Sandra here! (Nala is already sleeping). Thank you for the lovely feature! It was quite the surprise for me, but I always love to see Nala’s adventures get featured. Isn’t it lovely how so many digits build pairs and triples when this puzzle is about finding friends :) loved to read this in a comment as well! And loved to see Simon having so much fun with the solve :D
I'm going to post this for the benefit of fellow novices like me: I can't explain why, but I missed the VERY early and VERY obvious 9 in r4c8, and spent a very long time struggling with this puzzle as a result. It's actually absurd how far into the puzzle I was able to get without that digit... but I did eventually get stuck. Once Simon helped me see it, everything else came together super quickly. It's okay to not be awesome at variant sudoku, I hope. The folks who do this in 25 minutes are awesome, but those of us who take more than an hour are also belong here.
Of COURSE you belong here! I do too. 😁 It took me 45 min to solve, but honestly, if I had tried this puzzle 3 months ago I wouldn't have been able to solve it at all. And even if I can't solve a puzzle, this is still my favorite channel on YT. Some of the folks on here are competition level solvers. Some are novice. Most fall someplace in between. But all belong here. 😁❤️
Lol I clocked in at several hours (I do these at work, so time gets away from me a bit) and it also took me a while to notice the 9, and a while after that to finish the puzzle. Most CtC puzzles in not able to finish at all, but the more I try, the better I get, and that's really what matters.
I think many, if not most of us, start out here as novices and end up improving. So welcome aboard the CtC train where it's quite common for people to need a nudge every now and then and where even the sudoku experts miss the sudoku part of the sudoku puzzles 😅
I agree with Zardox2. This is definitely a channel for everybody. Simon is so incredibly brilliant at quickly deducing what can sometimes take me an hour, if I'm able to figure it out at all, yet he never directs his solve to the other geniuses who tag along and are able to match his speed. I learn from Mark as well but I'm totally a Simon fan because of his beautiful explanations of why a bit of logic forces a particular conclusion. Added note: I can't actually claim I solved this puzzle since I missed that initially r6c5 could have been a 3 that could only be eliminated later. (sigh) So many other simple deductions I missed and ended up doing them the hard way. I have much to learn. Sometimes I don't even bother trying, just to straight to popcorn and watch the CtC movie of the day.
I agree that it could be a possibility for that first-found digit to be a 4 if there were fog in r5c5, but usually in FoW puzzles, if a thermo (or another line) crosses a corner, you can see a little bit of it in an adjacent cell.
@@stevieinselby Which is likely how the original solvers consciously or subconsciously eliminated 4 as an option and why it needed to change. If a puzzle is only solvable due to a quirk of the UI the puzzle needs to be adjusted.
I think it's fair to use the fact that solvers can see thermos that are present in corners, but not to use the fact that solvers would be able to see such a thermo, since a solver who's new to fog of war won't know that such a thermo would be visible.
I think it is DEFINITELY helpful to new solvers to be as thorough as possible when it comes to puzzle rules and their implications. It is far better to be a bit wordier-and-redundant but *clear* -- as opposed to being more technically concise but opening up the possibility for 'gotchas' and confusion. As an extra point of relevance to Cracking the Cryptic: on the phone app, Kropki puzzles *almost always* feature a negative constraint, whereas the youtube-featured Kropki puzzles *almost never* feature negative constraint -- meaning that someone used to one format is likely to be blindsided when experiencing the other, unless it's made really clear in the rules. Providing more explanation is also surely a benefit for solvers who don't natively speak English -- just as it's useful for those who don't natively speak Puzzle. As a note, "Not all possible dots are given" is the wrong way to state a lack of negative constraint, since strictly speaking it does still imply information, namely that there *is* in fact at least one dot-less pair which could have had a dot. Whereas something like "Not all possible dots are necessarily given" (or a more plain-English phrase like "Cells without dots between them aren't required to obey one of these relationships, but they might do so regardless"). Wordier, sure, but truer and also more understandable to a greater number of solvers.
Totally agree with your second point. I differ on the main point... "(Not) All possible dots are given" should always be stated. But i think that "Not all dots are necessarily given" (which should have been the case here) should always be omitted. The phone app should follow the same protocol.
"Those who don't natively speak Puzzle" got a good laugh out me. And after reading your comment I find myself imagining a puzzle where the slight distinction between "not all dots are given" and "not all dots are necessarily given" is a necessary part of the solve. Where there's some Deadly Pattern towards the end that only breaks when you realize that one way makes the ENTIRE GRID free of "bonus dots", and one doesn't. I have evil ideas and probably shouldn't be allowed to construct puzzles. I've already done the same thing with Minesweeper. A puzzle that can only be solved logically if you SAY it can be solved logically, and is impossible if you don't.
Here's a suggestion: word it as "If two adjacent digits are consequtive, they are separated by a white dot" "If two adjacent cells are separated by a white dot, they are consequtive digits" "Iff two adjacent cells are separated by a white dot, they are consequtive digits" ("iff" being logic for "if and only if"). This is how a formal logistician would say it. It's shorter than adding a sentence about the negative constraint, and it's completely unambiguous.
@@davidgustavsson4000 That is only completely unambiguous to a those that know formal logic, and that's *exactly* my point: rules should be written so as to make them as accessible as possible, NOT in a practically-obscurantist fashion like that
@@anaphysik Like Simon pointed out, the most common version would then be "If dot, consequtive", which would be intuitively interpreted correctly by beginners and professionals alike. The second most common would be "iff", and I guess one could write out "if and only if", or just teach it like we do "orthogonally adjacent" or other technically necessary jargon. The problem with a lot of imprecise text is that it doesn't necessarily help beginners either. A shorter ruleset is easier to memorize. The current convention makes the most common ruleset the most verbose. Even a beginner, should they realize the possibility of a negative constraint, will be able to fine comb "if a then b" and realize it's not bijective, I'm sure of it.
Simon: "I must prove everything by logical deduction and not use tricks like uniqueness" Also Simon: "Shall I just write 3 into the corner?" 😂 Loved this puzzle and finding Nala's friend 🦔, although I'll admit to fluking the start because I didn't consider the possibility of the thermo going _up_ through c6.
I remember stumbling over the channel when I was looking for something mellow to put on while trying to get my 1 year old to sleep. I never thought I’d actually be able to attempt and even complete some of these. Thanks for the enthusiasm which brought these intriguing puzzles to my attention.
I solved it in 63 minutes and I'm rather proud that I didn't have to stop and watch Simon for any hints. Of course the fog helps by rewarding you for partial solves,so I wasn't rethinking my answers all the time
I follow your channel for months and this is the second puzzle I am able to solve all of my own. It seems like I am learning a few tricks but my greater improvement is that I finally use my guts. I used to stay bloicked at a point becuase I wasn't sure if it was the right number and lost many puzzles but now I simply try and put the numbers in. Love you guys!!! That you corner gaining your religion
I mean in the foggy r5c5 you would've seen the thermo barely pointing out of the corner of the visible boxes since they are so thick (and Simon has used this logic in a previous puzzle) but i guess better safe than sorry
@@snipegrzywa You cannot go vertically throught r5c5 with a 4 in r5c7 between the dots. And I agree that you would have seen the diagonal thermo, but as a negative constraint this is very weak.
Your point at the very end about the thermo in the fog, if the thermo was going through that middle box diagonally, wouldn't you see the edge of it sticking out in the corner of the box on the right? The thermos are quite thick.
Oh, wow! I thoroughly enjoyed that! Would you believe I was thinking just this morning, how I'd love to see another Sandra and Nala puzzle?! Nala must have read my mind .....
I got a different picture for the 3 in the corner :D Edit: also I think the puzzle would still be solvable if the middle cell was fog because you can see the corner bits of thermos poking into adjacent cells when they move diagonally. Maybe it's just the case that you wouldn't be able to know for sure if they were supposed to be there...
The logic at 42:57 doesn't apply because you would be able to see the diagonal line passing through the top left corner in r5c6 (or the bottom right corner of r5c4) but if the software showed really thin lines, yeah maybe it would be obscured enough to work out. Really lovely puzzle, and my fourth solve overall; took me 50:37. Thank you for your work as always. Much love from Spain 💜
I just started this puzzle and didn't get anywhere with so I checked back here and noticed that Simons dot clues were the reverse of mine. I play in dark mode and it seems that dark mode makes the white dots black and the black dots white! I'm glad I didn't spend much time before I spotted that.
If it's worded like in those rules, I think you can drop the part about there being no negative kropki constraint. If there was one, we would write "all orthogonally adjacent digits in a 1:2 ratio are separated by a black dot". Saying "cells separated by a black dots are in a 1:2 ratio" indeed doesn't say anything about cells that are not separated by a black dot, so there is no need to be redundant about the absence of negative constraint.
27:15. Itchy from the flea. Loved the celebration (3 in the corner) with the hedgehog. Trickiest part was the green thermo and figuring out if was increasing or decreasing.
12:06 I figured out why the centre cell cant contain fog. If the thermo crosses the centre cell, going from the top right to the bottom right, then it's possible for r5c6 to be a 4. If r5c6 has more than one possibility, then we don't get our starting digit.
@43:03 for the sake of a carefull start i can understad people needing r5c5 having to be non-fog, but both in r5c4 (bottom-righthand corner) and r5c6 (top-lefthand corner) one would be able to see a smidge of a thermometer line going diagonally across the cell intersections. Loved the puzzle, had to start it up again a few days later being tired and all when i first tried it. So it took me over an hour (just) to solve, but i am happy with my solve. Thank you @Sandra_and_Nala and @Simon for the puzzle and video!
Wow, 21 minutes and there were many times, when I was Goodliffing the thermos, that I was just "uh? ok, that just happened?". Really lovely puzzle that seemed to fit me well. And I did not use any thermos in corners. Was able to deduce likely thermos in the fog anyway. And I just love the breakin. The first digit was a real shocker to me.
I almost always "Goodliff" the thermometers, so I too like when thermo puzzles are quite restricted. Nice to be rewarded rather than punished with a mess of pencil marks. So many pairs and triples that jumped out of nowhere when filling out thermos
a really lovely puzzle (just the right amount of struggle and happy surprise for me), thanks @Sandra_and_Nala. and for Nala, it's good to know that hedgehog fleas are host specific--so a happy ending after all.
Unfortunately I couldn't see the 456 triple in column 9 for about 10 mins of looking. I had a bit of a scowl for that part of my solve. But another really fun puzzle
Such an enjoyable puzzle. Not too hard, but you still had to think to work your way through it. Lots of different logic had to be applied. Thank you so much Sandra and Nala!!
I managed it in 28 min. Very nice puzzle. In these fog of war puzzles, what I like is that there is generally only one path of logic available at each time point, so, while intimidating at first glance, they can be quite approachable.
52:33 was my time today. That was a very enjoyable puzzle with a good level of challenge for me without being overwhelming or requiring any real insane logic. I liked it! 👍👍
This took me 103 minutes to complete. No kidding, that's a lot. BUT.... I did it without coming to the video for tips. This is my first time doing that and I'm wildly excited.
I saw the white dot in Box 4 affected the 3/4 pair but didn't deduce it also affected the 4/5 pair. After watching you explain that, the puzzle solved really quickly.
Listened to the Hamish Hawk song. Clever lyrics but I wouldn't exactly call it a banger or an earworm. Rather reminiscent of Prefab Sprout, Lloyd Cole or even The Smiths, that kind of thing.
I love the colorfulness of the puzzle! Your Pencilmarkings are so Brilliant, you help us armchair sudokians just crash through! 32:04 i'm like nice a 356 pair in column 5, time to place a 4 in box 2. [33:56 so you never end up seeing it.] 33:12 it's funny you'd see this different version of it. 34:32 wait doesn't yellow have to have a 7 on the line, the puzzle seems to be on the downward swing with so many of your pencil marking just knocking through. 36:03 well the red line isn't a nine anymore is it, 9 can't be in the middle of a line. 39:55 considering the black dot making a 6:3 pair is coming up, it is in fact going to be a 3.
Thanks! Sudoku is a favorite past time for me and it helped me to create my own puzzles named Magic Square Puzzles. Magic Square Puzzles involve both Arithmetic and Logic.
Maybe you could change it to: Digits separated by a black dot must be in a ratio 1:2 (implies other's may). And if you want to use the negative constraint you can just add *Only* at the start.
after several days of disappointment, finally one I could actually solve! 28:23, although I did accidentally place a correct digit while pencil marking a fog cell 😖
What a lovely puzzle. I particularly liked the way the hedgehog was revealed by clearing the very last foggy cell. Hedgehogs are one of my favourite animals. One of my earliest childhood memories was when my dad got me out of bed to look at a mother hedgehog with three tiny hoglets. The fleas they often carry are not the same as dog fleas, so Nala wouldn't have become infested. If you put out a saucer of dried mealworms, they love them so much they completely ignore your presence. I even had one become so tame it would climb my leg because it could smell the packet I had in my lap. @ 24:36 - "8...7...6...5...4" - Sigh! You're doing your usual thing of focussing on one thing at a time and ignoring everything else. You got the 6 on a white dot, which would have to join with a 5, so the next digit on the thermo was no more than 4, and since 2 and 1 are already in the row, the first two digits in the row must be 34, and the last two on the thermo must be 78. @ 28:02 - Have you lost your mind? You've clearly got the tip of a thermo, and you're trying to make it be the lowest cell on the thermo. I know I've moaned before about you inventing and clinging to possibilities that can clearly be ruled out instantly, but this is a whole new level. There is no problem with a foggy centre cell. If the thermo did take the path you suggested, there would be bits of line visible in the top-left of R5C6 and bottom-right of R5C4. I can only assume that the ones who objected didn't consider this.
That is such a nice childhood memory you have there! I have noticed that those fleas don’t really know what to do with Nala. It’s usually just 1 and it would walk around aimlessly on her head (not the rest of her body) until I pick it up. Kind of funny 😃
Blazed through this one. 22:23. I felt like I looked in the right places pretty quickly. Figuring out the 2 in box 4 probably would have taken me a long time in a worse day but today I got it quite quickly.
@37:34 An alternative move here would be looking at the 39 in r8c3 and seeing the thermo continues. Just an alternative, it doesn't do any more or less.
Sandra here! (Nala is already sleeping). Thank you for the lovely feature! It was quite the surprise for me, but I always love to see Nala’s adventures get featured. Isn’t it lovely how so many digits build pairs and triples when this puzzle is about finding friends :) loved to read this in a comment as well! And loved to see Simon having so much fun with the solve :D
Your puzzles are my favorites to solve on this channel nowadays ❤
are you now Sandra, Nala & flea?
That's Nala's friend in the corner, proving his devotion.
That was a very enjoyable puzzle.
Very enjoyable puzzle! Nala is adorable - as is the hedgehog in the corner!
I love that sudokus now have a narrative arc. ❤
That´s a flea in the corner along with the hedgehog. That´s why Nala got that flea.
That's flea in the corner.
I'm going to post this for the benefit of fellow novices like me: I can't explain why, but I missed the VERY early and VERY obvious 9 in r4c8, and spent a very long time struggling with this puzzle as a result. It's actually absurd how far into the puzzle I was able to get without that digit... but I did eventually get stuck. Once Simon helped me see it, everything else came together super quickly.
It's okay to not be awesome at variant sudoku, I hope. The folks who do this in 25 minutes are awesome, but those of us who take more than an hour are also belong here.
Of COURSE you belong here!
I do too. 😁
It took me 45 min to solve, but honestly, if I had tried this puzzle 3 months ago I wouldn't have been able to solve it at all.
And even if I can't solve a puzzle, this is still my favorite channel on YT.
Some of the folks on here are competition level solvers.
Some are novice.
Most fall someplace in between.
But all belong here.
😁❤️
Lol I clocked in at several hours (I do these at work, so time gets away from me a bit) and it also took me a while to notice the 9, and a while after that to finish the puzzle. Most CtC puzzles in not able to finish at all, but the more I try, the better I get, and that's really what matters.
I think many, if not most of us, start out here as novices and end up improving. So welcome aboard the CtC train where it's quite common for people to need a nudge every now and then and where even the sudoku experts miss the sudoku part of the sudoku puzzles 😅
I agree with Zardox2. This is definitely a channel for everybody. Simon is so incredibly brilliant at quickly deducing what can sometimes take me an hour, if I'm able to figure it out at all, yet he never directs his solve to the other geniuses who tag along and are able to match his speed.
I learn from Mark as well but I'm totally a Simon fan because of his beautiful explanations of why a bit of logic forces a particular conclusion.
Added note: I can't actually claim I solved this puzzle since I missed that initially r6c5 could have been a 3 that could only be eliminated later. (sigh) So many other simple deductions I missed and ended up doing them the hard way. I have much to learn. Sometimes I don't even bother trying, just to straight to popcorn and watch the CtC movie of the day.
Take all day to solve it if you want, as long as it's fun! Of course you belong :)
Isn’t it funny how something as simple as revealing Nala’s latest thing can put a smile on your face? 😊 Thanks for the puzzle, Sandra!
Happy to hear that it brought you joy! Thank you :)
I like how this puzzle was all about finding friend pairs in the grid. Excellent theming in the solution path
Excellent comment as well! Thank you so much 😊
I agree that it could be a possibility for that first-found digit to be a 4 if there were fog in r5c5, but usually in FoW puzzles, if a thermo (or another line) crosses a corner, you can see a little bit of it in an adjacent cell.
Agreed, you might have to look carefully to spot it but there is always a tell-tale mark in the corner of the cell.
@@stevieinselby Which is likely how the original solvers consciously or subconsciously eliminated 4 as an option and why it needed to change. If a puzzle is only solvable due to a quirk of the UI the puzzle needs to be adjusted.
I thought the same thing. But it’s easier to see it if it’s there rather than when it’s absent. 🤣
Yeah, I had a feeling it had to do with that blue thermo.
I think it's fair to use the fact that solvers can see thermos that are present in corners, but not to use the fact that solvers would be able to see such a thermo, since a solver who's new to fog of war won't know that such a thermo would be visible.
17:20
Simon wondering if the thermos can overlap when clearly they already have x
I think it is DEFINITELY helpful to new solvers to be as thorough as possible when it comes to puzzle rules and their implications. It is far better to be a bit wordier-and-redundant but *clear* -- as opposed to being more technically concise but opening up the possibility for 'gotchas' and confusion. As an extra point of relevance to Cracking the Cryptic: on the phone app, Kropki puzzles *almost always* feature a negative constraint, whereas the youtube-featured Kropki puzzles *almost never* feature negative constraint -- meaning that someone used to one format is likely to be blindsided when experiencing the other, unless it's made really clear in the rules. Providing more explanation is also surely a benefit for solvers who don't natively speak English -- just as it's useful for those who don't natively speak Puzzle.
As a note, "Not all possible dots are given" is the wrong way to state a lack of negative constraint, since strictly speaking it does still imply information, namely that there *is* in fact at least one dot-less pair which could have had a dot. Whereas something like "Not all possible dots are necessarily given" (or a more plain-English phrase like "Cells without dots between them aren't required to obey one of these relationships, but they might do so regardless"). Wordier, sure, but truer and also more understandable to a greater number of solvers.
Totally agree with your second point.
I differ on the main point... "(Not) All possible dots are given" should always be stated. But i think that "Not all dots are necessarily given" (which should have been the case here) should always be omitted. The phone app should follow the same protocol.
"Those who don't natively speak Puzzle" got a good laugh out me. And after reading your comment I find myself imagining a puzzle where the slight distinction between "not all dots are given" and "not all dots are necessarily given" is a necessary part of the solve. Where there's some Deadly Pattern towards the end that only breaks when you realize that one way makes the ENTIRE GRID free of "bonus dots", and one doesn't.
I have evil ideas and probably shouldn't be allowed to construct puzzles. I've already done the same thing with Minesweeper. A puzzle that can only be solved logically if you SAY it can be solved logically, and is impossible if you don't.
Here's a suggestion: word it as
"If two adjacent digits are consequtive, they are separated by a white dot"
"If two adjacent cells are separated by a white dot, they are consequtive digits"
"Iff two adjacent cells are separated by a white dot, they are consequtive digits" ("iff" being logic for "if and only if").
This is how a formal logistician would say it. It's shorter than adding a sentence about the negative constraint, and it's completely unambiguous.
@@davidgustavsson4000 That is only completely unambiguous to a those that know formal logic, and that's *exactly* my point: rules should be written so as to make them as accessible as possible, NOT in a practically-obscurantist fashion like that
@@anaphysik Like Simon pointed out, the most common version would then be "If dot, consequtive", which would be intuitively interpreted correctly by beginners and professionals alike. The second most common would be "iff", and I guess one could write out "if and only if", or just teach it like we do "orthogonally adjacent" or other technically necessary jargon.
The problem with a lot of imprecise text is that it doesn't necessarily help beginners either. A shorter ruleset is easier to memorize. The current convention makes the most common ruleset the most verbose.
Even a beginner, should they realize the possibility of a negative constraint, will be able to fine comb "if a then b" and realize it's not bijective, I'm sure of it.
I absolutely love the combination of adorable light humour with some of the best rulesets, cheers to Sanda&Nala!
Thank you! Happy to hear that you enjoy my (our) puzzles so much!
@@Sandra_and_NalaAnd thank you for setting these, can't wait to find out what Nala's going to be looking for in the fog next :)
Simon: "I must prove everything by logical deduction and not use tricks like uniqueness"
Also Simon: "Shall I just write 3 into the corner?" 😂
Loved this puzzle and finding Nala's friend 🦔, although I'll admit to fluking the start because I didn't consider the possibility of the thermo going _up_ through c6.
I love Sandra's puzzles! Always so playful you can't help but smile.
They feel like little adventures. 🙂
Where can we find more?
@@GeekRedux on Logic Masters Germany under the Name „SandraNala“ ❤ thank you!
I'd like to propose that we call a white dot with one side on a thermometer a "mercury leak"
That's awesome
I remember stumbling over the channel when I was looking for something mellow to put on while trying to get my 1 year old to sleep. I never thought I’d actually be able to attempt and even complete some of these. Thanks for the enthusiasm which brought these intriguing puzzles to my attention.
Welcome to the channel! Have you tried any of the puzzles, and have you had some success?
I solved it in 63 minutes and I'm rather proud that I didn't have to stop and watch Simon for any hints. Of course the fog helps by rewarding you for partial solves,so I wasn't rethinking my answers all the time
"There's a great big purple thing that's come out of the fog."
When did we go from puzzle solving to a horror film?
I was thinking smut film but that says more about me tbh
Lots of pairs and tripples when searching for friends nice puzzle
I agree totally with you, Simon. The negative constraint is *so* powerful that no one should hide it in any ruleset.
I follow your channel for months and this is the second puzzle I am able to solve all of my own. It seems like I am learning a few tricks but my greater improvement is that I finally use my guts. I used to stay bloicked at a point becuase I wasn't sure if it was the right number and lost many puzzles but now I simply try and put the numbers in.
Love you guys!!! That you corner gaining your religion
17:56, confetti when finding a friend.
...
But, oh no, the text after you finish the puzzle!
Finisshed in 27:10. I'm really loving these more approachable fog of war puzzles.
I got 27:40, so close
Funny that Simon assumed the friend was some kind of giant 3 in the corner.
I mean in the foggy r5c5 you would've seen the thermo barely pointing out of the corner of the visible boxes since they are so thick (and Simon has used this logic in a previous puzzle) but i guess better safe than sorry
*Edit* Disregard - In that case the r5c6 would be 2 regardless, so actually, ya, your point stands.
@@snipegrzywa You cannot go vertically throught r5c5 with a 4 in r5c7 between the dots. And I agree that you would have seen the diagonal thermo, but as a negative constraint this is very weak.
Much better to not use partially visible thermos like that. Especially as this was a rather complicated first deduction anyway.
Your point at the very end about the thermo in the fog, if the thermo was going through that middle box diagonally, wouldn't you see the edge of it sticking out in the corner of the box on the right? The thermos are quite thick.
Hells, this doggo is one mighty sudoku setter.
I love these fog sudokus. It really helps me know where to start.
It's interesting to watch a different solving in the second half. Thank you for the puzzle and solve.
That's a flea in the corner, that's a flea on the hedgehog, moving to a kitten. 🎶
I don't know what it is about fog puzzles that I enjoy so much... but I really do love to do / watch these!
Oh, wow! I thoroughly enjoyed that!
Would you believe I was thinking just this morning, how I'd love to see another Sandra and Nala puzzle?! Nala must have read my mind .....
21 for me, much faster than a usual time for me. Delighted. Spiny Norman is a delightful surprise.
Thanks for the analysis explaining the reasoning for the middle NOT being fog. Now I get it. An excellent solve again. 😊
I got a different picture for the 3 in the corner :D
Edit: also I think the puzzle would still be solvable if the middle cell was fog because you can see the corner bits of thermos poking into adjacent cells when they move diagonally. Maybe it's just the case that you wouldn't be able to know for sure if they were supposed to be there...
I finished in 31:02, the fog of war puzzles of Sandra & Nala are always a treat ;)
Yes!! this was my first solo solve!! what a lovely puzzle!
Approachable but very fun to solve. Loved it.
thanks for the song rec. very good
The logic at 42:57 doesn't apply because you would be able to see the diagonal line passing through the top left corner in r5c6 (or the bottom right corner of r5c4) but if the software showed really thin lines, yeah maybe it would be obscured enough to work out. Really lovely puzzle, and my fourth solve overall; took me 50:37. Thank you for your work as always.
Much love from Spain 💜
I just started this puzzle and didn't get anywhere with so I checked back here and noticed that Simons dot clues were the reverse of mine. I play in dark mode and it seems that dark mode makes the white dots black and the black dots white! I'm glad I didn't spend much time before I spotted that.
That moment at 28:00 when Simon started treating the tip of a thermo as a bulb really cracked me up lol
Me too! Came to see if anyone else noticed😂
If it's worded like in those rules, I think you can drop the part about there being no negative kropki constraint. If there was one, we would write "all orthogonally adjacent digits in a 1:2 ratio are separated by a black dot". Saying "cells separated by a black dots are in a 1:2 ratio" indeed doesn't say anything about cells that are not separated by a black dot, so there is no need to be redundant about the absence of negative constraint.
A small struggle near the beginning, but 31 minutes and a wonderful puzzle, along with a wonderful friend!
27:15. Itchy from the flea. Loved the celebration (3 in the corner) with the hedgehog. Trickiest part was the green thermo and figuring out if was increasing or decreasing.
My first fog puzzle. Very enjoyable.
❤ the puzzle, ❤Nala, ❤ the hedgehog in the corner, ❤️Simon’s enthusiastic solve!
I agree with every ❤
@@emilywilliams3237 ❤️!
Thank goodness it wasn't too difficult for me to play, and I was able to complete it in a reasonable amount of time. I enjoyed that.
12:06 I figured out why the centre cell cant contain fog.
If the thermo crosses the centre cell, going from the top right to the bottom right, then it's possible for r5c6 to be a 4. If r5c6 has more than one possibility, then we don't get our starting digit.
@43:03 for the sake of a carefull start i can understad people needing r5c5 having to be non-fog, but both in r5c4 (bottom-righthand corner) and r5c6 (top-lefthand corner) one would be able to see a smidge of a thermometer line going diagonally across the cell intersections.
Loved the puzzle, had to start it up again a few days later being tired and all when i first tried it. So it took me over an hour (just) to solve, but i am happy with my solve.
Thank you @Sandra_and_Nala and @Simon for the puzzle and video!
Aww poor Nala, that was a nice funny ending. Good solve Simon.
My time was 01:00:02
After an accidental reset early on I managed this puzzle in about 16 minutes. Truly delightful and I enjoyed meeting Nala 's friend!
This one was a lot of fun--would love to see more.
Wow, 21 minutes and there were many times, when I was Goodliffing the thermos, that I was just "uh? ok, that just happened?". Really lovely puzzle that seemed to fit me well. And I did not use any thermos in corners. Was able to deduce likely thermos in the fog anyway. And I just love the breakin.
The first digit was a real shocker to me.
I almost always "Goodliff" the thermometers, so I too like when thermo puzzles are quite restricted. Nice to be rewarded rather than punished with a mess of pencil marks. So many pairs and triples that jumped out of nowhere when filling out thermos
A hedgehog - nice! Took me 90 minutes. At least, I solved it. This was a nice puzzle. Thank you Sandra and Nala!
That Hamish Hawk song indeed is a banger! I'll have to check out more of his stuff!
a really lovely puzzle (just the right amount of struggle and happy surprise for me), thanks @Sandra_and_Nala. and for Nala, it's good to know that hedgehog fleas are host specific--so a happy ending after all.
I needed help from Simon twice, but I really enjoyed this puzzle!
Had a smile on my face all the way through - love the Sandra-Nala puzzles!
Unfortunately I couldn't see the 456 triple in column 9 for about 10 mins of looking. I had a bit of a scowl for that part of my solve. But another really fun puzzle
Such an enjoyable puzzle. Not too hard, but you still had to think to work your way through it. Lots of different logic had to be applied. Thank you so much Sandra and Nala!!
Very cook puzzle! Can't wait to see where the flea ends up in the next puzzle from Sandra!
Simon's reaction to finding the Hedgehog is cracking me up!
77 minutes and I'm very proud indeed. Very nice puzzle!
This one took me a while, but I got through it! Tell Nala I love her!
I managed it in 28 min. Very nice puzzle. In these fog of war puzzles, what I like is that there is generally only one path of logic available at each time point, so, while intimidating at first glance, they can be quite approachable.
52:33 was my time today. That was a very enjoyable puzzle with a good level of challenge for me without being overwhelming or requiring any real insane logic. I liked it! 👍👍
One of my favourite! loved it!
This took me 103 minutes to complete. No kidding, that's a lot. BUT.... I did it without coming to the video for tips. This is my first time doing that and I'm wildly excited.
Awesome! Thanks for a great puzzle!
Very lovely and funny puzzle. And what a surprise discovering Nala's new little friend in a ......😂
I saw the white dot in Box 4 affected the 3/4 pair but didn't deduce it also affected the 4/5 pair. After watching you explain that, the puzzle solved really quickly.
Find someone in your life who makes you half as happy as Simon is when he reveals the fog
Hedgehog recovering from explosive 3 trauma.
also - 28 mins. Excellent puzzle!
77 minutes and change, because I'm bad at these, but it's my first solve yet of a non-GAS puzzle without resorting to watching any of the video. :D
The whole Hampshire hawk album with that song on is wonderful
A rare occasion where I was faster than Simon. I'm glad I tried this one, very fun and quite approachable.
Listened to the Hamish Hawk song. Clever lyrics but I wouldn't exactly call it a banger or an earworm. Rather reminiscent of Prefab Sprout, Lloyd Cole or even The Smiths, that kind of thing.
I love the colorfulness of the puzzle! Your Pencilmarkings are so Brilliant, you help us armchair sudokians just crash through!
32:04 i'm like nice a 356 pair in column 5, time to place a 4 in box 2. [33:56 so you never end up seeing it.]
33:12 it's funny you'd see this different version of it.
34:32 wait doesn't yellow have to have a 7 on the line, the puzzle seems to be on the downward swing with so many of your pencil marking just knocking through.
36:03 well the red line isn't a nine anymore is it, 9 can't be in the middle of a line.
39:55 considering the black dot making a 6:3 pair is coming up, it is in fact going to be a 3.
Thanks! Sudoku is a favorite past time for me and it helped me to create my own puzzles named Magic Square Puzzles. Magic Square Puzzles involve both Arithmetic and Logic.
Thanks so much!
Maybe you could change it to: Digits separated by a black dot must be in a ratio 1:2 (implies other's may). And if you want to use the negative constraint you can just add *Only* at the start.
after several days of disappointment, finally one I could actually solve!
28:23, although I did accidentally place a correct digit while pencil marking a fog cell 😖
Really loved this puzzle! Completed it in 34:01 and am quite proud of my time considering I solved before watching :)
What a lovely puzzle. I particularly liked the way the hedgehog was revealed by clearing the very last foggy cell. Hedgehogs are one of my favourite animals. One of my earliest childhood memories was when my dad got me out of bed to look at a mother hedgehog with three tiny hoglets. The fleas they often carry are not the same as dog fleas, so Nala wouldn't have become infested. If you put out a saucer of dried mealworms, they love them so much they completely ignore your presence. I even had one become so tame it would climb my leg because it could smell the packet I had in my lap.
@ 24:36 - "8...7...6...5...4" - Sigh! You're doing your usual thing of focussing on one thing at a time and ignoring everything else. You got the 6 on a white dot, which would have to join with a 5, so the next digit on the thermo was no more than 4, and since 2 and 1 are already in the row, the first two digits in the row must be 34, and the last two on the thermo must be 78.
@ 28:02 - Have you lost your mind? You've clearly got the tip of a thermo, and you're trying to make it be the lowest cell on the thermo. I know I've moaned before about you inventing and clinging to possibilities that can clearly be ruled out instantly, but this is a whole new level.
There is no problem with a foggy centre cell. If the thermo did take the path you suggested, there would be bits of line visible in the top-left of R5C6 and bottom-right of R5C4. I can only assume that the ones who objected didn't consider this.
That is such a nice childhood memory you have there! I have noticed that those fleas don’t really know what to do with Nala. It’s usually just 1 and it would walk around aimlessly on her head (not the rest of her body) until I pick it up. Kind of funny 😃
Good, thanks. Not too difficult but just enought grit in the oyster.
What a fun puzzle! It's nice to do something that doesn't break my mind once in a while, lol.
Delightful! Really enjoyed this!
Interesting the way this uses white dots to increase the effective "length" of thermos, both at ends and in the middle...
24:29 for me. Flowed really nicely!
28:13, thank you - excellent puzzle!
16:43 ... I found great joy in solving this (and loved the ending)
Nice puzzle!
30min for me, it’s been a while since I beat Simon’s time, really enjoyed the puzzle!
Blazed through this one. 22:23. I felt like I looked in the right places pretty quickly. Figuring out the 2 in box 4 probably would have taken me a long time in a worse day but today I got it quite quickly.
I love fog of war puzzles because they immediately let me know when i messed something up lol
absolutely love these puzzles from Sandra & Nala, 23:19 for me
Historic day: Simon called pink "pink" 🥳
"Column thingy!" nice
@37:34 An alternative move here would be looking at the 39 in r8c3 and seeing the thermo continues. Just an alternative, it doesn't do any more or less.
27:25 for me. I love fog of war so much! And I love the stories behind the fog
Very nice puzzle. I love the fog variant 🙂
This song is stuck in my head.
Down by the bay,
Where the watermelons grow,
Back to my home,
I dare not go,
For if I do,
My mother will say:
This connent made me feel 15 years younger
My time was 23:17, thank you for the puzzle ❤