Greetings Simon and CTC community, it's Playmaker6174 here and this video might give me the funnest laughs I've gotten in a long while, thank you all so much for the lovely wishes! Regarding to your question about how I was able to pull off the ultimate matchmaking, it's a long and complicated story, all started with me and Qodec 'teasing' with each other in the server x) *About the solve:* I wouldn't actually say that you missed much in the opening part because while it was comparatively the hardest part to make sense, all of the logic were completely fair and I'm happy that you essentially managed to get all of the important points in that part. I can summarize the main ideas in the opening part as follow (spoiler alert, and also because this is the part that I worked on the most during the setting): _With the given arrangement, the 4 Xes are distinct from each other and combining with extra two three-cell arrows pattern like that, I could manage to get a virtual 789 triple along row 4 (because they can't appear on the 3 cells arrows). So using that fact, I drew a whisper line along column 5 for the 'symmetry' theme and forced the parity, then I also added in the three-cell renban around R6C5. Because R6C5 is low (123) and those 4 Xes basically form a set of 8 different digits (!), that renban cannot be too low (otherwise at least one of the three-cell arrows will have to be 4+5+1=10), therefore forcing a 345 triple along that renban and the middle boxes just collapse as in your solve has shown_ :) I can go into more details with the later parts of the puzzle (while still retaining 'symmetry' theme) but I think that you have pretty much covered all of my intended ideas at the end, and I was very glad to hear that you enjoyed this wonderful symphony overall!
If wondering, I did acknowledge the restriction of R4C19 being 89 pair at the end but it's essentially a byproduct of the intended idea where I can force the virtual 789 triple in row 4, and the rest are pretty much the same.
Great puzzle. (I felt 3 out of 5 for difficulty was under selling it, but then I often think that about the LMD ratings). I kind of found the 789 virtual triple, only I pencil marked it into rows 5 and 6 of box 5 instead of thinking about it in row 4. I guess it's equivalent. It similarly ruled out high digits from r4c5, giving me the parity of the whisper.
I am undoubtedly an old person, rapidly approaching 25 and 63 quarters, but I much prefer videos with minimal editing (i.e. ums and ahs and breathing left in), the ADHD-style clipping of absolutely any pause gives me some mental equivalent of motion sickness and if videos are TOO heavily edited, I have to stop watching. I can't speak for all viewers (and I'm not trying to) but for me the relaxation of watching comes from the naturalistic editing (or lack of) and the fact that when I sit down to watch an hour-long solve, I know I'm sharing an hour of your time, in real-time. It's a really precious thing and I'm glad your videos are exactly the way they are.
I have ADHD and I approve of this message. Too many cuts is not fun and I absolutely loathe the camera in out effect that people are using too frequently in short video formats with an absolutely truck load of cuts.
@@CrazyIvanTR Yeah the abruptly-zoom-in-to-emphasise-one-word thing? I watch one who has recently started using two completely different camera angles and randomly turns from one camera to the other mid-sentence, I have absolutely no idea why. And then TH-cam inserts an ad break at what it THINKS is a scene change, but it's just mid-sentence. I'll take an hour-long locked-off camera shot with zero edits every day of the week (literally!).
Very much true! I make sure to watch every single second of every video so the algorithm sees that we like them (sometimes I even watch some twice as I'll go back and put on an older one if I'm having trouble sleeping)
Exactly. I'm not here to watch snappy videos either. The internet is supposed to serve something for everyone, not try to make everyone the same target audience. That's what TV has been doing for the last few decades and see how trashy it is by now.
I for one really appreciate the unedited videos (and especially Simon’s style of explaining). Not only, as others already commented, it feels like solving with a friend, but the “silent breaks” also give slower solvers like me the time to stare at the grid and try to get the following step in the solve! I genuinely find it educational! As always, thank you Simon for your videos!
I'm very sensitive to background noises or any noise my brain says is unnecessary, and have nearly zero problems with CTC videos. Sometimes Mark's audio is way too low, but things happen. One noise from CTC that I absolutely love, is Maverick! Absolutely love the sound of small airplanes. I look forward to warmer weather when Simon has his window open so we can better hear Maverick as he flies by. As for the pauses, em's and ah's, it's perfectly fine. Shows us that yes, even Simon and Mark have to pause to think their way through something and can have frustrating moments.
I like the uncut video style. It's very hyper realistic. Almost like Simon and Mark are actual people solving puzzles in front of us. Many movie directors are only dreaming of achieving such realism.
The classic Simon and Mark blind spot for vertical sudoku scanning. They are so fast at box and line scanning! I couldn't bear to watch fast cuts. One of the pleasures of this channel is that it is slow, deliberate, and human.
The minimal editing and the long intros are part of what make this place so cozy and comforting. And too when you build community in a place, the whims of the algorithm are less important because people choose to keep coming back. ❤
I do highly approve of breathing, Simon. It is very good for one's health. You and Mark should both try to breathe regularly. Also, it is so delightful and refreshing to get the glimpses into your friendship together on the streams and in your teasing each other. While on the subject of what the YT algorithm thinks of CtC, I know it matters at some level, but I personally would rather hear the random poem or guitar intro, and all of the birthdays and other greetings, the news around the channel and from the world of football and snooker and chess, than have just plain old sudoku solving. And finally (and not least important) what a lovely puzzle this is, and I so enjoyed your solve of it!! Thank you for ALL you and Mark do to make this channel so great.
New subscriber here. I can just about complete a "normal" sudoku but I'm loving this channel. It's a little oasis of calm and I'm learning stuff along the way (I might not understand it but I'm learning lol). Stuff the algorithm, just be yourself - that's what I'm here for!
Welcome!! I'm hopeless at variant sudoku but can manage basic puzzles. I love watching the wild puzzles on CTC. I have no chance of solving them but it's wonderful watching how Mark and Simon's minds work to get these done.
50min, fun puzzle! I love the breathing room. You're an oasis of calm in this content-laden disco we live in. Everything about your videos really makes them what they are. And I think the people whose attention spans have been hijacked by the internet wouldn't really be sitting down to do an hour-long sudoku :P
The fact that these videos *do* include slow rambling thoughts and pauses is the exact reason my partner and I find them so relaxing. Plus it gives time for the audience to think and catch up.
Hi simon! i’ve been watching since 2020 with the covid lockdown. recently, i’ve noticed you using the term “plonk” or “plonker” a lot, and it makes me laugh every time, since that’s my last name! thanks for always making me laugh and putting a smile on my face!
Simon, PLEASE KEEP BREATHING!!! And please keep quoting Captain Beaky!!!! And please keep bringing wonderful Sudoku and other puzzles to us every day!!!
Dont ever change what you do Simon!! We love hearing and having you share with us everything about your solve, breathing, bdays,patreon info, news , poetry.
A different way of getting that r4c1 and r4c9 are 89 pair: if you try a 6 in a circle, regardless of which two arrow digits in 123 stay in the box, you can't fill in 2 X clues. Same for 7.
Yes, that was the way that I got it. It felt slightly more laborious than Simon's proof, a little bit of case testing, but it was far easier for me to see it that way!
I do love when you and Mark rib each other! I have decades-long friendships that are just the same. After so long, you know how to mess around without truly hurting them.
Beautiful puzzle and solve. Please don't change just for the algorithm. We love channel as it is and it is my opinion that there is too much short form content on the internet already. People use to read encyclopedias for fun. Now for someone like me who gets excited about hour plus videos, it is hard to watch 10 minute videos that I know took hours to film.
A slightly easier way to spot the restriction on the three cell arrows is that the circle totals mush use either a digit above 5, or contain its complement in order for the 10 sums to work
Just yesterday, I was solving this when it came up in the testing channel in discord and throughout my solve, I was just thinking, "oh Simon is going to love this if it's recommended". Can't believe it's already here today.
What an impressive solve! I must admit that I did the break-in differently using a min-max argument on rows 456, because I wasn't able to figure it out by using the low digits alone. That it turned out to be possible anyway is amazing!
The intended logic by *Playmaker6174* was even more elegant. This puzzle was impressive. Two break-ins, both magnificently elegant. It reminds me a recent puzzle where the interaction between a plain *3-cell arrow* and and a plain *X* (both contained in the same house) did magic. Very common constraints, yet very original logic.
Basically, since *7-8-9* cannot be on the arrows, the top row in *box 5* cannot contain *7-8-9.* It can contain a *6,* but the whisper rules it out of itself. Hence *r4c5* must be a low digit *(1-2-3)...*
I personally like the slower pace of the videos, you're on my second monitor whilst I get work done, it keeps me sane. A quiet room is the friend of the distractible.
What an incredible break-in❗Phenomenally and unexpectedly creative, smart, and elegant. Followed by a second magnificent break-in powered by the arrows in the bottom chute. There seems to be no limit to human creativity. I am surprised almost every day when I try and solve puzzles proposed by CTC. Thanks to *Qodec* and others for suggesting this puzzle and to *Simon* for selecting it.
By the way, I believe Simon's break-in was more complex than needed. Here is a simpler approach: 🔹 Since *7-8-9* cannot be on the arrows, the top row in *box 5* cannot contain *7-8-9.* 🔹 It can contain a *6,* but the *whisper* rules it out of itself. 🔹 Hence, *r4c5* must be a low digit *(1-2-3)...*
In case it helps anyone, when I feel it's useful to pencil mark numbers across boxes, I always use the same color (for me, light gray), to remind me that's it's that type of pencil mark, and I use that color to shade the pertinent cells. I've seen where Simon says, "I don't know how to pencil mark that (across boxes)" several times, so I thought I'd offer up this idea. I've found it helpful for pencil marking across boxes, or for extra regions, arrows or killer cages, things like that.
My favorite thing about your videos is how slow-paced and quiet they are! I like the natural pauses, it makes me feel like I can follow your thoughts, even though I rarely do! 🤣 in my opinion, the less editing, the better!
You seem to have a pretty clear audience of folks with longer attention spans for these things. I wouldn't rush into things to chase general "best practices". Besides, even for the general TH-cam audience, longer videos seem to have been doing much better and that conventional wisdom is being rewritten.
I cannot imagine that it will be possible to edid a sudoku-solving video so much that all the breathing will be cut out. If doing so the whole thought process will be cut out as well and that would be meaningless. So - breath all you like, sit in silence and think about a soulution (and than share it with us ^.^) and keep the videos as they are. The way you guys solve the puzzels make the charm of the videos and editing would break it.
Social media is already much too full of quick cuts and breathless chatter. I come here precisely in order to enjoy a breather. I enjoy the puzzles but I also enjoy you and Mark. I like the intros and guitar interludes and poetry and occasional digressions of thought and would be sad if you felt forbidden to indulge in them. Please ignore YT's ridiculous advice and continue to breathe as much as you like!
37:39, dang, I'm surprised by that time. Felt slow, especially at the end. It's super neat how the arrows and Xs in boxes 4 and 6 played with each other, I'm glad I remembered a trick to deal with the two arrow ends in row 8.
I think your channel is one that defies the algorithm. the reason is that your audience is a subset of TH-cam. we want more specific things, so as long as what you are doing is working, ignore the advice! if you start to struggle (doubtful) then you can think about taking measures.
Symphony is a brilliant Sudoku variant! I love it and hope to solve more like this one! Thank you for your commentary on your logical thinking. I'm going to watch this one again and take notes. My own sudoku channel doesn't get into the more complicated, diabolical puzzles to any degree as I'm trying to get the people who haven't latched on to sudoku to latch on and move on up the ladder such that they become die hard fans of sudoku variants.
That was a fantastic puzzle 😍 thank you Playmaker! Solve time: 52 minutes, so slightly longer than Simon ... I'm happy with that 👍🏻👍🏻 I'll confess that I resorted to writing down all the different permutations for making the 8 and 9 arrows in a notebook to see what did and didn't work, but I got there all by myself! The strange moment was when after lots of hard work, the middle swipe of the grid was largely done or at least down to dominoes ... but then there was virtually no connection into the top and bottom swipes, and realising I needed to start thinking about something completely new, it felt almost like starting a fresh puzzle.
I've only recently started doing variant sudokus, and this is definitely my longest solve. It took me 315 minutes to solve. There were several things that I was kicking myself for not seeing earlier.
I solved this earlier today! I'm quite pleased you were running into the same conundrums that I did, even though the solve took me twice as much time. D:
I always wonder how genius Simon is and how he finds absolutely complicated ways to prove something. @ 34:30 He proves R4C5 can't be 7 with help of the renban-line, instead of discussing that R5C5 would be a 1 or 2, which is impossible because the 1/2-pair in R4C4/6 BTW: This puzzle took me around 90min. Good Job, Simon!
I've got sudoku news for you guys! Gamma Lateral, at my request, came out with new Sudoku Variants, including 3D Black Knight, 3D Bishop, Twodoku Bishop and a White Knight version, Double Cube Bishop and a Black Knight version, Isodoku Black Knight, Hexagram Biship, Subtwodoku, and more. Plus, I can now choose the Japanese font in order to get Japanese numbers to use in all of the games. Thus I can get the knight in the same game as I see 一、二、五、七 and so on. And yes, I am the fool behind Swap with the 15 second timer before the numbers change. Thank you for all that you guys have done to get the word out on new sudoku variants! I love it!
One of the most elegant constructions I can remember for some time, thanks. On a bit of a run of messing things up at the moment due to carelessness etc and this was no exception, but happy to find my way along the scenic route. My start was a bit different to Simon's and I have to say I think there is a neater way to deduce the 89 pair.
24:03 for me. It's fascinating that at first sight there's not that much given information but once you find out where to look - the pressure on some boxes is extreme
Took me a matter of seconds to see the 89 pair in r4. A previous puzzle proved 6 and 7 3-cell arrows contain all 4 versions of 10 pairs, and leaving one off will still leave too few pairs adding to 10 in b46.
True. That previous puzzle was another example of out-of-scale human (or alien) creativity. Maybe they belong to the same planet... or was that the same constructor?
Sometimes, when my job is intense and I don't have time to watch the long videos, I flit by to smash the like button on faith and add the puzzle to my "later" list. I have never been even slightly tempted to take my like back.
I love how Simon tortures himself at 35:00 finding that he couldn't put an 8 or 9 on the renban when he's literally places the 1 and 2 in the central box, which would be the digits that would have to go next to the 7 he's hypothesized.
@26:35 - "These can't both be 15 pairs" - that's true, but you don't need uniqueness. The box with the 8 circle must have a 19 on an X, so there must be a 1 in R7 below the 8. It can't be a 134 arrow, because there'd be too many lows in yellow, so it's got to have 25 in yellow. The 9 circle must have a 28 on an X. It can't be a 234 arrow because of too many lows. it could be 135 or 126, but the 1 must go in yellow with a 5 or 6, and the digit on the tip is 23. This means that across R4 in box 5, there's either 125 or 126, and only 1 or 2 can go in R4C5. This means that the whisper line has highs on the ends. The 3-cell renban now has a 3 in the middle, with 45 on the tips. This means that the 9 arrow can't have 5 in yellow, so must be 126. I think your misplaced doubt in your logical insight was your biggest hindrance for this one. You were really close to the break in fairly early on, but you seemed reluctant to accept what your brain was telling you, and drew it out for much longer than it ought. I'm not a fan of puzzles with so many rulesets, but I have to concede that this was an excellent construction, with the interaction between the different rules creating some sort of magic. I particularly liked the way the arrows at the bottom worked. That part of my solve was identical to yours, and it was wonderful the way each deduction fired back at the other arrow.
Another way to resolve the polarity, is that no matter what digit it is, it can't only go on Xs in both box 4 and 6, so it must appear on 1 (but only 1) of the arrows. (The same applies for any digits in row 4 in box 5, except 5 which would have to appear on both arrows)
I am very happy with the fact that Simon and Mark intend to continue breathing. Snark aside, any editing would immediately disrupt the flow, and take away the time us mortals desperately need to catch up to you.
I think that the initial break-in is much easier, unless I missed something and had a wrong deduction process (quite possible). Took me a few minutes to realize that there is an 8-9 pair with exactly 152 and 162, with 1-6 and 2-5 being in the central squares. Basically, there are 4 ways to make an X pair and two of them are already "taken" by the X's. So the arrows can take away maximum 2 of the other ways to make an X. It's easy to see that 6 and 7 don't work, because one of the small digits on the arrow must sum to a 10 with the one in the circle. But 6 can't have 4 on the arrow and 7 can't have 3 on the arrow. So it must be 9 going with the 1 and 8 with the 2.
Finished in 54:20. Clever use of Xs to limit what the arrows could be. I figured out all the tough parts, but for a while I was stuck on all the sudoku parts, because I was in a non-sudoku solving mindframe. Spent at least 10 minutes contemplating what other arrows or lines could help solve before realizing I just needed to sudoku. Fun puzzle!
That was a tough break in. It was clear that boxes 4 and 6 were the key but working through the logic took time. I really enjoyed the logic regarding r1c5 and r2c5. Total solve time was 77:57 (including messing up sudoku near the end a couple of times 😞)
The more videos I watch the more I grow to appreciate the moments when you launch into these uh.. nursery rhymes? Would that be the correct term? I probably would never have heard them otherwise, you see, as I'm from a very much not English speaking country.
Ok, this is the first one I'm trying from the start without watching any of the video. After a few hours I've figured out a LOT of things, but I still can't settle on any number. I'm going to have to watch some of the video to see how I'm supposed to start.
For those people wanting shorter videos, watch it at 1.75x speed. I actually think it's the perfect speed for watching Simons videos. It still feels natural, and the video is done in almost half the time. Actually I've tried watching Simon on normal speed recently and it feels like he's talking in slow motion now. 😅
Exactly. He is too slow and repetitive for us to watch him at natural playback speed. Of course, that does not mean he is a slow solver. I am much slower.
@@Paolo_De_Leva he's not a slow solver in the slightest. Sudoku is a slow puzzle by nature. Speeding up the playback some doesn't take away from the solve at all
I completely missed the 4 X's being different kinds. Some of my deduction steps were completely different (and slower) than Simon's but also very beautiful.
The episodes of your breathing show where you must take a moment to assess where you are and where you are going. I think this episodes are important for those watching to encourage them.
I think CTC needs to release a video of ONLY the breathing for April 1st! Kind of like those edits of the infomercial guys, where it's only the exaggerated breaths and nothing else.
Around the 35:00 minute mark, Simon says R4C5 can't be 7 and it has nothing to do with the 12 pair in row 4 and proved it with the renban. Funny enough, I saw the 7 couldn't go there because it would need to pair with a 1 or 2, both of which he showed could only go in R4 in box 5. I love when there are multiple ways to reach the same conclusion
At 34:20 Simon says the fact it can't be a 7 has nothing to do with the 1,2 pencilmark but considering that pencilmark alone proves you can't put a 1 or 2 below the 7 is proof enough ;)
I found this one really difficult. 103 minutes for me. I figured out the break in by just thinking about all possible scenarios and thinking about high/low, but it didn't feel like I ever truly grasped this one. I did it in a similar way to Simon but the break in felt a bit more elegant because I also considered the constraint on r6c5, which I don't think Simon ever appreciated (may be wrong on that I skimmed through).
My break-in involved thinking about how many 7's, 8's and 9's needed to be placed in rows 5 and 6. Two of each needed, exactly one each in the X dominos and none on the arrows, leaving one of each in rows 5 and 6 in box 5. Since r4c5 also couldn't be 6, it was forced to be a low digit.
We don't take simple paths. If there is a 7, then there is a pair of 1,2 from below, but there are already 1 and 2 in the box. Not require rainbow logic.
Greetings Simon and CTC community, it's Playmaker6174 here and this video might give me the funnest laughs I've gotten in a long while, thank you all so much for the lovely wishes!
Regarding to your question about how I was able to pull off the ultimate matchmaking, it's a long and complicated story, all started with me and Qodec 'teasing' with each other in the server x)
*About the solve:* I wouldn't actually say that you missed much in the opening part because while it was comparatively the hardest part to make sense, all of the logic were completely fair and I'm happy that you essentially managed to get all of the important points in that part. I can summarize the main ideas in the opening part as follow (spoiler alert, and also because this is the part that I worked on the most during the setting):
_With the given arrangement, the 4 Xes are distinct from each other and combining with extra two three-cell arrows pattern like that, I could manage to get a virtual 789 triple along row 4 (because they can't appear on the 3 cells arrows). So using that fact, I drew a whisper line along column 5 for the 'symmetry' theme and forced the parity, then I also added in the three-cell renban around R6C5. Because R6C5 is low (123) and those 4 Xes basically form a set of 8 different digits (!), that renban cannot be too low (otherwise at least one of the three-cell arrows will have to be 4+5+1=10), therefore forcing a 345 triple along that renban and the middle boxes just collapse as in your solve has shown_ :)
I can go into more details with the later parts of the puzzle (while still retaining 'symmetry' theme) but I think that you have pretty much covered all of my intended ideas at the end, and I was very glad to hear that you enjoyed this wonderful symphony overall!
If wondering, I did acknowledge the restriction of R4C19 being 89 pair at the end but it's essentially a byproduct of the intended idea where I can force the virtual 789 triple in row 4, and the rest are pretty much the same.
Great puzzle.
(I felt 3 out of 5 for difficulty was under selling it, but then I often think that about the LMD ratings).
I kind of found the 789 virtual triple, only I pencil marked it into rows 5 and 6 of box 5 instead of thinking about it in row 4. I guess it's equivalent. It similarly ruled out high digits from r4c5, giving me the parity of the whisper.
@Playmaker6174 just a fabulous puzzle from you. Thank you so much for sharing some insight into it!! Hope you had a wonderful birthday!!
This was such a beautiful solve. Amazing work. Happy Birthday!
unrelated to sudoku, but does the 6174 in your name have any significance? as a math major I think I might know lol
I am undoubtedly an old person, rapidly approaching 25 and 63 quarters, but I much prefer videos with minimal editing (i.e. ums and ahs and breathing left in), the ADHD-style clipping of absolutely any pause gives me some mental equivalent of motion sickness and if videos are TOO heavily edited, I have to stop watching. I can't speak for all viewers (and I'm not trying to) but for me the relaxation of watching comes from the naturalistic editing (or lack of) and the fact that when I sit down to watch an hour-long solve, I know I'm sharing an hour of your time, in real-time. It's a really precious thing and I'm glad your videos are exactly the way they are.
I have ADHD and I approve of this message.
Too many cuts is not fun and I absolutely loathe the camera in out effect that people are using too frequently in short video formats with an absolutely truck load of cuts.
Completely agree! Well said!
You ... are ... NOT ... an old person.
@@CrazyIvanTR Yeah the abruptly-zoom-in-to-emphasise-one-word thing? I watch one who has recently started using two completely different camera angles and randomly turns from one camera to the other mid-sentence, I have absolutely no idea why. And then TH-cam inserts an ad break at what it THINKS is a scene change, but it's just mid-sentence. I'll take an hour-long locked-off camera shot with zero edits every day of the week (literally!).
@@PuzzleQodec Thanks!
If I wanted snappily-edited short videos, I wouldn't be here watching hour+-long sudoku solves in the first place.
EXACTLY this.
I'll admit I sometimes take breaks from the hour+-long sudoku solves to watch snappily-edited short videos. But I always come back.
Precisely.
Very much true! I make sure to watch every single second of every video so the algorithm sees that we like them (sometimes I even watch some twice as I'll go back and put on an older one if I'm having trouble sleeping)
Exactly. I'm not here to watch snappy videos either. The internet is supposed to serve something for everyone, not try to make everyone the same target audience. That's what TV has been doing for the last few decades and see how trashy it is by now.
I for one really appreciate the unedited videos (and especially Simon’s style of explaining). Not only, as others already commented, it feels like solving with a friend, but the “silent breaks” also give slower solvers like me the time to stare at the grid and try to get the following step in the solve! I genuinely find it educational! As always, thank you Simon for your videos!
Ditto to the max!
I like the longer form, breathing and all. Solves are like proper food. I seek these out . "shorts" feels like a chain hamburger, empty after eating
Well said!
Very nice Metaphor!
No Simon. Please try to hold your breath for all future solves 😅
Nooooooooooooooo😧
"Welcome to Cracking the Cryptic: EXTREME Edition! Simon will now solve a 5 start sudoku while completely underwater--no breathing!" 😅
I'm very sensitive to background noises or any noise my brain says is unnecessary, and have nearly zero problems with CTC videos. Sometimes Mark's audio is way too low, but things happen.
One noise from CTC that I absolutely love, is Maverick! Absolutely love the sound of small airplanes. I look forward to warmer weather when Simon has his window open so we can better hear Maverick as he flies by.
As for the pauses, em's and ah's, it's perfectly fine. Shows us that yes, even Simon and Mark have to pause to think their way through something and can have frustrating moments.
I can hear loud noise from Simon's throat and that is annoying. It might be caused by incorrect microphone placement
I love “maverick” as well
I love when Maverick shows up!
I like the uncut video style. It's very hyper realistic. Almost like Simon and Mark are actual people solving puzzles in front of us. Many movie directors are only dreaming of achieving such realism.
The classic Simon and Mark blind spot for vertical sudoku scanning. They are so fast at box and line scanning!
I couldn't bear to watch fast cuts. One of the pleasures of this channel is that it is slow, deliberate, and human.
The minimal editing and the long intros are part of what make this place so cozy and comforting. And too when you build community in a place, the whims of the algorithm are less important because people choose to keep coming back. ❤
I do highly approve of breathing, Simon. It is very good for one's health. You and Mark should both try to breathe regularly. Also, it is so delightful and refreshing to get the glimpses into your friendship together on the streams and in your teasing each other. While on the subject of what the YT algorithm thinks of CtC, I know it matters at some level, but I personally would rather hear the random poem or guitar intro, and all of the birthdays and other greetings, the news around the channel and from the world of football and snooker and chess, than have just plain old sudoku solving. And finally (and not least important) what a lovely puzzle this is, and I so enjoyed your solve of it!! Thank you for ALL you and Mark do to make this channel so great.
Another perfectly written comment from you my friend!! Appreciate you 🙂
You are an encouraging person, David! I appreciate you!@@davidrattner9
New subscriber here. I can just about complete a "normal" sudoku but I'm loving this channel. It's a little oasis of calm and I'm learning stuff along the way (I might not understand it but I'm learning lol). Stuff the algorithm, just be yourself - that's what I'm here for!
I was a new subscriber once, and I agree with you. Welcome along!
Welcome!!
I'm hopeless at variant sudoku but can manage basic puzzles. I love watching the wild puzzles on CTC. I have no chance of solving them but it's wonderful watching how Mark and Simon's minds work to get these done.
50min, fun puzzle!
I love the breathing room. You're an oasis of calm in this content-laden disco we live in. Everything about your videos really makes them what they are. And I think the people whose attention spans have been hijacked by the internet wouldn't really be sitting down to do an hour-long sudoku :P
The fact that these videos *do* include slow rambling thoughts and pauses is the exact reason my partner and I find them so relaxing.
Plus it gives time for the audience to think and catch up.
Hi simon! i’ve been watching since 2020 with the covid lockdown. recently, i’ve noticed you using the term “plonk” or “plonker” a lot, and it makes me laugh every time, since that’s my last name! thanks for always making me laugh and putting a smile on my face!
Simon, PLEASE KEEP BREATHING!!! And please keep quoting Captain Beaky!!!! And please keep bringing wonderful Sudoku and other puzzles to us every day!!!
Came here to write exactly this. Breathing is good: I try to do it every day. 😺
@@Anne_Mahoney 😄
Dont ever change what you do Simon!! We love hearing and having you share with us everything about your solve, breathing, bdays,patreon info, news , poetry.
A different way of getting that r4c1 and r4c9 are 89 pair: if you try a 6 in a circle, regardless of which two arrow digits in 123 stay in the box, you can't fill in 2 X clues. Same for 7.
This feels intended, as the same logic disallows 134=8, making it 125; and also disallowing 234=9
Yes, that was the way that I got it. It felt slightly more laborious than Simon's proof, a little bit of case testing, but it was far easier for me to see it that way!
I do love when you and Mark rib each other! I have decades-long friendships that are just the same. After so long, you know how to mess around without truly hurting them.
Beautiful puzzle and solve. Please don't change just for the algorithm. We love channel as it is and it is my opinion that there is too much short form content on the internet already. People use to read encyclopedias for fun. Now for someone like me who gets excited about hour plus videos, it is hard to watch 10 minute videos that I know took hours to film.
Yes never try to follow the algorithm… do it your way always
A slightly easier way to spot the restriction on the three cell arrows is that the circle totals mush use either a digit above 5, or contain its complement in order for the 10 sums to work
It is hard to maintain a friendship for 2.5 decades in my view! What a lovely friendship!
Simon, I love how you explain all of the logic you use in solving puzzles. I don't have to go back and figure out how you made a deduction.
I looooove (and prefer) that the videos aren’t edited. It always feels like sitting and solving sudokus with a friend 🫶🏻
Shure, cut out 8 seconds of breathing in the introduction of a 1+ hour video because people have too short attention spans, seems legit :'D
Just yesterday, I was solving this when it came up in the testing channel in discord and throughout my solve, I was just thinking, "oh Simon is going to love this if it's recommended". Can't believe it's already here today.
Now that Simon has mentioned breathing, I hear every breath distinctly. I had never noticed his breathing before.
What an impressive solve! I must admit that I did the break-in differently using a min-max argument on rows 456, because I wasn't able to figure it out by using the low digits alone. That it turned out to be possible anyway is amazing!
The intended logic by *Playmaker6174* was even more elegant. This puzzle was impressive. Two break-ins, both magnificently elegant. It reminds me a recent puzzle where the interaction between a plain *3-cell arrow* and and a plain *X* (both contained in the same house) did magic. Very common constraints, yet very original logic.
Basically, since *7-8-9* cannot be on the arrows, the top row in *box 5* cannot contain *7-8-9.* It can contain a *6,* but the whisper rules it out of itself. Hence *r4c5* must be a low digit *(1-2-3)...*
I personally like the slower pace of the videos, you're on my second monitor whilst I get work done, it keeps me sane. A quiet room is the friend of the distractible.
What an incredible break-in❗Phenomenally and unexpectedly creative, smart, and elegant. Followed by a second magnificent break-in powered by the arrows in the bottom chute.
There seems to be no limit to human creativity. I am surprised almost every day when I try and solve puzzles proposed by CTC. Thanks to *Qodec* and others for suggesting this puzzle and to *Simon* for selecting it.
By the way, I believe Simon's break-in was more complex than needed. Here is a simpler approach:
🔹 Since *7-8-9* cannot be on the arrows, the top row in *box 5* cannot contain *7-8-9.*
🔹 It can contain a *6,* but the *whisper* rules it out of itself.
🔹 Hence, *r4c5* must be a low digit *(1-2-3)...*
In case it helps anyone, when I feel it's useful to pencil mark numbers across boxes, I always use the same color (for me, light gray), to remind me that's it's that type of pencil mark, and I use that color to shade the pertinent cells. I've seen where Simon says, "I don't know how to pencil mark that (across boxes)" several times, so I thought I'd offer up this idea. I've found it helpful for pencil marking across boxes, or for extra regions, arrows or killer cages, things like that.
My favorite thing about your videos is how slow-paced and quiet they are! I like the natural pauses, it makes me feel like I can follow your thoughts, even though I rarely do! 🤣 in my opinion, the less editing, the better!
You seem to have a pretty clear audience of folks with longer attention spans for these things. I wouldn't rush into things to chase general "best practices". Besides, even for the general TH-cam audience, longer videos seem to have been doing much better and that conventional wisdom is being rewritten.
I love "distracted Simon"! More poems please ^^
I love when Mark and Simon dunk on each other. It’s the sign of a good friendship.
I love this. Playmaker is one of the all time greats.
I cannot imagine that it will be possible to edid a sudoku-solving video so much that all the breathing will be cut out. If doing so the whole thought process will be cut out as well and that would be meaningless.
So - breath all you like, sit in silence and think about a soulution (and than share it with us ^.^) and keep the videos as they are. The way you guys solve the puzzels make the charm of the videos and editing would break it.
Social media is already much too full of quick cuts and breathless chatter. I come here precisely in order to enjoy a breather. I enjoy the puzzles but I also enjoy you and Mark. I like the intros and guitar interludes and poetry and occasional digressions of thought and would be sad if you felt forbidden to indulge in them. Please ignore YT's ridiculous advice and continue to breathe as much as you like!
Happy Birthday, Playmaker6174!
Happy birthday x2
Happy birthday thrice
Four!
37:39, dang, I'm surprised by that time. Felt slow, especially at the end. It's super neat how the arrows and Xs in boxes 4 and 6 played with each other, I'm glad I remembered a trick to deal with the two arrow ends in row 8.
I think your channel is one that defies the algorithm. the reason is that your audience is a subset of TH-cam. we want more specific things, so as long as what you are doing is working, ignore the advice! if you start to struggle (doubtful) then you can think about taking measures.
Symphony is a brilliant Sudoku variant! I love it and hope to solve more like this one! Thank you for your commentary on your logical thinking. I'm going to watch this one again and take notes. My own sudoku channel doesn't get into the more complicated, diabolical puzzles to any degree as I'm trying to get the people who haven't latched on to sudoku to latch on and move on up the ladder such that they become die hard fans of sudoku variants.
That was a fantastic puzzle 😍 thank you Playmaker! Solve time: 52 minutes, so slightly longer than Simon ... I'm happy with that 👍🏻👍🏻
I'll confess that I resorted to writing down all the different permutations for making the 8 and 9 arrows in a notebook to see what did and didn't work, but I got there all by myself! The strange moment was when after lots of hard work, the middle swipe of the grid was largely done or at least down to dominoes ... but then there was virtually no connection into the top and bottom swipes, and realising I needed to start thinking about something completely new, it felt almost like starting a fresh puzzle.
I've only recently started doing variant sudokus, and this is definitely my longest solve. It took me 315 minutes to solve. There were several things that I was kicking myself for not seeing earlier.
33:56 for me, solve 97. Amazing puzzle, awesome logic, loved the interaction between the constraint !
Simon: "We enjoy the comments, especially when they're kind." Comments: "Stop breathing." Good grief...
please don't change to conform to the attention-defecit tiktok-algorithms
I solved this earlier today! I'm quite pleased you were running into the same conundrums that I did, even though the solve took me twice as much time. D:
I always wonder how genius Simon is and how he finds absolutely complicated ways to prove something.
@ 34:30 He proves R4C5 can't be 7 with help of the renban-line, instead of discussing that R5C5 would be a 1 or 2, which is impossible because the 1/2-pair in R4C4/6
BTW: This puzzle took me around 90min. Good Job, Simon!
Very cool puzzle! Happy Birthday!
I've got sudoku news for you guys! Gamma Lateral, at my request, came out with new Sudoku Variants, including 3D Black Knight, 3D Bishop, Twodoku Bishop and a White Knight version, Double Cube Bishop and a Black Knight version, Isodoku Black Knight, Hexagram Biship, Subtwodoku, and more. Plus, I can now choose the Japanese font in order to get Japanese numbers to use in all of the games. Thus I can get the knight in the same game as I see 一、二、五、七 and so on. And yes, I am the fool behind Swap with the 15 second timer before the numbers change. Thank you for all that you guys have done to get the word out on new sudoku variants! I love it!
I prefer the unedited version as well. The pauses, ums, ah, make the break through epiphany that much more enjoyable.
One of the most elegant constructions I can remember for some time, thanks. On a bit of a run of messing things up at the moment due to carelessness etc and this was no exception, but happy to find my way along the scenic route. My start was a bit different to Simon's and I have to say I think there is a neater way to deduce the 89 pair.
I got 82 minutes. The break-in felt very satisfying and quite enjoyable throughout the puzzle. Nice!
44:50
The restraints through the central boxes was well-crafted, all under the watchful gaze of a wise old owl!
Also, please do keep breathing Simon.
24:03 for me. It's fascinating that at first sight there's not that much given information but once you find out where to look - the pressure on some boxes is extreme
Took me a matter of seconds to see the 89 pair in r4. A previous puzzle proved 6 and 7 3-cell arrows contain all 4 versions of 10 pairs, and leaving one off will still leave too few pairs adding to 10 in b46.
True. That previous puzzle was another example of out-of-scale human (or alien) creativity. Maybe they belong to the same planet... or was that the same constructor?
Sometimes, when my job is intense and I don't have time to watch the long videos, I flit by to smash the like button on faith and add the puzzle to my "later" list.
I have never been even slightly tempted to take my like back.
We need the breathing breaks. When else are we going to have time to shout at the screen 'DO SUDOKU!' ??? 😂
I love how Simon tortures himself at 35:00 finding that he couldn't put an 8 or 9 on the renban when he's literally places the 1 and 2 in the central box, which would be the digits that would have to go next to the 7 he's hypothesized.
Great job, PM, on the matchmaking and on the puzzle. Multi-talented man
@26:35 - "These can't both be 15 pairs" - that's true, but you don't need uniqueness. The box with the 8 circle must have a 19 on an X, so there must be a 1 in R7 below the 8. It can't be a 134 arrow, because there'd be too many lows in yellow, so it's got to have 25 in yellow. The 9 circle must have a 28 on an X. It can't be a 234 arrow because of too many lows. it could be 135 or 126, but the 1 must go in yellow with a 5 or 6, and the digit on the tip is 23. This means that across R4 in box 5, there's either 125 or 126, and only 1 or 2 can go in R4C5. This means that the whisper line has highs on the ends. The 3-cell renban now has a 3 in the middle, with 45 on the tips. This means that the 9 arrow can't have 5 in yellow, so must be 126.
I think your misplaced doubt in your logical insight was your biggest hindrance for this one. You were really close to the break in fairly early on, but you seemed reluctant to accept what your brain was telling you, and drew it out for much longer than it ought.
I'm not a fan of puzzles with so many rulesets, but I have to concede that this was an excellent construction, with the interaction between the different rules creating some sort of magic. I particularly liked the way the arrows at the bottom worked. That part of my solve was identical to yours, and it was wonderful the way each deduction fired back at the other arrow.
Owl confirmed.
well , you do have some breath-taking solutions.
Another way to resolve the polarity, is that no matter what digit it is, it can't only go on Xs in both box 4 and 6, so it must appear on 1 (but only 1) of the arrows. (The same applies for any digits in row 4 in box 5, except 5 which would have to appear on both arrows)
I am very happy with the fact that Simon and Mark intend to continue breathing.
Snark aside, any editing would immediately disrupt the flow, and take away the time us mortals desperately need to catch up to you.
00:57:41 for me. Took me a while for the break in with a very round about way to reach the same conclusions as Simon. Loved the puzzle! Kind comment.
I think that the initial break-in is much easier, unless I missed something and had a wrong deduction process (quite possible). Took me a few minutes to realize that there is an 8-9 pair with exactly 152 and 162, with 1-6 and 2-5 being in the central squares.
Basically, there are 4 ways to make an X pair and two of them are already "taken" by the X's. So the arrows can take away maximum 2 of the other ways to make an X. It's easy to see that 6 and 7 don't work, because one of the small digits on the arrow must sum to a 10 with the one in the circle. But 6 can't have 4 on the arrow and 7 can't have 3 on the arrow. So it must be 9 going with the 1 and 8 with the 2.
Great puzzle, great video. Don’t change a thing!
Finished in 54:20. Clever use of Xs to limit what the arrows could be. I figured out all the tough parts, but for a while I was stuck on all the sudoku parts, because I was in a non-sudoku solving mindframe. Spent at least 10 minutes contemplating what other arrows or lines could help solve before realizing I just needed to sudoku.
Fun puzzle!
That was a tough break in. It was clear that boxes 4 and 6 were the key but working through the logic took time. I really enjoyed the logic regarding r1c5 and r2c5. Total solve time was 77:57 (including messing up sudoku near the end a couple of times 😞)
What a puzzle! seemingly exploded once it hit critical mass. From first digit to full solved was only 19 minutes
I'm not sure about the videos specifically, but I do highly recommend breathing as a general rule.
Happy birthday Playmaker!
The more videos I watch the more I grow to appreciate the moments when you launch into these uh.. nursery rhymes? Would that be the correct term?
I probably would never have heard them otherwise, you see, as I'm from a very much not English speaking country.
Nice play on X's...but guessed that 6 would be on a 9arrow. Gotta prove the other branches break.
Regarding Simons jabs at Marks pencil marks, I just assumed Simon was just jealous of Mark hairstyle :)
Ok, this is the first one I'm trying from the start without watching any of the video. After a few hours I've figured out a LOT of things, but I still can't settle on any number. I'm going to have to watch some of the video to see how I'm supposed to start.
To my brain this puzzle looks like a 'Moses Owl', as it looks like an owl holding two tablets of *ten* commandments. Hehe.
I feel that uniqueness can fairly be used IF it is explicitly stated in the description/rules of the sudoku that it has a unique solution.
For those people wanting shorter videos, watch it at 1.75x speed. I actually think it's the perfect speed for watching Simons videos. It still feels natural, and the video is done in almost half the time. Actually I've tried watching Simon on normal speed recently and it feels like he's talking in slow motion now. 😅
Exactly. He is too slow and repetitive for us to watch him at natural playback speed. Of course, that does not mean he is a slow solver. I am much slower.
@@Paolo_De_Leva he's not a slow solver in the slightest. Sudoku is a slow puzzle by nature. Speeding up the playback some doesn't take away from the solve at all
I completely missed the 4 X's being different kinds. Some of my deduction steps were completely different (and slower) than Simon's but also very beautiful.
14:40 for me. Great puzzle!
😮
Don't mess with the editing! Impatient viewers can increase the playback speed and/or hit the right arrow to skip.
The episodes of your breathing show where you must take a moment to assess where you are and where you are going. I think this episodes are important for those watching to encourage them.
I think CTC needs to release a video of ONLY the breathing for April 1st! Kind of like those edits of the infomercial guys, where it's only the exaggerated breaths and nothing else.
You should do a random solve in the style of Pencil Mark and make it completely serious, like that is how you always solve them!
Around the 35:00 minute mark, Simon says R4C5 can't be 7 and it has nothing to do with the 12 pair in row 4 and proved it with the renban. Funny enough, I saw the 7 couldn't go there because it would need to pair with a 1 or 2, both of which he showed could only go in R4 in box 5.
I love when there are multiple ways to reach the same conclusion
This should have been called domino sudoku or England cricket sudoku. Once Simon got the breakthrough, the puzzle collapsed
At 34:20 Simon says the fact it can't be a 7 has nothing to do with the 1,2 pencilmark but considering that pencilmark alone proves you can't put a 1 or 2 below the 7 is proof enough ;)
I found this one really difficult. 103 minutes for me. I figured out the break in by just thinking about all possible scenarios and thinking about high/low, but it didn't feel like I ever truly grasped this one. I did it in a similar way to Simon but the break in felt a bit more elegant because I also considered the constraint on r6c5, which I don't think Simon ever appreciated (may be wrong on that I skimmed through).
I usually watch the video while solving the puzzle. No breathing would kill my fun...
7 could not go on green because it needs 1/2 above and below and not sideways 😁 . That s my way
I thought he was going to say that rather than the renban. You can't put 1 or 2 below the 7
That's the way more obvious solution in my opinion, too! But that's not why we're here 😂
My break-in involved thinking about how many 7's, 8's and 9's needed to be placed in rows 5 and 6. Two of each needed, exactly one each in the X dominos and none on the arrows, leaving one of each in rows 5 and 6 in box 5. Since r4c5 also couldn't be 6, it was forced to be a low digit.
I would 100% subscribe to a channel of Simon reading poetry or bedtime stories.
NO, all Sudoko videos should be done in one breathtake!!!
I can't believe someone said something about you guys breathing!!! 🙄
Super great solve. Did not want to try today 😅
Thank you! 😀
53:45 for me. Nice puzzle!
We don't take simple paths. If there is a 7, then there is a pair of 1,2 from below, but there are already 1 and 2 in the box. Not require rainbow logic.