Thanks so much to Simon (and to those who recommended this puzzle) for solving and for understanding it. I'm so glad to discover you're a Tracy Chapman fan, and I hope that viewers who aren't familiar will listen to her music as a result of this video.
Maybe people does not know you are the constructor, *Michael Lefkowitz.* Thank you for this magnificent outstanding work of art, enriched by Simon's citations from *Martin Luther King's* speeches at the end of the video. You fully deserve the admired comments received on LMD.
I’m glad that my not so short story could bring some warmth to your heart. This channel is truly a magical place and I’m so lucky to have stumbled upon it. Keep it up, CtC!
Peter, thank you for sharing. I have a lesser story of the importance of CtC. My daughter is now 3 months old. As I'm sure you know with a 9 month old, those first few months of sleep/feed schedules are grueling. Mix that in with I started a new job with training 130 miles away, I'm waking up at 4am every day the last 3 months, driving 130 miles, working 10 hours, driving 130 miles back to my family. I already had limited time for sleep, mix in waking up for 2am feedings and I was a zombie. We figured out tho if we load her up with what we call a dream feed late at night, like a lot (around 5oz), then she sleeps clean through the night. So every night, 10pm like Clockwork, I turn on CtC and feed her and put her down. It's my nightly ritual and CtC has become part of the babies bed time ritual lol funny what a silly youtube channel can turn out to mean to us. I am so happy for you, your family, and especially your child. He has been given a second chance and those are so rare. He is destined for success I know it. Whenever he has the choice between the easy way or the hard, the right or the wrong, he'll always choose the right bc in his heart he knows he's been given this opportunity and he's not going to waste it. So glad to hear a happy ending. You're in my prayers tonight.
@@Wakaflockabach similar story for me, my son is 2 months old and I often catch up on CtC while feeding him at 2am. I think he's come to find Simon's voice soothing. Incredible story Peter, so glad your son's surgery was successful.
Another poetic thing I discerned is that the poor/low digits/blacks were united, whereas the high/whites were separated communities. The minorities united. The most beautiful puzzle I've ever seen.
To give a little more context to this incredible puzzle for those who are less familiar with the history of US housing policy, redlining was a practice started by the US federal government of classifying parts of cities in terms of how safe an investment it was to give mortgages in that area. Areas in red on the maps were considered the least safe lenders. And, the areas in red generally included most of the neighborhoods where black people lived (as well as many other older and poorer neighborhoods). In practice, this meant that it was often impossible for black people to borrow money to buy homes in the neighborhood they already lived in; and, it was also very difficult to move into places where mortgages might be offered due to the presence of racially restrictive covenants - provisions in the deeds to property that banned the sale of that property to members of specified races ("race" here, of course, was usually used to exclude black, asian, or latino people, but many other groups were often specified as well such as jews, slavs, irish, etc.). The net effect was that black Americans were largely excluded from the wave of homeownership that followed World War II. And, as the puzzle's solution screen says, the impacts of these policies can still be seen today - sometimes in quite jarring ways. For instance, even though restrictive covenants have been unenforceable for decades, in many states there's been no way to actually remove them. The state of Pennsylvania literally just passed a law *three months ago* to allow property owners to legally repudiate such covenants.
Thank you. I was making sure someone left this comment. I would only add that the implication of redlining in the modern day is that because Black families were largely denied home-ownership, they were also denied access to a core element of generational wealth building. Even a cursory glance at so many rags-to-riches narratives leads to 'so and so worked out of their garage', eliding the fact that in order to do that, one must first have access to a garage to work out of. One can't leave a full-on dissertation in the comments of a RUclips video, but anyone interested in learning more should be encouraged to do so. Something that seems so distant in terms of time really has affected - and continues to affect - much of the present day.
The display is amazing. In terms of variant sudoku BLACK dots have the most potential to get high values as they work twice as hard and potentially get up to 6 and 8. However the redline regions stop the black dots reaching that potential. What a metaphor
When I tell people I like sudoku they tend to think I like playing around with numbers. Sometimes sudoku is about the numbers ; sometimes it's much more than that
Peter...so glad your son had the surgery and is on the road to recovery! Your email and words you wrote are very inspirational!! Thank you Simon for sharing it. Everything about it touched my heart.
Man, with all the intro, i thought the poor boy died a few days ago, two weeks short of his surgery! While a rollercoaster for the parents, I am actually rejoicing his hanging in there and hope that in a few years, he'll be joining us in the comments!
Bless CTC. Simon and Mark are more than just sudoku ambassadors. They are ambassadors of love, laughter, and logic. Peter, thank you for sharing your story and the connection you have with CTC. So happy for your family!
Wow! Just had a good cry and delighted that Peter's little one is on the road to recovery. Mark and Simon's video have kept me company through many dark nights as I struggle with depression, insomnia and anxiety. Thank you both for the channel x
I am so glad Peter's e-mail ended the way it did. It is amazing how sudoku, of all things, can have such a calming and reassuring effect on people. All the best to the little one.
I had the pleasure of solving this puzzle on release; it was truly one of the most emotional puzzles I have ever solved. Brilliant construction as always from Michael - every dot in the puzzle is placed perfectly and thematically.
Having grown up in Georgia - the birth place of Dr. King - I admire and appreciate what he did for civil rights at such a great personal cost. My favorite Dr.King quote is “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." Listening to Peter’s story about his son, I started crying so much, I had to pull into a parking lot to compose myself (I was listening to Simon while driving). Sending Peter and family lots of ❤️ and 🙏🏻. I know Simon and Mark are humbled that they were able to help you through such a dark time. We are all so glad to hear things are much better for your son! CtC has been one of my go to programs when I am feeling down or anxious, their affability and general kindness is so reassuring! I hope Simon and Mark have something like themselves to turn to when they need soothing and reassurance - it’s only fair. Thank you Simon, Mark and all of CtC community for fostering kindness and inclusion!
The implementation of the black dots is so brilliant. The rules automatically enforce a clusterfuck of disempowerment for any black dot on the board, forcing them to be a low value no matter what. You could have deduced this and started the puzzle by automatically shading all black dots as blue.
Wasn't expecting to be wiping tears away so I could watch Simon's solve today. Simon and Mark should have OBEs for the special way they help so many people around the world.
These videos help both patients as well as us clinicians. I work in A&E and your videos are such a great way to unwind after the stresses of work. You and Mark do an excellent job at providing a relief and coping mechanism to many of us.
I love every puzzle by Michael, I'm always so excited to see them featured - but this is something else, this is next-level brilliance. A profound work of art. How incredible to hear about Peter's son. Beautiful
I'm not sure if I was affected more by the realisation of the one white dot living in the black neighborhood, or by the realisation that the railroad was entirely black and the historical context for that.
I think something important to note is that it isn’t just how people feel, but discrimination baked into systems. Any individual bank loan officer might judge fairly on the content of people’s hearts, but the bank policies dictate mortgage rates. There have been a lot of decent, well-meaning people involved, who still produced discriminatory and segregationist results. Now, after redlining has “ended” we’ve seen automatic credit card issuance algorithms reproduce the biases of the past, because these things have been trained on biased data. Neighborhoods remain segregated in effect, if not by law. Even absent malice, we need to be vigilant that our financial institutions are not discriminating. But that’s not to say that malice is entirely gone, because the other thing these redlined regions resemble are gerrymandered American voting districts. Particularly in areas with heavy racial segregation, legislatures draw the lines of voting districts to consolidate power along racial lines. There were laws against this, passed due to the activism of people like MLK and John Lewis and Bayard Rustin. These laws helped fight injustice for decades, but the capacity to enforce them was gutted by hack decisions and right-wing partisanship, and immediately discrimination in our electoral systems skyrocketed. And if discrimination is baked into financial and electoral systems, we can probably expect to find it in others. (Spoiler, we can-identifying those systems is left to the solver). I know we like to think of this as something from the past, something now fixed. And that’s partly true. Things are undeniably much better. But discrimination is still real, and threatening to get worse.
As you so often do, Simon, you highlight our common humanity. Thank you for this video and the solve, and for your compassion toward the community who has grown up around CtC. You and Mark have made CtC a place that provides solace and peace for many, many, many people in so many different circumstances.
My daughter (now grown up) lives at the opposite end of the country to me and tonight I got to hug her for the first time since New Year as she's home for Easter. I wish Peter a lifetime of hugs and happiness from his son. A little fighter indeed. From Peter's email, I can see he gets his strength from Dad. As for the puzzle, or more accurately, its message; I don't really know what to say - what can you say about racism, bigotry, and hatred except that it shouldn't exist but tragically it still does. None of us know the race of Peter or his son and yet we all send them nothing but love and that should tell us all something.
To Peter and his family wishing you all the best. My granddaughter was born at 26 weeks weighing 670 grams. The hospital staff are wonderful people keeping our children as safe as they can. She is now 14 and a beautiful part of our lives. People all around the world will be hoping for all the best for you and your baby and your family. Sending you best wishes from Australia
Peter, I echo everyone else's sentiments of positivity. I am so relieved your son is doing well. I had a similar, but not as severe experience with one of my children and can attest to the calming nature of having something consistent and familiar in a storm of chaos. I wish I had found Simon and Mark sooner to have that experience as well, although I don't want to experience it again or want anyone else to.
The one-two combo of Peter’s story and Michael’s puzzle was not something I was prepared for when I went to watch my puzzle today. Simon, thanks for bringing light, love and laughter to what can be a dark place.
@cypher686 : At the end of the video, that white kropki dot is the only one in the "Black" region, but surrounded by the words "Who would dare to go" -- for me, I take it to suggest a brave and compassionate soul reaching across the divide...
All the best to Peter's son and his family! I'm so glad nothing bad happened to him while waiting for the solar eclipse and the medical professionals were ready. I wish you a happy life and hope your soul can heal from this rollercoaster of emotions. Take care!
Wow. Just, wow. Definitely the most thought-provoking and poignant message in a sudoku, and probably the most intricate and immaculately woven theming, that I've seen in the nearly 4 years that I've been following CTC - the puzzle itself is a great one, interesting and elegant to solve, but to have it tell such a deep and meaningful story at the same time transcends genius. I know _Fast Car_ and I love the haunting melody and powerful lyrics, but I'm not familiar with the rest of Tracy's ouevre, so I'm now off to listen to Across The Lines before i do anything else, even if it is half past midnight...
It's incredible how Michael crafted such a simple game to hold such depth. And there is nobody other than Simon who could better recognize and reveal its brilliance. Truly emotional
This video is Simon at his best, at his most Simon-like: compassionate, emotional, cultured, and very smart. I don't usually go for "draw a line" or "construct regions" as a puzzle type, but this one was riveting because it's more than just a puzzle, and more than just an evening's amusement. Thanks to Simon, to Mark, to Michael, and to the community here in comments. 😺
The words can, and really shouldn’t be ignored. Astonishing puzzle, I was drawn to tears multiple times realising the context across the video. It broke my heart how the areas were becoming more clear and where the high and low values would live. Incredible how Michael knew the puzzle would be gradually shaded by the solver making the words appear. I applaud you. To Peter and his family, my thoughts are with you. May only good things happen to you and your son from now on. CtC has always been there for me too, without them ever knowing.
I finished in 187 minutes. This was such a beautiful puzzle. The lyrics showing themselves as I colored the grid was incredible, even more-so at the end when the last two I colored were the words white and black, both being from different sets. The logic was also beautiful with the train track acting as a dividing line to start the puzzle. This a legendary puzzle dedicated to a legendary artist. Great Puzzle!
Peter's email was incredibly touching as was Simon's response to the email. As for the puzzle, I can only say... wow. Just... wow. Amazing construction, and solving it was a great experience, along with the discovery of the powerful words embedded within! One thing about Simon's solve that surprised me was how little he used the restriction on the red line itself to make certain deductions; I leaned heavily on that and was able to complete the puzzle in 22:44 (conflict checker off), which surprised me a fair amount, but I guess this new constraint just really clicked for me! I hope to see more of these types of puzzles in the future!
I’ve just recently discovered your videos and you’ve inspired me to challenge myself with more difficult sudoku type puzzles. I never thought I would be interested in watching a stranger solve a puzzle for over an hour but after watching tens of your videos in the last week, I apparently am. Now I can also see the wonderful impact your channel has on others as well. Thank you for your videos! And thank you for including such an impactful puzzle in the many you solve.
The words in the grid can be ignored, but really should not be. Even their placement is so intentional and meaningful. I realized quickly that all the black dots had low values, and theorized that the white dots would have high values. Then the white dot in box 2 was also revealed to be low value, and came with the associated line from the lyrics. As others have noticed already, it was the one “who would dare to go.” That even this dot had the highest possible values for that region was meaningful too.
Because there is 1 Red line, there must be at least one orthogonal region in the puzzle. There are a couple of moments in the solve where this would have been helpful, since the orange regions are already separated.
Wasnt planning on crying tonight but here we are.. So happy for peter,i truly wish him and his son the best. And even if i haven't had to go through something like that,what he said is true for me as well,so many nights when i made the worst thoughts for myself,you guys were always there keeping me company,and the least me and any viewer can say for that is thank you.
Wow Michael..just absolutely incredible setting with such a poignant message built in. Thank you for the explanation and words in the solution check!! Simon you did such a fabulous job conveying that message at the end and realing how the puzzle turned out!!
So glad this got featured so that a wider audience could appreciate this brilliant piece of art. It unfolded perfectly for me. Unlike Simon, I had never heard the Tracy Chapman song so had no idea of the theme at the beginning. For me, this made the ending even more impactful. Near the end I was marvelling at how all the words were being revealed in the right order like Michael was doing some kind of magic mind-reading trick to know what I would colour in what order. I was loving the role 5 was playing in finishing some of the regions. And then just as the last ambiguous piece of colouring was disambiguated in r7c8, at the peak of my awe at the masterful puzzle setting, suddenly at that same moment I was hit with a flood of realisation at what all the words meant, as the final word 'blacks' was revealednin the last cell to be coloured. I suddenly realised what Michael had done, and indeed what I had done by drawing the red line. The solution message was much appreciated, and I learnt something new. I checked the grid layout again, and saw another layer to the genius of the word placements. "under the bridge" under the bridge formation made out of kropkis. 'Across the lines' and 'that separates' literally straddling the red line. And most stunning of all was the words 'who dared to go' next to the one white kropki in the black area. This kropki was also key in disambiguating a large portion of the grid. The puzzle couldn't have been completed without a white kropki joining a 4 to a 5 in the blue area, otherwise 1s and 4s would have been entirely interchangeable. Layers upon layers here... Michael took this puzzle concept way beyond what anyone else would have. I have never seen storytelling of this class in a sudoku puzzle before, and have never had an emotional reaction to a puzzle before either. Remarkable stuff
Thanks again for the kind words Marty, and for the play-by-play -- it's nice to hear how the solve came together for someone who didn't already know Tracy Chapman or the term "redlining" (which I suspect is the case for most solvers, Simon and his surprising wealth of knowledge about U.S. history notwithstanding). It sounds like things fell into place for you in just the sequence I was hoping they would.
SPOILERS AHEAD! So, elaborating on the theme (unless you said it in the video and I missed it) the whole board looks like a map where cells are, parcels, lots, blocks or whatever. Then the numbers are the value of the land, so dots are living in neighborhoods of different value land, segregated (both people and neighborhoods) by the red lining, (again, banks, mortgages, homes, land value). Notice the land touching train tracks are of low value, that is something that happens in my country a lot, don't know about other places but makes sense. One last thought, most white dots live in the high value cells, except for that one *who dares to* live up there. Black dots on the other hand are only on low digit cells. This is so beautifully crafted I can't believe it, and I keep seeing more and more things in it. Thank you for this!
Thanks for the comment, it's a good analysis of the extended metaphor. The black dots can indeed never live in high value neighborhoods in any puzzle with this rule set. This is not a "rule", but it is an inescapable consequence of the rules. I was also surprised to discover when setting it that there must be a white dot on the "wrong" side of the line for the puzzle to solve uniquely, because 1s and 4s can never be resolved otherwise. Make of that what you will.
Beatifully crafted. Working in data science for a lot of different industries, the number one predictive feature for anything at all is zip code. It has every possible aspect of culture, race, economic status, social class, behavior, and wealth baked into it. Often zip code has more predictive power than every other piece of data combined. This geographic segmentation is the foundation of every part of consumer life, from credit scores to marketing to car insurance premiums. On a lighter note, I'm pretty sure 5 represents Elvis.
This puzzle is really a work of art. Like, literally, i can see it in a museum or gallery like an interactive art and i love that!! I hope some day we actually found it in a museum haha
What a touching story to kick off this video, and a beautiful puzzle. That such a clear expression of the theme can work and also be so satisfying to solve is astonishing. Simon's breakdown of the layers of meaning of the digits, lines, and dots at the end was great too. Loved it.
Wow thank you so much for showing me the joys of sudoku, it feels like you’ve shown me a new side of them today. What a beautiful art piece Michael has made.
This is one of the most incredible sudoku puzzles I have ever seen. Before seeing this puzzle, I could not even have imagined that a sudoku puzzle could be used for storytelling or provoke an emotional reaction beyond just excitement/frustration of the solve. Every aspect of this puzzle is perfectly constructed and brilliant, even the bits that the rules say we can ignore. Perhaps amending the last sentence of the rules from "The words on the grid can be ignored" to add "for purposes of solving the puzzle". Those words and their placement absolutely have tremendous meaning and should not be ignored.
*Rhyming Rules* Into this grid of neatly crossing lines insert nine sets of digits (ones through nines). No more than once per column, box or row may any of these nine such digits show. To aid in solving, rules which now will tell where whites and blacks within this grid may dwell: a white resides between a neighbor pair; a difference of one is what they share. A black's location will instead bestow a pair of 2 to 1 in ratio. Both whites' and blacks' restrictions are thus known (though not all whites and blacks are hereby shown). The dollar symbols mark the given ends that bound a single Redline route that wends along the edges of some cells as such that at no point this line itself may touch. Nor may the Redline cross the railroad tracks nor any of the dot-marked whites or blacks. Along its route some regions will be split; into these regions, certain digits fit. In regions that contain 4 or below, the digits 6 to 9 may never go. In regions that contain a 6 or more, you may not place the digits 1 to 4. Some words are placed upon the puzzle board; these words may (if you choose) remain ignored.
I'm so happy this story ended on a happy ending. I wish this family all the happiness in the world. I think they went through enough hardships already.
To get a little help getting started, I watched Simon for a few minutes. Afterwards I was able to solve the very adventurous puzzle with a lot of joy and less difficulties than I thought at the beginning.
I was woried the title might just be click bait hyperbole, but Peters email really hit home 😢. As a fellow father of a child has spent many nights in hospital I too have been using these videos to pass the time. thanks to simon and mark and all the community in the comments that keep this corner of the internet kind and eager for intellect stimulatiom
Was this guy setting under a different name before? He seems to have just come out of nowhere in the last few months with some of the most creative setting I've seen, it's astounding.
Thanks for the kind words. I set my first sudoku this January (Heat Stroke, which amazingly got a CTC feature), but I've previously designed board games and some puzzle video game content, and authored a few crosswords, and some of the same principles apply. I've always very much liked art games (especially indie video games), so that might explain a bit where this is coming from.
Wonderful story! Peter is future fan of CTC for sure! :) :) :) Hope you guys really understand how appreciative so many of us are of your work. in a world of non-stop nonsense online, CTC is one of the few solid places on the Internet that we all know we can get away for a while and enjoy flexing our brains.
I would also like to point out that the fastest way around the black dots is: They all have to be on the same high/lowity, so 36 and 48 are impossible, leaving 124 as the only option. Which gave me my first digits in the grid.
Simon is an absolute gem. With all sincerity, it truly brings me joy to get to yell "do sudoku!" while Simon starts coloring things half pink and semi dark green. 😅 (But seriously, you've taught me so much, Simon. You're brilliant. Never stop.)
63 minutes. Feels almost bad talking about times with something of this flawless theming. I did end up dividing the board into "black" and "white" regions. Within the first ten minutes or so, in fact, as soon as I cottoned onto what was going on. I haven't felt that ambivalent about a puzzle game since I realised that in my ancient 40-year-old version of "Cleudo" (Clue to the Americans here) the literal set-up is that the Black guy always gets killed off at the start. (And yes, Mr Black's skin is subtly but noticeably darker than the other characters' pictures in that game. Ah, different times.) Anyway, it's probably the most satisfying sudoku I've ever solved. Also, having the single solitary white-dot-in-a-black-region surrounded by the words "who would dare to go..." is absolute genius.
Honestly was shocked there was a white dot in blue. 😂 Great puzzle, great song. Think I’m going to listen to the song right now. (Side note on red lining: While outright red lining is illegal, because of how mortgage fees work, banks are really disincentivized to issue low cost mortgages. This means that it’s still incredibly difficult for low income, low class people to access the loans needed to purchase a home they can afford.)
Masterful construction. Outstanding innovation. Very enjoyable solving path. 100% thematic consistency. Awesome❗ 👏👏👏👏👏👏 Great solve by Simon, enriched by moving citations from *Martin Luther King Jr.'s* speeches at the end of the video.
Another detail I noticed. The low digits are confined. Sealed in even on the edges of the grid except for one area. The high digits are all open at the edges and free to leave the grid so to speak. The most restricted spot for the high digits is r3c1 but even that still open for the high digits.
The nasty cynical part of me once wondered whether Mark and Simon just view CTC as a nice way to make money. It's never been clearer than in this video how untrue that is, how passionate they are about puzzles, and that they really do this for the fun of it. I loved the beautiful theme of this puzzle, and Peter's heart-throbbing and poetic email (read very affectively by Simon). There is good in the world. Thank you.
Thanks so much to Simon (and to those who recommended this puzzle) for solving and for understanding it. I'm so glad to discover you're a Tracy Chapman fan, and I hope that viewers who aren't familiar will listen to her music as a result of this video.
Maybe people does not know you are the constructor, *Michael Lefkowitz.* Thank you for this magnificent outstanding work of art, enriched by Simon's citations from *Martin Luther King's* speeches at the end of the video. You fully deserve the admired comments received on LMD.
This is astounding. It's not often you see a puzzle with a social message, let alone one as brilliant as this one. Thank you for doing this.
Just loss for words. Setting brilliant. Message phenomenal!!
@thejuggler42 I will look for and listen to her music. Thank you for this excellent puzzle and bringing attention to social injustice.
@@davidrattner9 agree
I’m glad that my not so short story could bring some warmth to your heart. This channel is truly a magical place and I’m so lucky to have stumbled upon it. Keep it up, CtC!
Peter, thank you for sharing. I have a lesser story of the importance of CtC. My daughter is now 3 months old. As I'm sure you know with a 9 month old, those first few months of sleep/feed schedules are grueling. Mix that in with I started a new job with training 130 miles away, I'm waking up at 4am every day the last 3 months, driving 130 miles, working 10 hours, driving 130 miles back to my family. I already had limited time for sleep, mix in waking up for 2am feedings and I was a zombie. We figured out tho if we load her up with what we call a dream feed late at night, like a lot (around 5oz), then she sleeps clean through the night. So every night, 10pm like Clockwork, I turn on CtC and feed her and put her down. It's my nightly ritual and CtC has become part of the babies bed time ritual lol funny what a silly youtube channel can turn out to mean to us. I am so happy for you, your family, and especially your child. He has been given a second chance and those are so rare. He is destined for success I know it. Whenever he has the choice between the easy way or the hard, the right or the wrong, he'll always choose the right bc in his heart he knows he's been given this opportunity and he's not going to waste it. So glad to hear a happy ending. You're in my prayers tonight.
Thank you for your share.
All the best to your family!
@@Wakaflockabach similar story for me, my son is 2 months old and I often catch up on CtC while feeding him at 2am. I think he's come to find Simon's voice soothing.
Incredible story Peter, so glad your son's surgery was successful.
So glad that your child is going to be OK!
"The words in the grid can be ignored" is a hell of a statement just on its own.
Thanks Simon. This was good.
I felt the same about that statement.
I agree, very stark.
The white dot in box 2 "dared to go" across the line
That was my favorite part. That and the fact that it's in the two boxes it's straddling that the words "Who would dare to go..." appear.
I think that it is a 4/5 white dot which is the max for this region is intentional as well
I like the fact that the number 5 is in the “who” cell. The only digit who lives in both sides
And this only white dot that dared to cross the line is actually disambiguating all the 14 pairs!
There’s also a lyrics in the song where is says “a white boy goes blind.” This could mean he was blind and stumbled across the line
Another poetic thing I discerned is that the poor/low digits/blacks were united, whereas the high/whites were separated communities. The minorities united.
The most beautiful puzzle I've ever seen.
To give a little more context to this incredible puzzle for those who are less familiar with the history of US housing policy, redlining was a practice started by the US federal government of classifying parts of cities in terms of how safe an investment it was to give mortgages in that area. Areas in red on the maps were considered the least safe lenders. And, the areas in red generally included most of the neighborhoods where black people lived (as well as many other older and poorer neighborhoods).
In practice, this meant that it was often impossible for black people to borrow money to buy homes in the neighborhood they already lived in; and, it was also very difficult to move into places where mortgages might be offered due to the presence of racially restrictive covenants - provisions in the deeds to property that banned the sale of that property to members of specified races ("race" here, of course, was usually used to exclude black, asian, or latino people, but many other groups were often specified as well such as jews, slavs, irish, etc.). The net effect was that black Americans were largely excluded from the wave of homeownership that followed World War II.
And, as the puzzle's solution screen says, the impacts of these policies can still be seen today - sometimes in quite jarring ways. For instance, even though restrictive covenants have been unenforceable for decades, in many states there's been no way to actually remove them. The state of Pennsylvania literally just passed a law *three months ago* to allow property owners to legally repudiate such covenants.
Thank you. I was making sure someone left this comment. I would only add that the implication of redlining in the modern day is that because Black families were largely denied home-ownership, they were also denied access to a core element of generational wealth building. Even a cursory glance at so many rags-to-riches narratives leads to 'so and so worked out of their garage', eliding the fact that in order to do that, one must first have access to a garage to work out of.
One can't leave a full-on dissertation in the comments of a RUclips video, but anyone interested in learning more should be encouraged to do so. Something that seems so distant in terms of time really has affected - and continues to affect - much of the present day.
The display is amazing. In terms of variant sudoku BLACK dots have the most potential to get high values as they work twice as hard and potentially get up to 6 and 8. However the redline regions stop the black dots reaching that potential. What a metaphor
When I tell people I like sudoku they tend to think I like playing around with numbers. Sometimes sudoku is about the numbers ; sometimes it's much more than that
Peter...so glad your son had the surgery and is on the road to recovery! Your email and words you wrote are very inspirational!! Thank you Simon for sharing it. Everything about it touched my heart.
Man, with all the intro, i thought the poor boy died a few days ago, two weeks short of his surgery! While a rollercoaster for the parents, I am actually rejoicing his hanging in there and hope that in a few years, he'll be joining us in the comments!
Exactly! I was horrified at what Simon might be about to say, and so relieved by what actually happened.
Yup! Welcome to CtC, where even a positive outcome can be turned into a sob story.
Everything for the suspense.
no idea why they think politics can make for a good clickbait@@conexant51
who the hell cries when watching a sudoku video, me, thats who, ty
Ditto
Ugh... same
Bless CTC. Simon and Mark are more than just sudoku ambassadors. They are ambassadors of love, laughter, and logic. Peter, thank you for sharing your story and the connection you have with CTC. So happy for your family!
Wow! Just had a good cry and delighted that Peter's little one is on the road to recovery.
Mark and Simon's video have kept me company through many dark nights as I struggle with depression, insomnia and anxiety. Thank you both for the channel x
+1
Man, I was worried the comments were overhyping the puzzle but they really weren't. Truly, truly beautiful.
I am so glad Peter's e-mail ended the way it did. It is amazing how sudoku, of all things, can have such a calming and reassuring effect on people. All the best to the little one.
I had the pleasure of solving this puzzle on release; it was truly one of the most emotional puzzles I have ever solved. Brilliant construction as always from Michael - every dot in the puzzle is placed perfectly and thematically.
Beginning of the puzzle: "Words in the grid can be ignored" haha ok cool
End of the puzzle: "Words in the grid can be ignored" well shit :(
Exactly. Exactly.
Having grown up in Georgia - the birth place of Dr. King - I admire and appreciate what he did for civil rights at such a great personal cost. My favorite Dr.King quote is “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." Listening to Peter’s story about his son, I started crying so much, I had to pull into a parking lot to compose myself (I was listening to Simon while driving). Sending Peter and family lots of ❤️ and 🙏🏻. I know Simon and Mark are humbled that they were able to help you through such a dark time. We are all so glad to hear things are much better for your son! CtC has been one of my go to programs when I am feeling down or anxious, their affability and general kindness is so reassuring! I hope Simon and Mark have something like themselves to turn to when they need soothing and reassurance - it’s only fair. Thank you Simon, Mark and all of CtC community for fostering kindness and inclusion!
The implementation of the black dots is so brilliant. The rules automatically enforce a clusterfuck of disempowerment for any black dot on the board, forcing them to be a low value no matter what.
You could have deduced this and started the puzzle by automatically shading all black dots as blue.
Wasn't expecting to be wiping tears away so I could watch Simon's solve today. Simon and Mark should have OBEs for the special way they help so many people around the world.
Amen.
Yes.
These videos help both patients as well as us clinicians. I work in A&E and your videos are such a great way to unwind after the stresses of work. You and Mark do an excellent job at providing a relief and coping mechanism to many of us.
This is a fantastic friendly and inclusive channel. Long may it continue.
There’s more poignant meaning Simon didn’t spot; one white dot that dared to venture into black territory with the matching lyric underneath
And they still got the highest values available in the black neighbourhood.
I love every puzzle by Michael, I'm always so excited to see them featured - but this is something else, this is next-level brilliance. A profound work of art. How incredible to hear about Peter's son. Beautiful
Kia ora koe, a koutou katoa
I'm not sure if I was affected more by the realisation of the one white dot living in the black neighborhood, or by the realisation that the railroad was entirely black and the historical context for that.
Oh yeah, I didn't notice that.
"The underground railroad"
Nice observation
I missed that
Thanks
The one white dot in the black neighborhood is the one who dared to go
I think something important to note is that it isn’t just how people feel, but discrimination baked into systems. Any individual bank loan officer might judge fairly on the content of people’s hearts, but the bank policies dictate mortgage rates. There have been a lot of decent, well-meaning people involved, who still produced discriminatory and segregationist results. Now, after redlining has “ended” we’ve seen automatic credit card issuance algorithms reproduce the biases of the past, because these things have been trained on biased data. Neighborhoods remain segregated in effect, if not by law. Even absent malice, we need to be vigilant that our financial institutions are not discriminating.
But that’s not to say that malice is entirely gone, because the other thing these redlined regions resemble are gerrymandered American voting districts. Particularly in areas with heavy racial segregation, legislatures draw the lines of voting districts to consolidate power along racial lines. There were laws against this, passed due to the activism of people like MLK and John Lewis and Bayard Rustin. These laws helped fight injustice for decades, but the capacity to enforce them was gutted by hack decisions and right-wing partisanship, and immediately discrimination in our electoral systems skyrocketed.
And if discrimination is baked into financial and electoral systems, we can probably expect to find it in others. (Spoiler, we can-identifying those systems is left to the solver). I know we like to think of this as something from the past, something now fixed. And that’s partly true. Things are undeniably much better. But discrimination is still real, and threatening to get worse.
As you so often do, Simon, you highlight our common humanity. Thank you for this video and the solve, and for your compassion toward the community who has grown up around CtC. You and Mark have made CtC a place that provides solace and peace for many, many, many people in so many different circumstances.
My daughter (now grown up) lives at the opposite end of the country to me and tonight I got to hug her for the first time since New Year as she's home for Easter. I wish Peter a lifetime of hugs and happiness from his son. A little fighter indeed. From Peter's email, I can see he gets his strength from Dad. As for the puzzle, or more accurately, its message; I don't really know what to say - what can you say about racism, bigotry, and hatred except that it shouldn't exist but tragically it still does. None of us know the race of Peter or his son and yet we all send them nothing but love and that should tell us all something.
Peter.. Prayers for you and your family..may he have a healthy and long life and may he watch CTC videos for many many years to come!
Many clever puzzles are featured on the channel, but this one is pure poetry 😮
Anyday Simon brings out his guitar is a day that I'm made to be so unbelievably happy; I LOVE your playing and wish you'd did it more
The human, ethical and moral aspects in this video are more important than the logical ones, thanks!
It's puzzles like this (and indeed their brilliant solves) that make me proud to be a part of our global puzzle community. Love to all.
To Peter and his family wishing you all the best. My granddaughter was born at 26 weeks weighing 670 grams. The hospital staff are wonderful people keeping our children as safe as they can. She is now 14 and a beautiful part of our lives. People all around the world will be hoping for all the best for you and your baby and your family. Sending you best wishes from Australia
Peter, I echo everyone else's sentiments of positivity. I am so relieved your son is doing well. I had a similar, but not as severe experience with one of my children and can attest to the calming nature of having something consistent and familiar in a storm of chaos. I wish I had found Simon and Mark sooner to have that experience as well, although I don't want to experience it again or want anyone else to.
This is a sublime work of art.
Big Tracy Chapman Fan here! I have never felt so emotional over a sudoku.
The one-two combo of Peter’s story and Michael’s puzzle was not something I was prepared for when I went to watch my puzzle today. Simon, thanks for bringing light, love and laughter to what can be a dark place.
The best part are not the amazing puzzles, but Simon and Mark hability to make us watch 1 hour of sudoku! Thank you both for this amazing channel! 😊
Beautiful. Thank you Simon and Michael.
@cypher686 : At the end of the video, that white kropki dot is the only one in the "Black" region, but surrounded by the words "Who would dare to go" -- for me, I take it to suggest a brave and compassionate soul reaching across the divide...
yet still between the highest values in the region
This is literally a perfect puzzle. I had tears in my eyes at the end. Not enough thumbs up in the world for this. Thank you Simon and Michael.
All the best to Peter's son and his family! I'm so glad nothing bad happened to him while waiting for the solar eclipse and the medical professionals were ready. I wish you a happy life and hope your soul can heal from this rollercoaster of emotions. Take care!
I was initially confused about the weird way in which the kropki clues were explained, and then I realised its relevance to segregation
Wow.
Just, wow.
Definitely the most thought-provoking and poignant message in a sudoku, and probably the most intricate and immaculately woven theming, that I've seen in the nearly 4 years that I've been following CTC - the puzzle itself is a great one, interesting and elegant to solve, but to have it tell such a deep and meaningful story at the same time transcends genius.
I know _Fast Car_ and I love the haunting melody and powerful lyrics, but I'm not familiar with the rest of Tracy's ouevre, so I'm now off to listen to Across The Lines before i do anything else, even if it is half past midnight...
Peter - so glad to hear that news. Best of luck to your family. That boy is headed for greatness!
It's incredible how Michael crafted such a simple game to hold such depth. And there is nobody other than Simon who could better recognize and reveal its brilliance. Truly emotional
This video is Simon at his best, at his most Simon-like: compassionate, emotional, cultured, and very smart. I don't usually go for "draw a line" or "construct regions" as a puzzle type, but this one was riveting because it's more than just a puzzle, and more than just an evening's amusement. Thanks to Simon, to Mark, to Michael, and to the community here in comments. 😺
Genuinely stunning. Incredible what we're seeing done with puzzles.
The words can, and really shouldn’t be ignored. Astonishing puzzle, I was drawn to tears multiple times realising the context across the video. It broke my heart how the areas were becoming more clear and where the high and low values would live. Incredible how Michael knew the puzzle would be gradually shaded by the solver making the words appear. I applaud you.
To Peter and his family, my thoughts are with you. May only good things happen to you and your son from now on. CtC has always been there for me too, without them ever knowing.
Oh this is fantastic!
I finished in 187 minutes. This was such a beautiful puzzle. The lyrics showing themselves as I colored the grid was incredible, even more-so at the end when the last two I colored were the words white and black, both being from different sets. The logic was also beautiful with the train track acting as a dividing line to start the puzzle. This a legendary puzzle dedicated to a legendary artist. Great Puzzle!
Peter's email was incredibly touching as was Simon's response to the email. As for the puzzle, I can only say... wow. Just... wow. Amazing construction, and solving it was a great experience, along with the discovery of the powerful words embedded within! One thing about Simon's solve that surprised me was how little he used the restriction on the red line itself to make certain deductions; I leaned heavily on that and was able to complete the puzzle in 22:44 (conflict checker off), which surprised me a fair amount, but I guess this new constraint just really clicked for me! I hope to see more of these types of puzzles in the future!
What a range of emotions for a sudoku video. The fragility of life, the tenderness of love, the miracles of science, the horrors of segregation.
I’ve just recently discovered your videos and you’ve inspired me to challenge myself with more difficult sudoku type puzzles. I never thought I would be interested in watching a stranger solve a puzzle for over an hour but after watching tens of your videos in the last week, I apparently am. Now I can also see the wonderful impact your channel has on others as well. Thank you for your videos! And thank you for including such an impactful puzzle in the many you solve.
A positively BRILLIANT and poignant setting. Simon had my sympathies through this one. We are all truly blessed to have found this community.
Simply stunning not only as a brilliant puzzle but also for its powerful theme, which worked so well on many levels. A masterpiece!
Also, the "blacks" being actually on the railway lines will not have been an accident. Superb!
The words in the grid can be ignored, but really should not be. Even their placement is so intentional and meaningful.
I realized quickly that all the black dots had low values, and theorized that the white dots would have high values. Then the white dot in box 2 was also revealed to be low value, and came with the associated line from the lyrics. As others have noticed already, it was the one “who would dare to go.” That even this dot had the highest possible values for that region was meaningful too.
Caught me unawares with my emotions today. Cheers to the successful surgery and a great solve!
Because there is 1 Red line, there must be at least one orthogonal region in the puzzle. There are a couple of moments in the solve where this would have been helpful, since the orange regions are already separated.
Wasnt planning on crying tonight but here we are.. So happy for peter,i truly wish him and his son the best. And even if i haven't had to go through something like that,what he said is true for me as well,so many nights when i made the worst thoughts for myself,you guys were always there keeping me company,and the least me and any viewer can say for that is thank you.
Wow Michael..just absolutely incredible setting with such a poignant message built in. Thank you for the explanation and words in the solution check!! Simon you did such a fabulous job conveying that message at the end and realing how the puzzle turned out!!
So glad this got featured so that a wider audience could appreciate this brilliant piece of art. It unfolded perfectly for me. Unlike Simon, I had never heard the Tracy Chapman song so had no idea of the theme at the beginning. For me, this made the ending even more impactful. Near the end I was marvelling at how all the words were being revealed in the right order like Michael was doing some kind of magic mind-reading trick to know what I would colour in what order. I was loving the role 5 was playing in finishing some of the regions. And then just as the last ambiguous piece of colouring was disambiguated in r7c8, at the peak of my awe at the masterful puzzle setting, suddenly at that same moment I was hit with a flood of realisation at what all the words meant, as the final word 'blacks' was revealednin the last cell to be coloured. I suddenly realised what Michael had done, and indeed what I had done by drawing the red line. The solution message was much appreciated, and I learnt something new. I checked the grid layout again, and saw another layer to the genius of the word placements. "under the bridge" under the bridge formation made out of kropkis. 'Across the lines' and 'that separates' literally straddling the red line. And most stunning of all was the words 'who dared to go' next to the one white kropki in the black area. This kropki was also key in disambiguating a large portion of the grid. The puzzle couldn't have been completed without a white kropki joining a 4 to a 5 in the blue area, otherwise 1s and 4s would have been entirely interchangeable. Layers upon layers here... Michael took this puzzle concept way beyond what anyone else would have. I have never seen storytelling of this class in a sudoku puzzle before, and have never had an emotional reaction to a puzzle before either. Remarkable stuff
Thanks again for the kind words Marty, and for the play-by-play -- it's nice to hear how the solve came together for someone who didn't already know Tracy Chapman or the term "redlining" (which I suspect is the case for most solvers, Simon and his surprising wealth of knowledge about U.S. history notwithstanding). It sounds like things fell into place for you in just the sequence I was hoping they would.
This is a spoiler, but see if you can spot where the white dot that is the odd man out and appreciate its placement.
SPOILERS AHEAD! So, elaborating on the theme (unless you said it in the video and I missed it) the whole board looks like a map where cells are, parcels, lots, blocks or whatever. Then the numbers are the value of the land, so dots are living in neighborhoods of different value land, segregated (both people and neighborhoods) by the red lining, (again, banks, mortgages, homes, land value). Notice the land touching train tracks are of low value, that is something that happens in my country a lot, don't know about other places but makes sense. One last thought, most white dots live in the high value cells, except for that one *who dares to* live up there. Black dots on the other hand are only on low digit cells. This is so beautifully crafted I can't believe it, and I keep seeing more and more things in it. Thank you for this!
Thanks for the comment, it's a good analysis of the extended metaphor. The black dots can indeed never live in high value neighborhoods in any puzzle with this rule set. This is not a "rule", but it is an inescapable consequence of the rules. I was also surprised to discover when setting it that there must be a white dot on the "wrong" side of the line for the puzzle to solve uniquely, because 1s and 4s can never be resolved otherwise. Make of that what you will.
@@thejuggler42 wow!
Also black dots work twice as hard as white dots but the region means they can never reach 6 or 8
Beatifully crafted. Working in data science for a lot of different industries, the number one predictive feature for anything at all is zip code. It has every possible aspect of culture, race, economic status, social class, behavior, and wealth baked into it. Often zip code has more predictive power than every other piece of data combined. This geographic segmentation is the foundation of every part of consumer life, from credit scores to marketing to car insurance premiums.
On a lighter note, I'm pretty sure 5 represents Elvis.
This puzzle is really a work of art. Like, literally, i can see it in a museum or gallery like an interactive art and i love that!! I hope some day we actually found it in a museum haha
What a touching story to kick off this video, and a beautiful puzzle. That such a clear expression of the theme can work and also be so satisfying to solve is astonishing. Simon's breakdown of the layers of meaning of the digits, lines, and dots at the end was great too. Loved it.
The white dot 4-5 with who would dare to go beneath it is beautiful
Wow thank you so much for showing me the joys of sudoku, it feels like you’ve shown me a new side of them today. What a beautiful art piece Michael has made.
This is one of the most incredible sudoku puzzles I have ever seen. Before seeing this puzzle, I could not even have imagined that a sudoku puzzle could be used for storytelling or provoke an emotional reaction beyond just excitement/frustration of the solve.
Every aspect of this puzzle is perfectly constructed and brilliant, even the bits that the rules say we can ignore. Perhaps amending the last sentence of the rules from "The words on the grid can be ignored" to add "for purposes of solving the puzzle". Those words and their placement absolutely have tremendous meaning and should not be ignored.
I think the point is that just because you have the ability to ignore the words doesn't mean that you ought to do so.
*Rhyming Rules*
Into this grid of neatly crossing lines
insert nine sets of digits (ones through nines).
No more than once per column, box or row
may any of these nine such digits show.
To aid in solving, rules which now will tell
where whites and blacks within this grid may dwell:
a white resides between a neighbor pair;
a difference of one is what they share.
A black's location will instead bestow
a pair of 2 to 1 in ratio.
Both whites' and blacks' restrictions are thus known
(though not all whites and blacks are hereby shown).
The dollar symbols mark the given ends
that bound a single Redline route that wends
along the edges of some cells as such
that at no point this line itself may touch.
Nor may the Redline cross the railroad tracks
nor any of the dot-marked whites or blacks.
Along its route some regions will be split;
into these regions, certain digits fit.
In regions that contain 4 or below,
the digits 6 to 9 may never go.
In regions that contain a 6 or more,
you may not place the digits 1 to 4.
Some words are placed upon the puzzle board;
these words may (if you choose) remain ignored.
Thanks for the sonnet! I'm always amused by your poems in the CTC video comments.
Great poem!
This or had me so emotional. I had tears in my eyes. It was so well done. And so sad too. Probably the best puzzle ever.
This is my busy time, so this was on my list - stunning concept, great solve
Very Powerful! Great puzzle for so many reasons. I'm touched deeply. Thank you.
I'm so happy this story ended on a happy ending. I wish this family all the happiness in the world. I think they went through enough hardships already.
Peter, your baby is carried by your love always ... and by the prayers of this warm community.
I am glad I watched this instalment of CtC.
To get a little help getting started, I watched Simon for a few minutes. Afterwards I was able to solve the very adventurous puzzle with a lot of joy and less difficulties than I thought at the beginning.
I was woried the title might just be click bait hyperbole, but Peters email really hit home 😢. As a fellow father of a child has spent many nights in hospital I too have been using these videos to pass the time. thanks to simon and mark and all the community in the comments that keep this corner of the internet kind and eager for intellect stimulatiom
Was this guy setting under a different name before? He seems to have just come out of nowhere in the last few months with some of the most creative setting I've seen, it's astounding.
Thanks for the kind words. I set my first sudoku this January (Heat Stroke, which amazingly got a CTC feature), but I've previously designed board games and some puzzle video game content, and authored a few crosswords, and some of the same principles apply. I've always very much liked art games (especially indie video games), so that might explain a bit where this is coming from.
@@thejuggler42 Dude, you're cool. Making board games? Gamer too? I salute you, sir!
Managed it in 68 minutes! First time in a long while that I did a puzzle on my own without any hints from Simon's solution.
What a wonderful rewarding email from that man about his son. Drives the relevance ofmpuzzles into another social realm of community.
“The words in the grid can be ignored.” Maybe this is hope for the future after the grid has been completed, the words are covered up.
Thank you for an amazing puzzle. This was a strong emotional solve
Was listening to this while driving - I was blubbering and had to pull over. Will comment more after I get home and more composed. 😭
Tears with you my friend...
@@davidrattner9 ❤️
Simon and Mark do a whole lot more therapy than they realize!
Wonderful story! Peter is future fan of CTC for sure! :) :) :)
Hope you guys really understand how appreciative so many of us are of your work. in a world of non-stop nonsense online, CTC is one of the few solid places on the Internet that we all know we can get away for a while and enjoy flexing our brains.
Straight up brilliant puzzle, Michael.
What a powerful, affecting video
That is a true masterpiece from start to finish
Got to grips with the puzzle rather quickly and ended up with a solve time of 27:50, while listening to Tracy Chapmans soothing voice.
I would also like to point out that the fastest way around the black dots is:
They all have to be on the same high/lowity, so 36 and 48 are impossible, leaving 124 as the only option. Which gave me my first digits in the grid.
The only white dot in the black region with the words, “who would dare to go”. Wow
Simon is an absolute gem. With all sincerity, it truly brings me joy to get to yell "do sudoku!" while Simon starts coloring things half pink and semi dark green. 😅
(But seriously, you've taught me so much, Simon. You're brilliant. Never stop.)
31:41 "So , 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩's got to be orange" made my day.
Great puzzle
63 minutes. Feels almost bad talking about times with something of this flawless theming. I did end up dividing the board into "black" and "white" regions. Within the first ten minutes or so, in fact, as soon as I cottoned onto what was going on. I haven't felt that ambivalent about a puzzle game since I realised that in my ancient 40-year-old version of "Cleudo" (Clue to the Americans here) the literal set-up is that the Black guy always gets killed off at the start. (And yes, Mr Black's skin is subtly but noticeably darker than the other characters' pictures in that game. Ah, different times.)
Anyway, it's probably the most satisfying sudoku I've ever solved. Also, having the single solitary white-dot-in-a-black-region surrounded by the words "who would dare to go..." is absolute genius.
I initially read the last line of the rules as "the words in the grid can't be ignored" which made them all the more important.
They can be ignored, but shouldn't be.
Honestly was shocked there was a white dot in blue. 😂 Great puzzle, great song. Think I’m going to listen to the song right now.
(Side note on red lining: While outright red lining is illegal, because of how mortgage fees work, banks are really disincentivized to issue low cost mortgages. This means that it’s still incredibly difficult for low income, low class people to access the loans needed to purchase a home they can afford.)
Masterful construction. Outstanding innovation. Very enjoyable solving path. 100% thematic consistency. Awesome❗ 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Great solve by Simon, enriched by moving citations from *Martin Luther King Jr.'s* speeches at the end of the video.
Another detail I noticed. The low digits are confined. Sealed in even on the edges of the grid except for one area. The high digits are all open at the edges and free to leave the grid so to speak. The most restricted spot for the high digits is r3c1 but even that still open for the high digits.
The nasty cynical part of me once wondered whether Mark and Simon just view CTC as a nice way to make money. It's never been clearer than in this video how untrue that is, how passionate they are about puzzles, and that they really do this for the fun of it. I loved the beautiful theme of this puzzle, and Peter's heart-throbbing and poetic email (read very affectively by Simon). There is good in the world. Thank you.
If you are only working to make money, then you are doing the wrong thing.
I feel like it is easy to tell when people only make videos for money. They will try to cut corners anywhere and everywhere