FD and I enjoyed this SOOOOOOO much!! Thank you for the birthday wishes and the song about 3 in the corner! We're happy we could torture you with 2-8-age. Loved the solve! And enjoyed the popcorn during the movie :) Time to plan ahead for the next milestone ... :) -- MaFC Also, many thanks to Sven for the new animation and working with us to have this puzzle be the debut of that lovely addition. And Simon, you followed the solve path pretty much exactly as intended ... it was just a tad tougher than our usual fare :) --FD
We do enjoy seeing Simon struggling like that from time to time. And the last five minutes are really the climax of this 2 hour great movie. Thanks Missing deck and full card! 😉
A new personal record - I solved this in 124:51, which is by far the closest I've gotten to a "Simon Solve" time for a video longer than 40 minutes or so. I know that's nothing particularly special in this community, but I feel like it's a major accomplishment for me personally. Very beautiful puzzle, thank you! I really appreciated the fireworks for the 3 in the corner, and of course I sang along as soon as I saw it. :D
Oh, but it is special. I am still at a point that I don't even start at puzzles associated with Simon-the-movie (i.e.: anything longer than a 90 minute video)... Well done!
I outdid myself this evening... fell asleep during the birthday announcements, woke up to the sound of the outro music! Had a lovely nap, now to watch the video!
Some of my favourite Simonisms in this video: "Out of nowhere" being the result of standard Sudoku, and a complete and utter disregard for his own pencil marks! 🤣
This has been one of my favourite puzzles so far on the channel. I was amazed that I could complete it without needing to watch the video for hints: that shows how much Simon and Mark have taught me over the last few years. Thank you, good sirs.
I've been waiting sooo long for this video! *_Thank you so much Sven._* Shout out to you. Your work behind the scenes is so appreciated. (I've been refreshing the CTC channel pretty much every 5 minutes waiting for this video - with the time difference to NZ that got quite late - but it’s worth it.) What a treat. Couldn't wait to see Simon's face with that 3 in the corner - (ᶜᵒʳ3ⁿᵉʳ)! - 1:56:04 And as per usual the CTC channel does not disappoint. This really is one of the nicest little corners of the internet and I am privileged to be a part of it.
@@missingdeck9999 Dude, I only had an absolute minuscule part to play. You guys did the awesome work! Must tell you though. It is totally surreal to see a tiny idea from Invercargill New Zealand move literally halfway around the world. (You can check. It's as far as you can get from Great Britain) Cost to subscribe to CTC - Free Getting a silly idea - Free Sending an email to Sven - Free Seeing the look on Simon's face - Priceless! In summary - Totally worth it. You guys all rock and I'm just honoured to be able to be a very small part of it.
I'm a big fan of Lowko, and I'd really like to this applied to him. The fans have made a bingo game of his commentary, with phrases of his like, "smelling blood in the water," "slowly but surely," "on the other side of the map," and "science cannot explain."
What a treat indeed! The troll with black dots and THREE IN THE CORNER were absolutely worth it! Wonderful job by Missing a few cards and Full deck! And of course, our dear Simon.
My husband doesn’t understand why I like watching Simon solve these puzzles. But the more I watch the more amazed I am. I am still a novice when it comes to anything other than regular sudoku. I love watching Simon talk through all the strategies. Thanks for an awesome video!
I discovered yesterday that my daughter whose birthday you mentioned at the beginning of March has surreptitiously purchased the GAS 2 puzzles and is using them to improve her variant Sudoku skills. She may catch me up before I know it ...
in today's video: Simon stresses about the possibility of a black dot in box 5, then upon revealing it's true nature at 46:27 immediately forgets about it.
@@RaduStanculescu but you can't know for sure until you clear the fog, that's the point - you are sure that it's all a joke but you can never be 100% sure - ooh the torture!
With a free afternoon ahead I thought I'd give this go and see how far I could get. Amazed to finish this in 45:54 without a single mistake and no need to watch the video. Started on row 1 and after a few minutes reduced the x sums to 5/6 in both cells and quickly proved there was only one combination that would work. So I think Simon starting in column 9 slowed him down. The other thing is I pencil mark like Mark so the negative restraint on 1-2 ratios sorted out a lot and that's not a Simon thing! Great puzzle and I must say quite proud to have done it so quickly in comparison to the master.
Simon! At 1:10:00, you were right about there being another way to get this set of deductions. With the 4 placed in row 3, you could have used the 24 sum to figure out that that r3c7 was a 6, which would give you the 6 in r2c6, which would have given you the rest of c6 from there -- basically getting the same information in the opposite order. Not necessarily a lot faster, but your intuition was indeed correct. I did see the 4 in box 1 a bit before you did, but I couldn't find that finish at all either. (Interestingly, I don't think the 819 line at the bottom is needed; by the time that was visible, your 4 in box 9 would have resolved the 14 pair in c5, which resolved the 16 pair in c3 that you used that line to resolve.) This was a fascinating puzzle!
39:12 🐦 Once upon a springtime breezy, while I pondered, "Is this easy?" Over quite a quaint and curious fog-befuddled sudoku- While I grappled, never cheating, suddenly there came a greeting, As of something gently tweeting, tweeting from the yonder blue- "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "fleeting by me with a clue-" Quoth the birdie "Doo-doo-doo."
Ah, these ravens, rooks and robins, oft evoke from me a "Bobbins!" But I - very nearly sobbing - thought to ask him what he knew. Eagerly I wished the birdie;- vainly hoping he had heard me In a warble weak and wordy, "Could you lend to me a clue? "For the solve has gone absurdly and I don't know what to do." Quoth the birdie "Two-two-two!"
51:21 ... math got me off to a strong start, and while I struggled a bit in the middle, I'm happy to have solved this one as quickly as I did. I gotta say, though, that I was NOT expecting ... . . ... that (1) there would not, in fact, be any dots in the actual grid, and (2) there *would* be a confetti party near the end! Wonderful puzzle!
Surprised Simon didn’t color the different modularities. That made it a lot easier for me to track what could/couldn’t be next to each other. Normally Simon is so color happy 😂
Ohh I LOVE it that a 3 in the corner now has a party effect ♥ hopefully Simon will never miss one again with this :D and the Puzzle is super interesting indeed, but way above my skills, still fun to watch :)
So happy indeed that Sven did automate some of the 3-in-the-corner stuff, after it has been suggested so many times in this chat ;-) Only the sound effect still remains to be done...
I've never tried a puzzle with a video this long but I adore fog of war puzzles. Managed to actually finish in 47:07 much to my shock. Great solve path, broke in on the top row rather than where Simon did and relied heavily on the negative constraint.
Had to watch the video to figure out what took him so long. Result: clue 24 x-sums and the ML box 2/5 in combination with black dot rules Just needed 50:33
What a fun puzzle! The gradual unveiling adds a clever element to the variant genre. Not long into the puzzle I was pretty sure there were going to be no black dots... Just using the negative constraint was nicely minimalistic. Well done to the setters and to Sven for the great solving experience.
Omg I can’t believe I actually solved this! I opened the puzzle just to see how far I could get, thinking I wouldn’t actually finish it….but thing I’m most astonished about is I solved it in less time than the video length!!!! 1:33:16 ❤❤ Edit: I hate to say it but I’m going back on my solve and I ASSUMED there was no black dot between r8c2 and r9c2😮
Really proud of my time on this one: 56:27 I love the combination of the X-sums also being modular lines, very interesting logic there. And the kropki rule was clever, you can guess about halfway through that there won't be any dots, but you can't assume anything until the fog's been cleared. Loved it!
I loved this, I can’t believe Simon didn’t take the opportunity to colour the modular lines, made the solve a lot more simple. The secret Easter egg was a joy. Kudos to Sven
Great puzzle. 67:53 for me. Simon, you missed the naked 6 in box 2 at 48:48, which would have shaved about 20 minutes off your time. Candidates for r2c6 are 1,2,6,8. The 1 is on the modular line in column 6. The 4 in r1c6 rules out 2 and 8, leaving the 6. Then candidates for r3c6 are 1,2,8, but the modularity of r3c5 knocks out the 1, leaving a 2,8 , which sets the modularity of r3c7 and r3c8, and so on.
Not only did we get the long-awaited "all kropki dots are given" rule with a grid completely devoid of dots, but we got it in the most beautiful way possible with the uncertainty of dots until the reveal at the very end. The resulting suspense and comedy were very entertaining. And then we got Simon's utter and baffled glee at the celebratory three in the corner! That brought a grin to my face and I had to rewind to watch the surprise over again. This installment of Cracking the Cryptic was a long solve with some tough spots in the middle, but the payoff at the end was sheer delight. Thank you so much, Sven, Simon, Full Deck, and Missing a Few Cards.
1:17:11 finish. I did color the different modulo sets, which helped me with the modulo, but then I missed the negative constraint for a while. But definitely a fun puzzle!
This unfolded beatifully. I guess the essential limitation of FoW is that you always know where to look, at the start at least, but this was quite testing for the genre.
It was such a fantastic puzzle! Very hard yet bizzarely approachable thanks to the fog railroading and the very consistent logic from one x-sum to the next. Didn't need help which i'm super proud of. Spoilers ahead : I KNEW when I read the rules there would be no kropki in the grid! I was so glad to be right! It's so cheeky it would be missed opportunity if it wasn't. I also aaawwed audibly at the little 🎉when the 3 appeared in the corner, such an adorable easter egg!
One of the rare times I was faster than Simon, my time is 01:19:15 but this puzzle is playing towards Simon's weaknesses :D After seeing the line is entropic and that every 3 connected cell on the line is divisible by 3 you have to appreciate that whenever there's a 4 on the x-sum clue's start that means the total is going to give a remainder of 1. The same applies to 6 as well, it will always give a remainder of 0 on an x-sum clue. So the only clue where 4 can go is with the 25 and the 26 clue cannot have a 6 or a 4, which means it has a 5. The 5 however can give a total that is divisible by 3 as in a combination of remainders 2-1-0-2-1 so it could go with 27 or 24 if allowed by the other digits on the board. (I got all this within like 2-3 minutes after reading the rules, of course I'm abysmal at normal sudoku and the last 3 rows took be like half an hour...)
This was so very fun, your being bamboozled is never dull, your brilliance at making deductions and explaining your thinking - and your reaction to that confetti when the 3 in the corner was unveiled - so wonderful! Thank you, Simon.
Thank you, Simon (and Sally!), for the birthday greetings. I'd just served some cake when I heard my own name -- an unexpected delight. And the puzzle was amazing.
45:29 for me, but I did use some paper to check which numbers could be used in the X-sums when the clock wasn't ticking yet. So in total around an hour, I think.
The way to argue about R7 around 1:53:40 without having to postulate a 7 is to ask where do 4&8 go? The only options are R7C2, R7C6 and R7C7, but C6&7 domino cannot contain both, so R7C2 must be from 48
There are few puzzles where I don't need a little guidance from Mark or Simon and I was apprehensive about the 2 hour length but I felt so accomplished finishing it in 60 minutes without having to constantly pause the video! And what a fun 3 in the corner at the very end of the puzzle
This took me over 2 hours to solve - and it was worth every minute of it! Clearing the first of the fog with the break-in was so satisfying. Thank you to the setters, Sven for the nice surprise and of course Simon.
I did this puzzle in 57 minutes on a train ride home, purely logically and without bifurcation. I didn't even find it too hard, except at a couple of points. It was like a free-flowing fun self-unfolding puzzle, the kind I really like a lot. So I couldn't believe it when I looked at the video length and saw that Simon took nearly a full hour longer than me. This is easily a record for beating the video solve time. I'm definitely gonna watch this and see what the snags were.
Once Simon explained the rule set, I was up and running. Got stuck a couple of times until I remembered the negative dot rule. Had to watch the video once (just to check what I had done so far). To the point where Simon gave a big clue about the top row in box 3 adding to 18, then seemed to forget about it. Forgot to restart the clock, but was about 90 minutes. Waited until the end for 1 black dot to unwind everything, and was confused when it wasn't there. The 4(79)8 in box 7 took a bit of spotting. Loved the puzzle.
I put the three in the corner right at the end very satisfactorily. I'm new to watching videos on the channel, but I've never seen any recent ones, so I finally know why that curious three in the corner effect appears in the puzzles I solved, but not in the videos. Thanks for such good content.
I was at 56:08 into the video when I had a moment of revelation and saw that r3c9 had to be 5: because r3c6 must have the same modularity as r3c9, and the only remainder 0 mod 3 number left in box 2 is 6, which would put two 6's in r3.
This is the first puzzle you've shown I tried to do by myself, AMAZING setting! I got pretty far and had to get some help from Simon, but felt really good once it was all said and done! there goes 4 hours of my life on an amazing puzzle
See, I had that thought too, but after watching him explain the rules I decided to give it a try myself, and managed to actually solve it! There are lots of little deductions to be made around the negative constraint, and you have to find the right place to look, but I don't think any of the individual steps are necessarily all that hard to figure out -- the hardest part is just someimtes figuring out where to look for the next deduction, which is kind of hilarious given that the reason I usually like fog of war puzzles is that they usually help guide your eyes to where you need to look next in the solve, lol
I used to be the same, but knowing Simon's penchant to take the most difficult route to solve puzzles, these days a long Simon video is just an invitation to beat his time - which wasn't too hard to do today. His refusal to pencil mark cells makes him waste so much time. There were naked singles all over the place today that he just never saw because of his elitist attiude to pencil marking.
@@ceevio_art hit the nail on the head. Simon could literally halve his time, probably more, if he would just pencil mark. It becomes convoluted for no reason.
This was such an amazing puzzle, I love the "all rules and almost no numbers" ones. Took me about 5 hours! Looking forward to watching this video tomorrow to see how you did it (too tired right now), but I'm guessing your start wasn't quite as exhausting. I actually spent an hour or two working on all the possible combinations before I realized that the remainder of the sum could be used to determine the value of X.
An amazing puzzle. A challenging solve. I'm glad I gave it a shot before watching the movie. I did get rightly stuck. Watched along until Simon unearthed a small bit of logic I'd missed and resumed solving. Got stuck again. Watched more of the proceedings. Got another nudge and was able to finish this beast. I then had to watch the remainder of Simon's quest.
Holy crap I finished with 44 minutes on the clock! I saw how long the video was last night and thought, no way can I do this, watched the intro for the rules and paused. I ended up not having time to even watch the video so I closed it to watch tonight instead. I ended up not being able to sleep and spent that time lying awake thinking about the puzzle. I ended up solving the 27 clue in my head and limiting the other 3 clues by quite a bit and tonight decided to check my work in the puzzle before watching the video. Putting in what I came up with was correct and made the next step with the 24/26 clue interaction much more limited and most things after that seemed to flow rather nicely. I can't believe that I got such a time even with the extra time spent thinking about it when I should have been sleeping.
At 1:08:55: "I think there must be an other way to notice it". You are right: I noticed it by looking for the 1/4/7 in C6 and notice that all are set (4 and 7 are known and the 1 need to be in R4 or R5) and like you argued before R2 C6 cant be 2/5/8, so I noticed it need to be from 3/6/9 and knew what it was. An other thing I noticed before was: In R6 we knew that 2/5/8 need to be in C3 and C5 and one of C7/C8, so R6 C4 could not be from this set and therefore the only place the third number of the 2/5/8 set in box 5 needs to go in R4 C4. It is an interesting constraint which is really hard to keep track off. I used coloring to help me a bit.
I think also at that timestamp (1:08:55), the 24 x-sum in r3, the 1-7, 2-8 pairs always have to sum to 9. It's very similar to the situation he had already looked at in r1. 1 couldn't go next to 2, and if it was 7 with 8 you would already have 24 before adding r3c7. So they were either 1-8 or 7-2, summing to 9 either way. Making r3c7 a 6. (Which was another way to get the 6 in box 2.) The 1-7, 2-8 pair having to sum to 9 was a repeating theme. It also applied in c5 at one point, to give r2c5 =9.
62:59 Fantastic puzzle! I found the break-in not so hard, but each step in the fog has to made very carefully so it still takes some time... And the end is a piece of magic! 😂
Loved, Loved, LOVED this puzzle! I always enjoy the ones that are just a little bit 'mathsy' beyond just counting up diagonals or whatever. And one of the few times I think I legit beat Simon's time, which NEVER happens! Was a joy to do the puzzle and watch the video. I imagine works this beautiful don't come along very often, but it would be GREAT to have more like this! Fog, math, and a truly difficult puzzle is just about my sudoku nirvana!
I learnt so much from this video; thank you Simon for the video and thank you Missing Deck and Full Deck for producing such a puzzle. Happy Birthday Missing Deck.
Solved this one all my own! In only about 3 hours too! Remarkable puzzle, the fact that *spoilers* there wasn't ever a single black dot in the puzzle really got a smile out of me. That 1:2 ratio negative restraint pretty much sets a good 80% of the puzzle, it's really nice. And the fact that this puzzle ends with a 3 in the corner is a very welcome sight. This puzzle had such a wonderful ruleset and kept me excited to play more the whole time, one of my new all time favorites. A grand recommendation by me, and happy birthday Missing a Few Cards, marvelous work :D
OMG looking at the comments this has got to be my best solve time yet, 50:10 with no guesses. I used coloring right off the bat to differentiate between the 3 mods and it made it so much easier. I forgot that 1 and 2 were black dotted as well until I got completely stuck and realized I was missing something simple. Thanks for the puzzle and the solve everyone:)
Gentlemen, that was just this side of brutal. I feel no shame for my 2 hours 45 minutes. Realizing how, exactly, the modulus and sum rules worked together to force the x digits for the x sums was a very interesting break in. Brilliant puzzle. Stay Awesome
Things I spotted that you missed Simon. 1. You had a 6 naked single in box 2 when you started asking where 2&8 could go. 2. As soon as you marked positions for 4's in box 1 the 4 could have been placed ( you did say that had probably been there for ages... You were correct 🙂) 3. The difficult uncover at the end. r7c6 = 8 because.... If r7c3 = 3 then r9c3 = 6 so r8c8 = 6 so r8c6 = 5 so r7c6 = 8 Else r7c3 = 5 so r7c6 = 8 This uses the line and I think is less complex than the 48 dot question. At 1:47:16 you say if this is 3 then this can't be 6 but I don't think that is useful. It was useful 🙂 It did solve from there, I checked 🙂 You are much cleverer than I. I got stuck with the start and ruled 4 out of r1c5 because it would be next to a 28 in the fog where I didn't know if there was a black dot... Spotted my mistake, gave up and watched the video.
I'm excited to watch through the video - usually when I see such a long runtime I take a crack at the puzzle, make no headway, then watch; but this time I actually solved the puzzle in just over an hour. Interested to see what breakthrough it took so long for Simon to get to - or if we even thought out the puzzle in the same way at all.
I also found this puzzle to be monstrously difficult (especially that ending!) I did elect to color the modulo groups as I solved just so I got the satisfaction of coloring the grid! And I absolutely lost it when my 3 in the corner started throwing a party!! Fantastic work Simon, keep it up!
I took the step you took at 1:47:32 a little further an noted that If R7C3 was 3 then both R8C6 and R9C7 were also 3. By the logic you pointed out R8C3 would have to be 1 so R9C3 had to be 6 therefore R9C8 would be a 5 making R8C8 a 6 and placing a 3 and a 6 on the line. Meaning R7C3 could not be a 3. Then the rest of the solve came pretty quickly as the rest of the puzzle fell apart.
solved in 1:08:04 - maybe could've been faster in theory, but I was a little tripped up on determining if the pairs at the top were 2/7 and 1/8. very cool use of lines + kropki negative constraint together
Wonderful puzzle. Each step is difficult but no step is monstrous. At the very end all you need to notice is that 4 and 8 can't be next to each other in row 7, hence one of them is in r7c2.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
FD and I enjoyed this SOOOOOOO much!! Thank you for the birthday wishes and the song about 3 in the corner! We're happy we could torture you with 2-8-age. Loved the solve! And enjoyed the popcorn during the movie :) Time to plan ahead for the next milestone ... :) -- MaFC Also, many thanks to Sven for the new animation and working with us to have this puzzle be the debut of that lovely addition. And Simon, you followed the solve path pretty much exactly as intended ... it was just a tad tougher than our usual fare :) --FD
Wow wow wow!!!
Nice - thanks for the epic puzzle, and thank you Sven!
that was a lovely puzzle, thanks to both of you for creating it.
Just absolutely brilliant from you 2!!!
We do enjoy seeing Simon struggling like that from time to time. And the last five minutes are really the climax of this 2 hour great movie. Thanks Missing deck and full card! 😉
1:57:28 Legend says that Simon is still un-doing and re-doing the 3, and laughing maniacally each time.
Simons reaction to the 3 in the corner update is amazing. So worth the full watch
It was!
That's 3 in the spotlight, losing its... confetti?
A new personal record - I solved this in 124:51, which is by far the closest I've gotten to a "Simon Solve" time for a video longer than 40 minutes or so. I know that's nothing particularly special in this community, but I feel like it's a major accomplishment for me personally. Very beautiful puzzle, thank you! I really appreciated the fireworks for the 3 in the corner, and of course I sang along as soon as I saw it. :D
Congrats!
Oh that is special in this community
I did it in 123! Days..
Oh, but it is special. I am still at a point that I don't even start at puzzles associated with Simon-the-movie (i.e.: anything longer than a 90 minute video)... Well done!
Congrats Friend! Thats actually a huge accomplishment, what u can be proud of
The reaction by Simon when nothing appeared when the fog cleared, was priceless!
The real name of the puzzle is "The Trolls in the Fog"
Watching an hour and fifty-six minutes of sudoku was made absolutely more than worth it to see the confetti surprise
1:20:45 “It’s so easy to overlook one of them” while deleting the 4 and leaving only 1 place in row 2 for a 4. I’m sure you’ll see it in a minute.
That 4 killed me. 😂It had stood there for so long!
He tasks me! He tasks me, and I shall have him!
spoiler 1:33:30
I outdid myself this evening... fell asleep during the birthday announcements, woke up to the sound of the outro music! Had a lovely nap, now to watch the video!
Congratz! This one I would not have been able to solve for sure. Well done.
Some of my favourite Simonisms in this video: "Out of nowhere" being the result of standard Sudoku, and a complete and utter disregard for his own pencil marks! 🤣
This has been one of my favourite puzzles so far on the channel. I was amazed that I could complete it without needing to watch the video for hints: that shows how much Simon and Mark have taught me over the last few years. Thank you, good sirs.
I came to write exactly the same thing!
Same! It took me 2 hours and 20 mins but I got there eventually!
Same here, solved in under 2 hours but wouldn't have had a clue a year ago.
This is a great puzzle!
It took me 2:04:34 to solve without any hint.
Now its time to watch the video.
Same here, I would definately not have gotten anywhere if not for watching CtC
I've been waiting sooo long for this video! *_Thank you so much Sven._*
Shout out to you. Your work behind the scenes is so appreciated.
(I've been refreshing the CTC channel pretty much every 5 minutes waiting for this video - with the time difference to NZ that got quite late - but it’s worth it.)
What a treat. Couldn't wait to see Simon's face with that 3 in the corner - (ᶜᵒʳ3ⁿᵉʳ)! - 1:56:04
And as per usual the CTC channel does not disappoint. This really is one of the nicest little corners of the internet and I am privileged to be a part of it.
Thank you for your help implementing this!!
@@missingdeck9999 Dude, I only had an absolute minuscule part to play. You guys did the awesome work!
Must tell you though. It is totally surreal to see a tiny idea from Invercargill New Zealand move literally halfway around the world.
(You can check. It's as far as you can get from Great Britain)
Cost to subscribe to CTC - Free
Getting a silly idea - Free
Sending an email to Sven - Free
Seeing the look on Simon's face - Priceless!
In summary - Totally worth it.
You guys all rock and I'm just honoured to be able to be a very small part of it.
Rules: 08:07
Let's Get Cracking: 14:40
Simon's time: 1h41m56s
Puzzle Solved: 1:56:36
What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
Three In the Corner: 9x (1:00:55, 1:01:01, 1:01:05, 1:55:15, 1:56:01, 1:56:04, 1:56:20, 1:56:41, 1:57:36)
Maverick: 4x (1:30:31, 1:30:33, 1:30:33, 1:42:11)
Bobbins: 3x (20:14, 39:00, 1:25:47)
The Secret: 2x (04:24, 29:50)
You Rotten Thing: 2x (28:17, 37:38)
Phistomefel: 1x (1:16:02)
And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Ah: 35x (16:28, 20:30, 27:36, 27:41, 28:20, 28:28, 37:23, 37:23, 39:44, 39:46, 40:20, 42:29, 55:03, 57:11, 1:01:32, 1:01:46, 1:08:09, 1:11:07, 1:11:47, 1:12:55, 1:13:46, 1:15:23, 1:18:10, 1:22:55, 1:25:34, 1:26:18, 1:28:00, 1:28:00, 1:34:17, 1:35:33, 1:36:36, 1:36:36, 1:40:57, 1:41:26, 1:54:20, 1:57:53)
Wow: 12x (18:03, 32:47, 32:48, 33:22, 41:07, 43:42, 57:04, 1:00:22, 1:16:10, 1:16:14, 1:47:08, 1:54:07)
Hang On: 11x (15:57, 15:57, 24:52, 28:37, 38:35, 38:35, 1:01:46, 1:17:01, 1:29:46, 1:31:18, 1:35:44)
Sorry: 10x (07:32, 18:03, 18:41, 21:53, 25:45, 34:24, 34:24, 35:36, 1:38:31, 1:56:58)
Good Grief: 7x (46:24, 52:18, 1:27:06, 1:27:06, 1:38:56, 1:41:02, 1:53:42)
Useless: 5x (59:45, 1:32:40, 1:32:43, 1:32:43, 1:39:49)
Brilliant: 5x (01:44, 05:58, 06:49, 40:34, 1:57:53)
Obviously: 5x (09:33, 59:35, 1:02:03, 1:24:42, 1:55:42)
Cake!: 5x (01:47, 05:52, 05:59, 06:31, 1:57:59)
What on Earth: 4x (08:16, 32:48, 42:34, 1:11:19)
Goodness: 4x (50:29, 1:07:56, 1:40:13, 1:56:42)
Clever: 4x (56:52, 56:54, 1:18:07, 1:57:05)
Come on Simon: 4x (41:50, 49:04, 1:11:37, 1:50:22)
By Sudoku: 4x (41:20, 1:05:50, 1:28:30, 1:41:52)
In Fact: 4x (01:13, 26:51, 1:05:54, 1:20:53)
Pencil Mark/mark: 4x (48:40, 49:56, 50:00, 57:31)
Naughty: 3x (41:57, 1:30:01, 1:41:07)
Stuck: 3x (39:20, 1:48:30, 1:48:35)
Nonsense: 2x (16:20, 16:23)
I Have no Clue: 2x (42:03, 1:26:41)
What Does This Mean?: 2x (53:06, 57:42)
That's Huge: 2x (1:05:28, 1:09:15)
Out of Nowhere: 1x (1:34:51)
In the Spotlight: 1x (1:56:23)
Beautiful: 1x (1:31:52)
Incredible: 1x (1:57:49)
First Digit: 1x (10:32)
Approachable: 1x (03:38)
Flurry of Activity: 1x (57:49)
Magnificent: 1x (03:03)
Alacrity: 1x (1:35:55)
Whoopsie: 1x (1:34:27)
Which Means What?: 1x (26:16)
Plonk: 1x (1:11:00)
Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video:
Twenty Seven (13 mentions)
Two (188 mentions)
Black (66 mentions)
Antithesis Battles:
Even (5) - Odd (0)
Outside (2) - Inside (0)
Black (66) - White (2)
Column (15) - Row (13)
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!
You havent a clue how much i enjoyed going through this list beginning to end
Lets pin this!
You should include a section that is quotes from "The Raven" - Is there balm in gilead, truly truly I implore.
I'm a big fan of Lowko, and I'd really like to this applied to him. The fans have made a bingo game of his commentary, with phrases of his like, "smelling blood in the water," "slowly but surely," "on the other side of the map," and "science cannot explain."
good bot you get cookie 🍪
Doing this without coloring the modular sets. Simon is a mad man.
Right 😂 It was the first thing I did. Which again shows the superior mind of Simon 👍🏻
What a treat indeed! The troll with black dots and THREE IN THE CORNER were absolutely worth it! Wonderful job by Missing a few cards and Full deck! And of course, our dear Simon.
My husband doesn’t understand why I like watching Simon solve these puzzles. But the more I watch the more amazed I am. I am still a novice when it comes to anything other than regular sudoku. I love watching Simon talk through all the strategies. Thanks for an awesome video!
This grid is a representation of my mind when trying to solve some of these puzzles on CtC.
:))
Complete fog.
The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma - Patrick star
I discovered yesterday that my daughter whose birthday you mentioned at the beginning of March has surreptitiously purchased the GAS 2 puzzles and is using them to improve her variant Sudoku skills. She may catch me up before I know it ...
I love the irony of the two constructors names, that can only have an incredible puzzle as an output
in today's video: Simon stresses about the possibility of a black dot in box 5, then upon revealing it's true nature at 46:27 immediately forgets about it.
I was screaming at my screen lol
I really wished there had been a black dot hiding in the final bits of fog
I was actually surprised by how long it took Simon to realize there would be no black dots. 😂I was sure quite early that there would be none.
@@RaduStanculescu but you can't know for sure until you clear the fog, that's the point - you are sure that it's all a joke but you can never be 100% sure - ooh the torture!
With a free afternoon ahead I thought I'd give this go and see how far I could get. Amazed to finish this in 45:54 without a single mistake and no need to watch the video. Started on row 1 and after a few minutes reduced the x sums to 5/6 in both cells and quickly proved there was only one combination that would work. So I think Simon starting in column 9 slowed him down. The other thing is I pencil mark like Mark so the negative restraint on 1-2 ratios sorted out a lot and that's not a Simon thing!
Great puzzle and I must say quite proud to have done it so quickly in comparison to the master.
Simon! At 1:10:00, you were right about there being another way to get this set of deductions. With the 4 placed in row 3, you could have used the 24 sum to figure out that that r3c7 was a 6, which would give you the 6 in r2c6, which would have given you the rest of c6 from there -- basically getting the same information in the opposite order. Not necessarily a lot faster, but your intuition was indeed correct.
I did see the 4 in box 1 a bit before you did, but I couldn't find that finish at all either. (Interestingly, I don't think the 819 line at the bottom is needed; by the time that was visible, your 4 in box 9 would have resolved the 14 pair in c5, which resolved the 16 pair in c3 that you used that line to resolve.)
This was a fascinating puzzle!
39:12 🐦
Once upon a springtime breezy, while I pondered, "Is this easy?"
Over quite a quaint and curious fog-befuddled sudoku-
While I grappled, never cheating, suddenly there came a greeting,
As of something gently tweeting, tweeting from the yonder blue-
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "fleeting by me with a clue-"
Quoth the birdie "Doo-doo-doo."
I think the birdie was chirping 2 2 2 - and it turns out he was right!
Ah, these ravens, rooks and robins, oft evoke from me a "Bobbins!"
But I - very nearly sobbing - thought to ask him what he knew.
Eagerly I wished the birdie;- vainly hoping he had heard me
In a warble weak and wordy, "Could you lend to me a clue?
"For the solve has gone absurdly and I don't know what to do."
Quoth the birdie "Two-two-two!"
Nice parody!
Please never apologize for long videos they’re such a joy to watch
51:21 ... math got me off to a strong start, and while I struggled a bit in the middle, I'm happy to have solved this one as quickly as I did. I gotta say, though, that I was NOT expecting ...
.
.
... that (1) there would not, in fact, be any dots in the actual grid, and (2) there *would* be a confetti party near the end!
Wonderful puzzle!
Surprised Simon didn’t color the different modularities. That made it a lot easier for me to track what could/couldn’t be next to each other. Normally Simon is so color happy 😂
Ohh I LOVE it that a 3 in the corner now has a party effect ♥ hopefully Simon will never miss one again with this :D and the Puzzle is super interesting indeed, but way above my skills, still fun to watch :)
Yes, that was fabulous 🎉!
Great way to end a terrific solve and astonishing puzzle!
Genius at work!
So happy indeed that Sven did automate some of the 3-in-the-corner stuff, after it has been suggested so many times in this chat ;-) Only the sound effect still remains to be done...
I've never tried a puzzle with a video this long but I adore fog of war puzzles. Managed to actually finish in 47:07 much to my shock. Great solve path, broke in on the top row rather than where Simon did and relied heavily on the negative constraint.
Had to watch the video to figure out what took him so long. Result: clue 24 x-sums and the ML box 2/5 in combination with black dot rules
Just needed 50:33
What a fun puzzle! The gradual unveiling adds a clever element to the variant genre. Not long into the puzzle I was pretty sure there were going to be no black dots... Just using the negative constraint was nicely minimalistic. Well done to the setters and to Sven for the great solving experience.
Omg I can’t believe I actually solved this! I opened the puzzle just to see how far I could get, thinking I wouldn’t actually finish it….but thing I’m most astonished about is I solved it in less time than the video length!!!! 1:33:16 ❤❤
Edit: I hate to say it but I’m going back on my solve and I ASSUMED there was no black dot between r8c2 and r9c2😮
Really proud of my time on this one: 56:27 I love the combination of the X-sums also being modular lines, very interesting logic there. And the kropki rule was clever, you can guess about halfway through that there won't be any dots, but you can't assume anything until the fog's been cleared. Loved it!
I loved this, I can’t believe Simon didn’t take the opportunity to colour the modular lines, made the solve a lot more simple. The secret Easter egg was a joy. Kudos to Sven
YAY Sven!!! Thank you for the Celebration 3... maybe Simon & Mark won't miss them anymore.
Great puzzle. 67:53 for me. Simon, you missed the naked 6 in box 2 at 48:48, which would have shaved about 20 minutes off your time. Candidates for r2c6 are 1,2,6,8. The 1 is on the modular line in column 6. The 4 in r1c6 rules out 2 and 8, leaving the 6. Then candidates for r3c6 are 1,2,8, but the modularity of r3c5 knocks out the 1, leaving a 2,8 , which sets the modularity of r3c7 and r3c8, and so on.
VERY NICE
[Actually my last digit placed was "3 in the corner."]
I did a couple of times.
Nice animation, Sven.
Nice puzzle, Math Professors.
👍
I love it when Simon sings ! You should do full covers
Don’t normally watch these long ones but I had small jobs to do so was able to come back from time to time. Glad I did. Loved that 3 in the corner!
Long time watcher, first time screaming at my screen. Thank you so much for all you do on and around this channel.
Not only did we get the long-awaited "all kropki dots are given" rule with a grid completely devoid of dots, but we got it in the most beautiful way possible with the uncertainty of dots until the reveal at the very end. The resulting suspense and comedy were very entertaining. And then we got Simon's utter and baffled glee at the celebratory three in the corner! That brought a grin to my face and I had to rewind to watch the surprise over again. This installment of Cracking the Cryptic was a long solve with some tough spots in the middle, but the payoff at the end was sheer delight. Thank you so much, Sven, Simon, Full Deck, and Missing a Few Cards.
What a great puzzle! Happy Birthday, MaFC! Fantastic solve, Simon!
1:17:11 finish. I did color the different modulo sets, which helped me with the modulo, but then I missed the negative constraint for a while. But definitely a fun puzzle!
This unfolded beatifully. I guess the essential limitation of FoW is that you always know where to look, at the start at least, but this was quite testing for the genre.
Loved the ending, perfect. Thank you Sven!!
My time was around 2 hrs 10 minutes. Loved getting to help test this puzzle for Missing’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Missing!!!
Thank you! -- MaFC
INCREDIBLE! Well set and well solved. Monstrous in a joyous way. And Sven with the absolute W on the 3 in the corner!
I appreciate the birthday wishes of this community and channel. Much love to everyone stay safe and happy solving.
It was such a fantastic puzzle! Very hard yet bizzarely approachable thanks to the fog railroading and the very consistent logic from one x-sum to the next. Didn't need help which i'm super proud of. Spoilers ahead :
I KNEW when I read the rules there would be no kropki in the grid! I was so glad to be right! It's so cheeky it would be missed opportunity if it wasn't. I also aaawwed audibly at the little 🎉when the 3 appeared in the corner, such an adorable easter egg!
One of the rare times I was faster than Simon, my time is 01:19:15 but this puzzle is playing towards Simon's weaknesses :D
After seeing the line is entropic and that every 3 connected cell on the line is divisible by 3 you have to appreciate that whenever there's a 4 on the x-sum clue's start that means the total is going to give a remainder of 1. The same applies to 6 as well, it will always give a remainder of 0 on an x-sum clue. So the only clue where 4 can go is with the 25 and the 26 clue cannot have a 6 or a 4, which means it has a 5. The 5 however can give a total that is divisible by 3 as in a combination of remainders 2-1-0-2-1 so it could go with 27 or 24 if allowed by the other digits on the board. (I got all this within like 2-3 minutes after reading the rules, of course I'm abysmal at normal sudoku and the last 3 rows took be like half an hour...)
3 in the corner - almost the last number in. I thought It was saying - almost done - almost done. Had a little fountain of confetti!
This was so very fun, your being bamboozled is never dull, your brilliance at making deductions and explaining your thinking - and your reaction to that confetti when the 3 in the corner was unveiled - so wonderful! Thank you, Simon.
Thank you, Simon (and Sally!), for the birthday greetings. I'd just served some cake when I heard my own name -- an unexpected delight. And the puzzle was amazing.
45:29 for me, but I did use some paper to check which numbers could be used in the X-sums when the clock wasn't ticking yet. So in total around an hour, I think.
The way to argue about R7 around 1:53:40 without having to postulate a 7 is to ask where do 4&8 go? The only options are R7C2, R7C6 and R7C7, but C6&7 domino cannot contain both, so R7C2 must be from 48
There are few puzzles where I don't need a little guidance from Mark or Simon and I was apprehensive about the 2 hour length but I felt so accomplished finishing it in 60 minutes without having to constantly pause the video! And what a fun 3 in the corner at the very end of the puzzle
This took me over 2 hours to solve - and it was worth every minute of it! Clearing the first of the fog with the break-in was so satisfying. Thank you to the setters, Sven for the nice surprise and of course Simon.
I did this puzzle in 57 minutes on a train ride home, purely logically and without bifurcation. I didn't even find it too hard, except at a couple of points. It was like a free-flowing fun self-unfolding puzzle, the kind I really like a lot. So I couldn't believe it when I looked at the video length and saw that Simon took nearly a full hour longer than me. This is easily a record for beating the video solve time. I'm definitely gonna watch this and see what the snags were.
Once Simon explained the rule set, I was up and running. Got stuck a couple of times until I remembered the negative dot rule. Had to watch the video once (just to check what I had done so far). To the point where Simon gave a big clue about the top row in box 3 adding to 18, then seemed to forget about it. Forgot to restart the clock, but was about 90 minutes.
Waited until the end for 1 black dot to unwind everything, and was confused when it wasn't there. The 4(79)8 in box 7 took a bit of spotting. Loved the puzzle.
Simon,. you are a MASTER in explaining, no worries about that. So clever puzzle and clever solve.
I put the three in the corner right at the end very satisfactorily. I'm new to watching videos on the channel, but I've never seen any recent ones, so I finally know why that curious three in the corner effect appears in the puzzles I solved, but not in the videos.
Thanks for such good content.
I was at 56:08 into the video when I had a moment of revelation and saw that r3c9 had to be 5: because r3c6 must have the same modularity as r3c9, and the only remainder 0 mod 3 number left in box 2 is 6, which would put two 6's in r3.
Miracle Sudoku Simon would be blown away that this puzzle exists and that he's able to solve it.
This is the first puzzle you've shown I tried to do by myself, AMAZING setting! I got pretty far and had to get some help from Simon, but felt really good once it was all said and done! there goes 4 hours of my life on an amazing puzzle
We're so glad you enjoyed the puzzle! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment :)
I love fog puzzles, can't wait to try... (the video is ~2 hours long) ...I'll just watch Simon do it.
See, I had that thought too, but after watching him explain the rules I decided to give it a try myself, and managed to actually solve it! There are lots of little deductions to be made around the negative constraint, and you have to find the right place to look, but I don't think any of the individual steps are necessarily all that hard to figure out -- the hardest part is just someimtes figuring out where to look for the next deduction, which is kind of hilarious given that the reason I usually like fog of war puzzles is that they usually help guide your eyes to where you need to look next in the solve, lol
I used to be the same, but knowing Simon's penchant to take the most difficult route to solve puzzles, these days a long Simon video is just an invitation to beat his time - which wasn't too hard to do today. His refusal to pencil mark cells makes him waste so much time. There were naked singles all over the place today that he just never saw because of his elitist attiude to pencil marking.
@@ceevio_art hit the nail on the head. Simon could literally halve his time, probably more, if he would just pencil mark. It becomes convoluted for no reason.
This puzzle is a pure joy. Thak you so much FullDeck.... 🙂
This was such an amazing puzzle, I love the "all rules and almost no numbers" ones. Took me about 5 hours! Looking forward to watching this video tomorrow to see how you did it (too tired right now), but I'm guessing your start wasn't quite as exhausting. I actually spent an hour or two working on all the possible combinations before I realized that the remainder of the sum could be used to determine the value of X.
An amazing puzzle. A challenging solve. I'm glad I gave it a shot before watching the movie. I did get rightly stuck. Watched along until Simon unearthed a small bit of logic I'd missed and resumed solving. Got stuck again. Watched more of the proceedings. Got another nudge and was able to finish this beast. I then had to watch the remainder of Simon's quest.
Fantastic puzzle. Finished in about 2hrs.
Holy crap I finished with 44 minutes on the clock! I saw how long the video was last night and thought, no way can I do this, watched the intro for the rules and paused. I ended up not having time to even watch the video so I closed it to watch tonight instead. I ended up not being able to sleep and spent that time lying awake thinking about the puzzle. I ended up solving the 27 clue in my head and limiting the other 3 clues by quite a bit and tonight decided to check my work in the puzzle before watching the video. Putting in what I came up with was correct and made the next step with the 24/26 clue interaction much more limited and most things after that seemed to flow rather nicely. I can't believe that I got such a time even with the extra time spent thinking about it when I should have been sleeping.
At 1:08:55: "I think there must be an other way to notice it".
You are right: I noticed it by looking for the 1/4/7 in C6 and notice that all are set (4 and 7 are known and the 1 need to be in R4 or R5) and like you argued before R2 C6 cant be 2/5/8, so I noticed it need to be from 3/6/9 and knew what it was.
An other thing I noticed before was: In R6 we knew that 2/5/8 need to be in C3 and C5 and one of C7/C8, so R6 C4 could not be from this set and therefore the only place the third number of the 2/5/8 set in box 5 needs to go in R4 C4.
It is an interesting constraint which is really hard to keep track off. I used coloring to help me a bit.
I think also at that timestamp (1:08:55), the 24 x-sum in r3, the 1-7, 2-8 pairs always have to sum to 9. It's very similar to the situation he had already looked at in r1. 1 couldn't go next to 2, and if it was 7 with 8 you would already have 24 before adding r3c7. So they were either 1-8 or 7-2, summing to 9 either way. Making r3c7 a 6. (Which was another way to get the 6 in box 2.)
The 1-7, 2-8 pair having to sum to 9 was a repeating theme. It also applied in c5 at one point, to give r2c5 =9.
This is magnificent. I love the fog mechanic and hope to see more!
Great job, Simon. I'm proud of you for persevering.
Sven is a genius! Now, Simon won't forget to do the song... LOL
62:59 Fantastic puzzle! I found the break-in not so hard, but each step in the fog has to made very carefully so it still takes some time... And the end is a piece of magic! 😂
Loved, Loved, LOVED this puzzle! I always enjoy the ones that are just a little bit 'mathsy' beyond just counting up diagonals or whatever. And one of the few times I think I legit beat Simon's time, which NEVER happens! Was a joy to do the puzzle and watch the video. I imagine works this beautiful don't come along very often, but it would be GREAT to have more like this! Fog, math, and a truly difficult puzzle is just about my sudoku nirvana!
I learnt so much from this video; thank you Simon for the video and thank you Missing Deck and Full Deck for producing such a puzzle. Happy Birthday Missing Deck.
Thank you for the kind words!
Love the 3 in the corner anim ♥
Solved this one all my own! In only about 3 hours too! Remarkable puzzle, the fact that *spoilers* there wasn't ever a single black dot in the puzzle really got a smile out of me. That 1:2 ratio negative restraint pretty much sets a good 80% of the puzzle, it's really nice. And the fact that this puzzle ends with a 3 in the corner is a very welcome sight. This puzzle had such a wonderful ruleset and kept me excited to play more the whole time, one of my new all time favorites. A grand recommendation by me, and happy birthday Missing a Few Cards, marvelous work :D
Thank you so much for the kind words and birthday wishes!
Solved in 37:23. This is EASILY the best I’ve done compared to Simon, so I was very surprised when I saw my final time!
For people who aren't good at divisibility or have kids watching along, since the num pad is 3 by 3, all the column share the same number modulo 3
I love when Simon explains something and then misses it later and I get annoyed even though I would never have noticed it on my own
Took me forever, and needed some help from Simon, but I'm happy to at least have spotted the next step from the section around 1:48:50.
OMG looking at the comments this has got to be my best solve time yet, 50:10 with no guesses. I used coloring right off the bat to differentiate between the 3 mods and it made it so much easier. I forgot that 1 and 2 were black dotted as well until I got completely stuck and realized I was missing something simple. Thanks for the puzzle and the solve everyone:)
Gentlemen, that was just this side of brutal. I feel no shame for my 2 hours 45 minutes. Realizing how, exactly, the modulus and sum rules worked together to force the x digits for the x sums was a very interesting break in. Brilliant puzzle.
Stay Awesome
Took me 4 and half hours but I was also watching tv the whole time. :P
Very excited to see a full length movie fog puzzle!
Things I spotted that you missed Simon.
1. You had a 6 naked single in box 2 when you started asking where 2&8 could go.
2. As soon as you marked positions for 4's in box 1 the 4 could have been placed ( you did say that had probably been there for ages... You were correct 🙂)
3. The difficult uncover at the end. r7c6 = 8 because....
If r7c3 = 3 then r9c3 = 6 so r8c8 = 6 so r8c6 = 5 so r7c6 = 8
Else r7c3 = 5 so r7c6 = 8
This uses the line and I think is less complex than the 48 dot question.
At 1:47:16 you say if this is 3 then this can't be 6 but I don't think that is useful. It was useful 🙂
It did solve from there, I checked 🙂
You are much cleverer than I. I got stuck with the start and ruled 4 out of r1c5 because it would be next to a 28 in the fog where I didn't know if there was a black dot... Spotted my mistake, gave up and watched the video.
18:42 - "OK, this is obvious. That is not a four" - If by "obvious" you mean that you totally lost me, then yeah. It is obvious!
I'm excited to watch through the video - usually when I see such a long runtime I take a crack at the puzzle, make no headway, then watch; but this time I actually solved the puzzle in just over an hour. Interested to see what breakthrough it took so long for Simon to get to - or if we even thought out the puzzle in the same way at all.
64min for me. Amazing puzzle !
Love the birds twittering away in the background of this video (and other Simon videos). Very atmospheric and quite relaxing!
Tough puzzle, but it was worth the length to see through such a cool fog puzzle -- plus the party 3!
A sudoku has never been more aptly titled
I mean wow... I would never attempt this, but you explained the break in well enough for me to understand, and it's beautiful!
I also found this puzzle to be monstrously difficult (especially that ending!) I did elect to color the modulo groups as I solved just so I got the satisfaction of coloring the grid! And I absolutely lost it when my 3 in the corner started throwing a party!! Fantastic work Simon, keep it up!
I took the step you took at 1:47:32 a little further an noted that If R7C3 was 3 then both R8C6 and R9C7 were also 3. By the logic you pointed out R8C3 would have to be 1 so R9C3 had to be 6 therefore R9C8 would be a 5 making R8C8 a 6 and placing a 3 and a 6 on the line. Meaning R7C3 could not be a 3. Then the rest of the solve came pretty quickly as the rest of the puzzle fell apart.
solved in 1:08:04 - maybe could've been faster in theory, but I was a little tripped up on determining if the pairs at the top were 2/7 and 1/8. very cool use of lines + kropki negative constraint together
Sven: FTW! LOVE the effect on the 3 in the Corner
Wonderful puzzle. Each step is difficult but no step is monstrous. At the very end all you need to notice is that 4 and 8 can't be next to each other in row 7, hence one of them is in r7c2.
Damn it! The fog sudokus are always the most curious. I think that it takes a great immagination but, above all, a great logic skills!💪😛