@@EmilWestrum I don't do Sudoku, I'm not big brain enough, but I've watched a couple of videos of Simon doing them. I think it's entertaining but I don't get the terminology or how they work at all 😅
@@waffleweirdo1252 Sorry, I didnt mean to sound condecending. I can appreciate you being new to Sudoku, I mean we all where at some point. Its just that swordfish is a very "famous" tactic. I suggest you read up on it, and x-wing (which is a simpler swordfish). It gives great insight into different sudoku solving techniques :)
Simon is always like, "I'm sorry I'm so slow... You have probably already spotted it", at the point where I'm still like: "Hmm, this looks like a sudoku..."
@@SmLoveBites Simon really underestimates himself. He actually thinks other people would spot things he doesnt or takes a while for, when in reality he is absolutly built different and much better than at least 99% of the viewers.
@@Jaddas In more recent videos it's usually been when he's using weird or different rules and he misses the basic sudoku that I'm yelling. What's hilarious is when he misses basic things and then uses some other logic to find the same answer he could have gotten earlier. :P
"Patto patto" is Japanese onomatopoeia for "suddenly; in a flash". If that's what's intended, it's maybe alluding to the fact that once the trick is found, the puzzle completes rapidly.
@@TheFreeBro Japanese is a bit more loose with their onomatopoeia, but the "tto" is like "with a" so my guess is something along the lines of "with a 'pa!' (disappearing in a puff of smoke)". And then there's the repetition for emphasis. Someone smarter than me will hopefully come along and correct me here!
@@MisterM2402 I can't say for absolutely certain but by my instincts you would either say "patto" or "ぱっと" just once or for the repetition side "papatto" or "ぱぱっと", though they are different in meaning. The first is "suddenly" and the latter is more "quickly" as in "filled the sudoku quickly", which I do think fits the essence of that sudoku. A dictionary definition of "ぱぱっと" might be "手早く簡単に" which translates to "quick and easy". Addition: I think that, if the name really is "patto patto" and it references the idea of suddenly, it could be a reference to both the sudden realization of the hinging point of the solution and the suddenly finished sudoku after that.
@@mrwalter1049 I'm still a noob at Japanese so you could well be right. I was thinking of it in comparison to words like ドキドキ or もっともっと or わくわく but it's possibly not the same thing and I'm talking nonsense. It might just be a nice little coincidence and the setter meant something else entirely!
@@TheFreeBro japanese has more types of onomatopoeia than just things like "boom!" or "knock knock", it also has onomatopoeia for things like weather, food, emotions, physical feelings, textures, appearance, etc.
Sudoku clickbait in 2020: "A sudoku with only 4 given digits?!" Sudoku clickbait in 2021: "A sudoku with 36 given digits?!" Oh, how far this community has progressed. What a strange world!
@@ragnkja I'm afraid I'm not that clever, friend. I just multiplied 36 x 9 :D That said, 324 givens on a 25x25 equates to about half the cells I think, which for a grid that size probably is reasonable. I wonder what the largest ever suduko grid is?
There was a far easier second digit that could have been gotten much earlier in the puzzle. @5:19 right after the 29 pair was found in box 4, the 5's in that box were forced into column 2 providing a 5 in r7c3. Of course, that 5 is about as useless as the 6 in box 8, but it's still there.
@@randybartlett3042 I know what you mean. I loaded up the board to that point after posting this and neither the 5 or the 6 did squat. Without that 2 he got, I couldn’t find anything that did anything.
I feel both proud and disappointed....... 11:29 for me to solve it. Edit: Ok. Watching the video now. And I didn't do ANY of this 147 logic here. I'm now prouder for finding my own way, but am even more disappointed for missing that.
@@jackw7714 Honestly nothing fancy. Basic sudoku. Penciled in all options that appeared twice, entered singles, and kept repeating. If I did get held up, I don't remember what I did to get unstuck, but it had nothing to do with 147.
How clever do you have to be to invent a sudoku technique? Phistomefel did it once or twice, but shye has now done it at least twice and on track for more
Btw, no one is talking about the bonus puzzle provided in the description, but it definitely deserves some love as well. I gave it a try thinking it would be an easy solve and it took me 39 minutes to get to the end. What an awesome combination of puzzles, I encourage everyone to also give it a go.
Thank you! I'm always happy to see classic Sudoku puzzles on this channel. Classics are what brought me here initially, and they are pretty much the only puzzles that bring me back here, because they don't require me to do math inside my head and can be completed fairly quickly.
Ok, this one I did completely different than Simon. I do now about Swordfish, but I think it doesn't need it. I did all the sudoku I could, ended with 6 at box 8, 5 at box 7 and 1,4 pair, 2,8 pair in box 2 and 2,9 pair in box 4. Then i did the 1,4,6 around the edges. I colored them on the top row - red in the box 1 (1,4,7), yellow in box 2 (1,7) and green in box 3 (1,4,7) and red/yellow the first 1,4,7 down in the 9th column. Then went down with the first column - 1,4,7 in box 4 is now yellow/green and 1,4 in box 7 is also either yellow/green, since it sees the red. Now, because box 7 has 1,4 pair (7 is given), that means the other 1,4 is also now yellow/green, making the one in box 4 into 1,4 options as well and making red now 7. This makes yellow now 1, since we have 1,7 in box 2 and green is 4. After that it was just basic sudoku.
I eventually cracked it after an embarrassing amount of time, because I missed an obvious starter. Because of that I was going round and round in circles and the puzzle looked unsolvable. A great puzzle!
_You_ were embarrassed. It took me over 3 hours. My problem is I have an aversion to filling in 3 or more potential digits in a single cell. While watching this video I realized that was a mistake. But at least I finally solved it despite myself.
15:51 ... I felt rather brilliant finding the key 'break-in' to solve this, but then felt rather foolish as my poor scanning took me far too long to finish the puzzle from there. Still, I'm happy I figured this one out. Fun puzzle!
Rules: 02:22 Let's get cracking: 02:32 And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Sorry: 4 (04:00, 08:17, 13:20, 16:38) The Answer is: 3 (16:25, 16:59, 17:23) Shouting: 2 (10:44, 20:07) Bobbins: 1 (05:30) Good Grief: 1 (22:28) Apologies: 1 (10:42) Naked Single: 1 (21:03) Secret: 1 (22:45) Clever: 1 (19:38) Beautiful: 1 (20:13) Brilliant: 1 (23:06) Incredible: 1 (01:42) Extraordinary: 1 (01:18) Inarticulate: 1 (13:17) Oh It Can!: 1 (03:53) FAQ: Q1: What is a Simarkism? A1: A Simarkism is something that Simon and Mark typically or frequently say. Q2: How do you do this so fast? A2: I'm not made of flesh and blood, but of sand ... Q3: Why don't you include 'XX' and 'YY'? A3: Probably it's already on the list, but not mentioned in this video. But if you think it's not, tell me what you'd like me to include and there's a good chance I'll add it! Q4: You missed 'XX' at 'YY:ZZ'! A4: That could very well be the case! Human speech is hard to understand for computers like me, especially British sometimes! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn!
Before watching Simon's solve: I don't know if it was the intended break in, but R6C4, sitting in the centre of a 147 cross, could be none of 1, 4, or 7, because of the impact of seeing R1C4 and R6C9, and their knock-on effect around the perimeter. Forcing it to be 2 blows open the puzzle. After watching the video, I'm thinking that my spotting of the effect of the 147 in R6C4 was probably just another way of seeing the effect of the finned swordfish, without actually getting out any fishing tackle. I was aware of something close to a swordfish lurking, but was looking for y-wings when I spotted that if R6C4 contained any of 147, it behaved like the centre of a virtual 3-way y-wing with R1C4 and R6C9. On examination, whichever of 1, 4, or 7 was tried in R6C4 fixed either R1C4 or R6C9, which in turn fixed the cell at the opposite end of the row/column, and was therefore very powerful. Unlike a normal y-wing, which allows one to eliminate candidates, in this case, whichever of 147 is placed in the elbow breaks the puzzle. This meant that R6C4 had to be 2, and the rest fell apart. I've never seen anything like this before, and I'm surprised to have spotted it, because I'm normally hopeless at spotting y-wings. Very clever from Shye. I've no idea how she keeps coming up with these new twists, but it's a remarkable skill. I just hope she continues to use her powers for good.
I'm not familiar with a lot of the terminology nor what a swordfish is (and I'll look it up shortly because it sounds fascinating) but this was my approach too. When I did my pencil markings I felt like R6C4 was crucial, and concluded it could only be 2. The way the numbers flowed out after that was beautiful - felt like I had solved a puzzle box and it opened up to show the inside. Very nice.
What does r6c4 mean I like watching theese videos just to feel dumb for some Reason I have no clue what anything means I only know basic sudoku rules not the special sudoku language
@@maiballs It's just shorthand notation for a specific cell. r1c1 is the cell in the top-left corner of the grid, and r9c9 is the bottom-right corner. In this case, it just means row 6, column 4. You might also see something like r6c7/8 meaning row 6, columns 7 & 8, or r6-8c7 meaning rows 6, 7, & 8 in column 7. You'll sometimes see something like "b7" meaning box 7 too. The boxes are numbered left to right, top to bottom (the same layout as the numbers on the keypad in the app).
@@Raven-Creations I actually figured it out while watching the video I tried focusing on the little words so I could find out what the r and the c stands for and now I know r is the row number they are talking about and c is the column number
Loved the puzzle. Would have guessed at it 2 years ago... But today, having wAtched Simon struggle all these years I figured it out in 21:35 such a great joy
this was the first sudoku i've played and it took me 80 minutes using the link in your description. i am both amazed at how much harder it is than you make it look, as well as how much fun i had trying to solve it myself. now to enjoy your video. thank you for the content!
I'm proud that I found the trick, though I needed some moral support and a lot of time. I had recognized the almost-swordfish pattern quite quickly but didn't immediately know what to do with it. I returned the next day and watched the video until I saw Simon focus on the same pattern. Then I paused the video again and found the trick. I'm actually allergic to fish so I'm celebrating every anti-fish strategy in Sudoku!
A very nice puzzle! Thanks for sharing. There's a simpler way to see the not-quite-swordfish, in case you're interested. If r6c4 is 1, 4 or 7 then there must be at least one duplicate digit in the four bottom left squares of the fish (r6c1, r6c4, r9c1 and r9c4) since there are four squares and only three digits to go in them. One of the duplicates goes column 1 and the other in column 4 which forces that digit into r1c7 to satisfy row 1. Similarly, one goes in row 6 and the other in row 9 which forces it into r3c9 to satisfy column 9. That breaks box 3. Therefore r6c4 is not 1, 4 or 7 so it must be 2.
It should be called the “Shyefish”, because “trio of finned swordfish that you have to avoid in order to not break the puzzle” is a mouthful. I love the narrative that arose here. Shye almost created a Lovecraftian story, where the solver must prevent the awakening of the Mythical Finned Swordfish that will destroy the world. But, ya know, as a sudoku.
I got another break in : If you color the 2 cases of the almost swordfish in box 3, you instantly get 2 x-wings of these colors on the rest of the swordfish. Using this and the pairs in boxes 2, 4 and 6, and the 6 in box 8, we can restrict these two colors in colomn 4 and row 5. This allows us to get a 5 in box 4 and 8 in box 8.
I got it before video-Simon this time! feels good :D I resolved the bottom left 1-4 as a chain and found the 2 in the center box, which then resolved the whole thing.
There's a more elegant way to see the trick, once we've noticed the important squares: What happens if the orange square is not a 2? A pattern emerges in the highlighted squares. Consider the highlighted squares in c1 and c4. What digits populate those squares? Two sets of the digits 1, 4, and 7. Now consider the highlighted squares in r6 and r9. What digits populate those squares? Two sets of the digits 1, 4, and 7. Here's the step that Simon loves to explain, we now remove identical digits from the two equivalent sets (the bottom left four cells). This tells us that the same two digits in r1c1,4 are also in r6,9c9, and standard row/column logic tells us that the highlighted squares in box 3 are also identical, which breaks the puzzle!
STINGRAY! This is essentially an inverted finned swordfish. I vote it should be called a stingray due to 1 the violent end is inverted , 2 stingrays are kind of circular which this pattern creates and, 3 stingrays are pretty much all fin.
My time: 49:31 (no hints). Nice but some tedious case by case coloring and it went well.. Solution notes: ---- I found the boundary 147 cells. Then case colour by the left hand side, what if the r1c1 is a 1, what if the second alt is a 1, what if the third. Then you can eliminate ones in c4 and you have cracked the puzzle open. I'm watching the video now - I don't understand why Simon is allowed to apply the Swordfish logic when there are many more 7 candiates in c4 than he's selected. He is always right, but I just don't understand.
Immediately saw the 147s around the perimeter... then stopped to ponder, and ponder, and ponder, and cuss, and ponder. 20 minutes later, after pencil marking the rest of the puzzle, I pondered more, and more. Gave up. Watched Simon. Even after watching, I know I would never have figured it out. Good job, Simon! Great puzzle, Shye!
55:33, the first CTC puzzle I've ever done and no idea actually how, but it worked! Now to find out what I was supposed to be thinking other than 'I don't know why, but that is definitely a 7' which just gave me the whole thing (I think it was a 7). I highlighted all the (these three digits)-only squares after half an hour of getting nowhere (I found two digits and some triples and pairs) and somehow staring at that for a while let me see what a number a cell was and the rest was just filling in... So yes, first time solver! Love this channel even if logic is not my strong suit. I mean I'm not sure if it even counts as a solve but I didn't give up in despair so yay?
Stunning puzzle, it’d be hard naming this technique. Since we’re trying to prove there isn’t a swordfish, I like the name Malevolent Revolving Swordfish. Idk, but still a well crafted puzzle that highlights the new technique and a great solve of it
Been watchning for 18 months and this is the first time I've finished before Simon, though I wasn't trying to explain aloud my logic - regardless, this is a huge personal milestone for me, I'm finally getting to grips with sudoku!!! - great video!
3 ปีที่แล้ว +1
i literally have no idea how to play sudoku and yet i love your videos
I'm new to this channel and love Sudoku puzzles, but I'm clearly a novice because as soon as he said "...there are hundreds of cells in this puzzle...." I straight away realised that I must be doing it wrong.....great channel!
16:43 but not as logical as Simon. Well solved Simon, I enjoy your patient and focused approach to finding the true path. Thanks to Shye as well for another original puzzle.
Solved in 6:27 with only the most basic of techniques. I did all the basic pencil marking (including the 2/8 pair in box 2 Simon missed (it helps)) and then I filled in all possible places 1/4/7 could go. A little clean-up and you find a 5/7 pair in box 4 which then reduces the 1/4/7 in box 4 to a 1/4 pair. A little more basic elimination and you get a 4 in r6c9 which begins to unwind all the 1/4/7s in the rest of the puzzle.
He explains the "swordfish" and "finned swordfish" for a good few minutes, but that logic just went over my head... I just saw that if its a 4, the other box can't be a 4 because of sudoku logic (in the same 3x3 box)
10:50 for me. Though I after getting a few digits and getting over a dozen 147 or some subset thereof, I did do the whole "what if this was a 4, would that break anything?" and it turned out to be the right number and solve the whole thing.
I did the same thing with the 1/4 in the corner, but unfortunately chose 1 instead of 4 first and it took a while to break. I saw the 2, but my logic brain wasn't confident that the puzzle would break, so I went for the 50/50 shot instead.
At 16:02 the explanation of the "finned" swordfish could be a bit easier to understand if you do it the other way around - any digit X (out of 1-4-7) placed in R3C9 will force an x-wing in R6C1-R6C4-R9C1-R9C4 (the lower left 2x2 part of the "fish"), therefore that digit X cannot appear in first two cells of the fish (R1C1, R1C4) and then X is forced into R1C7 resulting in two cells in box 3 being X. A slightly alternative break-in (and a fun coloring exercise), which in some way just proves the swordfish logic, is to use set theory on rows 1, 6, 9 vs. columns 1, 4, 9. After eliminating the overlaps and matching givens, you are left with 5 cells of each color. The cells R2C4 and R6C3 from each set will be the only place where 2 would go if it's in the sets. It's easy to show that if 2 is in those cells, the cells R1C7 and R3C9 (the fins of the fish) will have to be the same because they are the only cells left from each set after others cells will match. That immediately leads to R2C4 and R6C3 to be 8 and 9 respectively and 2 getting into R6C4 as in Simon's break-in.
Did it in 9:11. Probably my first sub ten-minute time from a puzzle played on this channel in...ever? lmao Once I realized the suspicious pattern of 1s, 4s, and 7s around the outer ring of the grid and looking for contradictions, things fell into place very quickly. Awesome puzzle!
I don't know what my time was as I paused the timer and like to have it hidden, but this is the first puzzle featured on the channel that I've managed to solve. It honestly doesn't feel like I took that long, and I did it without noticing the trick.
At minute 15 I paused the video and thought about that cental square. It took 5 minutes and 2 croissants to follow your instinct about weird pattern. And I figured it out thanks to your hint. I spotted my view at cage 3 which contents 2 of 3 line numbers. Then theese numbers cannot repeat there, and that was the key to the pattern. If one is blue and second is red and central square is one of them then I can follow painting because I always get 2 of 3 numbers facing one square. And I got contradiction every time plus the case of central cage was third - yellow. I could never done this before I saw your videos. Thank you.
Who knew that Sudoku could be so exciting that you find yourself on a Saturday afternoon, fighting a mythical floating swordfish to save the puzzle. Absolutely brilliant!
26m28s for me. I did it with some colouring and very short logic chains that proved that 1s, 4s, or 7s had to go into certain squares regardless of what colour a given square was. I think it's really interesting how quickly it breaks apart if you figure out that r6c4 cannot be a 1, 4 or 7. A fast way to get there (if you get the idea which I didn't) is to think about whether it is possible that there _isn't_ a 1, a 4, and a 7 looking at that square, i.e. if there are two identical pairs such as two 4s and two 7s at the outer edge seeing r6c4. Turns out that's easy to verify is impossible and then you write a 2 in r6c4 and the puzzle breaks apart immediately.
I loved Simon's solve of this puzzle so much I made a video on my channel where I analyze each step of this solve. In addition to explaining the strategies used, I add a couple of pause the video moments and some alternate solving paths, similar to how someone analyzes a chess game.
Well, I can't deny that I was extremely proud to have solved this in 8:47. The (almost) 1-4-7 swordfish that emerges if r6c4 is not a 2 is just beautiful.
Similarly, I noticed the 147 sets along the borders and how r6c4 appeared to be significant. Evaluating some of the logical chains (e.g. if r6c4=1 then box 3 is a problem, etc) started narrowing down the options beautifully.
Wow, it took me 15 minutes. I solved this thanks to 1457 combination in the middle (Im not that good with terms, but it was 6th horisontal line). After that it was pure joy )))
12:50 -- A 5 can be placed in one of the columns. More useful: I used a certain 14 pair in a corner to show that a certain 1247 site has to be a 2. I think that cracks the puzzle. I don't know how to find it without testing either possibility. 13:25 -- "I think there is something going on with 1s, 4s, and 7s." And it affects the one 2 in your series of blue boxes. 13:50 -- He's zeroing in on it -- making it orange, not blue. 15:10 -- "That square cannot allow those floating swordfishes to happen." Yes, he finally concludes it's a 2. If it were otherwise, swordfish with 1, 4, and 7 would empty a certain 147 cell of digits.
I love Cracking The Cryptic, and you guys have helped me get so much better at Sudoku, and you are so brilliant. Normally there are things you spot and I am just like ".-. how" but I am going to be honest, today I was shouting at my screen like "THATS A 2 8 PAIR, THAT IS A SIX, OH LORDY" hahaha, keep doing awesome though, no hate intended at all.
Great to find a classic sudoku break-in, thought this one was very neat and well explained by Simon as to how it actually works. As for a possible name, how about a ‘sword-myth’? Thanks Shye and Simon.
Listening to you describe the beauty of a puzzle and all of the things that make it unique must be poetry spoken to the soul of its creator. Well done and well spoken
Got this in 11:48. I basically input the 147 around the perimeter and tested two cases on whether a 1 was in the bottom left corner of box 4 or box 5. The box 5 case led to an inconsistency in column 9, so I was able to fill in the 147 ring, then the rest was normal sudoku.
Your solve was definitely the "solve as intended" and far more elegant than mine! I hit the point with the highlighted squares that you did and started thinking about how constrained the colored squares are (i.e. given current info, how many possible arrangements are there). Noticed that if (4,9) is a 7 it fixes the values of the entire outer ring, but such that 1 is not placeable in box 5. So got (4,9) as a 1 from that. The only other technique that is then needed is some X-wing logic between (1,4), (1,1), (4,4) and (4,1) that then places (4,4) as a 2. Your solve was more interesting though!
Another way to show that the orange square must be a two is that no matter what, the orange square always is seen by a 1, 4, and 7 since 1 4 and 7 must fit into the four squares above, below, left, and right of it on the perimeter. It turns out that you can’t have two pairs of the same number in those four boxes described above. That’s the way I saw it!
Idk if there was some clever swordfish trick or something with the 1-4-7 patterns but I just deduced that r5c couldn't be a 1 or a 7 because it broke to edge rows/columns, and it fell apart quickly from there. Took me half an hour.
16:00 - for some reason this just jumped right out at me. I saw the issue with the 2 in box 5 and then just tested to see what happened if it wasn’t a 2. The outer cells broke very quickly.
wow. 18:00 - I totally understood and followed that logic, but I don't know if I ever would have discovered it myself. That's where I got stuck and had to consult the video.
I don't know if this has been mentioned but in the center left box the 5/7 could be noted as being in the 2 center pieces removing the 7 from the 1/4/7 in the bottom left of that box which gives us the 5 in the top right of the bottom left box and the 7 in the top left of the top right box. With that information we have enough to solve the puzzle normally without overthinking this and relying on the swordfish
16:13 for me. I found some logic that felt a little bit like bifurcation but elegant bifurcation at least. I don’t think that was the intended break-in for the puzzle though, so I’ll have to watch the video to know what I missed. Edit: So I was sure that r6c4 had to be the key to the puzzle, but I needed a little bit of ‘if.. then…’ to get to that logic Simon immediately saw. What a great puzzle that was, as it is always with shye.
I have not watched the video yet, but i am so impressed at how shye basically baited me to find the trick with that top row that was craving to be filled with 147 to complete the progression, and to fill the grid so much that the empty cells basically shout for the fakeout of the double swordfish! Now I just wonder how Simon will name this trick in his solve!
8:44, but honestly I just figured the 147 around the grid had an effect somewhere and since the possible 1247 in r6c4 looked suspicious, I used trial and error to see that only 2 could go there. But visually I couldn't really SEE the logic, I just figured it was probably the way to go and tried for it, after that you didn't really any tricks
I was wondering if I did something wrong because I got 8:42 and actually found it pretty simple! after going through and putting in corner marks and finding a 28 pair, I realized all the outer ring was missing 147, I chose the one in r1c7 (i'll call it green) and look at where it would go in column 4: it eliminates itself by normal sudoku rules from r1c4, there's the 28 pair in box two that rules out r2c4, r3,4,5 are givens, there are enough givens to show that r8 is a 6, and from there because there's on space for green (r1c7) in c1 and c9 in r6 and r9, meaning whatever green is can't go in r6c4 or r9c4, and it goes in r7c4. I hope using all these numbers doesn't make that sound really confusing but i don't know how else to describe it. I used the same method on r3c9 and it cleared everything pretty quick. Great vid!
I came to the same conclusion without using the impossible finned swordfish logic. I noticed that the 1-4 pair in r9c1 always had a partner in box 3 and in EITHER r1c4 or r6c9, and it created a pair of the other 2 digits in row 6 or column 4, so that in either configuration, all three digits were looking at r6c4, forcing it to be a 2.
You made the logic so complicated. Just do this: In the small square, made of r6c1, r6c4, r9c1 and r9c4, one of the digits 147 has to repeat. that forces the repeated digit into r1c7 on row one and into r3c9 in column 9. We get the same digit in box3 twice, therefor r6c4 cannot be any of the 147.
@@rabidsamfan when you have to explain your logic in words it takes a lot more of them than you think. Simon and Mark would solve much faster if they didnt have to speak their thought processes out loud. I could have written: small square crates same pair in peripheries and that puts the 3rd digit twice in box3, but that would not be as easy to understand for everyone.
@LednacekZ I agree. Technically what Simon was using as a swordfish was not actually a swordfish. There were blank spaces in column 4 which could have been any of those candidates and therefore violated the swordfish. I'm not sure why no one else is pointing this out in the comments, but it was never an allowable swordfish. I believe that your logic has properly pinpointed r6c4 as the key to the puzzle, but not because it is part of a swordfish.
Another way to think about the breakthrough is a “+”. The middle digit being 1/4/7 forces the N/S/E/W digits (i.e. the other ones in the line/column of it) to be the other two digits. This immediately breaks all other squares around the edges forcing a 2.
8:12 and what a weird experience it was to "beat" Simon for the first time ever. I started by using SET: I noodled the Phistomefel ring and the related corner squares and looked at nines first. Bingo. I couldn't believe the first number I checked basically cracked the whole puzzle . I would have not had any change to figure out the intended swordfish technique, but still feels nice to have completed the puzzle extremely fast compared to my usual experience of trying for hours and quite often giving up :D
I also beat this in about 8 minutes without seeing this swordfish trick. In fact it felt like a totally normal sudoku to me - which makes me wonder if I made a faulty leap of logic at some point and just happened to get lucky.
15:22. Only why? I would have expected myself to be much, much slower. I bifurcated only a single cell - and everything came together nicely. Now watching the video to learn the logic of that cell ... Thank you very much! I am very intrigued by classic sudokus with many givens that need severe logic! Spoiler ahead: There is a sort of circular triple going around the whole sudoku. And I bifurcated r8c2 of the deciding pair to break the triple. I don't know why that worked though. Edit: My preferences as regards scanning helped a lot. If I have that many givens I don't bother with regular scanning. I go to rows and columns and boxes with the most given digits and goodliffe the missing in in the hope of finding pairs, triples and quadruples. So the circular surround triple was actually literally the first thing I found. Than I narrowed down box 7 to a pair of that triple, bifurcated one cell and voilà. - Very happy to have learned the logic now! My focus on box 7 was entirely off. Next time ...🤗
Brutally clever! I propose we call the structure in this puzzle a False Swordfish. As for me, I'm still learning advanced sudoku techniques and I can spot x-wings and regular swordfish, but not y-wings or the false swordfish in this puzzle. I tried solving this one myself and had to finally refer to the video to see what the trick was. My final time was around 75 minutes.
17:24 for me @ 5:05 now 5 in box 4 can only go into column 2, so in box 5 can only go to r7c3, and you got another digit. Also, there were 28 pair in box 2 and 59 pair in box 6.
I managed to find the secret as soon as you highlighted the perimeter but failed to understand the technique fully. I immediately said that box couldn't be a 147 but didn't know why. I had to simulate it by hand to prove it was impossible so I don't fully understand the technique. Can you make a video about common sudoku techniques?
Once you figure out that r6c4 is a "2", the puzzle just breaks down completely. Obviously, I did look at those "147s" (I love the snooker reference, btw) but, ultimately, I couldn't spot the trick; instead, I had to rely on a string of chains to get to the same conclusion... in twice the time😅. I find chains a little bit unfair (too similar to bifurcation, imho) but, hey, I'm an amateur so I'm allowed. Oh, one last thing: I'm sure everybody watching noticed that the "5" in r7c3 was there since the beginning and Simon didn't spot it, so that's a win for me/us 😁
I solved this in 16.5mins basically just marking all of the candidates which were confined to 2 cells per unit as usual, and then using the Phistomefel Ring to disambiguate some of the pairs :) First CTC puzzle I've ever attempted
For me, I'm not a pro sudoku solver, but I do watch your videos, so I used an old trick I learned. There's a long chain of events that you can start from the 1/4 in the bottom left square, because each solution keeps giving new stuff... but both forced the 8 in the bottom-middle 3x3 to the top left spot. Once that happened, I kept a color code of what squares became 1's and 4's from my tests, and once a single digit ended up in a spot where the 1 was supposed to go, the bottom left square had no choice but to be 4, so all 4 squares became 4's and the entire puzzle solved itself.
I didn't understand the swordfish in the same way as Simon but I was able to work out that r6c4 could not be any of those three digits by using some coloring. I'm glad I watched his explanation afterward! Great puzzle and great video.
As someone who just casually does this, this puzzle made me realize i need to learn some of those techniques. I got to a spot where I couldn't make any more progress. Came back over here to watch how you did it, then once i saw you force that 2, i solved mine in 5 minutes.. after looking at mine for 2 hours prior.
Simon: I'm sure you're all annoyed with how slow I am
Me: The hell's a swordfish
Is this your first Sudoku?
@@EmilWestrum I don't do Sudoku, I'm not big brain enough, but I've watched a couple of videos of Simon doing them. I think it's entertaining but I don't get the terminology or how they work at all 😅
@@waffleweirdo1252 Sorry, I didnt mean to sound condecending. I can appreciate you being new to Sudoku, I mean we all where at some point. Its just that swordfish is a very "famous" tactic. I suggest you read up on it, and x-wing (which is a simpler swordfish). It gives great insight into different sudoku solving techniques :)
It's a type of fish with a long and pointy bill resembling a sword.
@@THEPELADOMASTER Ah, I get it now! Thank you, oh wise one
"apologies of you've spotted it and are screaming at your screens" oh trust me, I haven't spotted it
Never have. 😂
There should be a 5 on the top right corner of cage 7 damnit.
Simon is always like, "I'm sorry I'm so slow... You have probably already spotted it", at the point where I'm still like: "Hmm, this looks like a sudoku..."
@@SmLoveBites Simon really underestimates himself. He actually thinks other people would spot things he doesnt or takes a while for, when in reality he is absolutly built different and much better than at least 99% of the viewers.
@@Jaddas In more recent videos it's usually been when he's using weird or different rules and he misses the basic sudoku that I'm yelling. What's hilarious is when he misses basic things and then uses some other logic to find the same answer he could have gotten earlier. :P
"Patto patto" is Japanese onomatopoeia for "suddenly; in a flash". If that's what's intended, it's maybe alluding to the fact that once the trick is found, the puzzle completes rapidly.
How is that onomatopoeia?
@@TheFreeBro Japanese is a bit more loose with their onomatopoeia, but the "tto" is like "with a" so my guess is something along the lines of "with a 'pa!' (disappearing in a puff of smoke)". And then there's the repetition for emphasis. Someone smarter than me will hopefully come along and correct me here!
@@MisterM2402 I can't say for absolutely certain but by my instincts you would either say "patto" or "ぱっと" just once or for the repetition side "papatto" or "ぱぱっと", though they are different in meaning. The first is "suddenly" and the latter is more "quickly" as in "filled the sudoku quickly", which I do think fits the essence of that sudoku. A dictionary definition of "ぱぱっと" might be "手早く簡単に" which translates to "quick and easy".
Addition: I think that, if the name really is "patto patto" and it references the idea of suddenly, it could be a reference to both the sudden realization of the hinging point of the solution and the suddenly finished sudoku after that.
@@mrwalter1049 I'm still a noob at Japanese so you could well be right. I was thinking of it in comparison to words like ドキドキ or もっともっと or わくわく but it's possibly not the same thing and I'm talking nonsense. It might just be a nice little coincidence and the setter meant something else entirely!
@@TheFreeBro japanese has more types of onomatopoeia than just things like "boom!" or "knock knock", it also has onomatopoeia for things like weather, food, emotions, physical feelings, textures, appearance, etc.
I love how large the "Normal sudoku rules apply." is.
Also amazing puzzle, bravo to shye and Simon!
Normal reading rules apply.
At this rate, we're going to have a brutally difficult sudoku with only one missing digit
You are thinking of a Sun sodoku
1 2 3
4 .. 6
7 8 9
Hint: count the fingers on one hand and subtract one if you are from Norfolk.
The puzzle is already solved and the video is still an hour somehow
The puzzle is solved, but he has to draw a Witness line through the grid
EDIT: This has been done now
@@columbus8myhw that's... Actually not a bad premise.
@@HonkeyKongLive Combining Sudoku and The Witness puzzles? That could be great!
Sudoku clickbait in 2020: "A sudoku with only 4 given digits?!"
Sudoku clickbait in 2021: "A sudoku with 36 given digits?!"
Oh, how far this community has progressed. What a strange world!
Sadly, 2022's contribution: "A sudoku with only 324 given digits?!" might struggle.
@@Xexxis
Does that one use D’ni numerals or something? Because 324 givens seems reasonable for a 25x25 grid.
@@ragnkja I'm afraid I'm not that clever, friend. I just multiplied 36 x 9 :D
That said, 324 givens on a 25x25 equates to about half the cells I think, which for a grid that size probably is reasonable. I wonder what the largest ever suduko grid is?
@@Xexxis
Oh, a 9x9x9 3D grid? Sounds fun for some and headache-inducing for others.
@nitro how about a sudo with 80 given digits - but an unknown number of them are incorrect? :)
should be called the shyfish, as it hides out of sight.
Or spell it Shyefish.
Or a Shy Swordfish
You are legally required to hear Simon say, 'Lets get cracking' before clicking on the link in the description to play.
There was a far easier second digit that could have been gotten much earlier in the puzzle. @5:19 right after the 29 pair was found in box 4, the 5's in that box were forced into column 2 providing a 5 in r7c3. Of course, that 5 is about as useless as the 6 in box 8, but it's still there.
I saw that too. It is odd how fixated I become in that case.
@@randybartlett3042 I know what you mean. I loaded up the board to that point after posting this and neither the 5 or the 6 did squat. Without that 2 he got, I couldn’t find anything that did anything.
I found the 6, then the 5, then spent some hours on it... then watched the amazing solution.
Finally added in at 21:40 !
That's all I was able to do in this puzzle. Filled in every candidate and stared. Even after his explanation I don't get it.
16:10 I know Simon has to use time to explain his line of thinking but knowing I got a time faster than him made me happy today.
Haha same here xD
Yeah, he'd crush us all if he was getting on with it.
Solved in 20:28, first time I've even gotten close to matching Simon's time, proud of that one!!
Same! Took me 6 minutes longer than Simon, but I've never come so close. Congrats!
I feel both proud and disappointed....... 11:29 for me to solve it.
Edit: Ok. Watching the video now. And I didn't do ANY of this 147 logic here. I'm now prouder for finding my own way, but am even more disappointed for missing that.
@@slavthesage5661 what was your way?
@@jackw7714 Honestly nothing fancy. Basic sudoku. Penciled in all options that appeared twice, entered singles, and kept repeating. If I did get held up, I don't remember what I did to get unstuck, but it had nothing to do with 147.
It took me 3 seconds! ok, I gotta remember to turn the timer back on after answering the door....
Shye likes to telegraph which digits are significant with her labelling, and 147 is a set of options that she _knows_ Simon would comment on.
i was morphing the puzzle and got r1 to have the gaps in c147 and went "ooh 147 snooker max simon would like that" 😆
Congrats on 147 likes
How clever do you have to be to invent a sudoku technique? Phistomefel did it once or twice, but shye has now done it at least twice and on track for more
check out my puzzle takabisha for a third ;)
@@shye229 unfortunately it's almost certainly above my level, but thank you for the recommendation!
Btw, no one is talking about the bonus puzzle provided in the description, but it definitely deserves some love as well. I gave it a try thinking it would be an easy solve and it took me 39 minutes to get to the end. What an awesome combination of puzzles, I encourage everyone to also give it a go.
Yes it was "a" very fun puzzel(s)
I gave up after 2 hours
I have problem figuring out the rules)
Thank you! I'm always happy to see classic Sudoku puzzles on this channel. Classics are what brought me here initially, and they are pretty much the only puzzles that bring me back here, because they don't require me to do math inside my head and can be completed fairly quickly.
Something I've always liked about genuinely smart people is that they make _you_ feel smart
Ok, this one I did completely different than Simon. I do now about Swordfish, but I think it doesn't need it. I did all the sudoku I could, ended with 6 at box 8, 5 at box 7 and 1,4 pair, 2,8 pair in box 2 and 2,9 pair in box 4. Then i did the 1,4,6 around the edges. I colored them on the top row - red in the box 1 (1,4,7), yellow in box 2 (1,7) and green in box 3 (1,4,7) and red/yellow the first 1,4,7 down in the 9th column. Then went down with the first column - 1,4,7 in box 4 is now yellow/green and 1,4 in box 7 is also either yellow/green, since it sees the red. Now, because box 7 has 1,4 pair (7 is given), that means the other 1,4 is also now yellow/green, making the one in box 4 into 1,4 options as well and making red now 7. This makes yellow now 1, since we have 1,7 in box 2 and green is 4. After that it was just basic sudoku.
Names:
- Catfish (because it cons you into thinking it's a fish)
- De-billed swordfish
- Chopped fish
- Grilled swordfish
👍🏻 for "catfish"
Catfish is the best suggestion, it's perfect. You know just what you're (not) getting.
Shyefish ;-) (because it hides and because the setter's name is Shye)
I eventually cracked it after an embarrassing amount of time, because I missed an obvious starter. Because of that I was going round and round in circles and the puzzle looked unsolvable. A great puzzle!
_You_ were embarrassed. It took me over 3 hours. My problem is I have an aversion to filling in 3 or more potential digits in a single cell. While watching this video I realized that was a mistake. But at least I finally solved it despite myself.
“Mythical Swordfish” is so intriguing. Tough puzzle considering 36 given digits. Neat break-in design, Shye.
15:51 ... I felt rather brilliant finding the key 'break-in' to solve this, but then felt rather foolish as my poor scanning took me far too long to finish the puzzle from there. Still, I'm happy I figured this one out.
Fun puzzle!
Rules: 02:22
Let's get cracking: 02:32
And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Sorry: 4 (04:00, 08:17, 13:20, 16:38)
The Answer is: 3 (16:25, 16:59, 17:23)
Shouting: 2 (10:44, 20:07)
Bobbins: 1 (05:30)
Good Grief: 1 (22:28)
Apologies: 1 (10:42)
Naked Single: 1 (21:03)
Secret: 1 (22:45)
Clever: 1 (19:38)
Beautiful: 1 (20:13)
Brilliant: 1 (23:06)
Incredible: 1 (01:42)
Extraordinary: 1 (01:18)
Inarticulate: 1 (13:17)
Oh It Can!: 1 (03:53)
FAQ:
Q1: What is a Simarkism?
A1: A Simarkism is something that Simon and Mark typically or frequently say.
Q2: How do you do this so fast?
A2: I'm not made of flesh and blood, but of sand ...
Q3: Why don't you include 'XX' and 'YY'?
A3: Probably it's already on the list, but not mentioned in this video. But if you think it's not, tell me what you'd like me to include and there's a good chance I'll add it!
Q4: You missed 'XX' at 'YY:ZZ'!
A4: That could very well be the case! Human speech is hard to understand for computers like me, especially British sometimes! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn!
You are a machiene
this was soo fast
Good bot.
I feel like you should add a lot of “fish” just for this
@@jacksonvance7219 correct
Before watching Simon's solve: I don't know if it was the intended break in, but R6C4, sitting in the centre of a 147 cross, could be none of 1, 4, or 7, because of the impact of seeing R1C4 and R6C9, and their knock-on effect around the perimeter. Forcing it to be 2 blows open the puzzle.
After watching the video, I'm thinking that my spotting of the effect of the 147 in R6C4 was probably just another way of seeing the effect of the finned swordfish, without actually getting out any fishing tackle. I was aware of something close to a swordfish lurking, but was looking for y-wings when I spotted that if R6C4 contained any of 147, it behaved like the centre of a virtual 3-way y-wing with R1C4 and R6C9. On examination, whichever of 1, 4, or 7 was tried in R6C4 fixed either R1C4 or R6C9, which in turn fixed the cell at the opposite end of the row/column, and was therefore very powerful. Unlike a normal y-wing, which allows one to eliminate candidates, in this case, whichever of 147 is placed in the elbow breaks the puzzle. This meant that R6C4 had to be 2, and the rest fell apart.
I've never seen anything like this before, and I'm surprised to have spotted it, because I'm normally hopeless at spotting y-wings.
Very clever from Shye. I've no idea how she keeps coming up with these new twists, but it's a remarkable skill. I just hope she continues to use her powers for good.
I found the 2 this same way!
I'm not familiar with a lot of the terminology nor what a swordfish is (and I'll look it up shortly because it sounds fascinating) but this was my approach too. When I did my pencil markings I felt like R6C4 was crucial, and concluded it could only be 2. The way the numbers flowed out after that was beautiful - felt like I had solved a puzzle box and it opened up to show the inside. Very nice.
What does r6c4 mean I like watching theese videos just to feel dumb for some Reason I have no clue what anything means I only know basic sudoku rules not the special sudoku language
@@maiballs It's just shorthand notation for a specific cell. r1c1 is the cell in the top-left corner of the grid, and r9c9 is the bottom-right corner. In this case, it just means row 6, column 4. You might also see something like r6c7/8 meaning row 6, columns 7 & 8, or r6-8c7 meaning rows 6, 7, & 8 in column 7. You'll sometimes see something like "b7" meaning box 7 too. The boxes are numbered left to right, top to bottom (the same layout as the numbers on the keypad in the app).
@@Raven-Creations
I actually figured it out while watching the video I tried focusing on the little words so I could find out what the r and the c stands for and now I know r is the row number they are talking about and c is the column number
Loved the puzzle. Would have guessed at it 2 years ago... But today, having wAtched Simon struggle all these years I figured it out in 21:35 such a great joy
this was the first sudoku i've played and it took me 80 minutes using the link in your description. i am both amazed at how much harder it is than you make it look, as well as how much fun i had trying to solve it myself. now to enjoy your video. thank you for the content!
I'm proud that I found the trick, though I needed some moral support and a lot of time. I had recognized the almost-swordfish pattern quite quickly but didn't immediately know what to do with it. I returned the next day and watched the video until I saw Simon focus on the same pattern. Then I paused the video again and found the trick.
I'm actually allergic to fish so I'm celebrating every anti-fish strategy in Sudoku!
A very nice puzzle! Thanks for sharing. There's a simpler way to see the not-quite-swordfish, in case you're interested. If r6c4 is 1, 4 or 7 then there must be at least one duplicate digit in the four bottom left squares of the fish (r6c1, r6c4, r9c1 and r9c4) since there are four squares and only three digits to go in them. One of the duplicates goes column 1 and the other in column 4 which forces that digit into r1c7 to satisfy row 1. Similarly, one goes in row 6 and the other in row 9 which forces it into r3c9 to satisfy column 9. That breaks box 3. Therefore r6c4 is not 1, 4 or 7 so it must be 2.
Shye and Simon, a genius setter and a genius solver. Another great video on CtC.
This puzzle reminds me of some of the lovely Japanese sudokus from the 90s, very nice Shye! Thank you for the solve, Simon.
It should be called the “Shyefish”, because “trio of finned swordfish that you have to avoid in order to not break the puzzle” is a mouthful.
I love the narrative that arose here. Shye almost created a Lovecraftian story, where the solver must prevent the awakening of the Mythical Finned Swordfish that will destroy the world. But, ya know, as a sudoku.
I got another break in :
If you color the 2 cases of the almost swordfish in box 3, you instantly get 2 x-wings of these colors on the rest of the swordfish. Using this and the pairs in boxes 2, 4 and 6, and the 6 in box 8, we can restrict these two colors in colomn 4 and row 5. This allows us to get a 5 in box 4 and 8 in box 8.
I got it before video-Simon this time! feels good :D
I resolved the bottom left 1-4 as a chain and found the 2 in the center box, which then resolved the whole thing.
There's a more elegant way to see the trick, once we've noticed the important squares:
What happens if the orange square is not a 2? A pattern emerges in the highlighted squares.
Consider the highlighted squares in c1 and c4. What digits populate those squares? Two sets of the digits 1, 4, and 7.
Now consider the highlighted squares in r6 and r9. What digits populate those squares? Two sets of the digits 1, 4, and 7.
Here's the step that Simon loves to explain, we now remove identical digits from the two equivalent sets (the bottom left four cells).
This tells us that the same two digits in r1c1,4 are also in r6,9c9, and standard row/column logic tells us that the highlighted squares in box 3 are also identical, which breaks the puzzle!
STINGRAY!
This is essentially an inverted finned swordfish. I vote it should be called a stingray due to 1 the violent end is inverted , 2 stingrays are kind of circular which this pattern creates and, 3 stingrays are pretty much all fin.
My time: 49:31 (no hints). Nice but some tedious case by case coloring and it went well..
Solution notes:
----
I found the boundary 147 cells. Then case colour by the left hand side, what if the r1c1 is a 1, what if the second alt is a 1, what if the third. Then you can eliminate ones in c4 and you have cracked the puzzle open.
I'm watching the video now - I don't understand why Simon is allowed to apply the Swordfish logic when there are many more 7 candiates in c4 than he's selected. He is always right, but I just don't understand.
It basically blocks a swordfish. So, “shieldfish”? :-D
Ooo I like it!
A sword is like scissors, and rock beats scissors. Rockfish?
@@weisfelder a sword is half of a scissor so it'd be halfrockfish
pokemon vibes
Immediately saw the 147s around the perimeter... then stopped to ponder, and ponder, and ponder, and cuss, and ponder.
20 minutes later, after pencil marking the rest of the puzzle, I pondered more, and more.
Gave up.
Watched Simon.
Even after watching, I know I would never have figured it out.
Good job, Simon!
Great puzzle, Shye!
55:33, the first CTC puzzle I've ever done and no idea actually how, but it worked! Now to find out what I was supposed to be thinking other than 'I don't know why, but that is definitely a 7' which just gave me the whole thing (I think it was a 7). I highlighted all the (these three digits)-only squares after half an hour of getting nowhere (I found two digits and some triples and pairs) and somehow staring at that for a while let me see what a number a cell was and the rest was just filling in...
So yes, first time solver! Love this channel even if logic is not my strong suit. I mean I'm not sure if it even counts as a solve but I didn't give up in despair so yay?
Stunning puzzle, it’d be hard naming this technique. Since we’re trying to prove there isn’t a swordfish, I like the name Malevolent Revolving Swordfish. Idk, but still a well crafted puzzle that highlights the new technique and a great solve of it
It's like a swordfish hiding. One could call it a shy swordfish. Which also gives credit to it's creator.
@@chaosredefined3834 ooooh I love that
@@chaosredefined3834 That's definitely what it should be called!
13:00 with some downtime in it. This is one of those rare times where I immediately went to coloring and succeeded with the r6c4 break-in.
Been watchning for 18 months and this is the first time I've finished before Simon, though I wasn't trying to explain aloud my logic - regardless, this is a huge personal milestone for me, I'm finally getting to grips with sudoku!!! - great video!
i literally have no idea how to play sudoku and yet i love your videos
I'm new to this channel and love Sudoku puzzles, but I'm clearly a novice because as soon as he said "...there are hundreds of cells in this puzzle...." I straight away realised that I must be doing it wrong.....great channel!
I love it when Simon mentions the term "snooker maximum" in a sudoku. I've used that all the time in my own solving - 147 is a lovely number
16:43 but not as logical as Simon. Well solved Simon, I enjoy your patient and focused approach to finding the true path. Thanks to Shye as well for another original puzzle.
Solved in 6:27 with only the most basic of techniques. I did all the basic pencil marking (including the 2/8 pair in box 2 Simon missed (it helps)) and then I filled in all possible places 1/4/7 could go. A little clean-up and you find a 5/7 pair in box 4 which then reduces the 1/4/7 in box 4 to a 1/4 pair. A little more basic elimination and you get a 4 in r6c9 which begins to unwind all the 1/4/7s in the rest of the puzzle.
He explains the "swordfish" and "finned swordfish" for a good few minutes, but that logic just went over my head... I just saw that if its a 4, the other box can't be a 4 because of sudoku logic (in the same 3x3 box)
10:50 for me. Though I after getting a few digits and getting over a dozen 147 or some subset thereof, I did do the whole "what if this was a 4, would that break anything?" and it turned out to be the right number and solve the whole thing.
I did the same thing with the 1/4 in the corner, but unfortunately chose 1 instead of 4 first and it took a while to break. I saw the 2, but my logic brain wasn't confident that the puzzle would break, so I went for the 50/50 shot instead.
At 16:02 the explanation of the "finned" swordfish could be a bit easier to understand if you do it the other way around - any digit X (out of 1-4-7) placed in R3C9 will force an x-wing in R6C1-R6C4-R9C1-R9C4 (the lower left 2x2 part of the "fish"), therefore that digit X cannot appear in first two cells of the fish (R1C1, R1C4) and then X is forced into R1C7 resulting in two cells in box 3 being X.
A slightly alternative break-in (and a fun coloring exercise), which in some way just proves the swordfish logic, is to use set theory on rows 1, 6, 9 vs. columns 1, 4, 9. After eliminating the overlaps and matching givens, you are left with 5 cells of each color. The cells R2C4 and R6C3 from each set will be the only place where 2 would go if it's in the sets. It's easy to show that if 2 is in those cells, the cells R1C7 and R3C9 (the fins of the fish) will have to be the same because they are the only cells left from each set after others cells will match. That immediately leads to R2C4 and R6C3 to be 8 and 9 respectively and 2 getting into R6C4 as in Simon's break-in.
It's always so exciting when Simon goes quiet because you know the gears are whizzing in his head and something epic's about to go down
Did it in 9:11. Probably my first sub ten-minute time from a puzzle played on this channel in...ever? lmao
Once I realized the suspicious pattern of 1s, 4s, and 7s around the outer ring of the grid and looking for contradictions, things fell into place very quickly. Awesome puzzle!
I don't know what my time was as I paused the timer and like to have it hidden, but this is the first puzzle featured on the channel that I've managed to solve. It honestly doesn't feel like I took that long, and I did it without noticing the trick.
At minute 15 I paused the video and thought about that cental square. It took 5 minutes and 2 croissants to follow your instinct about weird pattern. And I figured it out thanks to your hint.
I spotted my view at cage 3 which contents 2 of 3 line numbers. Then theese numbers cannot repeat there, and that was the key to the pattern. If one is blue and second is red and central square is one of them then I can follow painting because I always get 2 of 3 numbers facing one square. And I got contradiction every time plus the case of central cage was third - yellow. I could never done this before I saw your videos. Thank you.
Who knew that Sudoku could be so exciting that you find yourself on a Saturday afternoon, fighting a mythical floating swordfish to save the puzzle. Absolutely brilliant!
26m28s for me. I did it with some colouring and very short logic chains that proved that 1s, 4s, or 7s had to go into certain squares regardless of what colour a given square was.
I think it's really interesting how quickly it breaks apart if you figure out that r6c4 cannot be a 1, 4 or 7. A fast way to get there (if you get the idea which I didn't) is to think about whether it is possible that there _isn't_ a 1, a 4, and a 7 looking at that square, i.e. if there are two identical pairs such as two 4s and two 7s at the outer edge seeing r6c4. Turns out that's easy to verify is impossible and then you write a 2 in r6c4 and the puzzle breaks apart immediately.
I loved Simon's solve of this puzzle so much I made a video on my channel where I
analyze each step of this solve. In addition to explaining the
strategies used, I add a couple of pause the video moments and some
alternate solving paths, similar to how someone analyzes a chess game.
7:37 for me
the ones in box 3 can only be placed in column 7 which indicates that one in box 9 can only be placed in r9c9
Wow that was awesome 15:21 and that included me seeing a mistake half way through. Grinning like a cheshire cat. Thankyou
Given that Shye is one of the best constructors, another beautiful puzzle
I love how it takes 20:35 Minutes before something happens and then its just over
Well, I can't deny that I was extremely proud to have solved this in 8:47. The (almost) 1-4-7 swordfish that emerges if r6c4 is not a 2 is just beautiful.
Similarly, I noticed the 147 sets along the borders and how r6c4 appeared to be significant. Evaluating some of the logical chains (e.g. if r6c4=1 then box 3 is a problem, etc) started narrowing down the options beautifully.
Wow, it took me 15 minutes. I solved this thanks to 1457 combination in the middle (Im not that good with terms, but it was 6th horisontal line). After that it was pure joy )))
12:50 -- A 5 can be placed in one of the columns. More useful: I used a certain 14 pair in a corner to show that a certain 1247 site has to be a 2. I think that cracks the puzzle. I don't know how to find it without testing either possibility.
13:25 -- "I think there is something going on with 1s, 4s, and 7s." And it affects the one 2 in your series of blue boxes.
13:50 -- He's zeroing in on it -- making it orange, not blue.
15:10 -- "That square cannot allow those floating swordfishes to happen." Yes, he finally concludes it's a 2. If it were otherwise, swordfish with 1, 4, and 7 would empty a certain 147 cell of digits.
I love Cracking The Cryptic, and you guys have helped me get so much better at Sudoku, and you are so brilliant. Normally there are things you spot and I am just like ".-. how" but I am going to be honest, today I was shouting at my screen like "THATS A 2 8 PAIR, THAT IS A SIX, OH LORDY" hahaha, keep doing awesome though, no hate intended at all.
Solved in 31:55. I used some forcing chains to solve this. I know some consider chaining to be "guessing" but I don't.
15:40 what a swordfish is
19:25 finds the 2nd digit
Great to find a classic sudoku break-in, thought this one was very neat and well explained by Simon as to how it actually works. As for a possible name, how about a ‘sword-myth’? Thanks Shye and Simon.
Either that, or a Shyefish
When Simon said "Friday", I was like: Oh. Did I just miss a day of work?!?! LOL
Using three colors made this puzzle go fairly straightforward for me in helping break down the middle box and determine r6c4 couldn't be a 147
that's exactly how I did it too, seemed simpler
Listening to you describe the beauty of a puzzle and all of the things that make it unique must be poetry spoken to the soul of its creator. Well done and well spoken
Got this in 11:48. I basically input the 147 around the perimeter and tested two cases on whether a 1 was in the bottom left corner of box 4 or box 5. The box 5 case led to an inconsistency in column 9, so I was able to fill in the 147 ring, then the rest was normal sudoku.
wow, that was a really fun one! a year ago would never have thought to look for this kind of trick, and now it almost comes naturally
Your solve was definitely the "solve as intended" and far more elegant than mine! I hit the point with the highlighted squares that you did and started thinking about how constrained the colored squares are (i.e. given current info, how many possible arrangements are there). Noticed that if (4,9) is a 7 it fixes the values of the entire outer ring, but such that 1 is not placeable in box 5. So got (4,9) as a 1 from that. The only other technique that is then needed is some X-wing logic between (1,4), (1,1), (4,4) and (4,1) that then places (4,4) as a 2.
Your solve was more interesting though!
Another way to show that the orange square must be a two is that no matter what, the orange square always is seen by a 1, 4, and 7 since 1 4 and 7 must fit into the four squares above, below, left, and right of it on the perimeter. It turns out that you can’t have two pairs of the same number in those four boxes described above. That’s the way I saw it!
Idk if there was some clever swordfish trick or something with the 1-4-7 patterns but I just deduced that r5c couldn't be a 1 or a 7 because it broke to edge rows/columns, and it fell apart quickly from there. Took me half an hour.
did it in 13:16!! loved the pattern with 147, my first solve from the channel faster than simon :)
16:00 - for some reason this just jumped right out at me. I saw the issue with the 2 in box 5 and then just tested to see what happened if it wasn’t a 2. The outer cells broke very quickly.
wow. 18:00 - I totally understood and followed that logic, but I don't know if I ever would have discovered it myself. That's where I got stuck and had to consult the video.
I don't know if this has been mentioned but in the center left box the 5/7 could be noted as being in the 2 center pieces removing the 7 from the 1/4/7 in the bottom left of that box which gives us the 5 in the top right of the bottom left box and the 7 in the top left of the top right box. With that information we have enough to solve the puzzle normally without overthinking this and relying on the swordfish
I'm so confused how nobody else saw this
16:13 for me. I found some logic that felt a little bit like bifurcation but elegant bifurcation at least. I don’t think that was the intended break-in for the puzzle though, so I’ll have to watch the video to know what I missed.
Edit: So I was sure that r6c4 had to be the key to the puzzle, but I needed a little bit of ‘if.. then…’ to get to that logic Simon immediately saw. What a great puzzle that was, as it is always with shye.
If Simon had pencil marked the 2s in box five at the start I think he might have gotten there faster. But he was still pretty fast.
Trifurcation for me on ones, fours, and sevens.
At 5:47 you could have placed the 5 in box 7 because of the 2 supporting 5s for box 4 along with 29 paired
I have not watched the video yet, but i am so impressed at how shye basically baited me to find the trick with that top row that was craving to be filled with 147 to complete the progression, and to fill the grid so much that the empty cells basically shout for the fakeout of the double swordfish!
Now I just wonder how Simon will name this trick in his solve!
8:44, but honestly I just figured the 147 around the grid had an effect somewhere and since the possible 1247 in r6c4 looked suspicious, I used trial and error to see that only 2 could go there. But visually I couldn't really SEE the logic, I just figured it was probably the way to go and tried for it, after that you didn't really any tricks
I was wondering if I did something wrong because I got 8:42 and actually found it pretty simple! after going through and putting in corner marks and finding a 28 pair, I realized all the outer ring was missing 147, I chose the one in r1c7 (i'll call it green) and look at where it would go in column 4: it eliminates itself by normal sudoku rules from r1c4, there's the 28 pair in box two that rules out r2c4, r3,4,5 are givens, there are enough givens to show that r8 is a 6, and from there because there's on space for green (r1c7) in c1 and c9 in r6 and r9, meaning whatever green is can't go in r6c4 or r9c4, and it goes in r7c4. I hope using all these numbers doesn't make that sound really confusing but i don't know how else to describe it. I used the same method on r3c9 and it cleared everything pretty quick. Great vid!
I came to the same conclusion without using the impossible finned swordfish logic. I noticed that the 1-4 pair in r9c1 always had a partner in box 3 and in EITHER r1c4 or r6c9, and it created a pair of the other 2 digits in row 6 or column 4, so that in either configuration, all three digits were looking at r6c4, forcing it to be a 2.
This is what I noticed too
Took me a bit, but I found that crucial square and was off. Lots of fun!
You made the logic so complicated. Just do this: In the small square, made of r6c1, r6c4, r9c1 and r9c4, one of the digits 147 has to repeat. that forces the repeated digit into r1c7 on row one and into r3c9 in column 9. We get the same digit in box3 twice, therefor r6c4 cannot be any of the 147.
I didn’t think that in so many words, but I was on that path.
@@rabidsamfan when you have to explain your logic in words it takes a lot more of them than you think. Simon and Mark would solve much faster if they didnt have to speak their thought processes out loud. I could have written:
small square crates same pair in peripheries and that puts the 3rd digit twice in box3, but that would not be as easy to understand for everyone.
Thank you. Nicely explained.
@LednacekZ I agree. Technically what Simon was using as a swordfish was not actually a swordfish. There were blank spaces in column 4 which could have been any of those candidates and therefore violated the swordfish. I'm not sure why no one else is pointing this out in the comments, but it was never an allowable swordfish. I believe that your logic has properly pinpointed r6c4 as the key to the puzzle, but not because it is part of a swordfish.
7:16 and I'm rather proud of myself. Once seeing that r6c4 creating a swordfish breaks box 3 it all fell apart.
Another way to think about the breakthrough is a “+”. The middle digit being 1/4/7 forces the N/S/E/W digits (i.e. the other ones in the line/column of it) to be the other two digits. This immediately breaks all other squares around the edges forcing a 2.
This was insanely satisfying after the break in. Thank you so much for showing it.
8:12 and what a weird experience it was to "beat" Simon for the first time ever. I started by using SET: I noodled the Phistomefel ring and the related corner squares and looked at nines first. Bingo. I couldn't believe the first number I checked basically cracked the whole puzzle . I would have not had any change to figure out the intended swordfish technique, but still feels nice to have completed the puzzle extremely fast compared to my usual experience of trying for hours and quite often giving up :D
I also beat this in about 8 minutes without seeing this swordfish trick. In fact it felt like a totally normal sudoku to me - which makes me wonder if I made a faulty leap of logic at some point and just happened to get lucky.
15:22. Only why? I would have expected myself to be much, much slower. I bifurcated only a single cell - and everything came together nicely. Now watching the video to learn the logic of that cell ...
Thank you very much! I am very intrigued by classic sudokus with many givens that need severe logic!
Spoiler ahead:
There is a sort of circular triple going around the whole sudoku. And I bifurcated r8c2 of the deciding pair to break the triple. I don't know why that worked though.
Edit: My preferences as regards scanning helped a lot. If I have that many givens I don't bother with regular scanning. I go to rows and columns and boxes with the most given digits and goodliffe the missing in in the hope of finding pairs, triples and quadruples. So the circular surround triple was actually literally the first thing I found. Than I narrowed down box 7 to a pair of that triple, bifurcated one cell and voilà. - Very happy to have learned the logic now! My focus on box 7 was entirely off. Next time ...🤗
I think it's a puzzle where once you're in, you're in. If you do any bifurcation it'll go MUCH faster.
@@HonkeyKongLive yes
Brutally clever! I propose we call the structure in this puzzle a False Swordfish. As for me, I'm still learning advanced sudoku techniques and I can spot x-wings and regular swordfish, but not y-wings or the false swordfish in this puzzle. I tried solving this one myself and had to finally refer to the video to see what the trick was. My final time was around 75 minutes.
17:24 for me
@ 5:05 now 5 in box 4 can only go into column 2, so in box 5 can only go to r7c3, and you got another digit. Also, there were 28 pair in box 2 and 59 pair in box 6.
I managed to find the secret as soon as you highlighted the perimeter but failed to understand the technique fully. I immediately said that box couldn't be a 147 but didn't know why. I had to simulate it by hand to prove it was impossible so I don't fully understand the technique. Can you make a video about common sudoku techniques?
Once you figure out that r6c4 is a "2", the puzzle just breaks down completely. Obviously, I did look at those "147s" (I love the snooker reference, btw) but, ultimately, I couldn't spot the trick; instead, I had to rely on a string of chains to get to the same conclusion... in twice the time😅. I find chains a little bit unfair (too similar to bifurcation, imho) but, hey, I'm an amateur so I'm allowed. Oh, one last thing: I'm sure everybody watching noticed that the "5" in r7c3 was there since the beginning and Simon didn't spot it, so that's a win for me/us 😁
Wow that was difficult. Took me 67 minutes but I'm proud of myself!
I solved this in 16.5mins basically just marking all of the candidates which were confined to 2 cells per unit as usual, and then using the Phistomefel Ring to disambiguate some of the pairs :)
First CTC puzzle I've ever attempted
For me, I'm not a pro sudoku solver, but I do watch your videos, so I used an old trick I learned.
There's a long chain of events that you can start from the 1/4 in the bottom left square, because each solution keeps giving new stuff... but both forced the 8 in the bottom-middle 3x3 to the top left spot.
Once that happened, I kept a color code of what squares became 1's and 4's from my tests, and once a single digit ended up in a spot where the 1 was supposed to go, the bottom left square had no choice but to be 4, so all 4 squares became 4's and the entire puzzle solved itself.
I didn't understand the swordfish in the same way as Simon but I was able to work out that r6c4 could not be any of those three digits by using some coloring. I'm glad I watched his explanation afterward! Great puzzle and great video.
As someone who just casually does this, this puzzle made me realize i need to learn some of those techniques. I got to a spot where I couldn't make any more progress. Came back over here to watch how you did it, then once i saw you force that 2, i solved mine in 5 minutes.. after looking at mine for 2 hours prior.