Not only do you bring us joy every day you also expand our vocabulary - although I'm not sure if I'll ever get to use quincunx or ziggurat at a party. Sorry to put you through that Simon - this looked much more like one of my typical attempted solves (forgetting previously applied rules and deductions, and missing pairs), but your determination/commitment is 10x mine when you find yourself stuck!! How you battle through this live is amazing. The intended second step (instead of focusing on the quincunx) is to realise that the digit you uncover in R9C6 must be present on the 28 line, and therefore you can resolve all the digits on the 28 line. A couple of points of logic that I discovered after finalising the puzzle: 1. Interestingly, you can actually start on the 28 line if you ask the right question: It must have an 8 and a 9 on it, but where does the 8 go (and then where does the 9 go)? 2. Simpler logic on the quincunx: if the central digit was not a 6, then the you would have to take six cells around it, which would necessitate duplicating 6s on one of the two marked diagonals. Have a wonderful 2025 and thank you for infectious enthusiasm!
re: your first point, not only is that how i started, but i went round things in a way such that i already knew r2c8 before it was revealed (that said, i realized while solving that i could have done things way more efficiently, and after reading comments and watching the video, even more of the same) still, no matter how i solved it, this was a joy from start to finish; so many thoughts and regions that wanted to be put together, and so fun much to figure out exactly how everything clicked into place
This was a very hard puzzle, and you are completely right that Simon is extremely brave to solve it live! Simon, do not feel bad about how long it took. I spent far longer than you on it, and finally gave up! I do think there was one piece of incorrect logic. At 45:20, Simon concludes that 5 must go in r6c6, but he left out a possibility for it dipping down into the quincunx region. I was eventually able to prove that the 5s do not go down there, but it was quite a bit later. So, I think he bypassed a bit of the other logic. Still, for a very difficult puzzle like this, it's really hard to not make a mistake of this type!
It drove me crazy - as soon as he stopped marking the "forbidden" rows, he completely forgot the rule. At 1:01:50 he says "That was *vicious*" and I might actually have groaned out loud 😂
25:03 Simon, the most wholesome creator on TH-cam, trying to say "quincuncial" and accidentally saying a very naughty word is already a contender for highlight of the year, four days in.
I will add, responding to Simon's ending challenge to prove him wrong about a TH-cam video using the word more - apparently it's used in astrology, and if you search TH-cam for quincunx, there are videos that I would bet a large amount on, but have not verified, have used the word more.
Brilliant solve. However, I think if we turned it into a drinking game in which every time Simon thought about putting a 9 in row 9 you have to have a shot.
wow! despite the silly errors Simon made with the 9 in 9th row and a few other minor details, I would never have able to get started on this puzzle; Simon, you are a gentle giant genius. loved it.
@52:20 Don't stress out about comments so much, you're a much more experienced and better solver than 99% of us. :D The stress really seemed to get you a lot more confused than usual with the bottom right 3x3, considering possibilities that just weren't reasonable given the work you'd done. Unfortunately, I don't have good advice for not letting stress wind one up, as I am an especially anxiety prone person.
Thanks for the shoutout. I really enjoyed this video! Definitely not an easy puzzle and a pretty different mental space than the usual fare. Fascinating. Great work Simon and Die Hard!
Honestly, when Simon gets confused or makes an error, it makes me think he's a regular human like me. 😂 Never do I think "what a maroon". There is clearly a lot of knowledge and cleverness jammed in your brain, Simon! Thank you for another fun journey. ❤
Outstanding, Outstanding, Outstanding puzzle! Took me an hour and a half to solve. Like Simon, I sometimes had trouble keeping track of all the different rules in the ruleset. But I would love to have more puzzles like this on the channel, this level of intricacy and difficulty I mean. I know they take longer but they're definitely my favorite kind. Many thanks to Simon for the solve and to Die Hard for the puzzle! It was a joy!
33:27 Simon finally realises he needs to keep track of the diagonals that need to have different numbers in every cell but still doesn't just hi light them until 58 minutes!
Yesterday Simon was falling all over himself apologizing for overlooking something obscure, & going on about how dim he was. But today, when he finally realizes that for 15 minutes or so he had overlooked an elementary rule (no N in row N or column N) he takes it all in stride with scarcely a comment. (?!)
1:45:44 - OMG - I was convinced the break in was in the 15 arrow at the top but after about an hour I started watching Simon and as soon as he highlighted the problems with the 8 in row 9 I started again and the whole thing blew open! Brilliant puzzle.
I love how Simon used very unusual words! I learned a new one and got to remember one I forgot about 😂..great puzzle solve can’t wait for the next one.
The first thing I did with this puzzle was add the diagonal clues of 15, 12, 28, and 27. That's 82, which proves that cells are shared by fillomino regions defined under those diagonals in a grid of 81 cells. Once I had that in mind, I started working out where 27 cells could go from the four different digits in the lower right corner.
Adding up the totals of the given diagonals (104) is well over the 81 permitted, and even looking to maximise the filominos that can count in multiple (79 or 72 if the top left 7 combines into the 22 sum) does not leave a lot of degrees of freedom. Made the process so much simpler. (still feels like an achievement to beat Simon's time 64min)
50:30 Simon The reason I can't put a 9 in row 9 is because the 6 won't work - spends the next 5 minutes worrying about it 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Ah I hope Simon never changes, it is these momemts that make me watch every video through even if I have done the puzzle! Happy New Year! Here is to !M+ in 2025!
Some things which helped me visualize/remember the rules: → draw lines along the arrows → enable row and column numbers. I managed to find the first 8 and 9 on the 28 diagonal, but that didn't uncover anything. After a while of not getting anywhere (though I colored parts of the grid), I decided to watch Simon do it. I didn't learn much new until 22:44, where Simon looked at the 6es on the 27 diagonal (but Simon took until 36:20 for my conclusion) didn't , and then managed to finish it from there . Total time 222:12 (though this included a break for removing some snow, where I forgot to pause), solve counter 2213. Overall, interesting combination of rules, though the "may clear fog somewhere" proved to be a bit frustrating, as most digits didn't reveal anything.
I finished in 174:24 minutes. That was a tough one. It felt like a gauntlet that I had to put all my mental energy into. It resolved in a very cool way, but I had to think quite cleverly to get there. It was kind of a great feeling, even though I am exhausted now. This puzzle went on so long that every part that made progress became my new favorite part. One of my favorite parts was seeing that 8 became stranded if it appeared in column or row 9. That gave me my first digits. From there, things slowly whittled down. Another favorite part was asking if r7c7 could be a 9. It can't, because 6 becomes stranded due to 5's limitation. I think my ultimate favorite part came from my first thought in this puzzle, which was to count the numbered clues and subtract that from 81. It finally paid off way later when I got all the bottom digits. All my calculations led to me being able to place a 5 in r1c6, which resolved a lot of pencil marks. That was so satisfying to see. I, then, figured out that I had a 1 degree of freedom, so a single 1 must exist in the puzzle and I found it on the right side in either r4c8 or r5c9. However, I thought I broke the puzzle as I had no way to know which one was 1 of the two cells. I continued on because it had to be right. Everything so far was correct. I predicted that it had to be resolved by a given digit under the fog and I was so happy to see that happen. What a relief that was for me. After what felt like years, I finally finished. That was a fun, but quite difficult puzzle. I really enjoyed the way it made me think, though. Great Puzzle!
You've done a few guest sudoku setting videos over the years that have been very helpful and insightful... Could I suggest maybe a fillomino setting video? It's probably the biggest non-sudoku puzzle you regularly feature on the channel, and it'd be fascinating to see how something like this gets set. I imagine the strategy is very different from setting a sudoku on account of the digit placement rules being completely different. Would be fascinating!
I wish Simon had marked all the diagonals at the start. It makes the grid a little busy but it makes it clearer where the barriers are for extending regions
I think this is the first hour-and-half video I have been able to solve (almost) entirely on my own, feeling challenged during the entire process, but finally figuring out the new and different logic to proceed in each case. 99:49 - where the "almost" above refers to a single instance of my placing a digit that did not remove fog. Kudos to DieHard for putting this together, and to CtC for featuring it.
Very interesting puzzle. It's hard but fun. I think you made it much easier for yourself when you drew the diags to see that digits cannot repeat. Well done
Normally I do/try the puzzle first and then watch the video after I've finished (or sooner if I need help)! I took one look at this and thought "eh?!?!" Brilliant video and solve Simon thank you... I don't think I'll be trying it on my own any time soon 😅
Phenomenal fillomino, thanks. Stretched the old grey matter somewhat at the start, but later it flowed much more like honey. What an interesting ruleset.
To highlight the barriers for each value, I used the pen tool lines. For example, once I had the 5 and 7 designated, I colored 5 in green and 7 in orange, then used green and orange lines to block out the respective barriers of columns 5/7 and rows 5/7 that those values could not pass. Simon using fill colors to do that is very confusing against the other fill colors with which he is doing deductions.
What a lovely puzzle this one was. My first filomino puzzle that I've finished - I did attempt the massive one over the holidays which was featured - but could never finish it. Figured I'd give this one a go as I feel my logic is improving a lot lately. I did spend a little too long in the top left at the start thinking that was where I should be - but once I just filled out all the diagonals I got the 5/7 pair pretty quick. Took me 56mins
Beautiful solve! Easy for us to see you forget a rule as everything else is perfect (and we are 20k brains watching). You still managed to finish the puzzle, proof that you are very smart!
Taking so long to realize the 5 was bounded had me shouting at the TV. Forgetting the rules and trying to logically prove a 9 couldn't go in row 9 had me throwing things at the TV...
87:50 for me, I just found out I'm HORRIBLE at tracking diagonals. Took 30 minutes to even get the idea to use the pen tool to trace all the diagonals, and I still missed one and lost like 20 minutes to figure out what was disambiguating the last 1, 5s and 4s... Loved the fog, never thought that a filomino would work under fog!
Something I find helpful in Fillomino puzzles is creating bounded regions: you figured out that the 5,6,9 all have to be in a region of size 21, so you only have 1 degree of freedom. This then forces a bunch of digits.
Wow, it is one of very rare occasions that I solved the puzzle faster than Simon. I know that he also have to talk during the solve and prove everything he do to the viewers, but I'm still proud of myself 😆and funny thing is that I solved it in exactly 47 minutes 😂
It's late where I live so I am not going to find a "quincunx" video right now, but I am certain there's videos about the Roman army in which the term gets heavy use. Roman legions used a quincunx formation, with individual legionaries standing in this pattern: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Basically, the pattern of stars on the US flag. This formation was called the quincunx formation, as it is the quincunx pattern, repeated over and over. I believe they used this formation in order to be able to throw their javelins (called pilum in Latin). The formation also left room for their velites (skirmish troops) to withdraw through the legionaries' ranks if necessary.
Yes we have contemporary descriptions of formations like this although I think some of the specifics are a little unclear if we delve into it more deeply. It would probably only be three lines deep (hastati, principes and triarii), especially pre-Marian reforms, with the velites in a loose separate formation out in front. I think modern consensus is that this would turn into a more solid line when they actually engaged in melee though (possibly each block had a front and back half and the back half would march into the gap to one side). First time I've heard this compared to a US flag though instead of a checkerboard.
I forgot to look for the row clue and therefore missed to fill in the threes in row 4. Sadly i used much more complicated logic to fill in the fives in the top right corner. But the Five in row two stayed gray so i went backwards and got to the same logic. Confused i tried 5 in every other possible neighbour to the top 4. Stayed gray everywhere. So i put it into the correct field and after i sorted out the 7 and 8 i got to the point where i knew that the 3's have no other space to go than to stay in row 4. And then the 5 appeared and i was like: Hang on, how should i have found it?? Then i watched the video and i feel like Simon when he is missing obvious logic :D 10/10 puzzle!!!
a small thing that wasn't mentioned at 45:05. simon points that the 5 can only take one 5 cell on the right and concluded it must take r6c6, but it could have avoided r6c6 by going to r7c7 and r7c6. the only thing stopping that is the ? diagonal on the bottom which wasn't mentioned.
Yes. He mentions it much later (1:03:20), but you're right. He doesn't seem to even consider it when extending 5s at 45:05, so possibly got a little lucky there.
Sorry it's my fault. I was just saying to myself that Simon was doing a fantastic job of remembering the row / column rule. It's sort of like saying that a goalie has a shutout so far. I jinxed it.
I found the 5 in row 2 before I found the straight 3 cage that revealed that 5, because it was pre-filled the fog didn't lift. Spend a good while going back to find my mistake until I checked the end of the video to see I was right, just a weirdness with the fog restraints.
I'm not certain if they said it more than Simon, but "quincunx" was the answer to one of the questions on the Technical Difficulties' reverse trivia a couple weeks ago! th-cam.com/video/tlmlOvnIiCg/w-d-xo.html
At 20:44, Simon notices the neat restriction about 8s and colours the lines to make it more obvious. He then looks at the effect in column 9 but _doesn't_ look at row 9. Grrr!!!! PS To answer Simon's question: yes, difficult.
1:04:43 ... I made a slight boo-boo near the end (error caught by lack of fog removal) but corrected myself shortly thereafter; despite this, I'm satisfied with how I did on this one Nice puzzle!
Towards the end my solution path diverged from Simon's a bit. I was able to prove the 5 in r2c8 for myself, and when I placed the 5 the fog didn't clear. I was fuming!!! when I discovered I was indeed correct, but the mechanics of the given digit under the fog was messing up the reveal.
This is such a different ruleset, that it's unsurprising a few deductions were missed. Simon as usual, did an excellent job. Whereas I wasted time contemplating regions that must, can, or can't overlap. 😖 In my defence, the reason for this line of thought is that: because no repeats are allowed on any marked diagonal, each numbered line sees distinct Fillomino regions with sizes adding up to that number. Adding the numbers on these diagonals gets to 104. But there are only 81 cells available. Therefore, a minimum of 23 region cells must overlap between the numbered diagonals. And it's not that easy to get overlaps without obstructing other potential overlaps. This turned out to be a fool's errand on my part. :( That said, without detracting from Simon's solve in any way, I want to point out some of the missed deductions so that the beauty of this puzzle can be more fully appreciated. The fact that the top-left corner contains a size-7 and size-8 region could have been deduced as early as the 22:00 mark. * If the 15-diagonal is a 69 pair, then the 6s and 9s can't escape the 22-line barrier. * There are only 15 cells in that area, and they would be entirely consumed by the 6-region and the 9-region. * Therefore, r1c2 and r2c3 would have to be one each from a 69 pair. * But this would break the r7c8 cell on the same diagonal. * And so: the 15-line must be a 78 pair, forming part of a 7-region and an 8-region. * Furthermore, the 8-region can't escape top-left, but the 7-region could if necessary. * At its most expeditious, the 7-region takes 4 cells to reach the 22-diagonal border, leaving a maximum of 3 spare "gap cells" in the top-left area. Here 26:30 it really helps to mark all the diagonals. Possibly even the numbered diagonals in one colour and unnumbered in another. That would emphasise the long diagonal and make it trivial to see that at least one of r8c7 and r9c8 must be a 6. This deduction can be improved a little later around 32:00 by temporarily marking row 5 as unavailable to the 5s. (This shows that the 5-region in r6c9 can't grow up at all.) * Now if the 6s took both of r8c7 and r9c8, it forces which quincunx cells to take; but more importantly that r7c8 must be 9. And when that 9-region grows, it will block off the 5-region from growing. * Therefore, *exactly* one of r8c7 and r9c8 is a 6. * In fact, there is exactly one 6 in each of the 4 diagonals of the purple cells. * Which means the two 6s in purple cells must be either horizontally or vertically opposite each other, requiring r8c8 to be a 6, forming a bridge between each side. Now at 44:36 after placing the third 5 of a 5-region, Simon asserts this has "done nothing for us". However, he missed that we can now rule out 9 from r7c8. * ℹ Reminders: The 5-region can't enter row 5 or column 5, and exactly 4 of the yellow cells are reserved for 6s. * A 9 in r7c8 would have to grow via the yellow r7c7, and r7c6. * And the rest of the yellow cells become 6. * But now the 5-region is cut-off with a maximum of 4 cells available for the entire region. * This places a 9 in r8c7 and 6s in r7c8 and r9c8. Ticking along to 1:09:40 we can note that the existing 8-region can't grow into r4c5 anymore. This allows us to immediately complete the 8-region using r5c3 and r7c1; and the 4-region using r5c1. Which leads into the next beautiful deduction: r4c3 can't be 5. * If it were then, the 15 cells in the top-left triangle would be allocated as follows: * 1 to a 4-region, 4 to the 5-region, and 8 to the second 8-region. * This leaves only 2 cells for the second 7-region which is simply not enough to escape. The 15-diagonal is too far from the border. Therefore, the 5 on the 22-diagonal must be placed in r1c6. And placing a 5 on the 12-diagonal reveals the composition of that diagonal as 1245. Simon had a different, but equally elegant deduction for the r1c6 cell, so the 1:17:08 timestamp is ideal for the final deduction I'll share. r2c5 is NOT 3. If it were then: * It can't grow into row 3, and r2c7 has now been ruled out. * Therefore, it must also grow to occupy at least of the 15 cells in the top-left triangle. * A 4-region also occupies one of those cells. * And since that 15-cell triangle has now been fully cut off, the remaining 13 cells aren't enough for the size-7 and size-8 regions there. * At best the 7-region could save a single cell by taking one on the border. Therefore, 3 on the 22-diagonal must be placed in r5c2, and take 2 cells from the 15-cell triangle. This forces the 7-region to escape via r2c5 as expeditiously as possible. From this point there's nothing else particularly novel that Simon didn't also mention.
21:00 doesn't that mean the 8 is placed along the 28 diagonal in the 2nd position, because it can't be in the fourth position in row 9? 39:00 he finds it, this puzzle sure looks tricky with it's constraint. 43:13 i'd be tempted to draw with red lines or something the diagonals through the grid to figure out where they are while i'm working, also I love the use of different colors for the barriers so far.
I have never seen you forget a rule for so long. I was yelling at my screen the whole time you were trying to figure out the 9's in the lower right corner!!!!
The deduction at 52:54 for R7C5 to be a 9 would have been much easier if Simon remembered the rules that a digit N can not go into row N and coloumn N.
19:14 Dont know, why 27 is under less pressure than 28. 27 has many high digits in an area where many high digits get deleted, because of row AND column. 23:45 My first digit was trhe 5 in column 9. There only could be 5 or 7 in the cell, but the 7 got restricted to hard by row, column AND 12-diagonal.
In 1:22:30, I don't see why row 1 col 2 must be 7. The puzzle can also be solved by putting 8 in row 1 col 1 - 5, row 2, col 1, row 3 col 1 and 2; 7 in row 2 col 2 - 6, row 3 col 6; 7 or 2 in either row 3 col 3, row 3 col 5.
Not only do you bring us joy every day you also expand our vocabulary - although I'm not sure if I'll ever get to use quincunx or ziggurat at a party.
Sorry to put you through that Simon - this looked much more like one of my typical attempted solves (forgetting previously applied rules and deductions, and missing pairs), but your determination/commitment is 10x mine when you find yourself stuck!! How you battle through this live is amazing.
The intended second step (instead of focusing on the quincunx) is to realise that the digit you uncover in R9C6 must be present on the 28 line, and therefore you can resolve all the digits on the 28 line. A couple of points of logic that I discovered after finalising the puzzle:
1. Interestingly, you can actually start on the 28 line if you ask the right question: It must have an 8 and a 9 on it, but where does the 8 go (and then where does the 9 go)?
2. Simpler logic on the quincunx: if the central digit was not a 6, then the you would have to take six cells around it, which would necessitate duplicating 6s on one of the two marked diagonals.
Have a wonderful 2025 and thank you for infectious enthusiasm!
re: your first point, not only is that how i started, but i went round things in a way such that i already knew r2c8 before it was revealed (that said, i realized while solving that i could have done things way more efficiently, and after reading comments and watching the video, even more of the same)
still, no matter how i solved it, this was a joy from start to finish; so many thoughts and regions that wanted to be put together, and so fun much to figure out exactly how everything clicked into place
I found the 8 and 9 on the 28 line, but that didn't reveal anything, unfortunately.
This was a very hard puzzle, and you are completely right that Simon is extremely brave to solve it live!
Simon, do not feel bad about how long it took. I spent far longer than you on it, and finally gave up!
I do think there was one piece of incorrect logic. At 45:20, Simon concludes that 5 must go in r6c6, but he left out a possibility for it dipping down into the quincunx region. I was eventually able to prove that the 5s do not go down there, but it was quite a bit later. So, I think he bypassed a bit of the other logic. Still, for a very difficult puzzle like this, it's really hard to not make a mistake of this type!
Thank you for an Absolutely wonderful puzzle, Great fun to solve, and Thank you Simon for bringing yet another great video!
Very cool puzzle. Well done, DH
Simon: i cant Put a 9 in row 9. Also Simon: Takes 20 minutes for trying to prove No 9 in row 9 😂
Also forgetting that the 5s can't take cells in column five; add 5 minutes to your 20
It drove me crazy - as soon as he stopped marking the "forbidden" rows, he completely forgot the rule.
At 1:01:50 he says "That was *vicious*" and I might actually have groaned out loud 😂
@@PassionPopsicleIt was "very complicated."
51:02 "Now everyone is going to say why can't it be those 2? And the reason it cant be those 2 is....."
Everyone: Because they are in row 9 Simon
Screaming at the tab... you can't put 9's in row 9 😂
Simon having his dictionary open is the least surprising thing I've seen.
I would guess it’s one of his windows startup apps. 😂We know he uses it for hard crosswords.
Well he needs to have his letters ready in case the numbers arent enough. But yeah its a very Simon thing to do.
I think it is legally required for fine English gentlemen to having it open at all times.
25:03 Simon, the most wholesome creator on TH-cam, trying to say "quincuncial" and accidentally saying a very naughty word is already a contender for highlight of the year, four days in.
simon saying there are myriad complicated reasons for why he can't put a 9 on row 9 it's classic simon forgetting a rule of the puzzle
Indeed, I was wondering who else was amused by that.
No one watching this video will ever forget the definition of the word "quincunx" again
And ziggurat!
I will add, responding to Simon's ending challenge to prove him wrong about a TH-cam video using the word more - apparently it's used in astrology, and if you search TH-cam for quincunx, there are videos that I would bet a large amount on, but have not verified, have used the word more.
@@flsal27 Anyone familiar with the game Tunic already knows ziggurat 😁
Having read the Asterix serials You might have known "quincunx" as a Roman military troop structure on the field ...;) Great puzzle and work !!!
@@michaelmatter1222or Warcraft 3
This is without a doubt the most Simon video ever and I loved it! 😂
100%
Brilliant solve. However, I think if we turned it into a drinking game in which every time Simon thought about putting a 9 in row 9 you have to have a shot.
The NHS is stretched thin enough as it is without every viewer having to be rushed to hospital for alcohol poisoning... 😂
Alcohol poisoning, anyone? 😵
or every time he says 'quincunx'
🤣🤣🤣🤢
wow! despite the silly errors Simon made with the 9 in 9th row and a few other minor details, I would never have able to get started on this puzzle; Simon, you are a gentle giant genius. loved it.
Simon's energy in this one is so chaotic and fun, love it
@52:20 Don't stress out about comments so much, you're a much more experienced and better solver than 99% of us. :D
The stress really seemed to get you a lot more confused than usual with the bottom right 3x3, considering possibilities that just weren't reasonable given the work you'd done.
Unfortunately, I don't have good advice for not letting stress wind one up, as I am an especially anxiety prone person.
I don't think you have enough 9s in your percentage. :)
I think you meant "my fog has a puzzle in it"
Thanks for the shoutout. I really enjoyed this video! Definitely not an easy puzzle and a pretty different mental space than the usual fare. Fascinating. Great work Simon and Die Hard!
Watching Simon wanting to do sudoku in a non-sudoku puzzle was . . . ironic (?). Never change, Simon!!
Honestly, when Simon gets confused or makes an error, it makes me think he's a regular human like me. 😂 Never do I think "what a maroon". There is clearly a lot of knowledge and cleverness jammed in your brain, Simon! Thank you for another fun journey. ❤
You not only thought it, but you typed it, too. ;)
Tonight's episode of Cracking The Cryptic is sponsored by the word "QUINCUNX"!
Oh this one was VERY fun to do. Once the N restraint was locked into my head this one just fell into place. LOVELY puzzle.
Outstanding, Outstanding, Outstanding puzzle! Took me an hour and a half to solve. Like Simon, I sometimes had trouble keeping track of all the different rules in the ruleset. But I would love to have more puzzles like this on the channel, this level of intricacy and difficulty I mean. I know they take longer but they're definitely my favorite kind.
Many thanks to Simon for the solve and to Die Hard for the puzzle! It was a joy!
33:27 Simon finally realises he needs to keep track of the diagonals that need to have different numbers in every cell but still doesn't just hi light them until 58 minutes!
Yesterday Simon was falling all over himself apologizing for overlooking something obscure, & going on about how dim he was. But today, when he finally realizes that for 15 minutes or so he had overlooked an elementary rule (no N in row N or column N) he takes it all in stride with scarcely a comment. (?!)
For Simon, the obvious is obscure and the obscure is obvious. It lets me feel smart for sometimes noticing things that he doesn't
1:45:44 - OMG - I was convinced the break in was in the 15 arrow at the top but after about an hour I started watching Simon and as soon as he highlighted the problems with the 8 in row 9 I started again and the whole thing blew open! Brilliant puzzle.
I love how Simon used very unusual words! I learned a new one and got to remember one I forgot about 😂..great puzzle solve can’t wait for the next one.
The first thing I did with this puzzle was add the diagonal clues of 15, 12, 28, and 27. That's 82, which proves that cells are shared by fillomino regions defined under those diagonals in a grid of 81 cells. Once I had that in mind, I started working out where 27 cells could go from the four different digits in the lower right corner.
I'm always so excited for the saturday puzzle! Please keep it going!
Adding up the totals of the given diagonals (104) is well over the 81 permitted, and even looking to maximise the filominos that can count in multiple (79 or 72 if the top left 7 combines into the 22 sum) does not leave a lot of degrees of freedom. Made the process so much simpler. (still feels like an achievement to beat Simon's time 64min)
50:30 Simon The reason I can't put a 9 in row 9 is because the 6 won't work - spends the next 5 minutes worrying about it 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Ah I hope Simon never changes, it is these momemts that make me watch every video through even if I have done the puzzle! Happy New Year! Here is to !M+ in 2025!
37:18 Simon so unused to getting handed digita at this point, getting one nearly broke his brain. 😂
Rules: 06:36
Let's Get Cracking: 10:09
Simon's time: 1h19m06s
Puzzle Solved: 1:29:15
What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
Bobbins: 2x (27:49, 55:21)
Phistomefel: 2x (04:08, 04:20)
And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Ah: 22x (06:32, 14:29, 15:11, 16:23, 19:35, 19:40, 29:55, 36:31, 37:35, 38:35, 39:20, 40:11, 42:29, 44:59, 45:03, 53:30, 53:30, 1:03:14, 1:03:33, 1:03:33, 1:12:56, 1:27:18)
Hang On: 17x (10:50, 10:50, 10:50, 14:27, 15:59, 17:16, 18:12, 24:30, 28:19, 28:19, 30:41, 44:59, 48:40, 48:40, 1:06:12, 1:08:33, 1:13:40)
Sorry: 11x (10:59, 19:03, 22:26, 25:12, 26:53, 36:25, 42:32, 1:04:46, 1:12:26, 1:16:37, 1:25:39)
Pencil Mark/mark: 8x (13:16, 14:48, 18:39, 31:46, 53:36, 1:07:49, 1:17:03, 1:18:30)
Lovely: 6x (05:42, 40:11, 45:03, 1:12:56, 1:13:58, 1:26:09)
Fascinating: 5x (01:48, 01:48, 41:31, 1:28:14, 1:28:40)
Obviously: 5x (00:20, 02:33, 47:57, 58:44, 1:15:01)
In Fact: 4x (20:08, 20:28, 31:39, 58:48)
Symmetry: 4x (13:41, 30:22, 36:07, 1:16:03)
Good Grief: 3x (1:03:14, 1:06:09, 1:22:57)
What on Earth: 3x (18:03, 34:26, 1:16:45)
Goodness: 3x (39:04, 43:43, 1:20:22)
The Answer is: 3x (40:15, 59:35, 1:10:45)
Bizarre: 3x (01:53, 36:59, 37:08)
Wow: 3x (36:59, 1:01:46, 1:28:05)
What Does This Mean?: 3x (08:32, 17:34, 40:58)
Nonsense: 2x (47:14, 47:17)
Clever: 2x (1:15:19, 1:15:22)
Almost Interesting: 2x (23:07, 32:20)
Cake!: 2x (05:06, 05:34)
Apologies: 1x (1:04:56)
Naughty: 1x (1:11:55)
Stuck: 1x (55:24)
Brilliant: 1x (47:32)
Gorgeous: 1x (1:15:31)
By Sudoku: 1x (1:12:56)
Surely: 1x (1:12:44)
Progress: 1x (03:12)
That's Huge: 1x (48:55)
Triangular Number: 1x (16:52)
Weird: 1x (57:16)
Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video:
Fifteen, Twenty Two (7 mentions)
One (128 mentions)
Red (12 mentions)
Antithesis Battles:
Even (9) - Odd (1)
Black (2) - White (0)
Row (37) - Column (33)
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!
I hoped to see how many times Simon said Quincunx in the video here.
quincunx: 24x (24:20, 24:50, 24:51, 25:01, 25:26, 26:24, 26:36, 28:23, 34:46, 38:00, 44:07, 45:43, 47:42, 48:01, 53:58, 56:23, 56:55, 57:54, 1:00:39, 1:01:02, 1:01:04, 1:02:28, 1:05:07, 1:28:52)
quincunts: 1x (25:04)
quincunk: 1x (25:05)
quincunxes: 1x (25:14)
ziggurat: 3x (1:13:09, 1:13:14, 1:13:18)
Some things which helped me visualize/remember the rules:
→ draw lines along the arrows
→ enable row and column numbers.
I managed to find the first 8 and 9 on the 28 diagonal, but that didn't uncover anything. After a while of not getting anywhere (though I colored parts of the grid), I decided to watch Simon do it. I didn't learn much new until 22:44, where Simon looked at the 6es on the 27 diagonal (but Simon took until 36:20 for my conclusion) didn't , and then managed to finish it from there .
Total time 222:12 (though this included a break for removing some snow, where I forgot to pause), solve counter 2213.
Overall, interesting combination of rules, though the "may clear fog somewhere" proved to be a bit frustrating, as most digits didn't reveal anything.
well done Simon, you have remarkable resilience. That was a wonderful solve.
Fillomino and fog, my evening plans are now stored. Fog puzzles are my favourite.
I finished in 174:24 minutes. That was a tough one. It felt like a gauntlet that I had to put all my mental energy into. It resolved in a very cool way, but I had to think quite cleverly to get there. It was kind of a great feeling, even though I am exhausted now. This puzzle went on so long that every part that made progress became my new favorite part. One of my favorite parts was seeing that 8 became stranded if it appeared in column or row 9. That gave me my first digits. From there, things slowly whittled down. Another favorite part was asking if r7c7 could be a 9. It can't, because 6 becomes stranded due to 5's limitation. I think my ultimate favorite part came from my first thought in this puzzle, which was to count the numbered clues and subtract that from 81. It finally paid off way later when I got all the bottom digits. All my calculations led to me being able to place a 5 in r1c6, which resolved a lot of pencil marks. That was so satisfying to see. I, then, figured out that I had a 1 degree of freedom, so a single 1 must exist in the puzzle and I found it on the right side in either r4c8 or r5c9. However, I thought I broke the puzzle as I had no way to know which one was 1 of the two cells. I continued on because it had to be right. Everything so far was correct. I predicted that it had to be resolved by a given digit under the fog and I was so happy to see that happen. What a relief that was for me. After what felt like years, I finally finished. That was a fun, but quite difficult puzzle. I really enjoyed the way it made me think, though. Great Puzzle!
You've done a few guest sudoku setting videos over the years that have been very helpful and insightful... Could I suggest maybe a fillomino setting video? It's probably the biggest non-sudoku puzzle you regularly feature on the channel, and it'd be fascinating to see how something like this gets set. I imagine the strategy is very different from setting a sudoku on account of the digit placement rules being completely different.
Would be fascinating!
I wish Simon had marked all the diagonals at the start. It makes the grid a little busy but it makes it clearer where the barriers are for extending regions
Of course Simon has a dedicated dictionary program already open on his computer
You should watch a Friday crossword masterclass sometime - well worth it but that dictionary I swear is essential to explaining half of it at times
Turning on row and column numbers would save a lot of screen yelling when simon forgets "digit N cannot appear in row N or column N"
I've been loving the fog puzzles recently - I can't get enough of them!
love to see the dictionary make an appearance in a puzzle video! talk about a crossover episode (and a new word in my vocabulary)
I think this is the first hour-and-half video I have been able to solve (almost) entirely on my own, feeling challenged during the entire process, but finally figuring out the new and different logic to proceed in each case. 99:49 - where the "almost" above refers to a single instance of my placing a digit that did not remove fog. Kudos to DieHard for putting this together, and to CtC for featuring it.
we were all on the edge of our seats for this one
Very interesting puzzle. It's hard but fun. I think you made it much easier for yourself when you drew the diags to see that digits cannot repeat. Well done
"Sorry for going on about quincunxes" is what I want carved into my tombstone
Harry Potter and the Quincunx of Ambiguity
One second, I gotta go make a TH-cam video of me saying quincunx a bunch of times to beat the record you set in this video xD
Normally I do/try the puzzle first and then watch the video after I've finished (or sooner if I need help)! I took one look at this and thought "eh?!?!" Brilliant video and solve Simon thank you... I don't think I'll be trying it on my own any time soon 😅
Phenomenal fillomino, thanks. Stretched the old grey matter somewhat at the start, but later it flowed much more like honey. What an interesting ruleset.
❤ foggy puzzles!! Happy Saturday!!
Really enjoyed this puzzle. Impressive construction. Thanks for featuring
To highlight the barriers for each value, I used the pen tool lines. For example, once I had the 5 and 7 designated, I colored 5 in green and 7 in orange, then used green and orange lines to block out the respective barriers of columns 5/7 and rows 5/7 that those values could not pass. Simon using fill colors to do that is very confusing against the other fill colors with which he is doing deductions.
What a lovely puzzle this one was. My first filomino puzzle that I've finished - I did attempt the massive one over the holidays which was featured - but could never finish it. Figured I'd give this one a go as I feel my logic is improving a lot lately. I did spend a little too long in the top left at the start thinking that was where I should be - but once I just filled out all the diagonals I got the 5/7 pair pretty quick. Took me 56mins
Beautiful solve! Easy for us to see you forget a rule as everything else is perfect (and we are 20k brains watching). You still managed to finish the puzzle, proof that you are very smart!
Taking so long to realize the 5 was bounded had me shouting at the TV.
Forgetting the rules and trying to logically prove a 9 couldn't go in row 9 had me throwing things at the TV...
Hearing Simon say 'quincunx' reminds me of the French word for seal...🤣🤣🤣
Quincunx! My new favorite word!!
87:50 for me, I just found out I'm HORRIBLE at tracking diagonals. Took 30 minutes to even get the idea to use the pen tool to trace all the diagonals, and I still missed one and lost like 20 minutes to figure out what was disambiguating the last 1, 5s and 4s... Loved the fog, never thought that a filomino would work under fog!
Something I find helpful in Fillomino puzzles is creating bounded regions: you figured out that the 5,6,9 all have to be in a region of size 21, so you only have 1 degree of freedom. This then forces a bunch of digits.
This was a delight. I hope if I win one of these competitions we get to do a pencil puzzle together!
00:59:30 for me. Fantastic puzzle. Loved the no N in row/col N rule and how it constrained the shapes! Kind comment.
2 blunders (saved by the fog) and 1h20 for me. Wonderfull puzzle, and wonderfull Simon ^_^
Wow, it is one of very rare occasions that I solved the puzzle faster than Simon. I know that he also have to talk during the solve and prove everything he do to the viewers, but I'm still proud of myself 😆and funny thing is that I solved it in exactly 47 minutes 😂
It's late where I live so I am not going to find a "quincunx" video right now, but I am certain there's videos about the Roman army in which the term gets heavy use. Roman legions used a quincunx formation, with individual legionaries standing in this pattern:
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * *
Basically, the pattern of stars on the US flag. This formation was called the quincunx formation, as it is the quincunx pattern, repeated over and over.
I believe they used this formation in order to be able to throw their javelins (called pilum in Latin). The formation also left room for their velites (skirmish troops) to withdraw through the legionaries' ranks if necessary.
Yes we have contemporary descriptions of formations like this although I think some of the specifics are a little unclear if we delve into it more deeply. It would probably only be three lines deep (hastati, principes and triarii), especially pre-Marian reforms, with the velites in a loose separate formation out in front. I think modern consensus is that this would turn into a more solid line when they actually engaged in melee though (possibly each block had a front and back half and the back half would march into the gap to one side). First time I've heard this compared to a US flag though instead of a checkerboard.
I'm so glad no one watches me try to solve puzzles 😅
First today? And a fog puzzle! I might actually keep awake for this 😅
I forgot to look for the row clue and therefore missed to fill in the threes in row 4. Sadly i used much more complicated logic to fill in the fives in the top right corner. But the Five in row two stayed gray so i went backwards and got to the same logic. Confused i tried 5 in every other possible neighbour to the top 4. Stayed gray everywhere. So i put it into the correct field and after i sorted out the 7 and 8 i got to the point where i knew that the 3's have no other space to go than to stay in row 4. And then the 5 appeared and i was like: Hang on, how should i have found it??
Then i watched the video and i feel like Simon when he is missing obvious logic :D 10/10 puzzle!!!
a small thing that wasn't mentioned at 45:05. simon points that the 5 can only take one 5 cell on the right and concluded it must take r6c6, but it could have avoided r6c6 by going to r7c7 and r7c6. the only thing stopping that is the ? diagonal on the bottom which wasn't mentioned.
Yes. He mentions it much later (1:03:20), but you're right. He doesn't seem to even consider it when extending 5s at 45:05, so possibly got a little lucky there.
How many of you people were screaming at the screen for that 9
OI! 9! NO!!!
42:26 for me. What a great ruleset! Very enjoyable one today!!
1:28:43 - unfortunately it looks like quincunx is a word used a lot in videos about astrology. I was really hoping you'd be right! 😅
25:03 - I dont think thats the word you were looking for 🙈😂
Sorry it's my fault. I was just saying to myself that Simon was doing a fantastic job of remembering the row / column rule. It's sort of like saying that a goalie has a shutout so far. I jinxed it.
I found the 5 in row 2 before I found the straight 3 cage that revealed that 5, because it was pre-filled the fog didn't lift. Spend a good while going back to find my mistake until I checked the end of the video to see I was right, just a weirdness with the fog restraints.
I'm not certain if they said it more than Simon, but "quincunx" was the answer to one of the questions on the Technical Difficulties' reverse trivia a couple weeks ago! th-cam.com/video/tlmlOvnIiCg/w-d-xo.html
I feel like Simon would have saved around 45 minutes if he had drawn all the diagonals at the start of the puzzle.
At 20:44, Simon notices the neat restriction about 8s and colours the lines to make it more obvious. He then looks at the effect in column 9 but _doesn't_ look at row 9. Grrr!!!!
PS To answer Simon's question: yes, difficult.
1:04:43 ... I made a slight boo-boo near the end (error caught by lack of fog removal) but corrected myself shortly thereafter; despite this, I'm satisfied with how I did on this one
Nice puzzle!
Impressive solve!
The word of the day is QUINCUNX
Towards the end my solution path diverged from Simon's a bit. I was able to prove the 5 in r2c8 for myself, and when I placed the 5 the fog didn't clear. I was fuming!!! when I discovered I was indeed correct, but the mechanics of the given digit under the fog was messing up the reveal.
Come on how many people were shouting "Simon you can't put a 9 in row nine" but it was a lovely solve otherwise.
I can somewhat understand forgetting about no 9s in row/col 9, since for all the other cases it made a more obvious divide between regions.
This is such a different ruleset, that it's unsurprising a few deductions were missed.
Simon as usual, did an excellent job.
Whereas I wasted time contemplating regions that must, can, or can't overlap. 😖
In my defence, the reason for this line of thought is that: because no repeats are allowed on any marked diagonal, each numbered line sees distinct Fillomino regions with sizes adding up to that number.
Adding the numbers on these diagonals gets to 104. But there are only 81 cells available.
Therefore, a minimum of 23 region cells must overlap between the numbered diagonals.
And it's not that easy to get overlaps without obstructing other potential overlaps.
This turned out to be a fool's errand on my part. :(
That said, without detracting from Simon's solve in any way, I want to point out some of the missed deductions so that the beauty of this puzzle can be more fully appreciated.
The fact that the top-left corner contains a size-7 and size-8 region could have been deduced as early as the 22:00 mark.
* If the 15-diagonal is a 69 pair, then the 6s and 9s can't escape the 22-line barrier.
* There are only 15 cells in that area, and they would be entirely consumed by the 6-region and the 9-region.
* Therefore, r1c2 and r2c3 would have to be one each from a 69 pair.
* But this would break the r7c8 cell on the same diagonal.
* And so: the 15-line must be a 78 pair, forming part of a 7-region and an 8-region.
* Furthermore, the 8-region can't escape top-left, but the 7-region could if necessary.
* At its most expeditious, the 7-region takes 4 cells to reach the 22-diagonal border, leaving a maximum of 3 spare "gap cells" in the top-left area.
Here 26:30 it really helps to mark all the diagonals. Possibly even the numbered diagonals in one colour and unnumbered in another.
That would emphasise the long diagonal and make it trivial to see that at least one of r8c7 and r9c8 must be a 6.
This deduction can be improved a little later around 32:00 by temporarily marking row 5 as unavailable to the 5s. (This shows that the 5-region in r6c9 can't grow up at all.)
* Now if the 6s took both of r8c7 and r9c8, it forces which quincunx cells to take; but more importantly that r7c8 must be 9. And when that 9-region grows, it will block off the 5-region from growing.
* Therefore, *exactly* one of r8c7 and r9c8 is a 6.
* In fact, there is exactly one 6 in each of the 4 diagonals of the purple cells.
* Which means the two 6s in purple cells must be either horizontally or vertically opposite each other, requiring r8c8 to be a 6, forming a bridge between each side.
Now at 44:36 after placing the third 5 of a 5-region, Simon asserts this has "done nothing for us".
However, he missed that we can now rule out 9 from r7c8.
* ℹ Reminders: The 5-region can't enter row 5 or column 5, and exactly 4 of the yellow cells are reserved for 6s.
* A 9 in r7c8 would have to grow via the yellow r7c7, and r7c6.
* And the rest of the yellow cells become 6.
* But now the 5-region is cut-off with a maximum of 4 cells available for the entire region.
* This places a 9 in r8c7 and 6s in r7c8 and r9c8.
Ticking along to 1:09:40 we can note that the existing 8-region can't grow into r4c5 anymore.
This allows us to immediately complete the 8-region using r5c3 and r7c1; and the 4-region using r5c1.
Which leads into the next beautiful deduction: r4c3 can't be 5.
* If it were then, the 15 cells in the top-left triangle would be allocated as follows:
* 1 to a 4-region, 4 to the 5-region, and 8 to the second 8-region.
* This leaves only 2 cells for the second 7-region which is simply not enough to escape. The 15-diagonal is too far from the border.
Therefore, the 5 on the 22-diagonal must be placed in r1c6.
And placing a 5 on the 12-diagonal reveals the composition of that diagonal as 1245.
Simon had a different, but equally elegant deduction for the r1c6 cell, so the 1:17:08 timestamp is ideal for the final deduction I'll share.
r2c5 is NOT 3. If it were then:
* It can't grow into row 3, and r2c7 has now been ruled out.
* Therefore, it must also grow to occupy at least of the 15 cells in the top-left triangle.
* A 4-region also occupies one of those cells.
* And since that 15-cell triangle has now been fully cut off, the remaining 13 cells aren't enough for the size-7 and size-8 regions there.
* At best the 7-region could save a single cell by taking one on the border.
Therefore, 3 on the 22-diagonal must be placed in r5c2, and take 2 cells from the 15-cell triangle.
This forces the 7-region to escape via r2c5 as expeditiously as possible.
From this point there's nothing else particularly novel that Simon didn't also mention.
I'm really proud that I figured out the centre of the quincunx HAS to be a 6 before Simon got it.
21:00 doesn't that mean the 8 is placed along the 28 diagonal in the 2nd position, because it can't be in the fourth position in row 9? 39:00 he finds it, this puzzle sure looks tricky with it's constraint.
43:13 i'd be tempted to draw with red lines or something the diagonals through the grid to figure out where they are while i'm working, also I love the use of different colors for the barriers so far.
25:04 oops, he did say that didn’t he? 😮😮😮
I have never seen you forget a rule for so long. I was yelling at my screen the whole time you were trying to figure out the 9's in the lower right corner!!!!
Simon driving me crazy forgetting the 9 cannot go in row 9 and column 9
"My fog has a puzzle in it?!?"
R4C9 couldn't have been a 1 for quite a while no? It would make a connected 1 below.
50:04 ... is that there is no 9 allowed in row 9.
@1:19:28 - not going to color my 8s until I know which of the 7/8 pair is an 8 - as his 7's are already colored green! Simon!
The deduction at 52:54 for R7C5 to be a 9 would have been much easier if Simon remembered the rules that a digit N can not go into row N and coloumn N.
I can proudly say I beat Simon’s time on this one. But that’s because I don’t get distracted by looking up vocabulary words 😂
the easiest way to know that none of those 9 conjectures work in the quincunx (new word of the day!) is that you can't put 9 in row 9
The auto generated English captions are hilarious. Quincunx is clearly not in its speech to text library but it makes a mess of transcription.
24:18 10/10 moment
Very exciting puzzle.
Yeah Fillomino ❤
69's and Quincunxes. This was a quite a departure 🤣
19:14 Dont know, why 27 is under less pressure than 28. 27 has many high digits in an area where many high digits get deleted, because of row AND column.
23:45 My first digit was trhe 5 in column 9. There only could be 5 or 7 in the cell, but the 7 got restricted to hard by row, column AND 12-diagonal.
In 1:22:30, I don't see why row 1 col 2 must be 7. The puzzle can also be solved by putting 8 in row 1 col 1 - 5, row 2, col 1, row 3 col 1 and 2; 7 in row 2 col 2 - 6, row 3 col 6; 7 or 2 in either row 3 col 3, row 3 col 5.
Sorry, I know I was wrong.