellow, purple, green based on the size 8 restriction, then the requirements to place digits like 4 and 6 are far easier to see and they define the regions much earlier in the solve. Similarly, if he pencil marked all restricted digits you can easily discount digits from cells based on region and row/column counts, which is essentially his exclusion rule but with the pencil marks its just far easier.

[@renadabualjamal5070]

How do we contact simon?

[@ronjohnson6916]

Maverick ups his game.

[@shawncarter7188]

❤ Ken ❤

[@irc_ninja6906]

Brutal hard ! I actually got 2 digits in first 5 minute but after that... good luck xD 30 minutes have passed and haven't got third digit hehe.

[@observer_music]

is it just me or are these solves getting crazier by the day, this aint your grandmas sudoku!

[@DanielVita]

Maverick's come in a steamroller today! 🤪

[@thomasstuder1624]

My check is Simon

[@jinkela7295]

The region construction part is relatively easy, but the sudoku part is quite tricky. 4.5/5 difficulty for me

[@thinkdunson]

49:29 "the sudoku is going to be brutal." say that in normal everyday life and people are going to look at you weird. but when he says it, it's exciting.

[@carcel-]

I needed ‘the Number in a cell with an arrow/s’. Was lost

[@trainzack]

Lovely puzzle. Hard as nails though, I got it in 922:19

[@daleomiller]

The beautiful dashed lines and Simon didn’t outline the regions. :(

[@nicka3697]

So true the outlines would have made the solve perfect.

[@BinarySecond]

That last rule is baffling, I'm hoping I understand it during watching the solve.

[@BinarySecond]

Ah the *value* that the cell will have is given by the different region cells totalled, I understand now.

[@bait6652]

The q? Now: Will some setter.be able to design 7x7 and then 6x6 that will take simon 1:15hr+...think weve seen the 6x6 in hr mark

[@JohnGottschalk]

I got to the point you did at 54:00 and then got stuck. (I got there in about 40 minutes).

[@iceberg54321]

1:20:54 Simon missed the logic that r8 c6 had to be purple, as no other color was possible.

[@iceberg54321]

A little slow counting colors and realizing grey and black were the same, but other than that, some really difficult solving!

[@danielkelly7749]

🎉🎉🎉

[@Gunslinger8912]

Loce the column 9 comment at 34:45 lol

[@karsaanita]

1:09:45 for me, somehow 😅

[@colinfun]

23:48 I was kind of shocked that Simon does not even test right off the bat if it can even be a 1 as that takes it on a very long trip diagonally and is barely even possible if you test it.

[@theredstoneengineer6934]

115:36 for me

[@brettduffin8412]

Steam roller? Where do you live? An historic villiage? Not sure they use Steam engines much nowadays

[@RichSmith77]

Maybe it's a UK thing, but we still call them steamrollers here, even though they're not powered by steam. Like we iron our clothes with devices we call "irons", although they're not made from iron any more.

[@shaunz33]

Oh for a minute at start of solve i forgot it was only 1-8 numbers. I was like why can’t it be a 9. SMH.

[@justinfarmer8371]

Could you assume that if there is an arrow then there is at least one change in regions in that direction Edit: I should have kept watching but I still don’t like the fact that you can have a useless arrow

[@user-mg9tb6zt7z]

Yeah, I also thought the arrow with a count of zero was... unfair? Certainly arbitrary because why not show the other zero-arrows in the same cell? But Simon never even mentioned this, and seemed to assume the possibility from the get-go, so maybe this is typical for arrow rules? Edit: I did enjoy the video, though, and also the puzzle until I got stuck. Thanks to all involved.

[@eboone]

sudoku

[@williambarnes3868]

These videos are getting longer and longer. far too long to sit and watch, especially all the non-relevent waffle at the start.