Felinous greetings! After over 45 (published) puzzles, this was my first pure thermo and it is probably one of my favorite. You are right on the money about how the beginning was constructed. I liked the shapes and logic at the bottom and wanted the same at the top and then kept wondering why it broke. I was very happy to get an almost completely rotationally symmetrical grid (and relatively minimal). As always, you hit all the major points of the intended solve path (and yes, the logic on R9C5 and the thermo was intended on the path - but really is just one of those lucky finds forced by the layout). As always, thanks for the feature. I feel very privileged. I would also add that given I apparently strike some fear in you, you do seem to keep coming back for more :)
Fantastic thermo! The opening is amazing. It's not that difficult to kind of "sense" that there has to be a reason for that lack of symmetry on the four thermos, but to understand what it meant was mind-bending. How Simon spotted that 5689 in box 8 that fast was crazy. That took me ages :-) Thanks to both you and Simon!
This was so fun to watch. Maybe when I become a grown-up sudoku solver I will attempt to solve it myself, but in the meantime I sure did enjoy Simon's solve. Thanks for this and the many other puzzles I have had the pleasure of viewing from your pen, Tailcat.
"I wonder why this thermo is a different shape?" *proceeds to apply the logic as if that thermo were the shape of the other three and wonders why it's broken*
@21:45 I love when I can watch along, and because I'm watching and benefit from Simon's progress and explanation, I occasionally do see things sooner. And then I get to rub my hands in anticipation "Wait until Simon notices [this thing] he's just revealed!"
"That's 9 through the power of... orangeness" "Yellow isn't red. Not chromatically nor in the context of the puzzle" "These colours are offensive" "That roping made a very unappetizing ice-cream. Let's change the colours" "Can blue be green? *pause* NO IT CAN'T!" "is orange purple? *pause* I don't know"
34:00 after placing the 6 in box 2 you can ask where does 6 go in box 8. It is absolutely forced into 1 cell. Absolutely love the puzzle! Excellent setting Tallcat!
Needed to watch the first few minutes for Simon's break-in but was able to finish in 75 minutes with just that start. Very cool puzzle and the logic flows nicely after what looks like an impossible start!
48:24 finish. I was able to catch the break in quickly, but after a flurry of activity I slowed down quite a bit in the middle. Such a challenge from a basic thermo sudoku. Wonderful!
I originally noticed a problem with putting a 3 in either of the bulb ends of the thermos in row 9 due to the fact that you could never put a 3 on either thermo in box 8. I found that the same was true of placing a 4 in either r9c3 or r9c7. This led me to conclude that one of the thermos had to begin with a 1 or 2 and the other with a 4 or 5 in order to avoid breaking box 8. From there, the same logic on the thermo in row 1 box 3 did force a 4 to exist exactly where you found it. It was quite a lot of fun solving this, thanks for sharing!
There's no-one quite like Simon for proving something and then spending the next half an hour not accepting that he's proved it and going 10 times round the mulberry bush to try to prove it again 🤷🏻♂️
I appreciate it, honestly. His original path for finding the break-in wasn't particularly elegant and it's always nice to go back and try to find a cleaner logical path that's also more convincing.
It's a good thing he did since otherwise my time would look pretty atrocious :p We know at least one cell in r2c5 / r3c5 is greater than 3. We also know this digit appears near the beginning of the smaller thermo, and clearly the only possibility is 4 in r1c7. QED.
36:49 ... I had given up after about 15 minutes, but then gave up on the 'Mark' puzzle and came back to this. I'll admit to some 'educated bifurcation', but I found a way through in the end. Nice puzzle!
Wow, that was a *hard* puzzle. I spent several hours whittling down the possibilities for the long thermos, until I eventually gave up and started watching. You started out by noting that the blue domino has to go on the orange thermo or vice-versa, and the other domino has to go in the middle; with that I was able to finally break in to the puzzle. It was still hard, but at least I managed to do it!
Beauty of a puzzle!!! The break-in especially, but definitely some beautiful parts in the middle like that thing near the bottom of the grid. Tallcat + Simon is always a good vid. Will say I was frustrated about that 3 in box 6 though lol but still well set and well solved!
Absolutely stunning break in. If I had found this I would have abandoned it as never understanding what was going on. Love this puzzle, prepare to inspire others Tallcat.
Thank you Bremster! I almost did when it wasn't behaving how i wanted originally - but it fortunately stuck in the back of my mind and wouldn't let go.
If I ever find myself asking - as Simon did here - "if that's a 3.." I always fill it in on the grid so I can immediately SEE the consequences. But Simon does it in his head and misses the two 2's he's just allocated into box 6. (Apparently its deemed as "bifurcation" if you do it on the grid, but its not "bifurcation" if you do the exact same thing in your head.. even though you chance stuffing it up like Simon did here)
Proving the 4 near the start of the top right thermo, for me came with pencil marking. Basically the same process he used at the bottom. If you do so at the top staroon the right the left thermo only has to go up to a minimum of 7, providing an extra degree of freedom, allowing for the 4.
Another very interesting puzzle from Tallcat. The breakthrough for me was noting that R7/8C5 had to contain 123s, and at least one of these had to go in R1 in box 2, which prevented 3 going in R4C6, and meant both of the 123s had to go into R1C4/6. This meant 789 were in C1/5/9 in R1 (they can't go in any thermo cells). One of the top thermos had to start 56, and appear in box 2 on the other thermo, which had to have a 4 in its second position and the other 123 on the bulb. If the 56 was on the right thermo, it couldn't go on the left thermo in box 2, because it would need a digit between the 4 in R1 and the 5 in box 2. Therefore the left thermo must be 56789. The right thermo has 123 in the bulb, then 456, with 789 on the tip. There's a 7 in R1C5, and an 89 pair at the ends of the row. This all then fed down into the thermos at the bottom. This didn't rely on proving any hypothesis (which I admit was well spotted), it just "came out in the wash". At 39:00, you tried putting 3 into R6C7, and correctly deduced that R4C7 would be 2, and R6C8 would be 2, but inexplicably failed to realise they were in the same box. Your sudoku is getting worse, and you can't blame the heat when it's been declining for months. I can't believe you want to appear rubbish, or that you just don't care, which is starting to make me concerned that there could be some visual or neurological problem you're carrying. I think you owe it to yourself to get yourself checked out.
57:50, I'm pretty happy with that. I almost gave up and started watching the video but when the long string of birthdays came on I decided to give it one more go and I solved it!
Great puzzle! And expertly solved, thanks so much! I only wished Simon had switched the colors of the one and two at the top of the grid from orange to blue when he switched those colors in box eight.
It's easy to explain what happens at the top, Simon, the diagonally bent thermo provides it's third and fourth digits. The others provide their fourth and fifth digits. Providing an earlier digit provides another degree of freedom.
This was really cool. Figuring out that the top two of one thermo had to be at the start of the other, and the lowest pair had to be in the middle, then realizing that had to be a 1234 was a really cool break-in. Just great, and continued to be so through the rest.
I'm almost sure Mark would have started the puzzle completely differently. I would love to see both of them solve this puzzle independently. I read TallCat's post that Simon followed the intended logic but I suspect there could be more than one way to discover it.
Once discovering the orange digits in box 2, then goodliffing the two thermos with the knowledge that neither of them can have a 3 or lower on the second bulb) does make a different way of forcing the thermos by means of a quadruple in the box (that is a little different from Simon's approach)
I did originally Goodliffe all the thermos, pretty sure it wouldn't do ANYTHING, and it didn't. After I erased them and found the logic, though, I did Goodliffe the releveant thermos and immediately saw what Simon took so long to see and that only one way worked and not the other.
Mark would have “seen” that R1C7 had to be a 4 and would not have been the least bit bothered that he could not explain it or done some hand waving about stacking. Once you “break” the puzzle with the four “123” triples in column 5, the 4 and the broken thermo symmetry are brought to life. Simon can get distracted by trying to understand something before he moves on. But his dedication to understanding and explaining everything about the puzzle are what drives his higher views.
He even explained it at 38:45, he verbally allocated two 2's into box 6 in the same breath. But so often, he explains things without actually listening to himself in the process.
solved in 47:43 - excellent thermo logic the whole way, surprised it actually worked out. figured out the starting trick fairly early, then got stuck in the middle for like 25 minutes somehow. my grid at that point looked similar to Simon's at 36:15 or so
I've been enjoying the new app on android, but I do hate how small phones are. I can't wait to get it on steam for my laptop. One puzzle I thought was hilarious I couldn't figure it out at all.......so I looked at the hint and it mentioned parity. I stopped reading the hint and looked at parity and BAM 10 minutes tops I solved it. It just fell apart after that. I loved it. lol
It is amazing how you can build the hardest logic constructions and miss the simplest moves at the same time. Your brain definitely does not want to do simple work. It craves for challenge.
18:00 Consider what the middle dominoes must be, regardless of which side they're from. Then something disambiguates the top blocks. 19:20 The bottom must be 123. There must be a way out at the top, a 1234 perhaps. 31:00 Tallcat had the choice between breaking the symmetry and breaking the puzzle. 47:00 I broke the puzzle some time ago: a 43 cell faced both a 4 and a 3. I went back to the video, in hopes that I might see where I went wrong. Simon kept doing what I had done, as well as things I hadn't done -- nothing inconsistent. He placed both the 4 and the 3. Then I saw a possible recovery -- grasping at straws. I could switch three cells between 1 and 34s -- replace the 1 with 34, and replace 34s with 1s. It worked!
Alas, I have already done a setting video - but Simon is pretty spot on with is intuition. I had been playing about with thermo shapes and stumbled across the bottom configuration. I then wanted to replicate it at the top but, of course, it broke. Once I realized why, i then tweaked the top right thermo and found quite a bit was forced...
Gentlemen, it's too hot to be trying to do puzzles. You have been rock stars for years, take the week off and bring the family to a lake or beach or anywhere you can cool down.
Do you guy not have air conditioning there? I guess England normally never gets that hot. We in St Louis can get Temps in the 100f and it seems to always happen with 90 percent humidity.
I have a question, why cant the thermos be 1 and 5 on one side then 2 and 3 on the other side? This way the puzzle wont break and the logic of having 123s in the middle wont be correct? Could you please suggest?
Not sure which thermos you are referring to here. If you mean the ones at the bottom going into box 8, then you will run into an issue of where to put 1, 2, and 3 in box 8 (input the digits into the grid at the link above and see what happens).
I seemed to have a slightly easier time at the beginning, but I think it's because after discovering the break-in, I assumed it was a 34 pair on the thermo in box 3, I tried to go back in my solve and figure out why I made that assumption as early as I did, but if there was a solid logic there, I lost it.
Simon, unless you can get a breeze going throughout the house you really should keep your windows shut (and your curtains/blinds too) while it's hotter than room temperature outside! Otherwise the temperature will only go up as it diffuses into the house. Open the windows during the night (although not tonight as it's going to be well over 20 degrees all night).
I'm not sure about the initial logic. It seems that the implied assumption is that either both blue are smaller than orange or other way, but what if one orange is bigger and other is smaller ? Did i miss something ?
As simon explains in the video, it is not possible as you result in the same paradox that one blue ends up 'above' both orange on the thermo and one orange ends up 'above' both blue on the thermo meaning that blue and orange have to simultaneously bigger and smaller than the other.
It is puzzles like this that make me despair for a general theory of sudoku difficulty that I've wanted to develop. The topology is what matters here it seems - and I'm no topologist.
Simon, I am guessing that your room in the roof is uninsulated. This not only affects the way it is when cold but also prevents the heat from the sun beating down on the roof making it unbearable. Go for it and insulate and give us feedback!
Yeah at 48:00 I was confused why he said making R6C8 a 2 would force a 3 in R4C7. In the end he was correct that R6C8 couldn't be a 2, but for the wrong reason.
Darn it, I managed to solve it right up to the end getting a "That looks good to me" message when there was a non unique solution, had to look though the entire puzzle to see what I messed up to get a correct non unique solution and then realized on the one thermo I put 2,2,4 instead of 2,3,4 which didn't break the puzzle via normal rules of sudoku so the solver viewed it as correct even though I messed it up. Which fair enough to the program, but yeah I got to the end as was like "is this a broken puzzle with multiple solutions? Ah I see what I messed up allowing me to get an incorrect while still correct for normal solutions.
At 18 minutes into the video I immediately realised we're gonna get a quadruple. That's when I decided to give the puzzle a try myself. I've got 11 digits, but now I'm stuck.
"If this was a 3, then this would have to be 2 and this other square in the same box would also have to be 2... nope, no problem with that, let's look elsewhere."
38:42 Simon! Surely, after telling me the secret roughly 100 times, you recall it, yes? How in the world can you place two 2s in box 6? A 3 in R6C7 would force not only a 2 in R4C7, but also R6C8. Obviously, the result meaning that 3 is instantly removed as an option for that square.
Simon, how is it possible that you fail to hear yourself say @38:50 that if the thermo tip in r6c7 was a 3 that you would need to place two 2s in box 6?
38:46 - Look where you're clicking when you say "This has to be 2", Simon! You clicked on two cells in the same box, which means it canNOT be three! EDIT: 46:41 - Of course, Simon ends up doing it in a more convoluted way later on...
@@animefreak856 no i just watched the video - I am still watching, I am still shocekd Simon is actually coming with the solution with the little he has
Send an email to the email address in the description box - I am pretty sure that is how Simon learns of birthdays (though he probably does read comments, it might be a bit late ...)
Simon, I must admit it felt a bit annoying that you kept trying to prove the asymmetry theorem over and over for half the video even though it was quite intuitively obvious, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Thanks for making sure every one of us understands what is happening in the grid
Felinous greetings! After over 45 (published) puzzles, this was my first pure thermo and it is probably one of my favorite. You are right on the money about how the beginning was constructed. I liked the shapes and logic at the bottom and wanted the same at the top and then kept wondering why it broke. I was very happy to get an almost completely rotationally symmetrical grid (and relatively minimal). As always, you hit all the major points of the intended solve path (and yes, the logic on R9C5 and the thermo was intended on the path - but really is just one of those lucky finds forced by the layout). As always, thanks for the feature. I feel very privileged. I would also add that given I apparently strike some fear in you, you do seem to keep coming back for more :)
Indeed...can see why it is one of your favorites!!! Just again phenomenal from you!! Brilliant construction and setting!!!
Fantastic thermo! The opening is amazing. It's not that difficult to kind of "sense" that there has to be a reason for that lack of symmetry on the four thermos, but to understand what it meant was mind-bending. How Simon spotted that 5689 in box 8 that fast was crazy. That took me ages :-) Thanks to both you and Simon!
Thanks for the great puzzle Tallcat!
You are one scary genius, Tallcat, and you're right - we'll keep coming back before because your puzzles are fascinating! Good work. Keep 'em coming!
This was so fun to watch. Maybe when I become a grown-up sudoku solver I will attempt to solve it myself, but in the meantime I sure did enjoy Simon's solve. Thanks for this and the many other puzzles I have had the pleasure of viewing from your pen, Tailcat.
The 5689 in r9c5 restricting the thermo was truly beautiful!
Great puzzle. 3 was never an option at the end of the thermo in r6c7 as it would have forced two 2s into the box (r6c8 and r4c7).
oops looks like I'm a few minutes behind you
The reaaly funny part is that he said putting a 3 on that Thermo put a 2 on both Thermos in that box. 38:50
Simon just *really* Wanted it to be true :)
"I wonder why this thermo is a different shape?" *proceeds to apply the logic as if that thermo were the shape of the other three and wonders why it's broken*
And instead of putting some numbers in he just moans for almost 6 minutes wasting watchers time .
Stay cool, guys. Cheers from Austin, Texas. 🔥🫠
@21:45 I love when I can watch along, and because I'm watching and benefit from Simon's progress and explanation, I occasionally do see things sooner. And then I get to rub my hands in anticipation "Wait until Simon notices [this thing] he's just revealed!"
@@nolotilanne Well there's always new viewers so he does it so anyone can follow along.
We need a compilation of Simon saying things like
"The shape of blue"
"Too many ones!"
"Red is purple"
"That's 9 through the power of... orangeness"
"Yellow isn't red. Not chromatically nor in the context of the puzzle"
"These colours are offensive"
"That roping made a very unappetizing ice-cream. Let's change the colours"
"Can blue be green? *pause* NO IT CAN'T!"
"is orange purple? *pause* I don't know"
"4 is less than 7. The amazing things you learn on cracking the cryptic"
34:00 after placing the 6 in box 2 you can ask where does 6 go in box 8. It is absolutely forced into 1 cell. Absolutely love the puzzle! Excellent setting Tallcat!
Needed to watch the first few minutes for Simon's break-in but was able to finish in 75 minutes with just that start. Very cool puzzle and the logic flows nicely after what looks like an impossible start!
48:24 finish. I was able to catch the break in quickly, but after a flurry of activity I slowed down quite a bit in the middle. Such a challenge from a basic thermo sudoku. Wonderful!
Thank you for the congratulations! The day was amazing and I had lots of cake!
Happy birthday!
@@tallcat thanks Tallcat!
I originally noticed a problem with putting a 3 in either of the bulb ends of the thermos in row 9 due to the fact that you could never put a 3 on either thermo in box 8. I found that the same was true of placing a 4 in either r9c3 or r9c7. This led me to conclude that one of the thermos had to begin with a 1 or 2 and the other with a 4 or 5 in order to avoid breaking box 8. From there, the same logic on the thermo in row 1 box 3 did force a 4 to exist exactly where you found it. It was quite a lot of fun solving this, thanks for sharing!
There's no-one quite like Simon for proving something and then spending the next half an hour not accepting that he's proved it and going 10 times round the mulberry bush to try to prove it again 🤷🏻♂️
I appreciate it, honestly. His original path for finding the break-in wasn't particularly elegant and it's always nice to go back and try to find a cleaner logical path that's also more convincing.
I love that Simon is so thorough. To me, it gives confidence that the puzzle does indeed have only one valid solution.
It's a good thing he did since otherwise my time would look pretty atrocious :p
We know at least one cell in r2c5 / r3c5 is greater than 3. We also know this digit appears near the beginning of the smaller thermo, and clearly the only possibility is 4 in r1c7. QED.
That one was in the miracle sudoku category. Through the whole solve it never seemed possible that it could be resolved!
The fact this has a solution is amazing to me. What a puzzle
36:49 ... I had given up after about 15 minutes, but then gave up on the 'Mark' puzzle and came back to this. I'll admit to some 'educated bifurcation', but I found a way through in the end.
Nice puzzle!
Wow, that was a *hard* puzzle. I spent several hours whittling down the possibilities for the long thermos, until I eventually gave up and started watching. You started out by noting that the blue domino has to go on the orange thermo or vice-versa, and the other domino has to go in the middle; with that I was able to finally break in to the puzzle. It was still hard, but at least I managed to do it!
I stared at this for a bit, decided there's no way this is solvable, then was humbled as Simon crushed it as usual. Well done!
Beauty of a puzzle!!! The break-in especially, but definitely some beautiful parts in the middle like that thing near the bottom of the grid. Tallcat + Simon is always a good vid. Will say I was frustrated about that 3 in box 6 though lol but still well set and well solved!
Absolutely stunning break in. If I had found this I would have abandoned it as never understanding what was going on. Love this puzzle, prepare to inspire others Tallcat.
Thank you Bremster! I almost did when it wasn't behaving how i wanted originally - but it fortunately stuck in the back of my mind and wouldn't let go.
Rules: 05:15
Let's Get Cracking: 05:53
Simon's time: 46m58s
Puzzle Solved: 52:51
What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
Bobbins: 1x (18:47)
Goodliffing: 1x (47:28)
Wally: 1x (18:52)
And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Ah: 19x (00:13, 10:29, 18:44, 20:10, 21:41, 26:09, 26:23, 33:19, 33:47, 34:17, 35:27, 37:42, 43:35, 44:00, 44:35, 46:25, 46:42, 48:54, 51:27)
By Sudoku: 10x (31:39, 34:21, 34:28, 41:40, 42:52, 43:00, 48:07, 48:23, 49:26, 51:03)
Symmetry: 8x (06:28, 23:24, 24:08, 30:20, 30:35, 32:04, 40:59, 53:15)
Obviously: 7x (02:02, 03:12, 03:58, 05:29, 13:34, 18:25, 29:35)
Clever: 6x (00:44, 16:12, 24:18, 40:33, 40:35, 52:51)
Sorry: 4x (09:52, 25:50, 30:22, 36:52)
The Answer is: 4x (08:21, 14:25, 26:30, 46:54)
Lovely: 4x (24:18, 31:02, 41:45, 46:48)
Beautiful: 4x (41:12, 41:14, 50:28, 52:48)
In Fact: 4x (23:42, 24:21, 30:41, 45:57)
Wow: 4x (21:42, 40:54, 43:04, 46:06)
Brilliant: 3x (02:02, 03:12, 03:58)
Ridiculous: 3x (00:55, 40:54, 42:10)
Surely: 3x (08:53, 27:22, 37:52)
Good Grief: 2x (40:46, 40:48)
What on Earth: 2x (14:15, 19:31)
Nonsense: 2x (23:48, 27:59)
Break the Puzzle: 2x (18:44, 18:58)
Hang On: 2x (21:30, 26:30)
Whoopsie: 2x (22:20, 43:21)
Plonk: 2x (52:06, 52:06)
Axiomatically: 1x (13:38)
Naked Single: 1x (43:16)
Of All Things: 1x (31:42)
What Does This Mean?: 1x (09:25)
Thingy Thing: 1x (42:47)
Pencil Mark/mark: 1x (22:05)
Cake!: 1x (03:14)
Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video:
Ten (7 mentions)
One (103 mentions)
Orange (35 mentions)
Antithesis Battles:
Low (12) - High (9)
Even (8) - Odd (0)
Higher (6) - Lower (6)
Column (14) - Row (9)
FAQ:
Q1: You missed something!
A1: That could very well be the case! Human speech can be hard to understand for computers like me! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn!
Q2: Can you do this for another channel?
A2: I've been thinking about that and wrote some code to make that possible. Let me know which channel you think would be a good fit!
That's weird (10:35)
38:48 In box 6, if r6c7 is 3 it causes a repeated 2 in the box.
If I ever find myself asking - as Simon did here - "if that's a 3.." I always fill it in on the grid so I can immediately SEE the consequences. But Simon does it in his head and misses the two 2's he's just allocated into box 6. (Apparently its deemed as "bifurcation" if you do it on the grid, but its not "bifurcation" if you do the exact same thing in your head.. even though you chance stuffing it up like Simon did here)
Proving the 4 near the start of the top right thermo, for me came with pencil marking. Basically the same process he used at the bottom. If you do so at the top staroon the right the left thermo only has to go up to a minimum of 7, providing an extra degree of freedom, allowing for the 4.
Another very interesting puzzle from Tallcat. The breakthrough for me was noting that R7/8C5 had to contain 123s, and at least one of these had to go in R1 in box 2, which prevented 3 going in R4C6, and meant both of the 123s had to go into R1C4/6. This meant 789 were in C1/5/9 in R1 (they can't go in any thermo cells). One of the top thermos had to start 56, and appear in box 2 on the other thermo, which had to have a 4 in its second position and the other 123 on the bulb. If the 56 was on the right thermo, it couldn't go on the left thermo in box 2, because it would need a digit between the 4 in R1 and the 5 in box 2. Therefore the left thermo must be 56789. The right thermo has 123 in the bulb, then 456, with 789 on the tip. There's a 7 in R1C5, and an 89 pair at the ends of the row. This all then fed down into the thermos at the bottom. This didn't rely on proving any hypothesis (which I admit was well spotted), it just "came out in the wash".
At 39:00, you tried putting 3 into R6C7, and correctly deduced that R4C7 would be 2, and R6C8 would be 2, but inexplicably failed to realise they were in the same box. Your sudoku is getting worse, and you can't blame the heat when it's been declining for months. I can't believe you want to appear rubbish, or that you just don't care, which is starting to make me concerned that there could be some visual or neurological problem you're carrying. I think you owe it to yourself to get yourself checked out.
44:19 for me. Really really liked it, just by how it looked i saw that this was gonna be beautifiul
57:50, I'm pretty happy with that. I almost gave up and started watching the video but when the long string of birthdays came on I decided to give it one more go and I solved it!
34:49 "This could become a colouring puzzle" 🙈😆
Great puzzle! And expertly solved, thanks so much! I only wished Simon had switched the colors of the one and two at the top of the grid from orange to blue when he switched those colors in box eight.
It's easy to explain what happens at the top, Simon, the diagonally bent thermo provides it's third and fourth digits. The others provide their fourth and fifth digits. Providing an earlier digit provides another degree of freedom.
This was really cool. Figuring out that the top two of one thermo had to be at the start of the other, and the lowest pair had to be in the middle, then realizing that had to be a 1234 was a really cool break-in. Just great, and continued to be so through the rest.
20:40 for me. Fantastic puzzle!! I loved the break-in, and the rest of the puzzle was also very interesting.
that's a damn good time
I'm almost sure Mark would have started the puzzle completely differently. I would love to see both of them solve this puzzle independently. I read TallCat's post that Simon followed the intended logic but I suspect there could be more than one way to discover it.
Once discovering the orange digits in box 2, then goodliffing the two thermos with the knowledge that neither of them can have a 3 or lower on the second bulb) does make a different way of forcing the thermos by means of a quadruple in the box (that is a little different from Simon's approach)
Mark would have started by "pencil marking" the thermos of course! 😁.
I did originally Goodliffe all the thermos, pretty sure it wouldn't do ANYTHING, and it didn't. After I erased them and found the logic, though, I did Goodliffe the releveant thermos and immediately saw what Simon took so long to see and that only one way worked and not the other.
Mark would have “seen” that R1C7 had to be a 4 and would not have been the least bit bothered that he could not explain it or done some hand waving about stacking. Once you “break” the puzzle with the four “123” triples in column 5, the 4 and the broken thermo symmetry are brought to life. Simon can get distracted by trying to understand something before he moves on. But his dedication to understanding and explaining everything about the puzzle are what drives his higher views.
Well duh. Mark would have pencilled in all the possible digits for all the thermos. It's not called Goodliffing for nothin'!
It would indeed be very powerful if r6c7 would be a 3, because it would break the puzzle immediately, as it would force two 2s in box 6 :D
That really bugged me, moreover that he did resolve that with logic but a different one!!
He even explained it at 38:45, he verbally allocated two 2's into box 6 in the same breath. But so often, he explains things without actually listening to himself in the process.
Simon: How did i get that nine there, was it sudoku, that doesn't sound like me.
this solves surprisingly well for a very long time if you mistake the thermos for arrows. facepalm.
Well I did the opposite on a puzzle the other day so yeah I feel your pain friend
solved in 47:43 - excellent thermo logic the whole way, surprised it actually worked out. figured out the starting trick fairly early, then got stuck in the middle for like 25 minutes somehow. my grid at that point looked similar to Simon's at 36:15 or so
I treid to solve this puzzle but couldn't wrap my head around the logic, i could see the basic idea but not execute it. Gonna be an interesting watch
he remarked that when he put three in r6c7 there would be two 2s in the box but I guess it didn't register
I blame the heat on that one ;)
I've been enjoying the new app on android, but I do hate how small phones are. I can't wait to get it on steam for my laptop. One puzzle I thought was hilarious I couldn't figure it out at all.......so I looked at the hint and it mentioned parity. I stopped reading the hint and looked at parity and BAM 10 minutes tops I solved it. It just fell apart after that. I loved it. lol
Simon you're game even taking on a thermo sudoku in the unprecedented heat that you are all experiencing over there! 🥵
It is amazing how you can build the hardest logic constructions and miss the simplest moves at the same time. Your brain definitely does not want to do simple work. It craves for challenge.
18:00 Consider what the middle dominoes must be, regardless of which side they're from. Then something disambiguates the top blocks.
19:20 The bottom must be 123. There must be a way out at the top, a 1234 perhaps.
31:00 Tallcat had the choice between breaking the symmetry and breaking the puzzle.
47:00 I broke the puzzle some time ago: a 43 cell faced both a 4 and a 3. I went back to the video, in hopes that I might see where I went wrong. Simon kept doing what I had done, as well as things I hadn't done -- nothing inconsistent. He placed both the 4 and the 3. Then I saw a possible recovery -- grasping at straws. I could switch three cells between 1 and 34s -- replace the 1 with 34, and replace 34s with 1s. It worked!
This was pretty hard. I'm surprised I actually got it started much less finished. Took quite a bit to see the break in.
I would love a setting video on this one
Alas, I have already done a setting video - but Simon is pretty spot on with is intuition. I had been playing about with thermo shapes and stumbled across the bottom configuration. I then wanted to replicate it at the top but, of course, it broke. Once I realized why, i then tweaked the top right thermo and found quite a bit was forced...
Gentlemen, it's too hot to be trying to do puzzles. You have been rock stars for years, take the week off and bring the family to a lake or beach or anywhere you can cool down.
"...Basically you just don't sleep." LMAO! 😆
It seems that the rules in the video description mention renban rules despite there not being any renbans in the puzzle.
And killer cages
Oops, thanks for spotting this! My bad. Should be fixed now :)
Six is afraid of seven because ... 45:04
I really think "there needs to be a 4 in one of these cells, and this is the only place it can be" is a pretty good proof.
30:10 had to experiment the thermos, but broke every possibility until the last one possible ironically.
5:12 Rules
This is some sort of meta-sudoku... now we have to ask why the puzzle isn't symmetric before we can even think of solving it!
If the fourth thermo continued the symmetry, the puzzle wouldn't have a unique solution in the first place.
Do you guy not have air conditioning there? I guess England normally never gets that hot. We in St Louis can get Temps in the 100f and it seems to always happen with 90 percent humidity.
a very fun puzzle after the break in, but the break in is diabolical
Hot day in the UK? so, what about 15 degrees? :P
The rules in the description are wrong. :-D
Fantastic puzzle :)
I have a question, why cant the thermos be 1 and 5 on one side then 2 and 3 on the other side? This way the puzzle wont break and the logic of having 123s in the middle wont be correct? Could you please suggest?
Not sure which thermos you are referring to here. If you mean the ones at the bottom going into box 8, then you will run into an issue of where to put 1, 2, and 3 in box 8 (input the digits into the grid at the link above and see what happens).
I seemed to have a slightly easier time at the beginning, but I think it's because after discovering the break-in, I assumed it was a 34 pair on the thermo in box 3, I tried to go back in my solve and figure out why I made that assumption as early as I did, but if there was a solid logic there, I lost it.
Simon, unless you can get a breeze going throughout the house you really should keep your windows shut (and your curtains/blinds too) while it's hotter than room temperature outside! Otherwise the temperature will only go up as it diffuses into the house. Open the windows during the night (although not tonight as it's going to be well over 20 degrees all night).
This was made much harder when I treated the thermos as arrows... too many arrow puzzles lately.
I'm not sure about the initial logic. It seems that the implied assumption is that either both blue are smaller than orange or other way, but what if one orange is bigger and other is smaller ? Did i miss something ?
As simon explains in the video, it is not possible as you result in the same paradox that one blue ends up 'above' both orange on the thermo and one orange ends up 'above' both blue on the thermo meaning that blue and orange have to simultaneously bigger and smaller than the other.
@@tallcat Thanks, I had to rewatch video to notice that part.
Extremely hard. I don't even know how you train your brain to see that break-in. 🙂
It is puzzles like this that make me despair for a general theory of sudoku difficulty that I've wanted to develop. The topology is what matters here it seems - and I'm no topologist.
Anyone else utterly infuriated by the 1/2 pair in box 2 remaining orange throughout? Seriously though.. Great solve on a puzzle I failed miserably on.
😡🤬😤😭
Stay cool today in the UK!
I see a Sudoku grid scratched up by a feline in a manner that I cannot solve it.
Simon, I am guessing that your room in the roof is uninsulated. This not only affects the way it is when cold but also prevents the heat from the sun beating down on the roof making it unbearable. Go for it and insulate and give us feedback!
@ 38:55 if this was 3 then this would 2 then in the same box that would have to be 2, but he missed it.😅
If R6C7 was a 3, then it would make BOTH R4C7 and R6C8 a 2 in box 6. Which is impossible.
Yeah at 48:00 I was confused why he said making R6C8 a 2 would force a 3 in R4C7. In the end he was correct that R6C8 couldn't be a 2, but for the wrong reason.
Darn it, I managed to solve it right up to the end getting a "That looks good to me" message when there was a non unique solution, had to look though the entire puzzle to see what I messed up to get a correct non unique solution and then realized on the one thermo I put 2,2,4 instead of 2,3,4 which didn't break the puzzle via normal rules of sudoku so the solver viewed it as correct even though I messed it up. Which fair enough to the program, but yeah I got to the end as was like "is this a broken puzzle with multiple solutions? Ah I see what I messed up allowing me to get an incorrect while still correct for normal solutions.
At 18 minutes into the video I immediately realised we're gonna get a quadruple. That's when I decided to give the puzzle a try myself. I've got 11 digits, but now I'm stuck.
"If this was a 3, then this would have to be 2 and this other square in the same box would also have to be 2... nope, no problem with that, let's look elsewhere."
Finally solved it after wasting hours.
There were several times when you will doubt your own logic. But it was good and a bit frustrating 😕
Silly to comment now, but keep your windows and doors and curtains shut during extreme weather. Keep the heat out :)
I finish in 36:12.
38:42
Simon! Surely, after telling me the secret roughly 100 times, you recall it, yes?
How in the world can you place two 2s in box 6? A 3 in R6C7 would force not only a 2 in R4C7, but also R6C8.
Obviously, the result meaning that 3 is instantly removed as an option for that square.
The rules in the description don't match the actual rules in the video.
Yesterday I finally had to look up who is that "Maverick". Rather disappointed. -As I was expecting to find Launchpad McQuack.
Simon, how is it possible that you fail to hear yourself say @38:50 that if the thermo tip in r6c7 was a 3 that you would need to place two 2s in box 6?
I had to do a couple bifuracations to get it, but still 60:54.
I was so confused for the first 12 minutes until I remembered thermos aren't arrows, oops.
They should have made it symmetrical and Add in rules that one thermo is broken
38 minutes
38:46 - Look where you're clicking when you say "This has to be 2", Simon! You clicked on two cells in the same box, which means it canNOT be three! EDIT: 46:41 - Of course, Simon ends up doing it in a more convoluted way later on...
Hmm...
my boyfriend got me into puzzling solving - I really love watching these videos with him. Babe, if you see this - I love you.
@Thando Lwethu I love you too babe, did you even do the puzzle first 🤣
@@animefreak856 no i just watched the video - I am still watching, I am still shocekd Simon is actually coming with the solution with the little he has
@@thandolwethu3430 I solved it in 24 minutes, I'm now just watching to see Simon's logic
@@animefreak856 🤍🥰 that's impressive as always, can I come to your place tomorrow I miss you
@@thandolwethu3430 I can call an Uber right now for you 😏
Hi can you do a shoutout for my husband Amir Sperling it is his birthday tomorrow and he watches your videos everyday .
Send an email to the email address in the description box - I am pretty sure that is how Simon learns of birthdays (though he probably does read comments, it might be a bit late ...)
@@emilywilliams3237 Thanks for letting me know
25:53 - Don't apologise: loony maundering is not a crime, as any investment banker should know :D
38:55 - Thus proving that r6c7 cannot be a 3...? ('asking' for a Geordie friend :D)
I've never been this early
Simon, I must admit it felt a bit annoying that you kept trying to prove the asymmetry theorem over and over for half the video even though it was quite intuitively obvious, but I wouldn't want it any other way. Thanks for making sure every one of us understands what is happening in the grid
And from the almost 54 minutes about 20 minutes was moaning about stupid things instead of putting numbers in and do sudoku.