Thank you so much for solving Fillomenon! It was a joy seeing how you tackled it, especially the places where you found different deductions than what I had planned. I honestly had no idea you could resolve the 24 column the way you did - it was a complete coincidence that the arrow peeking out of the fog at the bottom was able to eliminate the 9 at the bottom of the column! You were correct that an extension of the usual box-placement trick for 11x11 deconstruction puzzles was the intended path there - the way I usually think about it is that the third, sixth, and ninth rows in the available space must each cross three boxes and the only difference in the 11x12 case is that you have a little more horizontal flexibility about where they get placed, but the modular-arithmetic argument that @mumushanshi described in another comment is a particularly elegant way to prove it. (Each box must cross rows numbered 0, 1, and 2 mod 3, and there are only three rows numbered 1 mod 3 available, so each of those rows must cross exactly three boxes to satisfy that without breaking the sudoku. What a beautiful deduction.)
Thank you sir for a very enjoyable few hours (2:24 + I will get to watch Simon tomorrow). Many enjoyable moments and little breaks, especially the way the last 4 rows resolved. Again, thank you.
Where does the solve go next on the intended path? I feel like it somehow needs to involve the 24 and >15 columns but without Simon's deduction I'm not seeing how to exert enough pressure on the 15 column. I can't rule out a world where r7c2 is green because that just barely squeaks in as possible via 5 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 14.
@@pedrosalaspinero7220 Probably had 2 or 3 people start watching before others finished whilst the like count was 67 or 68. You started watching when it was 69, by the time you finished and when you refreshed the page, it would now be at 70 something.
To help appreciate the truly impressive duration of Simon's epic Sudoku solve, I thought I'd compare against a similar epic: The Lord of the Rings. [SPOILER WARNING FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, AND FOR SIMON'S SOLVE] 16:19 Simon gets his first Fillomino digit. At this point in The Lord of the Rings, Saruman the White is inciting the Dunlendings to join with him and the Orcs on their campaign to bring about the demise of Rohan. At this precise moment Saruman has just commanded the Wildmen of Dunland to "burn every village" of the Rohirrim people. 1:01:01 Simon fully bounds his first 3x3 Sudoku box. At this point in The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (while following hobbit tracks to Fangorn) have recently been reunited with Gandalf who had been reborn as Gandalf the White following his defeat of the Balrog. The quartet proceeded to Edoras where at this precise moment, Saruman falls to the floor far away as Gandalf the White expels Saruman's corrupting hold on the mind of Theoden, the King of Rohan. 1:30:01 Simon gets his first Sudoku digit. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf has departed to seek out Éomer and his 2,000 banished riders to aid in the upcoming defense of Helm's Deep. Meanwhile Théoden, Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn are escorting the Rohirrim people on their journey to Helm's Deep during which they have just been attacked by Saruman's Warg-riders. At this precise moment, Gimli lets out a comical wheeze as he strains under the weight of the bodies of a fallen orc and two slain Wargs, one of which was just speared by Aragorn, and has just collapsed on top of him. 2:17:54 Simon fully completes his first 3x3 Sudoku box. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, Merry and Pippin have begun pleading with Treebeard to secure the help of the Ents in the War of the Ring. Meanwhile, the battle of Helm's Deep is ongoing as the Uruk-Hai are scaling ladders they have thrown up against the Deeping Wall and attacking the defenders stationed there. At this precise moment, Gimli is keeping a count of all the Uruk-Hai he has successfully slain from the climbing onslaught, and has just proudly exclaimed "Twenty!". 2:49:50 Simon fully bounds and completes all 3x3 Sudoku boxes and digits. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, the battle of Helm's Deep has concluded, and away to the East in Osgiliath, Frodo has (with the help of Sam and Faramir) just escaped an attempted capture by a Ringwraith riding a Nazgul. Gollum, feeling betrayed by Frodo for delivering him into the hands of Faramir's men, at this precise moment angrily declares to himself his intention to kill Frodo. 2:50:24 Simon fully completes all Fillomino regions and thus fully solves the puzzle. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, Gollum is continuing to formalize his plans to exact murderous revenge on Frodo (and now also Sam). And at this precise moment, Gollum is talking with himself to work through some self doubt about his murderous intentions being potentially "too risky". "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" ends on a shot of Mordor as seen in the distance, and fades to black at exactly 2:51:38. And so, Simon has successfully finished the puzzle "Fillomenon by Darth Paradox" 1 minute and 14 seconds faster than the entire runtime of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers".
When Simon left the room I was half expecting to see a giggling Mr goodliffe tiptoeing in from the shadows to mischievously change a pencil mark, just to add an extra layer of jepordy to an already epic solve
1. A 3x3 sudoku box must occupy a row 0mod3, a row 1mod3, and a row 2mod3. 2. No row may ‘see’ more than 3 boxes. -> 3. Given that rows 1 and 13 are fully Fillomino, the only remaining 1mod3 rows are 4, 7 and 10. They must each see three boxes. -> 4. Row 4 (36 clue) contains four cells of Fillomino, each of them filled with the digit 9; etc. etc.
Great proof! It's fairly technical for people who aren't into number theory. In this puzzle, there's actually a very straightforward proof: proof by contradiction. The setup for the proof is simple: assume row 4 won't contain 9 sudoku cells. Show that it is impossible to place 9 sudoku regions without at least one row containing more than 3 regions. Simon even used it but didn't manage to convince himself his proof actually was a proof.
@@ecMathGeek in an 11x11 grid: boxes centered on rows 2, 3 and 4 see row 3 boxes centered on 5, 6 and 7 see row 6 boxes centered on rows 8, 9 and 10 see row 9 No boxes can be centered on 1 and 11 Since each row can only see 3 boxes, and we need 9 boxes, we need exactly 3 from each group (seeing row 3, seeing row 6 and seeing row 9). Considering the Filomeno row at the top, that means rows 4, 7 and 10 in this grid must see 3 boxes. It's not as elegant as the nmod3 method above, but perhaps easier to show visually to those that don't follow the maths too well
@@Croccifixo Your reasoning is incorrect. If you want to prove or disprove an overlap in a single row or column with set region sizes, then you would say this: Starting from the left/top, separate the nearest 9 cells into 3 regions, each 3 cells long, without overlapping regions or skipping any cells. Then do the same, starting from the right/bottom. Any overlap between the nth group of cells starting from the left/top and the nth to last group of cells starting from the right/bottom must be included in a sudoku region. Similar logic is what makes it possible to solve nonogram puzzles. For a deconstruction sudoku with a side length of 12, there would be no overlap among the nth region and the nth to last region. Without the restriction on the bottom row, there is no way to prove that any rows are guaranteed to include at least one sudoku region.
A 3-hour video, just before the weekend… I know 2 things for sure: 1. The fact that it got uploaded means Simon has somehow been able to solve it 2. I will be greatly entertained this weekend
The fact that you weren't just stuck for extended periods, but rather almost constantly kept doing small progress kept it entertaining and definitely enjoyable from start to finish. Really entertaining to follow your journey of disbelief in how it kept up it's difficulty. Loved it!
Yeah, I also forgot to pause my timer when I stepped away. I think my actual time was something like 5 or 6 hours, but my recorded time was... 1582:20. :)
I just glimpsed grid and ruleset and literally squealed. I cannot WAIT to watch this over the weekend!!! Like, if I had to up my Patreon pledge to guarantee one of these geniusly complex puzzles at a regular interval I would pay it.
Also, I do believe this Patreon idea might put to rest any lingering doubt you have about the decent-sized audience you have clamoring for these videos 😂
For these really really hard but beautiful puzzles it would make sense for you to attack them as a team. Simon is amazing at analysing the nuances of a rule set, but Mark actually doesn’t mind doing Sudoku.
Especially as the solve went along with this one, Simon got *very* good at not accidentally doing Sudoku with Filomino digits by simply choosing to refuse to do Sudoku entirely
Please keep the long solves coming! I solved the puzzle first, but if I hadn't watched your solve, I would not have been able to remember how. So much fun.
Thank you CtC for this - while I did not try Crux by myself, I started this puzzle on Saturday and just finished it with a puzzle time of 6,5 hours! 😅 It is SO rare that a puzzle can keep my interest for such a long time, and I'd never have challenged myself if there wasn't this video. Now I can watch Simon's solve and find out what clues I've missed 😊 I fully agree to what someone else just said: I'm definitely supporting the long solves as bonus videos once in a while, as long as they are truly exceptional as both Crux and this one were!
Yes, PLEASE keep doing these longer videos! I am not among the cleverest solvers, so tackling these puzzles are a bit beyond my current abilities. But watching you solve them and take me through your logic is helping me do better. So I enjoy watching you solve the puzzles that I am quite a ways off from solving myself and seeing the brilliance of these amazing setters.
Fillomenonly brillant! I so enjoy waiting for the (very) few places where I see a deduction before Simon does and can still shout at the screen. (Sometimes my deductions are even correct...) More, please!
I definitely enjoy the occasional long solve! I don’t think I could commit to watching this everyday (and I’m sure you couldn’t commit to solving them every day). But a special edition is a lot of fun! I really like the videos that are in the 30-50 minute range because those are the puzzles I’m able to do with you.
Yes, the video is finally out! I love your longer solves! The longer the video, the better, it is so interesting to see you solve puzzles that push you to your limits!
I started off my Sunday afternoon watching (American) football, got bored and switched over to this much more exciting spectacle. Gorgeously done, Simon!
Probably my favourite solve ever. I love the long videos partly because I know anything that takes Simon much more than an hour is almost certainly going to be beyond me, so I can just relax and not get frustrated that I really should be having a go at it myself! This was a joy from start to finish. More long solves please!!
I thought that three hours might be too much for me - but no! I was glued to the screen the whole time! Don't weep, Simon, you were great! Take a bow yourself and have a nice beverage with a proud smile. Brava 👏🏼👏🏼
6:06:26 OMG! I did use the checker a little bit on the way, I don't have Simons's confidence!, but with only the teeniest bit of help from Simon I managed to get through it all. Astonishing puzzle.
Simon, the only thing I can think of to say about this nearly 3-hour solve is “Yay!” Watching you and your fabulous brain at work is one of my true pleasures, especially the pauses and the conversations with yourself to work your way to the next “eureka!”
Love the long solves. No problem being longer. A lot longer. I think Simon will reach his breaking point solving (as in faceplanting from exhaustion) before I reach mine watching him solve.
What a puzzle! Loved watching the solve and would gladly watch more of this length or even longer. I think what was most impressive about this puzzle was that no individual piece was insanely difficult and it maintained difficulty all the way through the solve.
The ability to slam through this puzzle in 3 hours, all while providing commentary and remaining coherent is a truly unique talent of Simon’s. If I even had the guts to try this, I would be catatonic by the 3 hour mark. What I love about these long videos is how they are filled with the puzzle creator’s interesting logic and tricks from beginning to end for such a long time. In most CTC videos, the unique aspect of that puzzle is done within 15 to 30 minutes. I will gladly continue to watch these epic battles as long as Simon is willing to make them.
Hands down, one of my favorite solves ever shown on the channel. The concept of the puzzle, the brilliance of the setting, the diversity and creativity of the logic in the solve path - it seemed like at times there was nowhere to look, then all of a sudden one crucial deduction opened up three or four things all at once. I personally enjoyed this one even more than Crux, because the interaction of deconstruction and fillomino rules made it much more intriguing to me. Thank you for your dedication to putting out the occasional epic-length video, and I hope it continues!
Loved it ❤ would watch 💯 amazed at the genius of the constructor, Simon and our awesome community. As a developer I call myself pretty logical but get humbled by just the math that Simon and some of the commenters find! Kudos to all who solved it
Honestly I only watch the long solves. I do sometimes skip parts of the video, and often skip the final run to the end, but they often have the most brilliant and intricate turning point where you crack it - and those are a joy to watch.
What makes a long video like this enjoyable is the way the puzzle unfolds and gives you more but still doesn't relent on difficulty. So it takes a very special puzzle to earn a video of this length. This one was definitely worth it! I will say 1.5x speed is a blessing too.
This was so much fun! Fantastic puzzle. Never seemed impossible and every step was not too difficuilt, it was just a mighty number of steps. I especially loved that placing the 9 in box 3 was the way to place box 3 and that you almost finished the puzzle and still box 6 wasn't placed. Amazing.
Early on, there are some easy deductions to make surrounding columns 6 and 8. In column 6, the two ones can only go into rows 2, 6, 8, or 12. The other spots in the column must be sudoku. In column 5, once you determine rows 2 and 12 are fillomino, then the the corresponding rows in column 8 must be sudoku. Then, you can extend those 2 sudoku cells up and down in column 8. This also forces a set of 5 unknown cells into the middle of column 8, which puts a lot of pressure on the column's fillomino total.
Bravissississimo. Fabulous solve. And I followed all the steps. I felt like I could solved it myself had I thought to look at the right things. Love it.
I finally finished my solve this morning, which clocked in well north of five hours -- with a couple of hints given by friends along the way! I'm very glad your solve video didn't go up until I finished, Simon, because I certainly would have given up on it and just watched you, had the option been there. I absolutely loved this puzzle (even if almost a full hour of hair-pulling was caused by my strong belief that an 8-cell 9 region in the Fillomino was complete) and can't wait to watch the master at work on it!
Please we need more long solves like this!! Its both entertaining and astonishing. I watched the whole thing before bed❤ great puzzle and what a solve by Simon!
Did this today. And actually (just about) managed to beat Simon's solve time. Really fun puzzle. Going to enjoy seeing if you were stymied at the same points I was.
I love the long videos. Really hope this doesn’t get buried by the algorithm because it’s posted at an unusual time for you, because this solve deserves to be seen.
After seeing that row 4, 7 and 10 have 9 sudoku cells, the key for me was to figure out that r4c5 can't be red, because it would be a 9. But there is no space to put a 9 fillomino region there, because of the boxes being formed. This leads to the cells of row 4 col 456 and row 5 col 456 to be in the same box. Which can only be done in one way.
This was truly a journey! Of course a 3 hour video every day is not reasonable for either you or the audience but it's lovely to embark on one of these journeys from time to time!
Just in case this happens to be the straw that keeps these long, monstruous solves coming: I love these long, monstruous solves and always look forward to making time for watching them. (This time it only took me a week!)
the hypothesis at 59:30, that you need 9 sudoku cells in row 4, is correct. an easy way to think about it is to highlight rows 3, 6 and 9 of an 11*infinite grid. then you can ask how many of the sudoku boxes overlap the highlights. the answer is all 9 of them. there's just no room in between them (or above/below). since 9 boxes intersect the rows with 3 cells each, 27 cells overlap the 3 rows, and you can only have at most 9 per row, and so need exactly 9 per highlighted row.
I think this is why Simon called the 13x13 grid ludicrous in his intro, since he knows the trick for these kind of puzzles in an 11x11 grid. In the 11x11 grid you can immediately allocate nine cells to sudoku boxes because of this logic, and therefore know that in these rows and columns all boxes are represented.
What a brilliant solve of an even more brilliant puzzle! As someone who plays a lot of video games involving lots of grinding and repetitive tasks to perform, having long videos to watch to occupy my mind while playing is amazing so I'd be overjoyed to get more long videos like these ones. There has been a trend of very long videos these past few years on TH-cam, with 5 hours video essays becoming quite common and a lot of people love them so I feel like there is definetely an audience for this type of videos!
Have to respect Simon's appreciation for the puzzlemakers in sudoku's big and small. He'd poke his own eye out before doing a live solve of a puzzle in the unintended fashion.
That was really hard! I'm impressed that you solved it. I tried it myself but got stuck all the time, so it was very entertaining to watch you solve it. It sure was a long video, but I stayed awake long after midnight to watch it all. Good job!
This is an absolute classic. I've already watched it twice. Brilliant to just have on in the background while working. I don't even do Sudoku but like the crossword vids.
WOW!!! 4:40 with a BIG help from Simon for the first hour, which without, I wouldn't have been able to solve. Wasn't sure how the 6 and 9 regions were going to solve at the end though. Superb puzzle. And yes Simon, we love these long puzzles. Thank you
Absolutely loved every minute of this solve. Mind blowing how you figured it out and yet made it understandable to the average sudoku player! Keep up the great content
i usually don't care how long sudoku like (9x9 grids) solves are, more esoterical puzzles i usually don't watch at all u.u thanks for all the effort and time you give us through this channel, it's greatly appreciated!
Very good Simon! I can personally handle 1-2 of these extended editon sudokus a month. Always a treat to watch, but I do love the shorter ones I can watch during my lunch break!
I Will save this one for the quiet hours saturday morning when everything else is quiet. Waking up to Soduko-madness (and a coffee ☕️☕️) - nothing better ❤
loved this adventure. I like working through the logic along side you while screaming at the screen when i see something you haven't. more long puzzles please!
57:00 Simon starts conjuring solutions from the ether. It's all about the hand gestures. Eye movement is another important element. I enjoyed the solve very much. This is one of the few times I have seen things well in advance of Simon and found myself actually talking to the video. "Do we know that? I don't think so..." Me: YES! Yes we know that! By Sudoku - that can't be a nine! And that has to be a nine, and that clears the fog, and that makes that a six, and..." But I stand on the shoulders of giants. Forget 15 hours - I would have stared senseless at this for days. More, please!
Loved this puzzle. Solved in 436 minutes. I got through the left side slowly but steadily, then stalled until I figured out the set theory deduction. Then more slow but steady progress to the end.
Wonderful solve and puzzle. I love these puzzles in which it almost never breaks. Even at the end you need to really think about each digit. I couldn’t solve it of course
Wow what a brilliant video! I do love the epic length ones. I struggled with getting my head around fillomino puzzles before this, but I have a better understanding now and I thank you for that. Please keep the long ones coming, they're great!
this is fun to do side by side, as i get completely dumbfounded by the path i can't find as Simon finds a path forward, but then sometimes i blaze ahead only to get stuck again, for Simon to catch up to where I'm at and then get farther it's a wholesome cycle
Honestly, Simon, I think it's a great thing to have long solves, mid level solves and quick solves here. We all love watching you and Mark not only solve these beasts, but I know in my case I would never have the time to actually attempt one of these monsters. Also, there's a perverse pleasure at times in finding a path that you might not have seen during the live solve, and feeling that I might have one up on you, only to be swatted down when you not only find the path, but can actually do more with it than I ever could. And, believe it or not, the long solves help take my mind off my workouts when I am dealing with the dreaded cardio sessions. ^_^
I love the long solves Simon, Me and my friends spent hours on this, finally cracked it! I used a little more set theory than you did on this solve, though I see now it was nearly as needed as I thought.
I solved it in about 4 hours. I couldn't believe it when I watched you solve the right third of the grid - you missed several simple deductions and solved it anyway with some of the most esoteric, mind-bending methods I've ever seen. And you were still quicker than me haha
This is an awesome puzzle, and a great solve. I love these mega puzzles - and I solve some of them. Please do recommend puzzles you have encountered which would add to the series - I, for one, want to hear about them (alternatively pray for me as an addict) ...
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Thank you so much for solving Fillomenon! It was a joy seeing how you tackled it, especially the places where you found different deductions than what I had planned. I honestly had no idea you could resolve the 24 column the way you did - it was a complete coincidence that the arrow peeking out of the fog at the bottom was able to eliminate the 9 at the bottom of the column! You were correct that an extension of the usual box-placement trick for 11x11 deconstruction puzzles was the intended path there - the way I usually think about it is that the third, sixth, and ninth rows in the available space must each cross three boxes and the only difference in the 11x12 case is that you have a little more horizontal flexibility about where they get placed, but the modular-arithmetic argument that @mumushanshi described in another comment is a particularly elegant way to prove it. (Each box must cross rows numbered 0, 1, and 2 mod 3, and there are only three rows numbered 1 mod 3 available, so each of those rows must cross exactly three boxes to satisfy that without breaking the sudoku. What a beautiful deduction.)
I just started this, but the third big deduction with the 24 column so clever I had to leave a comment. Back to work!
Thank you sir for a very enjoyable few hours (2:24 + I will get to watch Simon tomorrow). Many enjoyable moments and little breaks, especially the way the last 4 rows resolved. Again, thank you.
Mind blowing from you!! I mean..loss for words!! Thank you for setting this masterpiece!
I think this may be the hardest puzzle I've ever successfully solved. Thanks for a terrific challenge.
Where does the solve go next on the intended path? I feel like it somehow needs to involve the 24 and >15 columns but without Simon's deduction I'm not seeing how to exert enough pressure on the 15 column. I can't rule out a world where r7c2 is green because that just barely squeaks in as possible via 5 + 5 + 2 + 2 = 14.
I appreciate that Simon isn’t too much of a British gentleman to restrain himself from saying “Nice” every time he sees the number 69. 😂
I love that collectively, we ended up leaving the like count at 69 as well
Edit: Nooooo they didnt notice :(
Bother bother bother, rats
Bother bother bother, rats
@@pedrosalaspinero7220 Probably had 2 or 3 people start watching before others finished whilst the like count was 67 or 68. You started watching when it was 69, by the time you finished and when you refreshed the page, it would now be at 70 something.
I don't get it. What's nice about 69?
To help appreciate the truly impressive duration of Simon's epic Sudoku solve, I thought I'd compare against a similar epic: The Lord of the Rings.
[SPOILER WARNING FOR THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS, AND FOR SIMON'S SOLVE]
16:19 Simon gets his first Fillomino digit. At this point in The Lord of the Rings, Saruman the White is inciting the Dunlendings to join with him and the Orcs on their campaign to bring about the demise of Rohan. At this precise moment Saruman has just commanded the Wildmen of Dunland to "burn every village" of the Rohirrim people.
1:01:01 Simon fully bounds his first 3x3 Sudoku box. At this point in The Lord of the Rings, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli (while following hobbit tracks to Fangorn) have recently been reunited with Gandalf who had been reborn as Gandalf the White following his defeat of the Balrog. The quartet proceeded to Edoras where at this precise moment, Saruman falls to the floor far away as Gandalf the White expels Saruman's corrupting hold on the mind of Theoden, the King of Rohan.
1:30:01 Simon gets his first Sudoku digit. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf has departed to seek out Éomer and his 2,000 banished riders to aid in the upcoming defense of Helm's Deep. Meanwhile Théoden, Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn are escorting the Rohirrim people on their journey to Helm's Deep during which they have just been attacked by Saruman's Warg-riders. At this precise moment, Gimli lets out a comical wheeze as he strains under the weight of the bodies of a fallen orc and two slain Wargs, one of which was just speared by Aragorn, and has just collapsed on top of him.
2:17:54 Simon fully completes his first 3x3 Sudoku box. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, Merry and Pippin have begun pleading with Treebeard to secure the help of the Ents in the War of the Ring. Meanwhile, the battle of Helm's Deep is ongoing as the Uruk-Hai are scaling ladders they have thrown up against the Deeping Wall and attacking the defenders stationed there. At this precise moment, Gimli is keeping a count of all the Uruk-Hai he has successfully slain from the climbing onslaught, and has just proudly exclaimed "Twenty!".
2:49:50 Simon fully bounds and completes all 3x3 Sudoku boxes and digits. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, the battle of Helm's Deep has concluded, and away to the East in Osgiliath, Frodo has (with the help of Sam and Faramir) just escaped an attempted capture by a Ringwraith riding a Nazgul. Gollum, feeling betrayed by Frodo for delivering him into the hands of Faramir's men, at this precise moment angrily declares to himself his intention to kill Frodo.
2:50:24 Simon fully completes all Fillomino regions and thus fully solves the puzzle. At this point in the Lord of the Rings, Gollum is continuing to formalize his plans to exact murderous revenge on Frodo (and now also Sam). And at this precise moment, Gollum is talking with himself to work through some self doubt about his murderous intentions being potentially "too risky".
"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" ends on a shot of Mordor as seen in the distance, and fades to black at exactly 2:51:38.
And so, Simon has successfully finished the puzzle "Fillomenon by Darth Paradox" 1 minute and 14 seconds faster than the entire runtime of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers".
This has to be the comment that wins the internet ! You are truly a dedicated person. I salute you!
This is incredible 😂
Bless you for this!
Greatest comment ever
Beautiful
When Simon left the room I was half expecting to see a giggling Mr goodliffe tiptoeing in from the shadows to mischievously change a pencil mark, just to add an extra layer of jepordy to an already epic solve
Nice idea, but it's fairly clear that Simon usually ignores his pencil marks.
1. A 3x3 sudoku box must occupy a row 0mod3, a row 1mod3, and a row 2mod3.
2. No row may ‘see’ more than 3 boxes.
-> 3. Given that rows 1 and 13 are fully Fillomino, the only remaining 1mod3 rows are 4, 7 and 10. They must each see three boxes.
-> 4. Row 4 (36 clue) contains four cells of Fillomino, each of them filled with the digit 9; etc. etc.
Great proof! It's fairly technical for people who aren't into number theory.
In this puzzle, there's actually a very straightforward proof: proof by contradiction. The setup for the proof is simple: assume row 4 won't contain 9 sudoku cells. Show that it is impossible to place 9 sudoku regions without at least one row containing more than 3 regions. Simon even used it but didn't manage to convince himself his proof actually was a proof.
Because it wasn’t exhaustive. It wasn’t a proof, just an example. Examples aren’t proof
@@ecMathGeek in an 11x11 grid:
boxes centered on rows 2, 3 and 4 see row 3
boxes centered on 5, 6 and 7 see row 6
boxes centered on rows 8, 9 and 10 see row 9
No boxes can be centered on 1 and 11
Since each row can only see 3 boxes, and we need 9 boxes, we need exactly 3 from each group (seeing row 3, seeing row 6 and seeing row 9).
Considering the Filomeno row at the top, that means rows 4, 7 and 10 in this grid must see 3 boxes.
It's not as elegant as the nmod3 method above, but perhaps easier to show visually to those that don't follow the maths too well
@@Croccifixo Your reasoning is incorrect.
If you want to prove or disprove an overlap in a single row or column with set region sizes, then you would say this: Starting from the left/top, separate the nearest 9 cells into 3 regions, each 3 cells long, without overlapping regions or skipping any cells. Then do the same, starting from the right/bottom. Any overlap between the nth group of cells starting from the left/top and the nth to last group of cells starting from the right/bottom must be included in a sudoku region. Similar logic is what makes it possible to solve nonogram puzzles.
For a deconstruction sudoku with a side length of 12, there would be no overlap among the nth region and the nth to last region.
Without the restriction on the bottom row, there is no way to prove that any rows are guaranteed to include at least one sudoku region.
@mumushanshi In step 3 you mean the only remaining 0mod3 rows, right? Cuz the numbers start from zero again (Row 1=0, 2=1, 3=2, 4=0, 5=1, 6=2 etc etc)
A 3-hour video, just before the weekend… I know 2 things for sure:
1. The fact that it got uploaded means Simon has somehow been able to solve it
2. I will be greatly entertained this weekend
The fact that you weren't just stuck for extended periods, but rather almost constantly kept doing small progress kept it entertaining and definitely enjoyable from start to finish. Really entertaining to follow your journey of disbelief in how it kept up it's difficulty. Loved it!
Yes, we DO love the long solves, but I must continue with, "The Long Solves of Brilliant Puzzles." This was epic and beautiful.😀
Let's Get Cracking: 09:20
Simon's time: 2h41m21s
Puzzle Solved: 2:50:41
What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
Bobbins: 1x (1:59:17)
Knowledge Bomb: 1x (10:55)
Three In the Corner: 1x (2:48:40)
And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Ah: 46x (12:37, 16:39, 18:54, 21:35, 22:02, 23:53, 24:30, 27:52, 31:03, 31:03, 1:04:12, 1:06:51, 1:11:59, 1:16:55, 1:26:55, 1:36:16, 1:37:43, 1:42:56, 1:47:00, 1:48:05, 1:50:24, 1:56:03, 1:56:45, 1:58:35, 2:07:02, 2:07:02, 2:07:42, 2:11:22, 2:15:50, 2:17:56, 2:19:04, 2:24:07, 2:24:11, 2:24:54, 2:26:41, 2:27:03, 2:30:01, 2:33:13, 2:35:13, 2:35:20, 2:38:38, 2:46:58, 2:47:07, 2:47:24, 2:48:01, 2:49:05)
Hang On: 44x (17:21, 17:48, 22:38, 28:05, 31:03, 42:18, 48:17, 53:22, 55:04, 55:15, 1:04:12, 1:06:58, 1:07:22, 1:08:04, 1:12:27, 1:24:37, 1:26:13, 1:35:35, 1:41:37, 1:42:16, 1:42:16, 1:42:16, 1:46:52, 1:47:00, 1:47:00, 1:54:21, 1:54:37, 1:57:33, 2:08:15, 2:12:29, 2:19:15, 2:19:18, 2:19:18, 2:19:18, 2:22:02, 2:27:55, 2:41:17, 2:42:35, 2:42:35, 2:46:09, 2:49:05, 2:49:28)
Wow: 19x (43:20, 1:03:53, 1:11:23, 1:11:59, 1:42:07, 1:45:13, 1:54:43, 2:18:45, 2:18:49, 2:25:37, 2:29:10, 2:30:47, 2:32:09, 2:33:19, 2:37:06, 2:43:45, 2:46:05, 2:46:05, 2:50:51)
Sorry: 17x (35:51, 39:38, 46:15, 48:33, 1:02:55, 1:13:38, 1:14:53, 1:14:53, 1:14:53, 1:24:15, 1:26:58, 1:49:52, 1:50:30, 1:59:17, 2:02:23, 2:04:06, 2:49:31)
Beautiful: 15x (02:41, 22:02, 1:24:42, 1:35:38, 1:35:42, 1:50:32, 1:53:40, 1:54:54, 1:55:03, 1:55:06, 1:58:52, 2:15:55, 2:15:55, 2:24:35, 2:33:49)
Weird: 12x (18:31, 19:01, 32:41, 40:51, 1:15:11, 1:16:49, 1:41:43, 1:51:00, 2:14:03, 2:15:03, 2:31:48, 2:49:19)
Obviously: 11x (07:01, 10:12, 10:45, 38:24, 52:37, 58:43, 1:04:30, 1:21:50, 1:29:18, 1:40:29, 2:39:58)
In Fact: 9x (10:36, 16:10, 1:21:58, 1:31:18, 1:46:04, 1:46:25, 1:47:47, 2:05:03, 2:23:48)
Bother: 8x (1:36:18, 1:37:15, 1:40:22, 1:55:25, 1:55:25, 1:55:25, 1:55:28, 2:47:07)
Good Grief: 6x (27:59, 1:04:09, 2:07:45, 2:43:06, 2:50:51)
Nonsense: 6x (17:26, 26:41, 1:07:35, 1:30:47, 2:05:17, 2:46:19)
Bonkers: 6x (03:03, 37:53, 37:55, 2:18:53, 2:18:53, 2:50:57)
Incredible: 5x (2:31:05, 2:31:07, 2:44:28, 2:44:36, 2:51:26)
Surely: 5x (25:46, 1:33:23, 1:34:56, 1:51:10, 2:46:58)
What Does This Mean?: 5x (14:46, 1:30:56, 2:13:50, 2:26:24, 2:32:31)
Clever: 4x (00:49, 2:01:06, 2:33:19, 2:36:54)
Brilliant: 4x (1:21:36, 1:21:40, 2:51:47, 2:51:50)
By Sudoku: 4x (1:58:28, 2:22:06, 2:38:50, 2:44:39)
Lovely: 3x (1:50:32, 2:19:30, 2:24:39)
Fascinating: 3x (43:28, 43:31, 52:23)
That's Huge: 3x (22:04, 1:51:10, 2:17:56)
Goodness: 2x (17:50, 43:17)
Break the Puzzle: 2x (1:13:44, 1:15:22)
Ridiculous: 2x (2:23:51, 2:41:29)
Gorgeous: 2x (2:27:09, 2:50:08)
Come on Simon: 2x (1:55:51, 1:59:23)
I've Got It!: 2x (1:50:24)
Proof: 2x (41:30, 54:28)
Baffling: 2x (1:45:24, 2:05:52)
What on Earth: 1x (34:12)
Axiomatically: 1x (53:08)
Naked Single: 1x (2:48:30)
Bingo: 1x (2:35:23)
Horrible Feeling: 1x (2:16:25)
Astonishing: 1x (2:29:20)
Shenanigans: 1x (2:17:25)
Bizarre: 1x (2:14:07)
Whoopsie: 1x (2:32:01)
Phone is Buzzing: 1x (14:25)
Snake: 1x (05:47)
Progress: 1x (1:44:43)
On the Cusp: 1x (1:50:08)
Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video:
Fifteen (22 mentions)
Two (198 mentions)
Red (98 mentions)
Antithesis Battles:
High (5) - Low (5)
Even (37) - Odd (12)
Higher (2) - Lower (0)
Lowest (2) - Highest (1)
Outside (3) - Inside (1)
Black (10) - White (8)
Column (89) - Row (49)
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!
1:29:54 first sudoku digit!
Always love the long solves it shows the quality and difficulty of the puzzles and the intelligence and tenacity of the solver.
And the creator! Kudos to @chrisbattey!
Due to an accidentally unpaused timer, I'm proud to say I have a solve time of 995 minutes, 19 seconds
I reallly must congratulate you!!!🎉🎉🎉🎉❤ Well done 😊
Yeah, I also forgot to pause my timer when I stepped away. I think my actual time was something like 5 or 6 hours, but my recorded time was... 1582:20. :)
3 minutes in. Small whisky to hand, dog sleeping at feet, everyone else gone to bed, nirvana! Thanks for this CtC
I just glimpsed grid and ruleset and literally squealed. I cannot WAIT to watch this over the weekend!!! Like, if I had to up my Patreon pledge to guarantee one of these geniusly complex puzzles at a regular interval I would pay it.
Also, I do believe this Patreon idea might put to rest any lingering doubt you have about the decent-sized audience you have clamoring for these videos 😂
@@jziesel Agreed - an extra dollar or two per month would be one of the easiest upsells ever for me
For these really really hard but beautiful puzzles it would make sense for you to attack them as a team. Simon is amazing at analysing the nuances of a rule set, but Mark actually doesn’t mind doing Sudoku.
Especially as the solve went along with this one, Simon got *very* good at not accidentally doing Sudoku with Filomino digits by simply choosing to refuse to do Sudoku entirely
I disagree. When they've worked together on puzzles in the past, they didn't communicate well enough.
Please keep the long solves coming! I solved the puzzle first, but if I hadn't watched your solve, I would not have been able to remember how. So much fun.
This puzzle's solve needs to be seen.
If this video did not exist, this puzzle's solve would not be seen.
Therefore, this video needs to exist.
Thank you CtC for this - while I did not try Crux by myself, I started this puzzle on Saturday and just finished it with a puzzle time of 6,5 hours! 😅 It is SO rare that a puzzle can keep my interest for such a long time, and I'd never have challenged myself if there wasn't this video. Now I can watch Simon's solve and find out what clues I've missed 😊
I fully agree to what someone else just said: I'm definitely supporting the long solves as bonus videos once in a while, as long as they are truly exceptional as both Crux and this one were!
Yes, PLEASE keep doing these longer videos! I am not among the cleverest solvers, so tackling these puzzles are a bit beyond my current abilities. But watching you solve them and take me through your logic is helping me do better. So I enjoy watching you solve the puzzles that I am quite a ways off from solving myself and seeing the brilliance of these amazing setters.
Fillomenonly brillant!
I so enjoy waiting for the (very) few places where I see a deduction before Simon does and can still shout at the screen. (Sometimes my deductions are even correct...)
More, please!
I definitely enjoy the occasional long solve! I don’t think I could commit to watching this everyday (and I’m sure you couldn’t commit to solving them every day). But a special edition is a lot of fun!
I really like the videos that are in the 30-50 minute range because those are the puzzles I’m able to do with you.
Yes, the video is finally out! I love your longer solves! The longer the video, the better, it is so interesting to see you solve puzzles that push you to your limits!
MORE OF THESE PLEASE - the long solves feel like my favourite artist has just branched out into a new genre and the music is even better than before
yea it's great!
I started off my Sunday afternoon watching (American) football, got bored and switched over to this much more exciting spectacle. Gorgeously done, Simon!
Probably my favourite solve ever. I love the long videos partly because I know anything that takes Simon much more than an hour is almost certainly going to be beyond me, so I can just relax and not get frustrated that I really should be having a go at it myself!
This was a joy from start to finish. More long solves please!!
I thought that three hours might be too much for me - but no! I was glued to the screen the whole time!
Don't weep, Simon, you were great! Take a bow yourself and have a nice beverage with a proud smile. Brava 👏🏼👏🏼
6:06:26 OMG! I did use the checker a little bit on the way, I don't have Simons's confidence!, but with only the teeniest bit of help from Simon I managed to get through it all. Astonishing puzzle.
The 53:39 moment when "these cells have to bee green"! I've been -yelling- politely telling it to the screen for like, I don't know - twenty minutes?
I haven't watched it yet, but I LOVE epic length solves
Simon, the only thing I can think of to say about this nearly 3-hour solve is “Yay!” Watching you and your fabulous brain at work is one of my true pleasures, especially the pauses and the conversations with yourself to work your way to the next “eureka!”
Love the long solves. No problem being longer. A lot longer. I think Simon will reach his breaking point solving (as in faceplanting from exhaustion) before I reach mine watching him solve.
What a puzzle! Loved watching the solve and would gladly watch more of this length or even longer.
I think what was most impressive about this puzzle was that no individual piece was insanely difficult and it maintained difficulty all the way through the solve.
The ability to slam through this puzzle in 3 hours, all while providing commentary and remaining coherent is a truly unique talent of Simon’s. If I even had the guts to try this, I would be catatonic by the 3 hour mark.
What I love about these long videos is how they are filled with the puzzle creator’s interesting logic and tricks from beginning to end for such a long time. In most CTC videos, the unique aspect of that puzzle is done within 15 to 30 minutes. I will gladly continue to watch these epic battles as long as Simon is willing to make them.
You, Simon, are an absolute treasure. Watching you work is truly sublime. I am in awe of your talents as an artist and logician extroadinaire
Hands down, one of my favorite solves ever shown on the channel. The concept of the puzzle, the brilliance of the setting, the diversity and creativity of the logic in the solve path - it seemed like at times there was nowhere to look, then all of a sudden one crucial deduction opened up three or four things all at once. I personally enjoyed this one even more than Crux, because the interaction of deconstruction and fillomino rules made it much more intriguing to me. Thank you for your dedication to putting out the occasional epic-length video, and I hope it continues!
Loved it ❤ would watch 💯 amazed at the genius of the constructor, Simon and our awesome community. As a developer I call myself pretty logical but get humbled by just the math that Simon and some of the commenters find! Kudos to all who solved it
Your next Kickstarter should definitely be a DVD box set of these long solves 😂 Cracking The Cryptic: Extended Edition
I’d back a kickstarter just for a compilation of real tough solves from Simon. I really would.
Absolutely epic. What a roller coaster of emotions
Honestly I only watch the long solves. I do sometimes skip parts of the video, and often skip the final run to the end, but they often have the most brilliant and intricate turning point where you crack it - and those are a joy to watch.
Bro!
What makes a long video like this enjoyable is the way the puzzle unfolds and gives you more but still doesn't relent on difficulty. So it takes a very special puzzle to earn a video of this length.
This one was definitely worth it!
I will say 1.5x speed is a blessing too.
This was so much fun! Fantastic puzzle. Never seemed impossible and every step was not too difficuilt, it was just a mighty number of steps. I especially loved that placing the 9 in box 3 was the way to place box 3 and that you almost finished the puzzle and still box 6 wasn't placed. Amazing.
Early on, there are some easy deductions to make surrounding columns 6 and 8. In column 6, the two ones can only go into rows 2, 6, 8, or 12. The other spots in the column must be sudoku. In column 5, once you determine rows 2 and 12 are fillomino, then the the corresponding rows in column 8 must be sudoku. Then, you can extend those 2 sudoku cells up and down in column 8. This also forces a set of 5 unknown cells into the middle of column 8, which puts a lot of pressure on the column's fillomino total.
yeah instantly saw those 2 things as well and was so surprised that simon just refused to pick this low hanging fruit
These marathon length movies are incredible, and I am here for all of them 🍿🍰🍹
Bravissississimo. Fabulous solve. And I followed all the steps. I felt like I could solved it myself had I thought to look at the right things. Love it.
I finally finished my solve this morning, which clocked in well north of five hours -- with a couple of hints given by friends along the way! I'm very glad your solve video didn't go up until I finished, Simon, because I certainly would have given up on it and just watched you, had the option been there.
I absolutely loved this puzzle (even if almost a full hour of hair-pulling was caused by my strong belief that an 8-cell 9 region in the Fillomino was complete) and can't wait to watch the master at work on it!
Please we need more long solves like this!! Its both entertaining and astonishing. I watched the whole thing before bed❤ great puzzle and what a solve by Simon!
Did this today. And actually (just about) managed to beat Simon's solve time. Really fun puzzle. Going to enjoy seeing if you were stymied at the same points I was.
I love the long videos. Really hope this doesn’t get buried by the algorithm because it’s posted at an unusual time for you, because this solve deserves to be seen.
"I'll go and quietly weep." 😅
Brilliant, as ever. Thank you, Simon!
really loved watching this solve - knowing this video was coming encouraged me to try it on my own first, and i'm glad I did!
I love the series binge length solves
After seeing that row 4, 7 and 10 have 9 sudoku cells, the key for me was to figure out that r4c5 can't be red, because it would be a 9. But there is no space to put a 9 fillomino region there, because of the boxes being formed. This leads to the cells of row 4 col 456 and row 5 col 456 to be in the same box. Which can only be done in one way.
Thanks a lot Simon, really loved the long videos and the step by step explanation. It’s always a good learning.
Wife and I watched the entire thing together and loved it. Keep posting the long ones. They’re my favorite ❤️ you’re awesome Simon
This was truly a journey! Of course a 3 hour video every day is not reasonable for either you or the audience but it's lovely to embark on one of these journeys from time to time!
That solve was incredible; possibly my favorite puzzle featured so far. What an incredible mix of rules and slow, consistent logic.
Just in case this happens to be the straw that keeps these long, monstruous solves coming: I love these long, monstruous solves and always look forward to making time for watching them. (This time it only took me a week!)
Simon’s brilliance is truly impressive . It’s a pleasure to see how his mind works tackling these
Was beginning to worry this wasn't coming to the channel. Very much been looking forward to it.
Thanks Simon.
This was indeed a phenomenal watch! Glad to see it! ... and totally looking forward to the next one of these LotR-length epics.
the hypothesis at 59:30, that you need 9 sudoku cells in row 4, is correct. an easy way to think about it is to highlight rows 3, 6 and 9 of an 11*infinite grid. then you can ask how many of the sudoku boxes overlap the highlights. the answer is all 9 of them. there's just no room in between them (or above/below). since 9 boxes intersect the rows with 3 cells each, 27 cells overlap the 3 rows, and you can only have at most 9 per row, and so need exactly 9 per highlighted row.
I think this is why Simon called the 13x13 grid ludicrous in his intro, since he knows the trick for these kind of puzzles in an 11x11 grid. In the 11x11 grid you can immediately allocate nine cells to sudoku boxes because of this logic, and therefore know that in these rows and columns all boxes are represented.
I love long videos, to be honest I often don't click on a video if it's not at least close to an hour 😂
Brilliant setting, brilliant solve path. 2h:40m for us, what a pleasure. What a puzzle. Simon: Longer = better!
What a brilliant solve of an even more brilliant puzzle! As someone who plays a lot of video games involving lots of grinding and repetitive tasks to perform, having long videos to watch to occupy my mind while playing is amazing so I'd be overjoyed to get more long videos like these ones. There has been a trend of very long videos these past few years on TH-cam, with 5 hours video essays becoming quite common and a lot of people love them so I feel like there is definetely an audience for this type of videos!
Brilliant puzzles are great regrades of length. For me I really enjoy the extreme puzzles that I would have no chance of doing myself.
Have to respect Simon's appreciation for the puzzlemakers in sudoku's big and small. He'd poke his own eye out before doing a live solve of a puzzle in the unintended fashion.
I absolutely loved that one of the very last deductions was where the final sudoku box was! Astonishing solve, well worth the watch 👍
Loved every minute of this solve. Thanks for taking the time and for sharing it with us!
Absolutely phenomenal. How do people even begin to create a puzzle like this?
Thank you for posting this! I love watching these long solves. I broke up the viewing over two nights and looked forward to finishing it.
I don't wanna to say much, just thank you, this video saved me today.
It was the most beautiful 3hours sudoku video that you could have made!
That was really hard! I'm impressed that you solved it. I tried it myself but got stuck all the time, so it was very entertaining to watch you solve it. It sure was a long video, but I stayed awake long after midnight to watch it all. Good job!
This is an absolute classic. I've already watched it twice. Brilliant to just have on in the background while working. I don't even do Sudoku but like the crossword vids.
WOW!!! 4:40 with a BIG help from Simon for the first hour, which without, I wouldn't have been able to solve. Wasn't sure how the 6 and 9 regions were going to solve at the end though. Superb puzzle. And yes Simon, we love these long puzzles. Thank you
I was looking forward to this video, and it delivered in spades. I love the long videos.
Absolutely loved every minute of this solve. Mind blowing how you figured it out and yet made it understandable to the average sudoku player! Keep up the great content
Keep these long solves coming, Simon -- I know I love them!
i usually don't care how long sudoku like (9x9 grids) solves are, more esoterical puzzles i usually don't watch at all u.u
thanks for all the effort and time you give us through this channel, it's greatly appreciated!
Very good Simon!
I can personally handle 1-2 of these extended editon sudokus a month. Always a treat to watch, but I do love the shorter ones I can watch during my lunch break!
Wow, what a solve! Amazing that you have fog, deconstruction, & fillomeno all in one in such a natural way.
A lovely solve. I stayed up late to watch it in one go, and stayed with it throughout! Delightful work, Simon.
I Will save this one for the quiet hours saturday morning when everything else is quiet.
Waking up to Soduko-madness (and a coffee ☕️☕️) - nothing better ❤
Thanks, Simon! Loved every minute of it!
loved this adventure. I like working through the logic along side you while screaming at the screen when i see something you haven't. more long puzzles please!
57:00 Simon starts conjuring solutions from the ether. It's all about the hand gestures. Eye movement is another important element. I enjoyed the solve very much. This is one of the few times I have seen things well in advance of Simon and found myself actually talking to the video. "Do we know that? I don't think so..." Me: YES! Yes we know that! By Sudoku - that can't be a nine! And that has to be a nine, and that clears the fog, and that makes that a six, and..." But I stand on the shoulders of giants. Forget 15 hours - I would have stared senseless at this for days. More, please!
This was great. I do prefer these longer solves. Thank you.
Took me two meals and a snack, but I loved every second of this solve.
We won't watch them every day but you know we love the monstrous solves once in a while !
Absolutely fantastic... yes indeed ... please keep those coming, once your brain has had time to recover!!
Loved this puzzle. Solved in 436 minutes. I got through the left side slowly but steadily, then stalled until I figured out the set theory deduction. Then more slow but steady progress to the end.
Wonderful solve and puzzle. I love these puzzles in which it almost never breaks. Even at the end you need to really think about each digit.
I couldn’t solve it of course
Wow what a brilliant video! I do love the epic length ones. I struggled with getting my head around fillomino puzzles before this, but I have a better understanding now and I thank you for that. Please keep the long ones coming, they're great!
this is fun to do side by side, as i get completely dumbfounded by the path i can't find as Simon finds a path forward, but then sometimes i blaze ahead only to get stuck again, for Simon to catch up to where I'm at and then get farther
it's a wholesome cycle
I can't believe I just watched this whole thing... that was wildly a blast
Fantastic and just epic Simon!! Love the long solves and videos. Keep them coming!
Honestly, Simon, I think it's a great thing to have long solves, mid level solves and quick solves here. We all love watching you and Mark not only solve these beasts, but I know in my case I would never have the time to actually attempt one of these monsters.
Also, there's a perverse pleasure at times in finding a path that you might not have seen during the live solve, and feeling that I might have one up on you, only to be swatted down when you not only find the path, but can actually do more with it than I ever could.
And, believe it or not, the long solves help take my mind off my workouts when I am dealing with the dreaded cardio sessions. ^_^
It's fun seeing some of these fiercely difficult solves!
I would pay for a subscription to watch people construct such a puzzle with narration of their thought process.
I love the long solves Simon, Me and my friends spent hours on this, finally cracked it! I used a little more set theory than you did on this solve, though I see now it was nearly as needed as I thought.
I solved it in about 4 hours. I couldn't believe it when I watched you solve the right third of the grid - you missed several simple deductions and solved it anyway with some of the most esoteric, mind-bending methods I've ever seen. And you were still quicker than me haha
This is an awesome puzzle, and a great solve. I love these mega puzzles - and I solve some of them. Please do recommend puzzles you have encountered which would add to the series - I, for one, want to hear about them (alternatively pray for me as an addict) ...