BINGO!! 00:20 Phistomefel 02:18 Normal Sudoku rules apply 04:17 Let's get cracking 04:38 45 05:08 [Simon adjusts his glasses] 10:42 You are joking! 11:40 This is unbelievable 12:16 That is just staggering 14:02 Oh, now, here's something interesting 19:17 Oh bobbins 21:44 Ow my goodness me 24:00 We're now cooking with gas 25:42 Apologies if you guys are spotting what I'm meant to be spotting 27:46 This is interesting, look 29:07 Apologies for the noisy bird 32:36 That is a nice piece of logic! 33:19 Disambiguating 34:16 Good grief! 36:00 THAT's a 2, THAT's a 9, THAT's a 7 36:09 YES! What a puzzle, what a puzzle this is
25:43 "Apologies if you guys are spotting what I'm meant to be spotting", he says, while the mouse cursor is exactly over the 5 in box 6 that would reveal the 5 in box 3, solve the 5-7 pair in boxes 2 and 8, the 7-8 pair in box 7 and reveal the 5 in box 9. As always, great puzzle by Phistomefel and great solve by Simon! Thanks for this!
I was wondering if it is even possible to have an assymmetric puzzle of this kind. Knights' move is restrictive, and also the way the killer boxes have to be given when there are no given digits (either small or big numbers).
The discovery of the geometry leading to the prolongued knight's move (3:1, actually called a "camel" in fairy chess) is one of the most beautiful things I've seen on this chanel.
Watching your progress is always an absolute joy, never once did you getting stuck or taking your time bother me at all. You're human, not a machine, none of us want to watch a robot solve these. You're doing amazing work, much love from Germany!!
#suggestion When you click a cell again, it should de-select. You when you make a mistake like you did at 19:19 (happens to me quite often) And very easy to code it, so it would be a quick, cheap and beneficial update.
Same here, then I blundered on for half an hour, messed it up, restarted and failed after another two hours. Still managed a lot of digits, but it just went wrong. Had missed the knight move Simon sees after 22 minutes, with that it resolved in no time (of course, I had already a lot more notation than Simon at that point)...
Hi Simon and Mark , I hope you can see this comment ! I must say, maybe like some other people watching this channel, I completely found this channel on TH-cam recommandations. At first, I never thought I was going to watch more than a Sudoku video, but then I got interested by another one, then another one, then another one, and finally decided to give Sudokus a shot. I'm amazed by the puzzle possibilities you can have from a 9x9 grid. Before I discovered the channel, I thought Sudoku was repetitive and I rapidly lost interest. Now, not only I see masterpieces made by genius puzzle makers completed by genius puzzle solvers, but I've discovered new ways to play Sudoku. I can't thank you enough for making this channel and for the wonderful content you provide to us. This channel is pure bliss. I hope more people get interested in Sudoku in the near future ! You totally deserve the 232k subscribers. See you later, and let's get cracking !
Yeah, the sum of the numbers 180 degrees from each other are not always 10. The numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 are paired with 9,8,7,5,4,6,3,2,1, so we get the pairs 1/9, 2/8, 3/7, 4/5, and 6/6. Very interesting!
I noticed that every number had a mirrored pair, the 6 was paired with itself and also set the "mirror" pattern the 5 was paired with a 4 so every time you had a 4 if you mirrored the grid you will find a 5 in its place. the 3 was paired with 7, 2 with 8 and 9 with 1. it was consistent through the entire puzzle. which for makes it even more astounding.
@@grai-like-gray isn't this type of puzzle bound to have symmetry? The knights move restricts a lot, and also you have to give the killer boxes with clues that are either big or small.
@@realGBx64 sure, but i also believe that this much symmetry is something special, if not then it would have been a viable strategy to solve these kind of puzzles, which it seems it is not.
@@daijutsi I always feel like "I know this" halfway through, but would never dare to actually do it without a proof. Of course, such a symmetry will easily work to satisfy normal sudoku and knight move rules, and assuming you got all the killer information used (which was quite early in this if it weren't for the empty killer) it will work assuming there is a unique solution. However again, without proof you'll never know whether your solution is unique.
I didn't hear the bird, but thought it was funny it distracted him, then he said that he didn't want to get up and close the window, because that might distract him ;-)
Ngl, knowing Simon plays Overwatch makes me want to play Overwatch with him. Knowing he plays poorly makes me want to play Overwatch with him even more
Loved that amazing logic at 32 minutes, with the tall plus sign in the middle. The unnumbered cage has a value of 26, which makes the sum of that and the one opposite equal 61. That is the same sum as the top and bottom cages in the middle. The pairs of corner cage pairs summed to 60 each. So, some nice numerical symmetry.
@36:20 Speaking of being blinded and amazed by Phistomefel's brilliance, I can't wait for Simon to read the comments and realize the entire puzzle is also symmetrical, with a small alteration. 4s and 5s reflect onto each other, and 6 is the odd man out. 1+9 2+8 and 3+7 all still pair up. I'm sure this is why the total for box 4 was not given. Subconsciously, Simon was aware of the possibility very early when suspecting those reflected digits in the grid of being 5s. (If Simon noticed this and I didn't hear it acknowledged, my bad! Sometimes get too engrossed in trying to see things in the puzzle.)
I spotted something nice at the end of the puzzle. at 33:45, a 2 is locked into 2 places in box 4, which rules a 2 out of c2r7. The 2 in c3r7 is ruled out by the 1/2 pair in row 9 with the help of the knights move. This locks a 2 into column 1 in box 7, placing the 2 in box 4.
1:11:07 (give or take) I feel like the last guy to cross the finish line. I spent roughly 45 minutes on this, before double-checking the rules. I completely forgot the puzzle was anti-knight, and thus I gave up and took a break. After coming back, I was able to see my way to the end … but it still took just over 36 minutes to get there. Insane puzzle!
At 12:24 besides the cage+sudoku+knight constrains, there's another way to look at it to figure out the same: each box adds up to 45, whichever digit from the cage that goes outside the cage (let's say a 1, adds up to 45 and deprives 1 from the "invaded" next box, that needs to borrow 1 from the box it invades to compensate, and so on in which must be a zero sum outcome. It is like "bending"the sudoku box to extend it towards the box it invades, while depriving the box from the same one cell space, hence both cells must have the same value.
Please don't apologize for the bird. Birds are lovely and their singing should be a welcome nice little touch in the background of the videos. In fact I wouldn't mind if you included a full bird soundtrack as the video's background. It would add to the zen of puzzle solving!
I somehow managed to spot the 1 mirroring the 9 in the top and bottom row, was blown away, and kept seeing more reverse symmetry, this is just amazing! Edit: wait did I just finish watching and did he not even notice the reverse symmetry?
This solve was more enjoyable to watch than quite a few others recently, because you didn't get completely lost in the more difficult logic, which regularly leads to you missing easy things (well, removing the 6 pencil marks took a while, but it was completely irrelevant at that point in time, so it didn't bother me). Other than that, just a classic Phistomefel puzzle: Beautiful logic and nice symmetry; not exactly easy to start, but once you wrap your head around the main logic, it just flows naturally, resisting the solve without blocking it entirely at any point in time.
Thanks for another great solve, Simon! One comment: Is there any way that the cages could be better delineated? I'm sure I'm in the minority, but it's hard to make out where the cages start and stop. Maybe color code them? Appreciate any consideration.
The most intriguing part of this video was seeing Simon slowly ruling out options for the numbers of the cage in box 7. I was like "Yes, you only have three options left! Push it!"
19:21 gave me a good chuckle. I come to your videos for expert puzzle solving and I leave with a ton of laughs. Love your vids, keep up the great work!
I misplaced the 1 in the center box. I missed that funky constraint on the center cells. That gave me a very strange knight's contradiction which caused me to rewind all the way back to the start. Even though it took more than one try, I did get this done all thanks to the amazing training you both have given us over the lockdown. Thanks so much.
19:19 When you highlight the wrong cell like that -- just keep going... select the rest of the cells and remove the 4, you'll have a rogue 4 appear in that mishighlighted cell but it's much faster to select and delete that extra 4 than to start all the way over with the highlighting.
What a beautiful puzzle. Managed to find the trick with the certain cells all being the same. But couldn't solve this one so just enjoyed Simon solving it for me
'in your life have you seen many things more beautiful than that'? Simon's love for puzzles is unique. Ummmm....I would have to answer that with a yes. Many many things. lol
So cool. At first I thought it would be 180° rotationally symmetric with 123456789 mapping to 987654321. That would imply that opposite cages' sums sum to 60 (since each cage has 6 numbers), which is almost true except for the 37 and 24 cages which sum to 61 (and 35 and the hidden 26 cages which also sums to 61) which is suspiciously close. The final solution does have 180° rotational symmetry as expected, but has 123456789 mapping to 987546321. That slight asymmetry with the 456s is why opposite cages sum almost, but not exactly, to 60!
While not mathematical in the same sense as the Listener puzzle, this week's "variety puzzle" in the Wall Street Journal (not behind their paywall, though you may have to click through popups urging you to subscribe) is Hex cryptic that finds a clever way to use numbers. For those not in the know, Hex is puzzlers' affectionate name for the constructor team of Henry rathvon and Emily coX. Their cryptics, which appear about once every four weeks in the WSJ, are seldom terribly difficult, but always artistic and often amusing. Recently clued "Lying about dad's gas" for "propane."
I was Stuck 3 times. The following was what I missed: @20:28 The 1 in Box 3 dictating the composition of the 2 10-sum in Box 6 & 9. This is sad coz' this just proves my mental capacity/deduction power is lacking. @27:36 The 3 in Box 1 placing pencil mark in Box 4. This is a bit better than the "first stuck" as I think this is within my ability to spot. Bad/lazy pencil marking were to blame. @31:38 The cross + knight move restriction on Box 5. This is similar to "first stuck" but at least this I can learn and possibly reuse. I can see this being a more common scenario than the "first stuck". Thanks Simon. Love the video.
Very nice puzzle. Noticed that there are pairs of numbers in these kinds of sudoku. 1 and 9 are a pair, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 5. Not the way to solve it, but it's nice to see it.
I’m both happy and annoyed. I worked out the tricks with the geometry of the grid quite fast. But once I’d worked out the killer cages, I really struggled with “straightforward” sudoku part. 51:11 for me.
19:14 am I the only one noticing that the pair in box 2 could have still been 2+5=7 ? 3 and 4 remained from the previous proof that no matter what 3 should be in R3C2, but this didn't mean that the pair had to be 3-4...
I spotted the trick to this almost immediately. I then got stuck on the denouement for about 20 minutes, because I didn't spot a knight's move! It got to the point that I was doubting my initial logic, and thinking I must have made a mistake about what was in the 9 replicated squares that were the first digits I entered into the grid. Argh! Absolutely lovely puzzle.
I took forever to remember that the Knights move constraint was part of the rules, after that finding the 6's was great fun. I then focused on the cages, and should really start focusing on the numbers outside the cage, as I took far longer than Simon here.
There are two solvers on Cracking the Cryptic, Simon and Mark. Both are brilliant men, with logic so quick it both baffles and amazes me and many other viewers. But even though both feature the same content, Simon's videos consistently achieve over tens of thousands of views, while Mark's struggle to hit 10k. Why though? Well, their entertainment values are vastly different. Simon giggles like a giddy child while solving puzzles, and gives off the feeling that he truly enjoys the puzzle-solving process. Mark maintains a stoic face, and while he's certainly not bored he doesn't exude the same aura of elation that Simon does. TL DR: Lighten up Mark!
I didn't know there was a gap between their view counts. I like them both, but Simon exhibits a bit more enthusiasm and personality... also, I think something like the first 10 times I watched a video on CTC, it was a Simon video so I became more familiar with him earlier.
Yes, viewers respond to more outward displays of emotion. Another thing Simon has going for him is that he's more explicit in his thought process, and thus more accessible. I've almost never had occasion to double back on Simon's videos, especially now that I'm much better than when I first saw CtC. Despite that I still have to hit the J key on occasion watching Mark.
I’ve been binging these videos recently. It must be rubbing off because I figured out the beginning purple square reflection thing about a minute or two before he did. I was pretty proud of my little viewer self 😅
Interesting to see rotational symmetry with the caveat that 4 is a pair with 5 and 6 then is the axis value, resulting in the duplicated cells in the corners summing to 60 while the duplicated cells found in the cross sum to 61.
I wouldn't worry about long videos... other than your own time. I like to put them on to listen while I work on jigsaw puzzles. For some reason they're very soothing.
Simon: "appoligies if you guys spotting what I'm meant to be spotting." Me, an intellectual who can's solve intermediate classic sudoku: "YOU HAD ONE JOB, SIMON!"
Super random thing about the intro and outro music: has anyone else noticed that someone is humming along with the music? It's most notable during the first couple of seconds at the intro (or 36:45 in the outro). I had headphones on and I listened to it about 10 times to confirm. Phenomenal puzzle as well. =)
Good ear! Is it perhaps Simon? Glenn Gould was famous for such humming. However, he doesn't seem to hum on this lightning performance of the Mozart: th-cam.com/video/FeHeF5A6pmU/w-d-xo.html
Brilliant, magic, hang on, skillful, wait a second, masterly, yes yes, dexterous, one two, lovely, bizarre, eccentric, my goodness, extraordinary, no wait... wondrous, column completed, nice, Thanks for the classes of apologies in english we are learning (Don't have to!) What a voice!! Also thanks for the Sudoku videos :-D ¡¡You deserve a Disney characters/channel!! THANKS!!!!
My 2 hour solve was VERY different, because I forgot about the out-of-cage sums after doing boxes 3 and 7, and I ended up staring at the grid for an hour. I resolved most of the 9s first, and had 4 and 6 in the symmetrical squares until very late. At least it worked.
Simon has missed an important trick here. And if I recall correctly, Phistomefel used the same trick in the 7-cell cages version of this puzzle, and Simon missed THAT as well. ~ An easier way to spot this is to shade all the cages. I used blue for the F shapes and Purple for the S shapes. ~ For any box, the three cells NOT in a cage contain the same numbers that AREN'T in the cage. ~ Take Box 1 for example: R2C1 and R2C2 see all 6 of the cells in the 25 cage. 5 are in the same box, and the 6th one is in the same row. R3C2 also sees all 6 of the cells in the 25 cage. 5 are in the same box and the 8th one by Knight's move. This applies to all 8 boxes around the grid. ~ I colored in the three outies for the blue cages green and the 3 outies for the purple cages orange. ~ Another thing that Simon never mentioned was that the 9 cells he marked purple HAD to be a number that was in all 8 cages. This ruled out 123 and 789 immediately, and the rest of the solve was pretty much as he solved it.
I assumed some symmetry for fun, diagonal pairs added to 60, and the other killer pair (top-bottom) added to 61. So I went with a 26 sum to see if it worked and it DID!
I dont know why, but I had a feeling the purple squares would be a 6 just a few pencil marks in. There must have been some sort of pattern that'll let you figure that out. Also, the mystery cage is a 26.
I solved most of this one on my own, including the whole cages part. Pretty proud of it! Some of the remaining knight’s move gave me trouble, but that is just not enough experience with it. ^^ Edit: it is pretty amazing to watch you do them, Simon! (aka not frustrating) Additionally, it makes me feel okay about missing some of the knight’s move constraints.
Simon: I just stare at this puzzle and not understand what to do. Forgive me if its too frustrating watching this solve. Also Simon: solves it in 36:52
BINGO!!
00:20 Phistomefel
02:18 Normal Sudoku rules apply
04:17 Let's get cracking
04:38 45
05:08 [Simon adjusts his glasses]
10:42 You are joking!
11:40 This is unbelievable
12:16 That is just staggering
14:02 Oh, now, here's something interesting
19:17 Oh bobbins
21:44 Ow my goodness me
24:00 We're now cooking with gas
25:42 Apologies if you guys are spotting what I'm meant to be spotting
27:46 This is interesting, look
29:07 Apologies for the noisy bird
32:36 That is a nice piece of logic!
33:19 Disambiguating
34:16 Good grief!
36:00 THAT's a 2, THAT's a 9, THAT's a 7
36:09 YES! What a puzzle, what a puzzle this is
We need a Simon Drinking Game!
@@Socialdogma Don't say that. We'd all be plastered and broke after the next video. And I can't spare the dosh.
@@antonyduhamel1166 Plus drinking and sudokuing does not go that well together.
This is gold. We need a card deck of his expressions
Simon: spends 35 minutes explaining how beautiful and incredible the puzzle is
Simon: “I’m lost for words”
25:43 "Apologies if you guys are spotting what I'm meant to be spotting", he says, while the mouse cursor is exactly over the 5 in box 6 that would reveal the 5 in box 3, solve the 5-7 pair in boxes 2 and 8, the 7-8 pair in box 7 and reveal the 5 in box 9.
As always, great puzzle by Phistomefel and great solve by Simon! Thanks for this!
Phistomefel:
I fear no man, but that thing,
*asymmetry*
it scares me...
I was wondering if it is even possible to have an assymmetric puzzle of this kind. Knights' move is restrictive, and also the way the killer boxes have to be given when there are no given digits (either small or big numbers).
The discovery of the geometry leading to the prolongued knight's move (3:1, actually called a "camel" in fairy chess) is one of the most beautiful things I've seen on this chanel.
Remember those days when sudokus had given digits?
Pepridge Farms remembers 🤣
I do... and I don't miss them.... like AT ALL!
Simon is one of the only people i watch on youtube where i actually look at the comment section afterwards. You guys are as amazing as Simon himself!
Watching your progress is always an absolute joy, never once did you getting stuck or taking your time bother me at all. You're human, not a machine, none of us want to watch a robot solve these. You're doing amazing work, much love from Germany!!
20:40
Simon: Therearevarvarvarvar
Me: Exactly what I thought!
"i feel like closing my window would distract me" ~Simon, just distracted by bird outside of window.
#suggestion
When you click a cell again, it should de-select. You when you make a mistake like you did at 19:19 (happens to me quite often) And very easy to code it, so it would be a quick, cheap and beneficial update.
That feature has been implemented on SudokuExchange (dot) com
proudest moment of my life? noticing the purple pattern before simon
Just keeping up feels like an achievement with most puzzles!
I noticed it also. I found it by looking at the boxes as a group. 147, 369, 123, 789
Me too. Couldn’t get any more though 😢
Same here, then I blundered on for half an hour, messed it up, restarted and failed after another two hours. Still managed a lot of digits, but it just went wrong.
Had missed the knight move Simon sees after 22 minutes, with that it resolved in no time (of course, I had already a lot more notation than Simon at that point)...
Mine was when I realized that this was a somewhat symmetrical puzzle with 4-5 instead of 4-6 being the mirroring pair
"That is just staggering" - correct Simon, the highlighted squares are all staggered
you know a puzzles good when it keeps Simon’s mind so active that he doesn’t even recognize the symmetry
Is a nonsymmetrical anti-knight puzzle possible? And if so have they done any on the channel?
I hate symmetric puzzles, it always feels like half the puzzle is missing. half the puzzle just feels like simon doing paperwork.
Rules 2:14
Let's get cracking 4:18
Cooking with gas 24:00
You guys are true heros
Six cell cages, pattern on repeated sixes, I think old Mr. Phistomephel is leaning in on the devil theme.
Hi Simon and Mark , I hope you can see this comment !
I must say, maybe like some other people watching this channel, I completely found this channel on TH-cam recommandations. At first, I never thought I was going to watch more than a Sudoku video, but then I got interested by another one, then another one, then another one, and finally decided to give Sudokus a shot.
I'm amazed by the puzzle possibilities you can have from a 9x9 grid. Before I discovered the channel, I thought Sudoku was repetitive and I rapidly lost interest. Now, not only I see masterpieces made by genius puzzle makers completed by genius puzzle solvers, but I've discovered new ways to play Sudoku. I can't thank you enough for making this channel and for the wonderful content you provide to us.
This channel is pure bliss. I hope more people get interested in Sudoku in the near future ! You totally deserve the 232k subscribers. See you later, and let's get cracking !
Isn't it delightful watching how Simon gets all excited over solving Phistomefel's puzzles?
Pretty rotational symmetry that isn't based around 5's this time!
Well swap 5 and 6 and your there again.
Yep, the 5s are paired with the 4s, the 6 with each other and the remaining sum to 10. Stumbled upon it and was truly baffled.
Yeah, the sum of the numbers 180 degrees from each other are not always 10. The numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 are paired with 9,8,7,5,4,6,3,2,1, so we get the pairs 1/9, 2/8, 3/7, 4/5, and 6/6. Very interesting!
If you build this puzzle around the 5, Girth's symmetrical placement could be used to speed your way through.
I completely missed this until reading your comment! (As Simon didn't mention symmetry at the end, he may have missed it too.)
I noticed that every number had a mirrored pair,
the 6 was paired with itself and also set the "mirror" pattern
the 5 was paired with a 4 so every time you had a 4 if you mirrored the grid you will find a 5 in its place.
the 3 was paired with 7, 2 with 8 and 9 with 1.
it was consistent through the entire puzzle. which for makes it even more astounding.
I usually catch that when I'm bewildered and staring. Totally missed it this time. Good catch!
@@grai-like-gray isn't this type of puzzle bound to have symmetry? The knights move restricts a lot, and also you have to give the killer boxes with clues that are either big or small.
@@realGBx64 Could be.
@@realGBx64 sure, but i also believe that this much symmetry is something special, if not then it would have been a viable strategy to solve these kind of puzzles, which it seems it is not.
@@daijutsi I always feel like "I know this" halfway through, but would never dare to actually do it without a proof. Of course, such a symmetry will easily work to satisfy normal sudoku and knight move rules, and assuming you got all the killer information used (which was quite early in this if it weren't for the empty killer) it will work assuming there is a unique solution. However again, without proof you'll never know whether your solution is unique.
bird sounds make this even more enjoyable,
Definitely!
Yup; I was not bothered by them at all!
I didn't hear the bird, but thought it was funny it distracted him, then he said that he didn't want to get up and close the window, because that might distract him ;-)
Overwatch with Simon was never a thought I had... but now that he mentioned it... I am intrigued.
Ngl, knowing Simon plays Overwatch makes me want to play Overwatch with him.
Knowing he plays poorly makes me want to play Overwatch with him even more
The other cage sums to 26 by the way, since you were wondering and forgot to check.
Please tell us Simon!
Loved that amazing logic at 32 minutes, with the tall plus sign in the middle.
The unnumbered cage has a value of 26, which makes the sum of that and the one opposite equal 61. That is the same sum as the top and bottom cages in the middle. The pairs of corner cage pairs summed to 60 each. So, some nice numerical symmetry.
Took me 02:40:44 and I enjoyed every second of it. Phistomefel really is something else.
I am proud to have been subscribed onto this channel long enough to recognize Phistomefel’s name and acknowledge that the puzzle will be excellent
@36:20 Speaking of being blinded and amazed by Phistomefel's brilliance, I can't wait for Simon to read the comments and realize the entire puzzle is also symmetrical, with a small alteration. 4s and 5s reflect onto each other, and 6 is the odd man out. 1+9 2+8 and 3+7 all still pair up. I'm sure this is why the total for box 4 was not given. Subconsciously, Simon was aware of the possibility very early when suspecting those reflected digits in the grid of being 5s.
(If Simon noticed this and I didn't hear it acknowledged, my bad! Sometimes get too engrossed in trying to see things in the puzzle.)
That moment when Simon places 666 all over the devils latest sudoku
I believe that explains the devil in the thumbnail
@@demerion The devil is Phistomefel, most videos featuring his puzzles has the devil on the thumbnail
I spotted something nice at the end of the puzzle. at 33:45, a 2 is locked into 2 places in box 4, which rules a 2 out of c2r7. The 2 in c3r7 is ruled out by the 1/2 pair in row 9 with the help of the knights move. This locks a 2 into column 1 in box 7, placing the 2 in box 4.
1:11:07 (give or take)
I feel like the last guy to cross the finish line. I spent roughly 45 minutes on this, before double-checking the rules. I completely forgot the puzzle was anti-knight, and thus I gave up and took a break.
After coming back, I was able to see my way to the end … but it still took just over 36 minutes to get there. Insane puzzle!
At 12:24 besides the cage+sudoku+knight constrains, there's another way to look at it to figure out the same: each box adds up to 45, whichever digit from the cage that goes outside the cage (let's say a 1, adds up to 45 and deprives 1 from the "invaded" next box, that needs to borrow 1 from the box it invades to compensate, and so on in which must be a zero sum outcome. It is like "bending"the sudoku box to extend it towards the box it invades, while depriving the box from the same one cell space, hence both cells must have the same value.
Please don't apologize for the bird. Birds are lovely and their singing should be a welcome nice little touch in the background of the videos. In fact I wouldn't mind if you included a full bird soundtrack as the video's background. It would add to the zen of puzzle solving!
I've been watching your videos for a few weeks now and watching you solve this one just made me happy.
I was making brownies today and said "oh bobbins" when they splashed on my apron lol
I've picked it up too lol. I also say it with Simon's accent.
I adore Phistomofel's puzzles. They're the perfect balance of challenging and enjoyable. :)
I somehow managed to spot the 1 mirroring the 9 in the top and bottom row, was blown away, and kept seeing more reverse symmetry, this is just amazing!
Edit: wait did I just finish watching and did he not even notice the reverse symmetry?
I don’t know why it’s so funny but I had an absolute brawl when he said “We know jack about that” 😂
Cracked me up too. 🤣
i will absolutely lose it the first time i hear either of them cuss
This solve was more enjoyable to watch than quite a few others recently, because you didn't get completely lost in the more difficult logic, which regularly leads to you missing easy things (well, removing the 6 pencil marks took a while, but it was completely irrelevant at that point in time, so it didn't bother me).
Other than that, just a classic Phistomefel puzzle:
Beautiful logic and nice symmetry; not exactly easy to start, but once you wrap your head around the main logic, it just flows naturally, resisting the solve without blocking it entirely at any point in time.
Thanks for another great solve, Simon! One comment: Is there any way that the cages could be better delineated? I'm sure I'm in the minority, but it's hard to make out where the cages start and stop. Maybe color code them? Appreciate any consideration.
37:45 - these chess killer sudokus are by far my favourite 😍
video was worth it for logic starting at 31:45. I spent a good 15+ minutes trying to decipher from this point
The most intriguing part of this video was seeing Simon slowly ruling out options for the numbers of the cage in box 7. I was like "Yes, you only have three options left! Push it!"
19:21 gave me a good chuckle. I come to your videos for expert puzzle solving and I leave with a ton of laughs. Love your vids, keep up the great work!
me, eating popcorn and having various brain farts: "Yeah you're taking too long to find a digit honestly bad.
I misplaced the 1 in the center box. I missed that funky constraint on the center cells. That gave me a very strange knight's contradiction which caused me to rewind all the way back to the start. Even though it took more than one try, I did get this done all thanks to the amazing training you both have given us over the lockdown. Thanks so much.
I just now opened this video, took a quick look at the puzzle itself and just instant astonishment when I spotted the trick with this puzzle
19:19 When you highlight the wrong cell like that -- just keep going... select the rest of the cells and remove the 4, you'll have a rogue 4 appear in that mishighlighted cell but it's much faster to select and delete that extra 4 than to start all the way over with the highlighting.
21:43 Your expression when you realized that the 56 pairs were all 6's was priceless.
1:00:45 I spotted the purple cells being clones right away but never saw the trick with the 2458 quad in the middle, that's a nice one.
Some very satisfying logic in a rare example of a Phistomefel that not only was I able to solve, but I was able to solve in under two hours.
2 HOURS and i loved it the six-tupple at rows 3 and 7 placed the first digits for me and it just started getting traction from there
What a beautiful puzzle. Managed to find the trick with the certain cells all being the same. But couldn't solve this one so just enjoyed Simon solving it for me
'in your life have you seen many things more beautiful than that'? Simon's love for puzzles is unique. Ummmm....I would have to answer that with a yes. Many many things. lol
"In your life have you seen many things more beautiful then that?!" 😂😂
The joy on your face whilst solving this puzzle is contagious and immeasurable.
So cool. At first I thought it would be 180° rotationally symmetric with 123456789 mapping to 987654321. That would imply that opposite cages' sums sum to 60 (since each cage has 6 numbers), which is almost true except for the 37 and 24 cages which sum to 61 (and 35 and the hidden 26 cages which also sums to 61) which is suspiciously close.
The final solution does have 180° rotational symmetry as expected, but has 123456789 mapping to 987546321. That slight asymmetry with the 456s is why opposite cages sum almost, but not exactly, to 60!
Another Phistomefel classic! Beautiful puzzle and a beautiful solve. Thanks as always for brightening my evening Simon :)
Sashimi X-wing on the 5/7 pairs at @25:03 - the 5 can be placed in box 9.
While not mathematical in the same sense as the Listener puzzle, this week's "variety puzzle" in the Wall Street Journal (not behind their paywall, though you may have to click through popups urging you to subscribe) is Hex cryptic that finds a clever way to use numbers. For those not in the know, Hex is puzzlers' affectionate name for the constructor team of Henry rathvon and Emily coX. Their cryptics, which appear about once every four weeks in the WSJ, are seldom terribly difficult, but always artistic and often amusing. Recently clued "Lying about dad's gas" for "propane."
A fellow named Bobbins in Leighton
Used logic with top-level rating
And noticing sixes
Discovered the fixes
That solved the enigma of Satan.
I was Stuck 3 times.
The following was what I missed:
@20:28 The 1 in Box 3 dictating the composition of the 2 10-sum in Box 6 & 9. This is sad coz' this just proves my mental capacity/deduction power is lacking.
@27:36 The 3 in Box 1 placing pencil mark in Box 4. This is a bit better than the "first stuck" as I think this is within my ability to spot. Bad/lazy pencil marking were to blame.
@31:38 The cross + knight move restriction on Box 5. This is similar to "first stuck" but at least this I can learn and possibly reuse. I can see this being a more common scenario than the "first stuck".
Thanks Simon. Love the video.
Blasphemy. I would be honored to play Overwatch with you
Absolutely!
That SO came out of nowhere LOL
Love you Simon. I, too, would be honored to play literally ANYTHING with you.
I was so surprised to hear he even knew what Overwatch was, he doesn't seem like the fps type ahahah
Very nice puzzle. Noticed that there are pairs of numbers in these kinds of sudoku. 1 and 9 are a pair, 2 and 8, 3 and 7, 4 and 5. Not the way to solve it, but it's nice to see it.
Your intellect impresses me. Enjoy these vids.
4300 views in one hour... this has to make simon one of the most anticipated, people in the world
@33:52 you put the 7 in box 9 AND BAM. Symmetry filled the grid! From here its an easy classic
I feel like everytime i watch a video here it is always sunday
Also i still love it when you say "lets get cracking"
Great video as always
I couldn't watch the video with sound right now, so i enabled subtitles. The automatic subtitles think this Sudoku was made by "fisting a fella" :D
I’m both happy and annoyed. I worked out the tricks with the geometry of the grid quite fast. But once I’d worked out the killer cages, I really struggled with “straightforward” sudoku part. 51:11 for me.
19:14 am I the only one noticing that the pair in box 2 could have still been 2+5=7 ? 3 and 4 remained from the previous proof that no matter what 3 should be in R3C2, but this didn't mean that the pair had to be 3-4...
I spotted the trick to this almost immediately. I then got stuck on the denouement for about 20 minutes, because I didn't spot a knight's move! It got to the point that I was doubting my initial logic, and thinking I must have made a mistake about what was in the 9 replicated squares that were the first digits I entered into the grid. Argh! Absolutely lovely puzzle.
I took forever to remember that the Knights move constraint was part of the rules, after that finding the 6's was great fun. I then focused on the cages, and should really start focusing on the numbers outside the cage, as I took far longer than Simon here.
There are two solvers on Cracking the Cryptic, Simon and Mark. Both are brilliant men, with logic so quick it both baffles and amazes me and many other viewers.
But even though both feature the same content, Simon's videos consistently achieve over tens of thousands of views, while Mark's struggle to hit 10k. Why though?
Well, their entertainment values are vastly different.
Simon giggles like a giddy child while solving puzzles, and gives off the feeling that he truly enjoys the puzzle-solving process.
Mark maintains a stoic face, and while he's certainly not bored he doesn't exude the same aura of elation that Simon does.
TL DR: Lighten up Mark!
I didn't know there was a gap between their view counts. I like them both, but Simon exhibits a bit more enthusiasm and personality... also, I think something like the first 10 times I watched a video on CTC, it was a Simon video so I became more familiar with him earlier.
Yes, viewers respond to more outward displays of emotion. Another thing Simon has going for him is that he's more explicit in his thought process, and thus more accessible. I've almost never had occasion to double back on Simon's videos, especially now that I'm much better than when I first saw CtC. Despite that I still have to hit the J key on occasion watching Mark.
26:35 that's the only thing I spotted earlier than you, Simon :-) the rest is way over my head, love to watch though
I’ve been binging these videos recently. It must be rubbing off because I figured out the beginning purple square reflection thing about a minute or two before he did. I was pretty proud of my little viewer self 😅
Interesting to see rotational symmetry with the caveat that 4 is a pair with 5 and 6 then is the axis value, resulting in the duplicated cells in the corners summing to 60 while the duplicated cells found in the cross sum to 61.
He played with us by swapping the 5s and the 6s
@@Wecoc1 Yes, if it had actually been spotted it would have been easier to solve...
I wouldn't worry about long videos... other than your own time. I like to put them on to listen while I work on jigsaw puzzles. For some reason they're very soothing.
Why is it called the million dollar sudoku?
Simon: "appoligies if you guys spotting what I'm meant to be spotting."
Me, an intellectual who can's solve intermediate classic sudoku: "YOU HAD ONE JOB, SIMON!"
Super random thing about the intro and outro music: has anyone else noticed that someone is humming along with the music? It's most notable during the first couple of seconds at the intro (or 36:45 in the outro). I had headphones on and I listened to it about 10 times to confirm.
Phenomenal puzzle as well. =)
Good ear! Is it perhaps Simon? Glenn Gould was famous for such humming. However, he doesn't seem to hum on this lightning performance of the Mozart: th-cam.com/video/FeHeF5A6pmU/w-d-xo.html
Brilliant, magic, hang on, skillful, wait a second, masterly, yes yes, dexterous, one two, lovely, bizarre, eccentric, my goodness, extraordinary, no wait... wondrous, column completed, nice,
Thanks for the classes of apologies in english we are learning (Don't have to!) What a voice!!
Also thanks for the Sudoku videos :-D
¡¡You deserve a Disney characters/channel!!
THANKS!!!!
@21:40 Sudoku Devil puts 666 in every direction as the key pivot of his grid!
My 2 hour solve was VERY different, because I forgot about the out-of-cage sums after doing boxes 3 and 7, and I ended up staring at the grid for an hour. I resolved most of the 9s first, and had 4 and 6 in the symmetrical squares until very late. At least it worked.
OMG, I actually said to myself: OK guys, NOW we are cooking with gas!
Simon has missed an important trick here.
And if I recall correctly, Phistomefel used the same trick in the 7-cell cages version of this puzzle, and Simon missed THAT as well.
~
An easier way to spot this is to shade all the cages.
I used blue for the F shapes and Purple for the S shapes.
~
For any box, the three cells NOT in a cage contain the same numbers that AREN'T in the cage.
~
Take Box 1 for example:
R2C1 and R2C2 see all 6 of the cells in the 25 cage. 5 are in the same box, and the 6th one is in the same row.
R3C2 also sees all 6 of the cells in the 25 cage. 5 are in the same box and the 8th one by Knight's move.
This applies to all 8 boxes around the grid.
~
I colored in the three outies for the blue cages green and the 3 outies for the purple cages orange.
~
Another thing that Simon never mentioned was that the 9 cells he marked purple HAD to be a number that was in all 8 cages.
This ruled out 123 and 789 immediately, and the rest of the solve was pretty much as he solved it.
That cell was 26 total that Simon sir forget to tell you
It would give a bunch of 1s much earlier if included, otherwise it doesn't contribute much because it retains a lot of flexibility.
I assumed some symmetry for fun, diagonal pairs added to 60, and the other killer pair (top-bottom) added to 61. So I went with a 26 sum to see if it worked and it DID!
Yeah it can't be perfectly symmetrical, or we'd never get started with the 1s in the top 3 boxes.
the 6's corresponding to the 6 cell cages. beautiful
19:17 Probably the best "oh bobbins" of all time.
yeah, I loved that, although it's 19:20 :)
@@blabla-rg7ky no, its 17:08 in uk at the moment
@@leftysheppey the kind of "joke" that only you can laugh at
@@blabla-rg7ky just gotta be pedantic
@@leftysheppey why?
I dont know why, but I had a feeling the purple squares would be a 6 just a few pencil marks in. There must have been some sort of pattern that'll let you figure that out. Also, the mystery cage is a 26.
I truly enjoy watching these solves.
You should watch him solve in 1.25 speed he is even more exited than normal :D
I don't normally see anything before Simon, but waiting for him to resolve the 89 pair in box one almost had me screaming at my phone.
Simon missing the 89 resolution in Box 1 for so long is driving me totally insane. It even resolves the 78s in Box 7!
It takes him 4 minutes to notice, but it felt like an eternity lol.
You don't give yourself enough credit. that was an awesome solve.
I solved most of this one on my own, including the whole cages part. Pretty proud of it! Some of the remaining knight’s move gave me trouble, but that is just not enough experience with it. ^^
Edit: it is pretty amazing to watch you do them, Simon! (aka not frustrating) Additionally, it makes me feel okay about missing some of the knight’s move constraints.
I can't figure out how to start which is usual for Phistomefel Puzzles. But I still enjoy watching the videos.
@12:24 Simon's reaction to the order of the grid made me wonder what his reaction to the complexity of a cell would be.
Oh Phistomefel, you are spoiling us!
Simon: I just stare at this puzzle and not understand what to do. Forgive me if its too frustrating watching this solve.
Also Simon: solves it in 36:52