This Sudoku Is 100% Rated AND Isn't THAT Hard!!

[@Malrog]

What a lovely treat to see this featured, and with an excellent solve too Simon, well done! You even spotted the 1s in box 4 at the end without a pause, very impressive, i know that has tripped up many solvers, including myself 😂 Thank you for your kind words about the puzzle. It took quite a while to set (so many deadly patterns!) but I'm glad i stuck with it. I think parity snakes have plenty of potential, so it's great to have them showcased like this. Thanks again 😊

[@longwaytotipperary]

Lovely puzzle!

[@chris5619]

The 1s in box 4 tripped me up as well! But I got there eventually. Great puzzle!

[@quillient7445]

I spent a good long while not seeing the 1s there myself! Great puzzle

[@ErikWenslaff-yc8ry]

Parity snakes is by far my favorite rule set. It’s so satisfying coloring in the grid. Please give us more!

[@chris5619]

Sadly, I also had most other digits corner marked where applicable, including the 3s and 5s in box 4 I believe. Just not the 1s for some reason. Maybe the solve path sort of led to the same situation for a lot of people. Even Simon has a few other corner marks around the grid (which isn't super common for Simon), but not box 4.

[@krtwood]

I read it as "party" snake at first and then I thought that a snake that can't touch itself or others isn't much of a party snake, now is it?

[@HunterJE]

Idk I think touching yourself is a pretty reliable way to be asked to leave at many parties...

[@KevFrost]

No jokes about talking to Simon at parties about snakes touching themselves

[@krtwood]

@@KevFrost I was trying to find a safe place to put Simon in the grid where he wouldn't touch any party snakes, even diagonally. He ended up in the 96 in row 9, oh dear.

[@longwaytotipperary]

😄

[@steve470]

Snakes can't touch other cells of their own parity - there are lots of party snakes in this puzzle that are grinding right up against each other. 😉 Hm, I'm now wondering what that dot in column 1 is censoring...

[@whelmking6497]

Some days it's more enjoyable watching Simon's joy in solving than it is to solve myself.

[@longwaytotipperary]

Most days for me.

[@jujunorman4695]

​@@longwaytotipperaryalways for me

[@longwaytotipperary]

@@jujunorman4695 😃

[@samspiggot6175]

Love the way you phrase the snake not touching itself as a cul-de-sac (especially as I live in one :D). I didn’t spot the break-in and it highlighted for me that your clever use of language (chaperoning, monogamous digits etc) makes these concepts easily memorable. Thank you so much for this.

[@ServantOfSatania]

22:02 For me, it was jarring how helpful thinking in terms of cells that'd surround the snake was rather than cells the snake actually takes

[@arkb0t379]

Yeah this felt like the biggest epiphany, the geometry makes it so that the perimeter of the snake is more cells than the snake body so it's actually more constrained.

[@bernardrapson6083]

The speed at which Simon deals with this rule set and finishes off is truly impressive.

[@cipherhex]

37:23 "Putting a 5 into those two place in box 9 doesn't seem to do anything?!" - He says as there's an open white kropki dot with a 4 being ruled out!

[@Johnysimus]

I have recently shouted at Simon multiple times. This was the first time I was legitimately angry :D

[@soulseek2]

i started this puzzle thinking the circles just had to be part of the snake and was baffled that i couldnt get anywhere from the start. started watching simon's solve to get a hint how to break into it and immediately went "oh my god i'm stupid.. " and continued to have a nicely flowing solve. really well done and fun to solve sudoku

[@sofielindeberg3920]

39:46 love when Simon make a joke and it flyes over his one head 🤩 Wonderful puzzle!

[@kalahatze]

"We have very few odd digits. That's slightly odd."

[@rentalcustard]

42:42 for me. I ended up with what looked like a deadly pattern on the odds, because I didn't see the 1s in box 4, and resorted to using Phistomefel to finish, noticing that there could only be one 3 in the central ring, which forced r3c7 to be a 9. I suppose that's karma for all the times I've torn my hair out watching Simon not see the Sudoku! 😂 Great puzzle. I really liked this concept.

[@David_K_Booth]

Similarly, towards the end I overlooked the 1s in box 4, and was feeling completely stuck, but noticed there was an X-wing on 1s that allowed me to place the 5 in box 4. Everything fell into place after that. I guess at the end of some puzzles, there are several different loose threads any of which could make the whole thing unravel. I agree, it's an ingenious concept and this puzzle showcases it really well.

[@chris5619]

What a unique way to solve noticing the phistomefel thing there!

[@rentalcustard]

@@chris5619 I don't recommend it 🤣

[@pastorbrianediger]

"Only a few odd digits in the first three columns. Slightly odd." Nice unintentional wordplay.

[@iambicpentakill]

I appreciated that too

[@leporid257]

39:48, yes that's odd :) i love how it turned out to have everything be one cell wide, even the grass/not-snakes!

[@emilywilliams3237]

I will solve this one before bedtime - it looked absolutely fun and very doable. Thanks, Simon!

[@jondelamerced3731]

I enjoyed this supremely. Also shoutout r8c4 for scaring me and you haha.

[@Malrog]

😅

[@inspiringsand123]

Rules: 05:37 Let's Get Cracking: 09:11 Simon's time: 32m24s Puzzle Solved: 41:35 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Three In the Corner: 1x (33:57) ​Scooby-Doo: 1x (19:25) Maverick: 1x (22:17) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Snake: 90x (00:23, 00:57, 01:08, 01:14, 01:19, 01:23, 05:29, 06:32, 06:39, 06:55, 07:22, 07:56, 08:04, 08:04, 08:07, 08:14, 08:27, 08:32, 08:38, 08:51, 08:54, 09:01, 09:33, 09:37, 09:39, 10:03, 10:06, 10:37, 10:37, 10:59, 11:08, 11:19, 11:41, 11:48, 11:53, 11:55, 12:00, 14:31, 14:34, 14:39, 15:13, 15:33, 16:02, 16:34, 16:43, 16:44, 17:03, 17:04, 17:14, 17:23, 18:03, 18:18, 20:03, 20:13, 20:22, 20:29, 20:52, 20:58, 21:01, 21:04, 21:15, 22:15, 24:19, 25:51, 26:03, 26:17, 26:33, 26:48, 26:51, 26:54, 27:02, 27:03, 27:13, 27:46, 28:19, 28:41, 29:03, 29:15, 29:27, 30:34, 30:53, 30:56, 30:58, 31:26, 31:50, 31:52, 32:02, 32:12, 32:15, 42:30) Touch Itself: 8x (06:49, 07:59, 08:13, 11:03, 17:30, 20:34, 26:17, 27:03) Brilliant: 7x (00:47, 03:08, 04:01, 04:03, 41:39, 41:42, 42:39) Ah: 7x (08:19, 14:05, 19:30, 23:21, 28:37, 31:06, 35:32) Lovely: 5x (03:28, 16:30, 29:03, 42:19, 42:23) Gorgeous: 5x (20:38, 20:40, 25:43, 38:39, 42:25) By Sudoku: 5x (22:21, 34:03, 37:52, 38:08, 39:13) Clever: 4x (14:09, 19:07, 41:23, 41:25) Cake!: 4x (04:13, 04:38, 04:51, 05:06) Sorry: 3x (04:39, 33:39, 36:59) Beautiful: 3x (16:26, 16:28, 30:24) In Fact: 3x (04:38, 15:21, 30:53) Obviously: 3x (08:44, 12:54, 30:36) Pencil Mark/mark: 3x (39:44, 40:06, 41:01) Goodness: 2x (14:09, 31:40) The Answer is: 2x (15:35, 40:46) Hang On: 2x (15:55, 16:02) Progress: 2x (28:12, 32:54) What Does This Mean?: 2x (07:51, 14:34) Good Grief: 1x (41:25) Useless: 1x (36:31) Naughty: 1x (08:14) Stuck: 1x (42:28) Break the Puzzle: 1x (31:47) Deadly Pattern: 1x (35:29) Epiphany: 1x (18:55) Famous Last Words: 1x (38:18) Nature: 1x (42:12) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Sixty Eight, Seventy Nine (2 mentions) One, Four (45 mentions) Blue (21 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Even (87) - Odd (59) White (14) - Black (1) Row (22) - Column (20) 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!

[@cptazstudios7952]

Wait this is a computer program? That is insanely impressive

[@evanbasnaw]

You have me trained with circles. The first thing I wanted to do was count them to see which numbers could be included. Gotta pay attention to the ruleset 😂

[@TheMrtummnus]

36:27 “where is our easy odd digit?” Snake! Snaaaaaake!

[@nakorbluerider]

There were a lot of clever steps to this puzzle, certainly including the opening, but I think my personal favourite step was the deduction that the circle in r4c1 could not be a 4 because of how it leads to the circle in box 7 breaking. I have a lot of mental images of cute but strangely-bodied snakes running around in my head now.

[@Baritocity]

I always like seeing why giving an odd/even clue without just having the given digit is important.

[@stevieinselby]

That was fun 👍🏻👍🏻 - I was also quite surprised to find that odd digits in r2c2 were what broke the puzzle, but it was a rewarding find! The key thing to solving the puzzle seemed to be looking for placements that would put a circle in the middle of a snake. All going well until the very end, when I didn't notice the implicit corner-marked 1s in box 4 resolved the remaining odd digits and ended up bifurcating them...

[@koenth2359]

"Can you imagine a creature so ghastly." Absolute gold.

[@henrygifford544]

Such a great puzzle!!! I couldn't believe I was doing it. So fun, with new insights around every corner-literally.

[@TheREALDocRabbit]

Lovely puzzle with a very good starting point. The consecutive circle rule proved highly valuable in finishing the evens also.

[@Rubrickety]

Terrific ruleset and terrific puzzle!

[@Nevir202]

39:47, I agree, when you have few ODD digits, it is SLIGHLY ODD. lol

[@miriamfranz6268]

I've been looking for this comment 😂😂

[@Nevir202]

@@miriamfranz6268 Ah, I see you are a man of culture as well.

[@mrrobotman5299]

I'm so glad I wasn't the only one to miss filling in the 5 in box 3 after shading

[@GarrettLGray]

"We have got very few odd digits in the first three columns... 'S slightly odd..." at 39:47, I literally choked on my coffee

[@Orenotter]

On orange and blue I'm not keen. Instead I went with red and green. And when it was finished It made me miss Christmas. Let's break out the old manger scene.

[@beanielowery6017]

oooh this is a good one! thanks for the solve :)

[@Millenassang]

Hello, I didn t know where to put this so : In the sudoku app, on the 27th sudoku Killer Here, Killer There by Joseph Nehme in the Lines Variety pack there is a mistake in the 4rth hint At the end of the hint if I m not mistaken it says that a 6 must appear in R7C5 but in fact must be in R7C6! Thx for all the good content :) (I think that there is a mistake)

[@emilywilliams3237]

I have a feeling that there is a 'contact the developer' link within the app or in the App Store where you bought it that would possibly be a more effective place to put suggested corrections for the app. I have not checked it out myself, but I have definitely seen it on other apps. Also, Cracking the Cryptic have an email address which might be more effective, as well. Good luck (and good spot on the hint error).

[@Landis963]

84:01! Had a particularly bad break when it came to the odds at the end - accidentally put two 7s and 1s into columns 7 and 9, and needed to rewind quite a bit before noticing the correct path forward.

[@mery1973able]

Another great puzzle👍

[@dominikschmalstieg2912]

39:48 We have got very few odd digits in the first three columns. That's slightly odd. Doesn't sound intentional to me, but great. :D

[@jamessweatt985]

At 1:05, Simon draws a parody snake! ;- )

[@SausageVB]

"We've got very few odd digits in the first three columns, actually. That's slightly odd." Well, he's not wrong.

[@longwaytotipperary]

😄

[@zirco77]

No chocolate cake on a birthday is definitely a total heresy for Simon 😜

[@AndreAy1975]

Solved it with much help from the video.

[@psiphiorg]

Lovely puzzle! I really liked how the deadly pattern in the middle was disambiguated. My time today was 34:03, solver number 563.

[@tomgalli1188]

"Parity" is a word that gets used a couple of different ways in these videos. Sometimes, like today, parity indicated sets of odd/even. Sometimes, like in the case of German whisper lines, parity is used to indicate sets of greater than 5 or less than five. And sometimes, "polarity" is also used for each of those cases. I'm assuming that there is a differentiation, and that sometimes our hosts simply use the wrong word without realizing it (don't we all?).

[@CharlesGregory]

To my knowledge, parity refers to odd/even (13579 / 2468) and polarity refers to low/high (1234 / 6789). I haven't heard these used interchangeably on purpose, so I assume it's a slip of the tongue. The other one you may hear is entropy (147 / 258 / 369).

[@maljamin]

Parity for odd/even, polarity for whispers (and maybe a few other uses). Simon usually catches himself if he gets them switched. Both involve splitting into two groups, but polarity is more the idea of two groups separated by a single boundary. Rather than by a test that can cycle/alternate. He'll use the general idea of polarity in a few different contexts.

[@RichSmith77]

In some (many?) of the early German Whispers videos, they would use the term parity. They got mildly rebuked for it in the comments (only by one or two), and told they should use polarity instead. A lesson they commented on in one video, I seem to vaguely remember. Since then, they've tended to use polarity when talking about German Whispers, although there may have been an occasional slip of the tongue.

[@CrankyOtter]

“very few odd digits” is, in fact, “slightly odd”🤣 I love watching Simon doing snake/water/etc coloring logic.

[@jimi02468]

37:55 "What does this nine do?" It gives a naked single within the odd digits in column four!

[@sirgeremiah]

I forgot about the 1-cell snake possibility, and backed up 3 times, thinking I'd broken the puzzle. The 4th time, as I was staring at it wondering why nothing seemed possible when I'd been so careful with every step, I said, "The only way it doesn't break is if I put another even there, and I can't....WAIT!!!"

[@darrenbent7601]

This is an interesting game, starting off very similar to a Binary Code game, that is in some crossword puzzle books. And it was quite interesting how quick it solved once the parity table was set out.

[@piarittersporn]

Absolutely wonderful and fantastic puzzle. Fortunately not very difficult.

[@yagamilight08]

39:49 - "there aren't many odd digits in first 3 columns....thats 'slightly' odd"....idk if that was unintentional😆😂

[@chocolateboy300]

I got 85 minutes. This one took me a while but the logic was very satisfying to work through. I agree with its rating of 100%.

[@alantaylor846]

A great puzle! BTW, my order of "CTC Greatest Hits, Vol. 2" just arrived ! (I'm in the Southern Tier of upstate New York State, USA).

[@mvanvoorden]

A pentomino with a circle in the center... can't wait to see zipper snakes!

[@F1r1at]

36:12 for me, but I needed a hint from the video, cause I didn't understood this head thing, or well, just did not thought somehow, that "head" meens that this cell can't be in the middle 😅

[@estherwestbroek]

I got the ones in box four accidently by seeing the ones in both column two and three are in row one and nine.

[@grahamania]

00:27:55 for me. I fully understand why this puzzle has the rating that it does. Much Fun! Kind comment.

[@astra1288]

22:46 for me, probably my fastest 3-star time ever. wonderful puzzle

[@eve_the_eevee_rh]

25:31! That was pretty fun

[@allisonstilley8636]

What is the piano music in the intro? It is lovely, I could listen to it on loop for an hour 😊

[@joelstevens5670]

Hi, just saw your comment. The music is a variation on Mozart’s piano sonata K.545 (if there is more than one sonata K.545, it’s the most well known one). I would have to agree, it’s a lovely piece of music to listen to.

[@77kaczka77]

Perfect note. Beauty 100% !

[@MatthiasUrlichs]

Nice. R2C2 was the first time ever I saw an essential clue (instead of, like, a single missed digit) way before Simon did. Yes I know it's really minor ego boost, but still …

[@ericpraline1302]

I'm not ashamed to say that, to use Mark's favoured expression, I feel I scored fairly high on the numptiness scale solving this puzzle as I did not find it easy.

[@mudscuffer]

I had a bit of a hard time spotting the revelation at 16:40, but the rest of the puzzle flowed smoothly. 41:02 for me

[@mikepictor]

That really wasn't TOO hard, and was a really fun early puzzle with little and clever insights right from square 1

[@AngryKettle]

"We've very few odd digits in the first three columns... Slightly odd." Simon you're repeating yourself 😂

[@maljamin]

At some point Simon was reflecting on those moments where you just *can't* see something right in front of you... in parts of the US we have an expression "If it was a snake, it woulda bit ya!" 🐍

[@Max16hr]

Took me a while to get a feeling for the logic. But very nice overall :) 37:05 for me

[@biaberg3448]

What a fun puzzle 😊

[@iambicpentakill]

I love parity puzzles

[@RecreationalCynic]

Solved it in 50:00 flat, but that includes a brief interruption thanks to an earthquake. I enjoy these kinds of coloring puzzles where you split the grid into two sets: you don't know what the digits are but you know where they go, or something like that.

[@emilywilliams3237]

An earthquake? A 'brief interruption'? Where are you? (Iceland is having a lot of seismic and volcanic activity ...)

[@RecreationalCynic]

@@emilywilliams3237 west of Los Angeles. It was a 4.7 about 6-7 miles west of Malibu.

[@emilywilliams3237]

Wow! @@RecreationalCynic

[@hockeyhacker97]

12:35.. That was very restricted actually and the first place I could color because there have to be 5 odds in the box yet if it is odd where can the other 4 odds go? you have the 2 corners left but then you still need to put in 2 more and you can't put in 2 connected to the head of the snake and there for it has to be even and has to be at least 4 because no matter where it connects it touches a 3rd even, and that gets you able to color 7 of the 9 cells in box 1.

[@theashen]

Very nice!

[@CharlesGregory]

I would have liked to have seen the "snakes may be a single cell" rule not specifically called out, but implied by other rules. Just for an extra hint of evilness. :)

[@tommytwotakes]

Can anyone please explain to be during the "break-in" why the first circle in box 1 couldn't be a "1". Simon's logic makes sense, but I don't see how that rules out the one cell snake.... And is this the proper break-in by that logic?

[@tommytwotakes]

Gah... ok. I figured it out. But I'm upset by it...

[@KinkyTurtle]

Aww, what's wrong with a snake having two heads? Some of the nicest snakes I know have two heads!

[@willfaber633]

I misread the rules as the snake has to alternate parity and got very stuck.

[@Timlagor]

Your 'have a go' link is broken. Seems to be a combination of an expired certificate and the site insisting that it *has* to be secure so I can't even ignore the cert and load it anyway

[@Magnus_Loov]

Yes. And when I try to comment on it here on youtube, my comment also seems to be censored for some reason.

[@Timlagor]

Did you include the link in your comment?@@Magnus_Loov

[@Timlagor]

I found this same problem on at least one other video so I expect the whole site is blocked

[@HunterJE]

In case you're finding it as hard to concentrate on the solve as I was - he sees the 5 at 37:00 XD

[@xChikyx]

what is the rating for?

[@istvanmagi473]

Difficulty ratings on Logic Masters Germany are arbitrary and confusing. 3 stars? This is insanely hard.

[@penningmeestercgkdelft9159]

I did not know yet that a Malrog (of a Balrog?) is actually a party snake with two heads in a U-pentomino shape :-)

[@adrianhead6272]

Completed in 21m17s.

[@Larintel]

83:27 very easy

[@ceevio_art]

Am I the only one that interpreted the rule; "a snake MAY not have to heads" as that being one of two possibilities (i.e. it MAY not have two heads...but then again it MAY...). The rule would be much clearer if it said " a snake CAN NOT have two heads" or that "there are NO two headed snakes in the puzzle." (In the country that I learnt to speak English, 'MAY' and 'MUST' have two very different meanings.) It would have been a much faster solve for me if that rule was better stated. As it turns out, it seems (to me anyway) that rule was superfluous to finding the correct solve. It just took a lot longer.

[@RichSmith77]

For that meaning of MAY it would be expressed as "a snake may or may not have two heads". If a sentence simply says something "may not" do something, then it always means that it is forbidden. Also, to be pedantic, to say something CAN NOT is actually less accurate. That's saying it can be the case that it is not, but it is not necessarily the case that it is not. It's different to saying CANNOT, with no space. (You can not reply, if you choose, but you cannot reply and say I'm wrong. 🙂)

[@steve470]

Where I learned to speak English, "may" and "may not" very often refer to permission - to what is or isn't allowed - and they always do when in the context of a set of rules. I find it very interesting that this might not be the case everywhere. Ah, I could have used "may not" instead of "might not" in that last sentence. I guess I can see the possibility for confusion!

[@Old_Man_LoganIII]

The most important part of the rules was to explain what parity means.

[@Fronema1]

Please, someone, how do you draw lins in sudokuapp? i see only colors

[@Fronema1]

oh, you must select "pen tool" in settings

[@srwapo]

29:31, TOTALLY forgot about the one cell snake possibility. And I didn't see how to get the final digits and just did some bifurcation. 😕 Edit: looked at the video and I missed that the 1 had to be in column 1 in Box 4.

[@LednacekZ]

after learning what the rules are from Mark, i finished in 17:39. it is not hard at all, i just could not get the rules myself.

[@RichSmith77]

Mark?

[@LednacekZ]

@@RichSmith77 Oh yeah, Simon. As i said in my other comment, my brain is fried today.

[@sanctionbuster]

37:32. Scadoosh.

[@leefisher6366]

14:54 - I saw no reason for this logic to work. If, for example, that snake was an odd parity of length 1, then, yes, it would have one or more other odd cells orthogonally adjacent to it, but where in the rules does it say that these HAVE to be part of the snake?

[@jillyapple1]

Isn't the word 'polarity', not 'parity'? Does it always refer to even/odd? I thought it might refer to high/low also.

[@steve470]

As it's usually used in this context, "parity" specifically refers to even/odd. Simon uses "polarity" to refer to high/low. (He had originally used "parity" for high/low as well, but said he'd received email chastising him for that misuse of "parity", so switched to "polarity" for high/low.)

[@jillyapple1]

@@steve470 thank you :D

[@longwaytotipperary]

Delightful!!

[@listey]

I should know better by now than to place any reliance on LMD's patronising difficulty rating. Hopefully I remember next time! Anyway, at least I only wasted 8-10 minutes on this. It could have been worse.

[@Gonzalo_Garcia_]

19:29 for me. I found it quite tough, but I loved it either way!!

[@LednacekZ]

i did not understand the rules at all. my brain is fried today.

[@sebastianthurow605]

By the ruleset it was not clear to me that even snakes can’t be touched by even digits that are just not part of the snake :/

[@RichSmith77]

"A parity snake (...) may not orthogonally touch itself or *other cells of matching parity* ."

[@bakingsteele]

Why did he miss the 5 snake in the top 3 box for so long?

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

25:07 for me.

[@DCSWCCkingpin1]

You explained "orthogonally" nicely, but you didn't explain "parity"

[@Pritchie45]

47 minutes

[@jasonpapastavrou7628]

It is puzzling to me that every single day you spend time explaining with a numerical example, say, the white (or black) dots or arrows or thermometers, yet you do not spend any time explaining unusual rules, like today's "a snake may not have two heads". Does it mean "no 2 circles in the same snake" or does it mean "the number in the circle does not appear again in the snake"? Too much focus on potential brand new viewers; too little, I regret to say, on those of us who are here day after day.

[@jensschmidt]

But when you're here every day, you should know what a snake is...

[@RichSmith77]

The circles are the heads of the snakes. A snake may not have two heads means a snake may not have two circles.

[@stevieinselby]

I wonder if this is a language barrier thing? As a native English speaker, I immediately understood what was meant by "a snake may not have two heads" and didn't see any ambiguity, but maybe if it isn't your first language it might not be so obvious. Yes, you were right with your first interpretation - no snake may have two circles in.

[@poppyholly1759]

The number in the head can appear in the snake again. See snake head r3c6

[@emilywilliams3237]

"Each cell containing a circle is the head of a snake." say the rules themselves - so a snake may not have two heads must mean that a snake may not include two cells with circles. This doesn't seem unclear to me - but it did to you. I guess I don't usually expect Simon (or Mark) to explain parts of the rules that are spelled out clearly in the rules themselves (at least, this seemed so to me).