This Puzzle Is NOT Genuinely Approachable

[@jaydyer3999]

Thanks for another solve! I was really pleased with how the logic in this one came together. The structure you used near the beginning is called a firework (in this case technically a triple firework on 8, 9, and the doubler) and was discovered by shye a year or so ago, so it's entirely possible you've come across it in a puzzle before. The way you disambiguated things near the end with the 25 cage actually wasn't the route I had in mind, but the trick you used was quite fascinating in itself. I did it by seeing that r4c4 couldn't be 1 or 2 as, along with the box 5 doubler, and box 2, there would be too many 12s in the column. That gives you a little more purchase to start resloving where the 1s and 2s are.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

Bravo! Your puzzle is absolutely impressive!

[@Nevir202]

As usual, Simon doesn't find the intended logic, but falls in love with something he invents for himself lol.

[@davidrattner9]

Another brilliant masterpiece from you!!

[@christophstahl8169]

Brilliant puzzle. I loved every step of the way.

[@karlwaugh30]

It took me a combination of the 1/2 logic and finding the r5c6 had to be a 6/7 (the one in r6c2/3 that ended up breaking the 25 cage a little.... Wonderful work and I'd be interested in seeing how you build up the logic for something like this.

[@yvaskhmir]

I really enjoyed the character development of the 25 cage with Simon hating it at the start and then calling it magical towards the end.

[@StorymasterQ]

It's not a movie without character development.

[@Vanziethel]

Watching that 5 doubler go unresolved for so long when Simon was completely stumped was terribly infuriating and hilarious.

[@MrMW2nd]

from 38:00 to 1:21:00

[@dannstarrjp]

Oh my god yes! I’m at 52min now watching and I’m screaming at the screen 😭 I was surprised he got rid of the green coloring, I bet he would’ve noticed that much earlier if he didn’t do that.

[@maljamin]

Wow yes, and even around 1:01:10 coloring his 89 possibilities in the 589 triple should've again shown where the 5 doubler was

[@RolandTitan]

This. dear lord this. I have the sneaking suspicion the intended path involved that poor 5 too and he just found ridiculous logic to get around it

[@RolandTitan]

Update. The setter in fact did intend him to see the 5, and it would have resolved the 1s and 2 s

[@phueal]

Sometimes I'm shouting at the screen and thinking "how can Simon have missed that!?", but then I remind myself that the other 19 times out of 20 he arrives at deductions that would take me hours to find.

[@themorebeer3072]

Simon's glee at finding his first digit was heartwarming.

[@Iconat20]

Opeth?! Patterns in the Ivy?! Didn't expect that from CtC! You are a treasure Simon.

[@averygaron994]

You were able to place the 5 in box 1 as soon as you placed the doubler in box 2 at 37:49, but you didn't spot that until 1:21:00. Probably would've made the solve a bit easier

[@Vedvart1]

I got that 5 as well, but it didn't really resolve anything and I think you end up needing to find all the same steps in logic the same way anyways.

[@andrewgrant6516]

Most of the times you were stuck, it was because you hadn't tidied up your pencil marks. R3c1 was left grey for a good half hour while you proved everything with logic.

[@andyb8057]

I think he left the pencil marked ones in the 25 cage in the top right of box 8 and bottom left of box 6 and didn't see the 12 pairs in boxes 6 and 8, which eliminates the idea of the doubled 1 or 2 in box 5 not being in the cage, and that slowed him down. If he caught those, it cuts his solve time in half, I bet.

[@RichSmith77]

@@andyb8057 Eliminating the erroneous 1 corner pencil marks doesn't immediately lead to 12 pairs in box 6 and 8 though. You still need the equivalent of Simon's reasoning, I think. [Edit: Not until you find a way to force 1 and 2 into the 8 cage in box 5, at least]

[@michaelfish6774]

it was the 8cage that had me wanting to scream it needs a 1 so it cant be dubbled

[@timevans3539]

Never would have thought you were an Opeth fan Simon. I'm 15 seconds into the video and already love it!

[@KazraineMaars]

I did a double take when I heard the first few notes like "I did open the correct video right?!" :D

[@noahsimon8776]

You are now picturing Simon headbanging to the Blackwater Park breakdown+guitar solo

[@spacelem]

I had a moment there where I thought "What? Nooooo. What? Whaaaaat?" I love that song!

[@nestoreleuteriopaivabendo5415]

So it is time to recommend some musics to Simon! I once told in a comment that he would not know Linkin Park when someone said him would use "One, stepped closer to the edge" as he uses "Three in the corner, losing its religion". I guess I was wrong!

[@KyleBaran90]

I thought it was Keeper of the Seven Keys at first

[@hawiiankiwi]

I'm so glad I found this channel a few years ago. I have been watching ones that I missed while I'm recovering from surgery and it has been such a comfort. I haven't run out of things to watch esp with daily uploads and this recovery process has been just a little bit easier! 💖

[@Ardalambdion]

How you solve even the most hopeless puzzle is beyond me and almost everyone else watching this channel, congrats once more!

[@HunterJE]

I love the way the setter community finds some new constraint/rule and then there’s this rush to find all the different creative and interesting things you can do with it, loving this Doubler moment!

[@victormanjarinsala2253]

Yeah, we're in the doubler/fog meta. Curious as to what'll be next :)

[@alithanna]

Marble run perhaps?

[@victormanjarinsala2253]

@@alithanna that was a lovely puzzle actually. I'd love to see more of that.

[@Borkon]

Oh, wow. I was wondering why my solve time was so much shorter than the video time. I think that spotting the doubled 5 in box 1 immediately rather than after 43 minutes made the solve much easier (yes, I counted the minutes, it was making me so frustrated that Simon missed that). It lead me to some relatively simple logic that quickly eliminated candidates from the 8 cage.

[@ericbelanger7394]

I know your pain, I was shouting at the TV the whole time 🤣

[@codevii9063]

I've been pulling my hair out that he ungreened before fixing that 5 as the doubler in box 1. Also, the fact that he deduced 1 & 2 both have to be in the 8 cage, and are the only remaining unidentified doublers, yet kept trying to make the cell outside the 8 cage a doubler in box 5 drove me nearly to tears.

[@playingforfunsies2271]

Yes, he put the doubler in box 2 in at 37:55 and it took him until 1:20:59 to locate the doubler and therefore the 5 in box 1. I however struggled a while with the 25-cage.

[@jamesrhodes3763]

It pained me. So so much.

[@realGBx64]

Yeah, this seemed like confusion because of overusing colors.

[@feldegast]

Simon never apologise for enjoying a nice cup of tea, tea and soduku sound eminently sensible to me 😃 That doubled 5 in box 1 was jumping out at me for ages....great solve

[@emilywilliams3237]

I love how you explore the implications of rules before really getting down to the solve. I learn a lot in those moments. I also learn a lot when you are stuck, because you articulate your thought process as you consider and discard options and approaches. And of course I learn a lot when you solve successfully a very difficult puzzle, as much about perseverance as sudoku and whatever variant is at play. I'm glad, also, that you don't take time to clean up pencil marks or coloring as you go along; I think you would have not ever gotten as deeply into your train of logical thought as this puzzle required if you had come to the surface for what in most cases are trivial administrative details during a solve like this. Thanks for doing it your way and having a good time at it - your good time is my good time and fascination, as well! Thanks for this video! (And having a shorter video is not necessarily a goal, so do it however you like. I'm all for it.)

[@longwaytotipperary]

@Emily - lovely thoughtful, insightful comment!

[@mitnehmerrippe]

Beautifully said. I’m here to see thought processes in all their glorious non-linearity. The lenght of the video is part of the joy for me, too.

[@pandagirl7144]

It took me 10 hours to do this puzzle I heard the name Jay Dyer and I’m like “oh no” Her puzzles are the best puzzles I’ve ever done insanely hard but so beautiful I do not regret doing this puzzle even though it took me 10 hours

[@andrewnelson2525]

Brutal. Soothes my ego a little that Simon got stuck (or what passes for stuck with him). I ground to a halt multiple times and even played with SET theory a little -- which didn't give me a break-in but revealed a few secrets that were later useful.

[@btestware]

I spent about three days on this puzzle and enjoyed every minute. People are always trash-talking bifurcation but when you follow different paths to see where they lead, you end up building up an intuitive grasp of how different choices constrain each other. After quite a few hours of this, you are actually in a position to make logical choices. It's not exactly the way Simon solves a puzzle but it's very engaging when you're in the middle of it. Loved this puzzle. Also loved the Shye puzzle the other day with the near-symmetries. Same methodology...hours and hours of fun.

[@kennethbaker3529]

It's amazing how your brain works. You see some of the most unreal things in Sudoku with ease, but the difficulty to see where the doubler is in box 1 is something you didn't grasp. Not being negative, just an observation. Great puzzle Jay, and good job fighting through the struggle Simon!

[@cheezunriceramen8995]

37:50 R3C5 is a doubler. Fine. Doesn't that make R2C1, a gray cell, a double 5? 1:21:03 R2C1 is a double 5. Simon. Scan the grid.

[@realGBx64]

I think he missed it because of overcoloring one thing before resolving the other

[@Jamdoggy]

From 37:48 in the video, the 'doubler' in box 1 was known (must be row 2) - you'd already stated that the doubler in box 1 was the 5. Just putting in this digit would have saved a lot of headaches. You finally spot it at 1:21:00, about three quarters of an hour later! Obviously not essential to the solve but was an easy early digit you just had a blind-spot for...

[@chocolateboy300]

I finished in 101:08 minutes. This has to be one of the most impressive display of geometry in a puzzle I have ever seen. Jay has a brilliant mind and I can't even comprehend what living in her world might look like. The flow was so beautiful and every new piece of logic I encountered became my new favorite part. Figuring out where 7 had to go in the 31 cage was a particular favorite part of mine. Everything felt so deliberate and I feel that I hit every piece of logic that was in this puzzle. Even at the very end, disambiguating the last two doublers by having a cell that sees both their numbers. Incredible. This has to be one of my favorite puzzles. I wish my words better expressed just how I felt about this. Every puzzle that Jay does is an incredible treat. Great Puzzle!

[@loqueestamal3465]

Now someone explain to me why this wasn't called "Double double toil and trouble."

[@peteralund]

Bc Macbeth is undervalued

[@kattiemccanzie7553]

Its 4am on sunday morning and I cant sleep, so im watching Simon do his magic 😎

[@markheclim2741]

At 1:01:28 if you look at where yellow and green can go in box 3, you see that neither of them can be in r3c8 which allows you to make it a 5. r2c8 then becomes a green 89, and if you haven't already gotten the 5 in box 1 from doubler logic, allows you to place it by sudoku. Also realizing that the doubler in box 5 is blue helps clean things up.

[@isabelamacedobellsita8394]

This puzzle was a masterpiece. Loved every moment of the solve ❤

[@shteevuk]

Can't get over how amazing this puzzle is. Certainly my favorite I've seen this year! I was impressed with myself for solving it in a day, grats to Simon for cutting that down to an hour and a half :) Thanks Jay Dyer for a work of art!

[@josephrion3514]

I'm waiting for the row two doubles five to go into column one after the green and yellow. You could have had a second digit about 37 minutes in not 1:10:xx as soon as you removed the extra grays. And your third digit would be another five in box three. I'm surprised you've left that so ambiguous for so long. 1:21:05, I was going mad. Oh Simon. 81 minutes in with six minutes left in the video. I don't think it would have helped disambiguated that much early on you had to still work out box fives cage. Excellent work as always. Always impressive.

[@robert-skibelo]

One of Simon's messier solves. It's frustrating to watch when there are so many out of date pencil marks for so long, and he didn't do himself any favours either with such a messy grid. When a puzzle's this hard that's not a reason to let the grid get in a mess. On the contrary, it means you need to get a grip on yourself and work as cleanly as possible.

[@Mn0ty]

Nearly 3h most difficult puzzle I've ever solved without peeking at Simon's or Mark's video.

[@markbennet9058]

This is a stunning puzzle - fantastic to see it featured, the logic is extraordinary.

[@JLujan4492]

My brain broke at the beginning. I was talking to my brother about opeth and playing some songs earlier, including patterns in the Ivy, both parts. And when I clicked on the video I thought my phone had a glitch and was playing a song I was listening to earlier today. But it was Simon and that’s awesome

[@allotrope2978]

I was like "What." I LOVE Opeth.

[@zedaye9552]

Very hard puzzle, couldn't solve it on my own, but the 5 doubler was available a alot sooner and would have helped sorting out some logic. That sorted it out for me 😁

[@chrisg6597]

Simon, how could you?.... Having a cup of tea, and not using a CTC mug!...

[@christophstahl8169]

Superb puzzle! The back and forth between the doublers and ones/twos and eights/nines was just marvelous. It was hard but each step felt so rewarding and lovely. The resolving of the 4/8 doublers at the end was just superb. Loved it. Of course also a great solve Simon, your videos are always kind and apreciated.

[@nicholasiverson9784]

Spent nearly an hour yelling at my computer for Simon to place the 5 in box 1 x.x

[@geo-fry6372]

I freaked the heck out when I heard Patterns in the Ivy by Opeth. That was epic

[@cameronwalter]

So many of Simon’s deductions are so far beyond me, I’m trying to not be judicial. Though, if either the tidying up of pencil marks or colors had been done, this video could have been 30 minutes shorter. I always feel so elated to see the things Simon and Mark don’t spot, while being fully cognizant that they brought to that place by spotting things I likely never would. Love this channel!! ❤

[@kathyjohnson2043]

I would say that this shows what wonderful teachers they are to be able to teach to not only follow their logic but even spot tidbits before they do. IMO, the best teachers don't hide their struggles but take you along for the ride.

[@ronjohnson6916]

I feel the same way. It was making me cranky that Simon didn't spot the 5 in box 1. And yet I know I'd never have gotten to the place where the 5 becomes "obvious".

[@jonasbranstrom5323]

"This is a six by the power of magic" Oh teach me your arcane ways Simon!

[@DEG_fan]

I’ve been watching your videos off-and-on for a while now, and this is the first video I heard you playing guitar.. And it just so happened to be Opeth!!! Absolutely epic!!!

[@Jroonk]

52:24… “Bah Humbug! Bobbins! Bobbins! Bobbins!” Such profanity!😂😂😂

[@GeorgeFoot]

Brilliant watching you solve this, I'd been looking forward to it. It took me several hours, I think, and don't worry about things you missed, it's easy to overlook things!

[@phuybrechts6875]

at 38 you could place 5 in box 1 because of doubler in box 2 .that puts 8/9 in box 3

[@markbennet9058]

The ending logic with the doublers in boxes 4 and 7 is outstanding - how do you preserve that to the end of an already brilliant puzzle?

[@philalvarez4137]

If he had remembered the rules, he had already had used the 7 as a doubler and it couldn't be re-used, box 4 is then fixed with the 7-8 pair, same with the 5-7 pair in box 1 for half the solve.

[@drewclark1920]

the 5 doubler had me tearing my hair out for sure.

[@karlwaugh30]

Astonishing puzzle. Took my time and had to check in with the video, but I was going the same way as Simon, which was good to know. Did it in 97 minutes.

[@rebekahgilbert1455]

Feeling smug for seeing the doubler in box one a very long time before Simon - but I don't know if it would have made any difference to the solve.

[@RichSmith77]

I agree. Quite a few people saying it would have speeded up Simon's solve. I don't think it would make much difference.

[@victoriam6569]

It's one of the hardest and the most brilliant puzzles I saw! It took me three hours constantly thinking that I'm stuck. Again and again. And how come? - I've just had such a break through! XD Well, that was incredible. Thank you!

[@mceajc]

Proof Simon is powered by tea. It is rare when I shout at the video, crying out for him to spot the 5 in R3C8. No idea if it would have sped up the solve, but it more than fulfilled my smug quota. The 99% I had no idea of the workings of falls away when I tease out 1% I can call my own! Crazy puzzle, that was on the cusp of foiling the Superb Simon.

[@philwheatley5057]

42 minutes!! I’m very happy with that. Found the 89 doublers leading to the 7. Then got 1s and 2s sorted from the 8 cage and it flowed from there. Especially finding unique 345&6 doublers

[@bobblebardsley]

Congratulations on posting this video on time! 😁

[@CrackingTheCryptic]

By the time KZbin had processed it, I had 3 minutes to spare!

[@bobblebardsley]

@@CrackingTheCryptic 😅

[@sonalita_]

Looking forward to your stream of "can of wormholes" next year, you simply have to play it when it's released after Christmas!!

[@muntedfinger]

I wholeheartedly approve of this comment!

[@Grammulka]

Should we call it GUS? Genuinely unapproachable sudoku?

[@ChiefFalque]

I love the acoustic guitarwork in Opeth's music, all the way from the early years until today, it's all magic.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

62:30 for me. This is probably one of the hardest puzzles I've ever solved, what an absolute beast. I really thought I was completely stuck and I would have to give up at one point, but I somehow found a way to keep going. Incredible puzzle.

[@beningram1811]

56:30 top left has to be green. Forced by the green in box 3 being somewhere in row 2. from there, your previous colouring of 8s and 9s can spread.

[@RichSmith77]

Surely all you get is that both green and yellow have to be in the top row of box 1. You don't know which r1c1 is of these.

[@zach31194]

Simon's super reluctance to clean up his pencil marks drives my ocd insane.

[@cathybryant5119]

I laughed when he said "trust the pencil marks" while pointing at a 1 pencil mark in a row with a 1/2 pair. 🤣

[@57thorns]

35:42 talk about being stubborn about not removing pencil marks, that is the third time Simon said that the corner marked 1 can't be a 1 or a 2. It is driving me nuts!

[@Swisswavey]

I absolutely loved that puzzle. Took me 100 minutes but it was great. Thanks for sharing it.

[@crystalgehrt8861]

This was really well thought out. Congratulations.

[@th.nd.r]

Beauty! Well set and solved, super difficult and clever! Nice intro!

[@lylecampbell8288]

You could have determined the colour of the doubler in box 5, which opens things up. But even with that and filling in the 5 doubler earlier you'd still have had to make your later breakthrough.

[@PangoriaFallstar]

I was yelling for 50 minutes about that 5 double spot! Simon!!!!!

[@wanderlustwarrior]

Whew. 1:27:20 for me. Definitely not immediately approachable, but it was very logical, and I'm happy to say I got through it. I did look at the video preview a couple times to get some needed reassurance that my deductions were right (they were), so I wouldn't say I did it entirely on my own, but I did what my spirit needed at the time.

[@tomaspanacek149]

Hello, I love watching your videos! They are quite fun and entertaining to watch. At least when they are not frustrating, for example like when you could've marked 3 green cells in each 3x3 box because you knew that there were doublers in them in the three cages. Otherwise I'm always mind-blown by both, the puzzles and your genius logic and approach to them!

[@tomaspanacek149]

Oh, later on I noticed the mistake in my logic 😅

[@karagrant5778]

It’s my birthday today too! Cool fun fact about 11/19 as a birthday, 11/19/1999 was the last all odd day (all odd digits) until 1/1/3111. Note: I’m In the U.S. so we write our dates Month/Day/Year instead of Day/Month/Year so this would likely be different for those in countries who write dates differently. :)

[@longwaytotipperary]

Happy birthday!

[@karagrant5778]

@@longwaytotipperary thanks!

[@ZebraChanda]

Love going to the comments to see how long I'm going to have to wait until Simon notices the obvious thing that he is missing. It makes it much less stressful, lol. It's humbling how such a brilliant mind can overlook an "obvious" thing. But it's almost always just because he's hyper focused on solving one particular problem instead of following the path the setter intended.

[@renezirkel]

Thank you for your great videos. I really like them much.

[@amoswittenbergsmusings]

This was a moral as well as a logical victory of the highest order for Simon. To be able to crack one's head against a puzzle that is *so* subtle and *so* beyond normal reasoning and yet possesses a logical solve path requires a moral rectitude that is not very common. Don't be surprised I use the language of morality. Morality is not the same as ethics. There is a notion of correct thinking that has a moral dimension. Simon possesses this quality in abundance. Did I try this puzzle myself? Errr, no.

[@istvanmagi473]

"Oh, we already know this can't be 1 or 2", he says, pointing at the 1 cornermark, and he leaves it in.

[@jurjenvanderhoek316]

25:08 How about doing some Sudoku and ruling out the 7 in r2c8 and r3c8 because of the 7 in r9c8? At 51:09 they are still there ...

[@ellifaey]

One of the very very VERY few times I got less problem with a puzzle than Simon had. It was a bit painful to see he could have easily gotten the position of the doubled 5 at arounf minute 38 and it took him until 1:20 to see it. XD

[@danieltaber4924]

"Cracking Tea Cryptic" would make a good mug.

[@Coyotek4]

I don't know for certain where the boundary between persistence and insanity is ... I just know that I spent nearly three hours (2:56:20), over two sessions, solving this sudoku. Un-approachable, indeed! Truly astounding ... and truly maddening!

[@zachariasis]

Hi Simon, I love watching you’re sudoku solves. You drink tea in this video. I’m curious, what tea are you drinking/like?

[@SabbiaVerde]

This is one I wouldn't approach by myself but It was such a pleasure to watch

[@allotrope2978]

DUDE I never thought I'd hear Opeth of all things in the intro! That was a great rendition of Patterns In The Ivy. :)

[@derekmcdanell6972]

Yooo never expected to hear Opeth on a sudoku video, keep it up 🤘🏼

[@maurobraunstein9497]

This was a *really* fantastic puzzle, wow. Took me a bit over 2 hours, but man, I felt *smart* solving it. That logic at the beginning, where the 12 cage prevents there being an 89 in the top right corner, is the kind of deduction I don't usually get to make and have to poke around forever (like in the #23 puzzle in the 500K pack, which took me *days*). It felt really good to figure that out, which you basically get by asking the right questions: where do 8 and 9 go in row 1 and column 1? If you don't know to ask that question, it's just not gonna happen, but this puzzle does a pretty good job of leading you to that question because there's just nothing else to look at. Like, well, the only things I know so far are that there are 1's and 2's *there* and that there are 8's and 9's somewhere in *there*; what can I get from that? I've been deliberately not solving the puzzles recently because I don't get to do anything else in the evening if I spend time on them, but I'm very glad I did that yesterday. Seriously, what a great puzzle.

[@pk5298]

At around the 38:00 mark you removed all but one possibility of a doubler from r1c2 box. Would that have helped with r1c1 box and filling in the 5?

[@kimh6979]

Thanks for playing the guitar for us. I always enjoy your music 😊

[@penningmeestercgkdelft9159]

Colouring 1's and 2's with purple and blue will often be a colorblind's nightmare... ;-) Besides that: what an enjoyable solve again!

[@jefffrank177]

I knew without a doubt that he would follow up with using green/yellow for 8s and 9s. The two pairs of colors which I cannot distinguish at all on this software. Never fails.

[@squircular54]

@@jefffrank177 I call them blurple and grellow every time he uses them

[@skasperl]

Simon: Maybe we just remember that. Narrator: But he didn't.

[@RichSmith77]

I feel like he did?

[@skasperl]

@@RichSmith77 Yeah, you are right. I wrote this as soon as he said it, because I thought he wouldn't. But Simon is always good for a surprise.

[@RichSmith77]

@@skasperl 🙂👍

[@lexyeevee]

simon specifically coloring 8 and 9, and then not noticing that a 589 cell in box 3 could see both a green and a yellow... :) another way to get that 5 in box 1 earlier!

[@dmcdouga07]

that 12 pair in column 7 was a bit of a missed I-Wing today :D great solve simon

[@nortonmalcontent8778]

Is the 42+ minutes from when Simon could have placed the 5 in box 1 until when he actually did place it a new record?

[@JohnRandomness105]

I'm *trying* the puzzle. Why do I think I'm doing a parody like the video I just watched before this? I'm also parodying Mark's penciling. For example, the 12 cage has every digit penciled except 1. 6:30 "There aren't that many weird cages." The problem is with the unweird cages: doubling of a cell's digit allows for major proliferation of possible digits in a cage. It isn't too difficult to see that the 31 cage must be a 789 triple, with the 7 doubling -- after addressing the 32 cages with the 8 and 9 doubling. But the 12 cage can contain every digit except 1. 14:00 This is so far what I did. I just got the idea of using F and G for 6 and 7, beginning with the two 32 cages. 32:20 I've labeled the column 1 domino as 5G, and the 32 cage off to the right as 89F. The numbers are opposite. 41:30 Re coloring 12: I've been using A and B for 1 and 2 for quite some time. The possible 12 in R6C4 is opposite the one in R6C9. 51:10 The gray in column 1 must be in row 2, so a 5 is placed. But that is useless for the rest of the puzzle. 54:40 You could have got a 5 a lot earlier. As for coloring 8 & 9s, I suggest letters. I defined F as the version of 6 and 7 in the top 32 cage, and G in the left 32 cage. Much later in the solve, I defined H and I so that F + I = 15 = G + H. This made I the doubling digit in the top cage, and H the doubling digit in the left cage. This began to crack the puzzle open for me. 1:14:50 Once you ejected the 7 from the 25 cage, you have to max out everything: 5+6+9 + 1 + 2*2. 1:26:10 I suspect that it's easier to construct than to solve.

[@MatthewBouyack]

I feel like this was so close to being a failed attempt, but by sheer force of will Simon managed to find a way through! Well done on a brutally difficult puzzle!

[@spatulamahn]

Thirty minutes after being able to put the 5 double in for his second digit... I've got another digit! 😀

[@CilantroGamer]

Simon orders his tea. "Tea, Earl Grey, hot." For some reason Alexa picks it up. She's still not connected to the wi-fi. Also, I feel like using corner marks with the letter D on them too to denote doublers might have worked.

[@kathyjohnson2043]

I thought of the D being a good strategy.

[@AndreAy1975]

Solved it with much help from the video.

[@TiagoMorbusSa]

Hmmm, some Opeth, nice :D

[@fade2dblack]

6:50 Let's get cracking

[@kiz64]

I do get massively frustrated when Simon does some awesome solve to get a hard-won number [or colour], rattles off some quick consequences.... then abandon the train of thought, leaving some plainly obvious [and helpful!] consequences unfilled. Case in point in this video - at about the 24 minute mark there's a eureka moment that creates a doubled-7.... gets a complete column and a whole square pencil-marked.... and completely misses the full shading for the column the doubled-7 is in. Just why? :cry:

[@77kaczka77]

It was first time for me to shout to Simon, but he is still my hero! The 25 cage could be taken into consideration a little earlier, however

[@HelloNotMe9999]

46:00 I once again think that not cleaning up pencil marks is hurting you, Simon. r3 & r4c8 can’t be 7 The corner 1 pencil marks in box 8 can be cleared.

[@RichSmith77]

(r2 and 3, you mean?) Not sure either particularly hurt Simon, in my view.

[@mute1085]

Funnily enough, I found this more approachable than some of the previous doubler puzzles.

[@Raven-Creations]

Jay's mean! This is the second puzzle in a month from Jay that's come close to breaking me, and if I remember correctly, the one before those two was tough too. You could have got the 5 in box 1 ages earlier - as soon as you placed the grey 89 in box 2. I really don't understand your brain. When you make a breakthrough, the way you apply the ramifications is so chaotic, and usually leaves obviously resolved things unresolved. When you get a 1, which resolves say a 13 pair, your mouse moves to the 13 in the same row as the 1, but instead of making it 3, you move your mouse again, onto the other cell of the pair, and make that 1, and only sometimes do you return to fill in the 3. Once you resolved the 25 cage, there was all sorts of stuff you left behind, because you'd fill in one digit, and shoot off elsewhere to make some other deduction. You placed an 8 immediately next to a 58, and failed to place the 5 for absolutely ages. Please slow down, and work methodically. If you mop up locally, you're less likely to forget what you've placed. When you zip across the grid, you forget that you've not finished processing the first placement, and leave all sorts of easy gains lying around.

[@markbennet9058]

@1:07:30 - I did the other logic in a different order, but this seems to be an unavoidable step on any solve path and just brilliant

[@jurjenvanderhoek316]

37:45 More Sudoku: the corner-1 in r6c6 can now be removed. It is still there at 1:09:00 ...