Me while reading the rules: no repeated same difference value, but 9 boxes of sudoku? Well there's gotta be a 0 difference line then Simon, one hour into the solve:
@@averygaron994 Not necessarily. Could also be a pair with a large difference, like 0/17. (But I figured there would be a 0. This puzzle did have both types.)
Hey there cupcake coveters! Was really looking forward to this one. Probably the hardest one in season 2 (next week’s is more approachable again) but this is also probably one of my favourites. I’ll be honest, I’ve never really liked Schrodinger puzzles, mainly because my brain finds it hard to deal with them and make deductions with them. Setting this puzzle helped me start to overcome that, and I feel I have a better understanding of them now. I knew since I started season 1 and started compiling my ‘ideas list’ that I just had tom have an episode called ‘Schrodinger’s Rat’ and that this type of nonsense would have no place in season 1. I also decided early that Schrodingers could combine very nicely with a ‘same difference line’ test constraint, which I definitely knew I wanted to include at some point, on account of me having invented that line :) So the broad concept of this puzzle has been simmering away in my mind for many months, but I didn’t actually start setting it til last month. When I did, it came together surprisingly quickly, because I already knew roughly how it would work - the long segments being found first, and then gradually becoming shorter as the remaining differences get larger and larger. And yes I simply HAD to include a difference of 0 and a difference greater than 10. By far the hardest part of setting this was the ending. I had boxes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 mostly done, and spent a couple of days fiddling with boxes 6 and 9, trying to get the most satisfying ending possible. It kept ending up with either a 0 difference OR a greater than 10 difference, but not both. But I reallllly wanted both, and kept plugging away until it started co-operating. In the end I was mega happy with the result. The only irksome thing was the deadly pattern with 5s and 7s that could not be disambiguated using blackcurrants. So I thought I would just be silly and let them be the only two places which use one-way doors in this one! Thanks again for the feature Simon, your solve was brilliant, you cottoned onto all the intended ways of thinking very quickly, I actually expected a much longer video for this, so I was impressed how quick you did it. My favourite part was where you boldly claimed it would be impossible to do a long tour round the grid with such ludicrously large differences left. I smiled in anticipation for the inevitable moment where you would have to retract that statement :D Thanks also to everyone who has left nice comments - they are always a joy to read!
More outstandingness from you Marty!!! Love reading about your insights to these puzzles! Very thankful and grateful for you for what you bring to this community and who you are.
The funny thing is I knew you'd have a difference of 0 in there but it was the last difference I figured out so it kept me honest in a few places where I had to eliminate it. If I hadn't realized that, I'd have probably cheated the puzzle by not honestly eliminating it.
I'm loving these puzzle so much, thanks Marty! This was good fun, and took me 41 minutes - I liked the difficulty level. I also enjoyed reading your comments above. Thanks again, and I'm looking forward to more :)
Thanks again for a wonderful episode, Marty! I got stuck at the beginning for a long time, wondering if you could have a -1 difference in box 7 and a 1 difference in box 4. (That might just allow you to take a different path in box 4.) Only when I assumed that wouldn't be the case I could continue, and (eventually) figured out the 8-0-8 in box 5 and knew for sure we were dealing with absolute differences.
Solving these RatRun puzzles sometimes reminds me of the Sherlock Holmes quote: "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". This was a fun one!
36:58 "We've got six segments to come... That's impossible. You can't do that. No, you can't do that." never underestimate the brilliance of Marty Sears!
@@martysearsme too. I’d intuited already that it was likely possible and therefore you would have found a way, Marty! I was waiting for the Simon Being Flabbergasted moment, which is always a delight.
Yeah, he failed to realize at that point that several of those segments can be only two cells, which only involve a single difference and so are MUCH less restricted even before thinking about S-cells
@@paulschutte4729 There's more than one way to have OCD 😂. I also left the line off the start and end squares, otherwise the line ends in the wrong place on the cake (it would be most pleasing stopping just as it touches the cake, or next best would be in the centre of the cake). (Sorry I didn't mean literal OCD)
I had a lot of trouble with this episode, but the 0 difference wasn't one of them. I knew from the start that that was going to happen; I've done more than enough Marty Sears puzzles...
I'm just glad it was the last one that needed to be figured out. If it came any sooner in the puzzle I never would have considered it as a possibility.
Marty broke Simon. 🙂 Over 15 episodes he got him convinced that one day Marty will force us down the short path, then he got him convinced that a long path is impossible, then he got him down an impossible short path! By the end of the puzzle, he's laughing and giggling like a schoolboy... Classic! Well done Simon and Marty!!! Outstanding puzzle!
I definitely felt like a test subject in a maze while solving this, as I kept _both_ making errors which broke the puzzle (due to overlooking a possibility) and _thinking_ I'd made errors which broke the puzzle when I actually hadn't (again due to overlooking a possibility). A very trying (yet very fun!) 100+ minutes for me.
Solved in 59:54. This puzzle set a record for me in there being no fewer than 4 separate times when I was absolutely convinced I had broken it, only to then think harder and come up with the correct solution for a particular box.
I had the exact same thing!! Started over like 3 times convinced that I did something wrong, but in reality I was correct but just hadn't thought of all the possibilities
I’m here for the comedy! Didn’t tell you on Thanksgiving, but I am immensely grateful for you and Mark and this community! On many occasions you have calmed, soothed and uplifted me when my world wasn’t working the way I wanted it to. And always lots of fun, laughs and entertainment! (Including guitar, poetry and lots of fantastic information!!).
The perfect level of difficulty to really push my puzzling capabilities. Started out thinking "how am I ever going to get my head around this schrodinger thing" and ended very proud of myself.
Quantum Physics happens to be my alley, but this puzzle made my brain enter an undefined state. Thank you Marty, and thank you Simon for a very strong solve. Yes, we all went 'famous last words' during that middle sequence, but it just made it all a lot more fun. Thanks!
Another fabulous finkz run!! Marty is superb! Cherish seeing Simon tackle these as only he can! Watching him solve is a thing of beauty to me. Love hearing him laugh, give knowledge bombs , praise setters constantly and bring us along for a spectacular ride!!
33:04, after restarting part way through (I realised that I'd only been considering the long sequences going up - e.g. 0,3,6,9,12 instead of all the possibilities - i.e. I should also consider 3,0,3,6,9 and 0,3,6,9,6).
These rat runs are some of the most entertaining sudokus ever. Along with the cryptic crossword, they make Fridays my favourite day for CtC viewing. Loved the way Simon convinced himself that the path couldn't go the long way and then discovered that the shortcut was impossible.
I spent half the puzzle waiting for the twist difference, and spent the last three boxes praying that we would get it, and lo and behold! Another genius ratrun.
Rarely comment but a Finkz puzzle always deserves a thank you to Marty and this one is no different. Wonderful. 39:07 and I haven't spent a more enjoyable 3/4 of an hour all week. Now to see how Simon gets on with it. What will he logically deduce in a completely different and more complex way than I did today!
As usual, beautiful logic that Simon's able to quickly do in his head. Happy that Simon did it faster than me, but he was unencumbered by the possibilities that a 6-cell 2-difference line could be 024686, or a 5-cell 3-difference line could be 03696/30369. Resolved itself quickly, but it was worth considering. :)
47:16 what an insane puzzle. I'm not one for cursing against setters but when I realised what the difference had to be in the first segment of Box 6 I found myself whispering "I hate you Marty." I hope this comes across as a complement because it totally is, I couldn't believe the levels of insanity we were reaching in this puzzle and I loved every second of it! Also shoutout to the website app, I was surprised to see it holding up perfectly with the Schrodinger concept, it accepted my centre pencil marked 2 digits as the correct answer to the puzzle, really satisfying!
What a fantastic puzzle! Such a great flow, very nice deductions to be made, just difficult enough (for me). Box 5 is a gem, marvelous! Wow, that's such an impressive setup!
I absolutely loved this one! The puzzle and the video in equal measure. Several times I thought I’d broken I had broken it, but alas there was a way. Such a fun solve - with Simon’s help of course! Thank you Marty and Simon!
Outstanding puzzle! So many moments I thought I had broken something, but the solution was just so far from normal expectations it took a while to see it! Really really great.
41:25 It's hilarious that Simon thinks 1 - 8 pair is broken in a black dot because you can't make "Schrödinger 8" in that cell. Otherwise 1 and 8 would be totally valid black dot values (!) :D
Argh! I got burned by the 0 difference again! I even thought at the start of the puzzle, "0 is a valid difference on a 2-digit segment with a Schrödinger cell", and by the time I got to the end of the puzzle, it had completely flown out of my brain. Solved in 43:22, the last 5 minutes of which were me panicking over what I did wrong to get that state in box 6. All I had to do was pretend nothing was wrong, and I would have the "duh" moment. Finkz is awesome as usual. Absolutely love this series!
solved in 28:28 - quite insane in a good way. I realized pretty early on that a 2-cell segment could be satisfied with a difference of 0 or 10+, but I didn't realize that a 3-cell (or more!) could have a segment going up and down by using a schrodinger cell until I got stuck in box 5. had to take the time to re-check my deductions in the previous boxes, though luckily they didn't break or else this would've been a much longer solve
Finks day is again the highlight of the week. My "oh, no, he didn't" moment this time has got to be getting the difference in (the first time into) box 6. I had a couple lesser moments of this feeling, so I only hesitated a second or two before entering it and moving on. 1:24:23, but well worth it. Another great puzzle. (side note: caterdokupillar status is 39 done at 450 minutes. I just hope I have the time to finish it before the videos do 🙂)
Marty is not the only one with a dislike of Schrodinger puzzles but the cupcake incentive helped me conquer this one. Speaking of which, it's now snack time for me having just finished another Finkz masterpiece.
For a few minutes I thought the schodenger cell's value could be either digit and was thinking this would be so damn hard to solve. It being the sum made it very doable but still challenging. Loving the rat puzzles.
My first digit was the zero in box one. It seems Simon never realized how hard it is for Finkz to eat black currants (natural or touched by Schrodinger) in this puzzle.
I finished in 109:48 minutes. The Schrödinger's cells really messed with my mind. I was happy at first, because I was soaring along and got the first three segments. I started to slow down, but I made my way slowly though the puzzle. I was a little distracted today and the Schrödinger's cells made my brain kind of hurt. Not a great combination. It took me way to long to see that the pathway was restricted in box 5 due to having all values available from the previous segments, especially the one in box 4. Seeing that finally allowed me to place a crucial Schrödinger's cell and I strolled into the finish. However, I thought I broke the puzzle in box 6 as I had an 8 leading to a Schrödinger's cell and I had used all other possibilities. Then I realized that the constructor is Marty, and of course it leads to itself. You almost tricked me, but I made it through, even though I had a subpar time. As usual, Marty's Rat Run is brilliant. Great Puzzle!
This was awesome! Watched the video after solving it myself. I love the fact that Simon isn't really twisted at all so he doesn't see your deviousness. My strategy with your puzzles is to try to figure out all the possible traps you might set. I wonder if there's a way to represent a cat chasing Finks through the maze. Maybe having one set of criteria the cat and another criteria for Finks and the paths can't cross. Or create some rule that shows where the cat can go and Finks has to avoid those areas. Then for season 4 we introduce a dog to limit the cat :)
🍰 Finkzday Friday! 🐀 I needed the pointer to look at how long a sequence could be possible for differences greater than 1 to get started, but after allowing myself to get that hint, I was able to complete the puzzle in half an hour. And right at the start, I said to myself "If there isn't one segment that has a difference of zero, I'll eat my hat" ... thankfully I don't have to get one of those illusion cakes that _looks_ like a hat in order to eat it ... the joy of Marty's puzzles is that you _know_ what tricks he's going to pull on you (some of them at least) but it's still great fun finding out where they go! Not trying to blow my own trumpet 🎺 but I also premonitioned a segment that went A-B-A as well 😉
Has anybody else assumed entering a box for the second time would require the same difference as before? I solved the puzzle thinking it was flawed until I watched the video and realised it's a new unique value every time.
I've Absolutely loved every puzzle in the series. They've been a pure joy to solve. Every part of this one was fun. Even though I "knew" several things were going to happen (0 difference, traveling down into boxes 8-9, high-low-high) before starting it was exciting to see how it all came together in the end. Finished in 51:09. (Kinda disappointed its finished now and may need to go back and resolve some of the older puzzles in the series.)
59:40 was a hilarious hilarious moment cause I said the same thing, Marty's done this to you before! Hahaha I love watching the realization, it's such a fascinating thing to watch the physical expression of the brain working. What a treat.
Maybe she doesn't want to ruin her appetite. I reckon her stomach is just big enough for that delicious-looking cupcake, and eating (too many) blackcurrents would mean she wouldn't be able to finish her main course. Then Marty would have to throw away a partially-eaten cupcake. Think about what a waste that would be!
1:25:30 ... I had to backtrack a bit at one point (bad assumption on how the path can go), then had to backtrack a LOT more to spot another error (when I didn't need to backtrack so far, as the error was in deducing the wrong par for cells r7c9 and r8c9), before finally making it through to the end. Still loved this one (as I have for this entire series). Wonderful storytelling and another astounding puzzle!
Simon’s great mistake was only thinking that Marty Sears would not be taking him on a journey, when in fact he had taken him on the greatest journey…. Into MADNESS l!!!!
Likewise, I was staring at the 8 like "what the...?!?". And I felt stupid when Simon says "is this an 8?" because I had already restarted the puzzle once, assuming I must have made an error only to arrive at the conundrum and not seeing it without this revelation from Simon. Outstanding puzzle construction!
I'm calling this one diabolical, in a good way mind you. I kept getting to a point where there was a conflict, and I was pulling my hair out until I realized some aspect I had missed. Then I had to restart keeping in mind that new realization. This happened 2 or 3 times. Diabolical, I tells ya.
you're right that it is possible theoretically, and that Simon overlooked it. However these options are soon ruled out by sudoku. Eg: 9 can't go at the left-hand end of the sequence because of the 1/9 pair in box 7, looking up. The blackcurrant can only be 3 and 6, so it has to start 036, and so can only be 0369(12) or 0369(6)... 12 would need to be made with 4 and 8 (this ends up being the right answer), or 6 would need to be made using 2 and 4 (because a 5 below looks up). SO either way that schrodinger cell contains a 4, meaning the blackcurrant in the row can only be 1 and 2, meaning the schrodinger cell can't contain a 2 after all. It's a slightly tricky part, and there's probably a couple of other ways to disprove it too that I haven't thought of! The most important thing to me was that some progress can be made without even knowing if that is a a 6 or a 12 yet.
Well done! I also got stuck where you got stuck... Took the shortest path from box 5 to 6 beliving that this time Fitz cannot vist all boxes AND could not grasp the 0 difference. Had to watch your video to resolve my biases... Thanks
That one bent my brain. Lost ages in box 5, because I thought that any path in that box would have the same difference, but of course I had misread the rules. Fully expected all 9 boxes to be used, but was not prepared for the difference in box 9!
Had a few days of feeling pretty poorly this week and CTC has really helped cheer me up, capped perfectly by Friday’s crossword and rat run videos. Thanks Simon! 😊
Great puzzle, definitely got thrown for a loop on the bounce sequences and then forgot about 0 difference at the end even though I'd enumerated it before.
I'm finally catching up with the series with this puzzle! Wanted to note that the current "Rat Runs by Marty Sears" playlist has one non-rat puzzle on it (titled Kneel Before Z...etamath). This current puzzle is also on the opposite end of the playlist based on the other puzzles' placements (though that matters less)
Fantastic puzzle as always, but I think the rules should have specified that consecutive cells on a segment must have the same *absolute value* of the difference.
I restarted this 4 times, every time I got stuck... So I watched the "explanation video" and it just took Simon a few seconds to realise that 0 is an option >.< if only I were so smart: would've saved me over an hour.
This was so difficult!! 104:22 I thought i had broken the puzzle so many times! The most devious of which was I was trying to figure out how the schrodingers was gonna go in box 5, 6, 8, 9 and erroneously drew the path went straight up in box 9. I could not figure out how i could fit the schrodinger and the difference constraint for the longest time until i realized it could be diagonal
At one moment during my solve I was fully convinced that in box 9 Finkz can either go through 7 or 68 and it doesn't matter for the solution - making her a true quantum rat in the superposition of paths😮 unfortunately later I remembered that difference of 7 is already used in box 5. But this got me thinking, I'd really love a quantum puzzle where path would be purposefully ambiguous but it wouldn't matter because it would lead to the same sudoku digits solution!
Tricksy - more than once I thought I'd broken it and had palpitations, and I still think I got away with some things at the start, but after the bumps it was more sedate. Thanks.
Simon: "I did notice the added challenge"... well not quite. You did do some assumptions that were incorrect (e.g. box 1 & 2 could've been 0,3,6,9,2+4 & 0,2,4,6,8,1+5). Truth be told I only saw these possibilities after I got stuck in box 5. Wonderful puzzle. Completely exceeds expectations even from a marty puzzle. Got bamboozled a bit more than I hoped for.
Incredibly fun solve! I only needed to look for help when i THOUGHT i was stuck, but I never actually was! Spoilers: I never would've thought of the 8-0-8 and the difference of zero on my own; both times I was convinced that I messed up.
"He's done this for me before!"
I dont think Finkz is the one who Marty is experimenting with at this stage
😂
I don't think she ever was.
You took the words right out of my mouth!
Me while reading the rules: no repeated same difference value, but 9 boxes of sudoku? Well there's gotta be a 0 difference line then
Simon, one hour into the solve:
@@averygaron994 Not necessarily. Could also be a pair with a large difference, like 0/17.
(But I figured there would be a 0. This puzzle did have both types.)
Hey there cupcake coveters!
Was really looking forward to this one. Probably the hardest one in season 2 (next week’s is more approachable again) but this is also probably one of my favourites. I’ll be honest, I’ve never really liked Schrodinger puzzles, mainly because my brain finds it hard to deal with them and make deductions with them. Setting this puzzle helped me start to overcome that, and I feel I have a better understanding of them now.
I knew since I started season 1 and started compiling my ‘ideas list’ that I just had tom have an episode called ‘Schrodinger’s Rat’ and that this type of nonsense would have no place in season 1. I also decided early that Schrodingers could combine very nicely with a ‘same difference line’ test constraint, which I definitely knew I wanted to include at some point, on account of me having invented that line :)
So the broad concept of this puzzle has been simmering away in my mind for many months, but I didn’t actually start setting it til last month. When I did, it came together surprisingly quickly, because I already knew roughly how it would work - the long segments being found first, and then gradually becoming shorter as the remaining differences get larger and larger.
And yes I simply HAD to include a difference of 0 and a difference greater than 10. By far the hardest part of setting this was the ending. I had boxes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 mostly done, and spent a couple of days fiddling with boxes 6 and 9, trying to get the most satisfying ending possible. It kept ending up with either a 0 difference OR a greater than 10 difference, but not both. But I reallllly wanted both, and kept plugging away until it started co-operating. In the end I was mega happy with the result.
The only irksome thing was the deadly pattern with 5s and 7s that could not be disambiguated using blackcurrants. So I thought I would just be silly and let them be the only two places which use one-way doors in this one!
Thanks again for the feature Simon, your solve was brilliant, you cottoned onto all the intended ways of thinking very quickly, I actually expected a much longer video for this, so I was impressed how quick you did it. My favourite part was where you boldly claimed it would be impossible to do a long tour round the grid with such ludicrously large differences left. I smiled in anticipation for the inevitable moment where you would have to retract that statement :D
Thanks also to everyone who has left nice comments - they are always a joy to read!
More outstandingness from you Marty!!! Love reading about your insights to these puzzles! Very thankful and grateful for you for what you bring to this community and who you are.
The funny thing is I knew you'd have a difference of 0 in there but it was the last difference I figured out so it kept me honest in a few places where I had to eliminate it. If I hadn't realized that, I'd have probably cheated the puzzle by not honestly eliminating it.
This is the best one so far for me... very satisfying to complete it.... i hope we get more and more seasons of Finkz and his cupcake
I'm loving these puzzle so much, thanks Marty! This was good fun, and took me 41 minutes - I liked the difficulty level. I also enjoyed reading your comments above. Thanks again, and I'm looking forward to more :)
Thanks again for a wonderful episode, Marty!
I got stuck at the beginning for a long time, wondering if you could have a -1 difference in box 7 and a 1 difference in box 4. (That might just allow you to take a different path in box 4.) Only when I assumed that wouldn't be the case I could continue, and (eventually) figured out the 8-0-8 in box 5 and knew for sure we were dealing with absolute differences.
Simon in many puzzles : "You can't put 7 on a black dot."
Marty Sears : "Hold my beer, let me fix that" 😁
The only 2 standard digits that do not appear on a black dot in this puzzle are 5 and 9. There is always next time I guess.
@@francoisduez601 😄
Solving these RatRun puzzles sometimes reminds me of the Sherlock Holmes quote:
"when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth". This was a fun one!
Whenever I see a simple path in these Rat Run puzzles, I now assume that I should disprove it in order to progress. Works pretty well!
36:58 "We've got six segments to come... That's impossible. You can't do that. No, you can't do that." never underestimate the brilliance of Marty Sears!
😂 I did chuckle when he said that
@@martysears brilliant 🤯
@@martysearsme too. I’d intuited already that it was likely possible and therefore you would have found a way, Marty! I was waiting for the Simon Being Flabbergasted moment, which is always a delight.
Yeah, he failed to realize at that point that several of those segments can be only two cells, which only involve a single difference and so are MUCH less restricted even before thinking about S-cells
And just like that, Simon forgot to link up the path between box 6 and 9
And also to connect the cupcake. Finks is hungry now! Still meant as a kind comment Simon :)
Sometimes I think Simon does not like people who have OCD... LOL
@@Jodawommmm, saying ocd dilutes what ocd actually means. It's more likely mild 'tism perfectionism?
@@paulschutte4729 There's more than one way to have OCD 😂. I also left the line off the start and end squares, otherwise the line ends in the wrong place on the cake (it would be most pleasing stopping just as it touches the cake, or next best would be in the centre of the cake). (Sorry I didn't mean literal OCD)
@@JodawoOr those of us with CDO. It's like OCD but you have to put the letters in order
poor finks, she never reached the cupcake
I cried 😢😢😢😢 a bit when he didn't connect it.
Maybe that's just the Schrodinger of it?
Yah, that rule broke the last Finkz puzzle. It doesn't state if Fink's starting spot or the cupcake is on the path.
@@iceberg54321 lol you say this pretty much every week
Headcanon: she quantum tunnelled across the gap.
"If the can go the long way around, Marty will force it." *proceeds to discover the path is forced the long way around*
He knows me well
The difference of zero in box 6 ruined my evening. Marty, I both love you and hate you right now.
I empathise
I had a lot of trouble with this episode, but the 0 difference wasn't one of them. I knew from the start that that was going to happen; I've done more than enough Marty Sears puzzles...
@@mscha I was waiting with bated breath for it to appear!
Having fallen for it before, it was the first thing I checked every time I got a new segment.
I'm just glad it was the last one that needed to be figured out. If it came any sooner in the puzzle I never would have considered it as a possibility.
Marty broke Simon. 🙂 Over 15 episodes he got him convinced that one day Marty will force us down the short path, then he got him convinced that a long path is impossible, then he got him down an impossible short path! By the end of the puzzle, he's laughing and giggling like a schoolboy... Classic! Well done Simon and Marty!!! Outstanding puzzle!
I definitely felt like a test subject in a maze while solving this, as I kept _both_ making errors which broke the puzzle (due to overlooking a possibility) and _thinking_ I'd made errors which broke the puzzle when I actually hadn't (again due to overlooking a possibility). A very trying (yet very fun!) 100+ minutes for me.
The best part of a Friday Marty Sears's brilliant setting and Simon's amazing solving skills. A genius duo.
Solved in 59:54. This puzzle set a record for me in there being no fewer than 4 separate times when I was absolutely convinced I had broken it, only to then think harder and come up with the correct solution for a particular box.
I had the exact same thing!! Started over like 3 times convinced that I did something wrong, but in reality I was correct but just hadn't thought of all the possibilities
I’m here for the comedy! Didn’t tell you on Thanksgiving, but I am immensely grateful for you and Mark and this community! On many occasions you have calmed, soothed and uplifted me when my world wasn’t working the way I wanted it to. And always lots of fun, laughs and entertainment! (Including guitar, poetry and lots of fantastic information!!).
Beautifully written!!! ❤❤ Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and immensely grateful for you!!
@ thank you David! I am grateful for you!! ❤️❤️
Loved the joy Simon found in Marty's various surprises. Makes him the perfect person to do this collection of cleverness.
The perfect level of difficulty to really push my puzzling capabilities. Started out thinking "how am I ever going to get my head around this schrodinger thing" and ended very proud of myself.
Like someone else once said, I see rat, I click.
The word Schrödinger in the title is intriguing.
Cool detail: every single schrodinger cell was also on the path
Quantum Physics happens to be my alley, but this puzzle made my brain enter an undefined state. Thank you Marty, and thank you Simon for a very strong solve. Yes, we all went 'famous last words' during that middle sequence, but it just made it all a lot more fun. Thanks!
Another fabulous finkz run!! Marty is superb!
Cherish seeing Simon tackle these as only he can! Watching him solve is a thing of beauty to me. Love hearing him laugh, give knowledge bombs , praise setters constantly and bring us along for a spectacular ride!!
33:04, after restarting part way through (I realised that I'd only been considering the long sequences going up - e.g. 0,3,6,9,12 instead of all the possibilities - i.e. I should also consider 3,0,3,6,9 and 0,3,6,9,6).
Simon got lucky as he didn’t consider this. Once I thought about this possibility I was like oh no….things turned way harder.
@@bobbie0976 Exactly. He used those undeserved digits a lot, especially in box 3.
Thanks for pointing that out. I spent a much longer time than Siimon in box 1 because I saw that possibility...
After avoiding the Rat Run series from intimidation, I sprinted through all of them just in time for today’s video. Excited!
I like how Simon explains that a black dot with 1 and 8 is broken because there's no way to make an 8 😂😂😂
At what time in the video did he say that?
@@aleksapupovac It's at the 41:21 mark of the video.
And comedy? There's ALWAYS comedy when Finx takes her mazy stroll. Just about to open it up - see you all in two or three hours.
These rat runs are some of the most entertaining sudokus ever. Along with the cryptic crossword, they make Fridays my favourite day for CtC viewing. Loved the way Simon convinced himself that the path couldn't go the long way and then discovered that the shortcut was impossible.
I spent half the puzzle waiting for the twist difference, and spent the last three boxes praying that we would get it, and lo and behold! Another genius ratrun.
Rarely comment but a Finkz puzzle always deserves a thank you to Marty and this one is no different. Wonderful. 39:07 and I haven't spent a more enjoyable 3/4 of an hour all week. Now to see how Simon gets on with it. What will he logically deduce in a completely different and more complex way than I did today!
As usual, beautiful logic that Simon's able to quickly do in his head.
Happy that Simon did it faster than me, but he was unencumbered by the possibilities that a 6-cell 2-difference line could be 024686, or a 5-cell 3-difference line could be 03696/30369.
Resolved itself quickly, but it was worth considering. :)
47:16 what an insane puzzle. I'm not one for cursing against setters but when I realised what the difference had to be in the first segment of Box 6 I found myself whispering "I hate you Marty."
I hope this comes across as a complement because it totally is, I couldn't believe the levels of insanity we were reaching in this puzzle and I loved every second of it!
Also shoutout to the website app, I was surprised to see it holding up perfectly with the Schrodinger concept, it accepted my centre pencil marked 2 digits as the correct answer to the puzzle, really satisfying!
What a fantastic puzzle! Such a great flow, very nice deductions to be made, just difficult enough (for me). Box 5 is a gem, marvelous! Wow, that's such an impressive setup!
I absolutely loved this one! The puzzle and the video in equal measure. Several times I thought I’d broken I had broken it, but alas there was a way. Such a fun solve - with Simon’s help of course!
Thank you Marty and Simon!
Outstanding puzzle! So many moments I thought I had broken something, but the solution was just so far from normal expectations it took a while to see it! Really really great.
I laughed so hard. This is an amazingly hilarious puzzle. I just love Finkz. Thank you Marty!
41:25 It's hilarious that Simon thinks 1 - 8 pair is broken in a black dot because you can't make "Schrödinger 8" in that cell. Otherwise 1 and 8 would be totally valid black dot values (!) :D
Yes, that was rather confusing.
Argh! I got burned by the 0 difference again! I even thought at the start of the puzzle, "0 is a valid difference on a 2-digit segment with a Schrödinger cell", and by the time I got to the end of the puzzle, it had completely flown out of my brain. Solved in 43:22, the last 5 minutes of which were me panicking over what I did wrong to get that state in box 6. All I had to do was pretend nothing was wrong, and I would have the "duh" moment.
Finkz is awesome as usual. Absolutely love this series!
solved in 28:28 - quite insane in a good way. I realized pretty early on that a 2-cell segment could be satisfied with a difference of 0 or 10+, but I didn't realize that a 3-cell (or more!) could have a segment going up and down by using a schrodinger cell until I got stuck in box 5. had to take the time to re-check my deductions in the previous boxes, though luckily they didn't break or else this would've been a much longer solve
Oh man. What a brilliant ending. I realized it seconds before Simon and I was gobsmacked. So good.
as soon as I read the rules I thought "there's going to be two cells with a difference of 0, isn't there?"
Finks day is again the highlight of the week. My "oh, no, he didn't" moment this time has got to be getting the difference in (the first time into) box 6. I had a couple lesser moments of this feeling, so I only hesitated a second or two before entering it and moving on.
1:24:23, but well worth it. Another great puzzle. (side note: caterdokupillar status is 39 done at 450 minutes. I just hope I have the time to finish it before the videos do 🙂)
Exploring Finckz's path is always a very great adventure.
Marty is not the only one with a dislike of Schrodinger puzzles but the cupcake incentive helped me conquer this one. Speaking of which, it's now snack time for me having just finished another Finkz masterpiece.
For a few minutes I thought the schodenger cell's value could be either digit and was thinking this would be so damn hard to solve. It being the sum made it very doable but still challenging. Loving the rat puzzles.
Why was the assumption r2c3 or r3c4 didn't have a value of 6
I got stuck on the final resolve, had to watch Simon do it, and when he solved it I gave a very loud "OH YOU BASTARD!" at Marty. Delightful as always.
My first digit was the zero in box one. It seems Simon never realized how hard it is for Finkz to eat black currants (natural or touched by Schrodinger) in this puzzle.
I have to congratulate Simon on his restraint. When it FINALLY dawned on me what Marty had done in Box 6 I literally screamed.
I finished in 109:48 minutes. The Schrödinger's cells really messed with my mind. I was happy at first, because I was soaring along and got the first three segments. I started to slow down, but I made my way slowly though the puzzle. I was a little distracted today and the Schrödinger's cells made my brain kind of hurt. Not a great combination. It took me way to long to see that the pathway was restricted in box 5 due to having all values available from the previous segments, especially the one in box 4. Seeing that finally allowed me to place a crucial Schrödinger's cell and I strolled into the finish. However, I thought I broke the puzzle in box 6 as I had an 8 leading to a Schrödinger's cell and I had used all other possibilities. Then I realized that the constructor is Marty, and of course it leads to itself. You almost tricked me, but I made it through, even though I had a subpar time. As usual, Marty's Rat Run is brilliant. Great Puzzle!
This was awesome! Watched the video after solving it myself. I love the fact that Simon isn't really twisted at all so he doesn't see your deviousness. My strategy with your puzzles is to try to figure out all the possible traps you might set.
I wonder if there's a way to represent a cat chasing Finks through the maze. Maybe having one set of criteria the cat and another criteria for Finks and the paths can't cross. Or create some rule that shows where the cat can go and Finks has to avoid those areas. Then for season 4 we introduce a dog to limit the cat :)
🍰 Finkzday Friday! 🐀
I needed the pointer to look at how long a sequence could be possible for differences greater than 1 to get started, but after allowing myself to get that hint, I was able to complete the puzzle in half an hour.
And right at the start, I said to myself "If there isn't one segment that has a difference of zero, I'll eat my hat" ... thankfully I don't have to get one of those illusion cakes that _looks_ like a hat in order to eat it ... the joy of Marty's puzzles is that you _know_ what tricks he's going to pull on you (some of them at least) but it's still great fun finding out where they go! Not trying to blow my own trumpet 🎺 but I also premonitioned a segment that went A-B-A as well 😉
I like when people anticipate my nonsense. Glad your hat gets to survive another day
Has anybody else assumed entering a box for the second time would require the same difference as before? I solved the puzzle thinking it was flawed until I watched the video and realised it's a new unique value every time.
This one looks like a fun one...haven't solved any of the second series, glad this channel will keep them up
I've Absolutely loved every puzzle in the series. They've been a pure joy to solve.
Every part of this one was fun. Even though I "knew" several things were going to happen (0 difference, traveling down into boxes 8-9, high-low-high) before starting it was exciting to see how it all came together in the end.
Finished in 51:09. (Kinda disappointed its finished now and may need to go back and resolve some of the older puzzles in the series.)
Loved this one, absolutely bonkers!
Very proud of Simon's first steps in overcoming his OCD!!! He ended the video with 2 sections of the path still missing. Proud of you Simon!
An incomplete solve is a rarity.
Oh, poor Simon. Marty didn't give you a Schrodinger (1,2) pair in the corner.
59:40 was a hilarious hilarious moment cause I said the same thing, Marty's done this to you before! Hahaha I love watching the realization, it's such a fascinating thing to watch the physical expression of the brain working. What a treat.
Man, Finkz is now turning down so many blackcurrants. You better find her some more tasty snacks, Marty.
She's obviously gorging herself on too many cupcakes 🍰
@@stevieinselby she's certainly well fed
Maybe she doesn't want to ruin her appetite. I reckon her stomach is just big enough for that delicious-looking cupcake, and eating (too many) blackcurrents would mean she wouldn't be able to finish her main course. Then Marty would have to throw away a partially-eaten cupcake. Think about what a waste that would be!
really enjoying Simon’s mental breakdown at 50:43
“what’s going on?? 0 is of no use to man nor beast”
The only thing more amazing than these puzzles construction is Simon's solving of them!
1:25:30 ... I had to backtrack a bit at one point (bad assumption on how the path can go), then had to backtrack a LOT more to spot another error (when I didn't need to backtrack so far, as the error was in deducing the wrong par for cells r7c9 and r8c9), before finally making it through to the end. Still loved this one (as I have for this entire series).
Wonderful storytelling and another astounding puzzle!
Thank Finkz it's Friday! (And Marty of course!)
Simon’s great mistake was only thinking that Marty Sears would not be taking him on a journey, when in fact he had taken him on the greatest journey…. Into MADNESS l!!!!
Likewise, I was staring at the 8 like "what the...?!?". And I felt stupid when Simon says "is this an 8?" because I had already restarted the puzzle once, assuming I must have made an error only to arrive at the conundrum and not seeing it without this revelation from Simon. Outstanding puzzle construction!
27:21 for me. Another fantastic puzzle in the series! Loved it!!
oh no! Simon forgot to get Finks all the way to the cupcake :D :D what a lovely puzzle this was as always!
I'm calling this one diabolical, in a good way mind you. I kept getting to a point where there was a conflict, and I was pulling my hair out until I realized some aspect I had missed. Then I had to restart keeping in mind that new realization. This happened 2 or 3 times. Diabolical, I tells ya.
"He's not going to take us on a Journey"
Narrator: He was in fact, going to take Simon on a journey
this is my favorite of the bunch so far
38:32 finish. I knew there were going to be some difference shenanigans when I realized that we would have to visit boxes more than once. Go Finkz go!
It was a lot of fun watching Simon slowly lose his mind on this one. Glad I wasn't the only one.
Schrödingers Cupcake might be eaten or might not be eaten, we never know ...
21:33 I think the logic is faulty. I think 0, 3, 6, 9, 6 is a valid and possible sequence as well. Or 9, 6, 3, 0, 3.
The sequences are all in one box so repeat digits are not possible.
@@trainsinpolandRepeat values are possible, though, using Schrödinger cells.
@@trainsinpoland But they are possible. The Schrödinger's cells allow two cells in a box to have the same value.
Oh yes, or 0 - 4 - 8 - (1,3) ... I hadn't considered that possibility either, so that's probably invalidated my solve too 😳
you're right that it is possible theoretically, and that Simon overlooked it. However these options are soon ruled out by sudoku. Eg: 9 can't go at the left-hand end of the sequence because of the 1/9 pair in box 7, looking up. The blackcurrant can only be 3 and 6, so it has to start 036, and so can only be 0369(12) or 0369(6)... 12 would need to be made with 4 and 8 (this ends up being the right answer), or 6 would need to be made using 2 and 4 (because a 5 below looks up). SO either way that schrodinger cell contains a 4, meaning the blackcurrant in the row can only be 1 and 2, meaning the schrodinger cell can't contain a 2 after all. It's a slightly tricky part, and there's probably a couple of other ways to disprove it too that I haven't thought of! The most important thing to me was that some progress can be made without even knowing if that is a a 6 or a 12 yet.
Wow! I’ll forgive you for not linking the path 😂
At some point I started wondering whether there would be a zero difference segment and neither Marty nor Simon dissappointed 😂
Well done! I also got stuck where you got stuck... Took the shortest path from box 5 to 6 beliving that this time Fitz cannot vist all boxes AND could not grasp the 0 difference. Had to watch your video to resolve my biases... Thanks
I saw this pop up on Logic Masters the other day, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I saw it on the channel!
Currently every Friday with Simon
That one bent my brain. Lost ages in box 5, because I thought that any path in that box would have the same difference, but of course I had misread the rules. Fully expected all 9 boxes to be used, but was not prepared for the difference in box 9!
36:37 Lol, I'm enjoying this. Thank you Simon, thank you Marty.
51:38 :D
First time Simon hasn’t finished a puzzle! He forgot to finish the path.
Had a few days of feeling pretty poorly this week and CTC has really helped cheer me up, capped perfectly by Friday’s crossword and rat run videos. Thanks Simon! 😊
I was waiting for the 0-difference segment the entire video because it's the meanest difference for a solver to think of
Great puzzle thankyou Marty and as always thx Simon :)
00:50:15 for me. The difference in box 6 had me confused for a bit. Fantastic puzzle as always! Kind comment.
Great puzzle, definitely got thrown for a loop on the bounce sequences and then forgot about 0 difference at the end even though I'd enumerated it before.
I can easily imagine the evil laughs of Marty, when placing all those regularly impossible steps in the puzzle!
25:37
"Might ain't we" is the most british sounding thing I've heard in a while
@@PCubiles I believe he said “mightn’t we”, but yes, still very British!
I'm finally catching up with the series with this puzzle! Wanted to note that the current "Rat Runs by Marty Sears" playlist has one non-rat puzzle on it (titled Kneel Before Z...etamath). This current puzzle is also on the opposite end of the playlist based on the other puzzles' placements (though that matters less)
I'm left with Schrodinger's sanity. That's what I'm left with.
Imagine this same rule set but not just with Schrödinger cells, but doublers and negators!
Fantastic puzzle as always, but I think the rules should have specified that consecutive cells on a segment must have the same *absolute value* of the difference.
I restarted this 4 times, every time I got stuck... So I watched the "explanation video" and it just took Simon a few seconds to realise that 0 is an option >.< if only I were so smart: would've saved me over an hour.
This was so difficult!! 104:22
I thought i had broken the puzzle so many times!
The most devious of which was I was trying to figure out how the schrodingers was gonna go in box 5, 6, 8, 9 and erroneously drew the path went straight up in box 9. I could not figure out how i could fit the schrodinger and the difference constraint for the longest time until i realized it could be diagonal
22:44 I suppose Simon missed the possibility for the 0 - 3 - 6 - 9 - 6 (1+5) in the first box (and similar in others).
I'm a bit late to this one because of American Thanksgiving, but delighted to see more Finkz all the same!
At one moment during my solve I was fully convinced that in box 9 Finkz can either go through 7 or 68 and it doesn't matter for the solution - making her a true quantum rat in the superposition of paths😮 unfortunately later I remembered that difference of 7 is already used in box 5. But this got me thinking, I'd really love a quantum puzzle where path would be purposefully ambiguous but it wouldn't matter because it would lead to the same sudoku digits solution!
Tricksy - more than once I thought I'd broken it and had palpitations, and I still think I got away with some things at the start, but after the bumps it was more sedate. Thanks.
13:20 "The zero makes no difference." Quite literally.
Simon: "I did notice the added challenge"... well not quite. You did do some assumptions that were incorrect (e.g. box 1 & 2 could've been 0,3,6,9,2+4 & 0,2,4,6,8,1+5). Truth be told I only saw these possibilities after I got stuck in box 5.
Wonderful puzzle. Completely exceeds expectations even from a marty puzzle. Got bamboozled a bit more than I hoped for.
IT TOOK ME AN HOUR 40 BUT I DID IT IM SO EXCITEDDDD
Incredibly fun solve! I only needed to look for help when i THOUGHT i was stuck, but I never actually was!
Spoilers:
I never would've thought of the 8-0-8 and the difference of zero on my own; both times I was convinced that I messed up.