Simon: “Sorry if you are cross with me. I feel like you have all seen it.” Me: *folding pizza to take a bite and just numbly watching Simon do the most insane mental gymnastics to solve the puzzle*
Another fantastic example of a "normal" thermo (or any straightforward variant) puzzle that is mind-blowing in its complexity. Thanks for featuring not only the unique and novel, Simon, but also the exceptional examples of something that has now become very familiar.
38:30 A slightly easier way to see this: If the 1 is on the left thermo and the 9 on the right thermo, both 1 and 9 could only be in r5c5 of your lime green extra region
This is probably the most beautiful break-in I've ever seen in the few years I'm watching the videos from Simon. Well done to Blashyrkh! I'm so happy I've discovered this channel, so many more interesting sudoku variants I didn't know of before I started watching. Keep it up Simon! I love the content :-)
I finished in 111 minutes. This clean looking sudokus with just one rule always scare me. I know I have to concentrate and find some beautiful geometry with-in the puzzle. This one was no exception and took me about 40 minutes to spot the beginning of the break-in involving the L shaped thermos and boxes 3 and 7. I felt very happy to finally spot that. Then, I became happier when I spotted that 1234 and 6789 had to belong on one of them, so wherever they intersected, it ruled them out, which is how I got r3c7 to be a 4. I think my favorite part was seeing that 5 couldn't go in r6c4, due to 4 having to be in r7c4, which causes 4 to be in r6c5, forcing a 5 into r7c5, breaking where 5 can go in box 2. This was such a clean construction. Great Puzzle!
This is the most reluctant “I don’t want to be solved” puzzle ever 🤯 Every advancement is always just a tiny step forward followed by another eternity of brain wrecking. Yet somehow I couldn’t put it down. What a tease 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I'm smiling. This comment gave me a sense of being among my peeps. Is there any other channel where someone would make such an observation? And then others would find it satisfying? 😆
23:30 - ish. I spotted something much easier that breaks through the puzzle. If R4C1 is 1 and R6C9 is 9, one of the two possible options, that affects both hooks, and means that 456 have to occupy 4 cells in C5. It removes 3 from R6C5 and 7 from R4C5.
Yeah. I came to the video as I was really stuck even how to think about it, and then when Simon explained that one thermo began with a 1 and the other ended in a nine I spotted that too and went back to the puzzle. Got stuck again, of course! and saw Simon didn't go down that route, but spots it 15mins later.
27:30 I am stuck, although I discovered one further thing. The logic that eliminates 5 from the corners also requires 5 to follow or precede the 46 cell. Also the cells preceding and following 46 cannot contain 4 or 6; they're 35 and 57.
37:35 I was a little quicker to see this point that the edge thermos one definitely has a 1 on it and the other definitely had a 9 on it. Which caused me to look at the option that effects the hooks more and see that it breaks and it was very satisfying, and satisfying to see the bread crumbs of why you should look at one set vs the other.
Just wonderful to see that a standard thermo is featured with such beauty and panache! Kudos to blashyrkh for this elegance and giving Simon all he can handle.
28:51 So often the minimalist puzzles end up becoming trivial because of symmetries or a hidden mathematical property that resolves everything, but this one had much more subtlety, and the interactions caused by the slightly different shaped hooks were really clever.
Am I the only one going crazy over this near perfect 10 geometry? I mean look at relationships in c1&9(almost there) r1&9, boxes2&8 and box 5. such symmetry. Beautiful puzzle :O
24:25 Simon seeing that r2c1 = 3 or r9c8 = 3 implies r2c8 < 3, but then not taking the next step of seeing that r3c1 = 2 or r9c7 = 2 implies r2c8 > 2... I believe it's a recurring theme that Simon has tons of smart ideas I would never been able to come up with, but then doesn't systematiclaly scan the puzzle to see if his idea applies elsewhere.
Excellent construction. I came at it a different way which may be worth you looking at to see if it simplifies the logic somewhere. I asked "where do 123 go in row 1 and where do 123 go in column 9?" When combined with the 123 in the middle of box 3 and the 234 in the bottom left of box 3 I think you can probably prove that the top right of box 3 must be from 123 and that top middle and top right of box 2 are from 123 and middle right and bottom middle of box 6 are from 123 as something breaks if that isn't the case (although I couldn't quite prove it completely). The same question can be asked of column 1 and row 9 but with 789s, i.e "where do 789 go in column 1 and where do 789 go in row 9?" Again, I think you can probably prove bottom left in box 7 is from 789 and that the other 789 digits go middle left and bottom middle of box 4 and bottom left and bottom middle of box 8 but again I couldn't quite manage it completely. My failure to finish the puzzle just meant I had to watch your video though so that was a plus. Well done.
Finished in 80:36. Interesting use of thermometers to just limit the things enough to force a limiting principle in the other digits in certain cells. Fun puzzle!
Stellar solve, as usual, and no, we're never "cross' with you. :) One note I've made before, however, is that sometimes you seem to have trouble "seeing" digits or marks that are atop other features, like the thermo lines in this puzzle. If the software had a way to toggle that off, I do think it would be useful visually. Anyhow, love the channel - peace!
Once you get the extra region in the middle, you can see one orientation of 46 puts both a 1 and 9 in the central cell. Only slightly less steps than your breakin
An observation - in a German Whisper line, the two digits that are most restricted are 6 and 4. Both corners have to be a 6 and a 4 to have valid Thermo sequences. Which digit cannot appear on a German Whisper line? The 5 - which has to be in the center digit. In the other two corners, look at the 8 and the 2. The digits that the 8 can pair up with on German Whisper lines are 1, 2, or 3 - which form the first numbers of the 4-corner Thermo. Same with the 2 in the opposite corner - the digits that the 2 can pair up with on German Whisper lines are 7, 8, or 9 - which happen to form the LAST numbers on the 6-corner Thermo. Is all this coincidence?
please update the steam apps to the CTC interface. Except for the CTC app, they still use the old UI. All the android apps got updated to the CTC interface. It makes it a lot easier. Also please consider re-releasing all of these as DLC for the CTC app. I would happily buy all of them again (on android and steam) just to have them in a single app.
Absolutely agree. I keep leaving comments asking the developers to include the WASD shortcuts in the Steam app, but they just aren't listening. In the steam app, I keep hitting "S" to move the cursor (muscle memory is hard to forget), but it dumps a 19 pencil mark instead. Yikes!
I spent like an hour messing with this, tried a lot of bifurcation, and just gave up in the end. I ALMOST got the 46 pair in the corners, might have been able to go from there.
I wish Simon would stop using the dark green highlighting since it makes it so difficult to read the blue digits, especially when they're small pencilmarks, and especially on a smaller screen. He's always very concerned about using colorblind-friendly colors, so I wish he'd avoid blue digits on dark green.
What a beautiful sudoku. I tried using the link to solve it, but I keep having issues with website. Numbered cells keep clearing out, and I’ve had puzzles with given digits that go away. Has anyone else experienced this?
I'm amazed how bad your scanning is. You had 36789 in R3 and confidently proclaimed the remaining digits were 1234. You put the 3 in R3C4 where it clashed with the 3 in R3C7, giving you the 124 triple in box 1. When you got the 124 in the box which already had 5678, you decided the missing digits were 3 and 5, right next to the 5. Seconds after resolving the 35 debacle, because you spotted the 5, you the put another 5 in R2! Not only is your scanning rubbish, your memory's abysmal too. This puzzle was hard enough without repeatedly shooting yourself in the foot. This is my favourite type of puzzle, just one variant, with brilliant setting, making best use of the ruleset to make a tricky but rewarding solve.
I think that means he had the puzzle up for 47 seconds before starting the recording. He usually resets the puzzle and starts the timer over when he gets cracking, but didn't do that this time.
I found this so incredibly hard. 110 minutes in and I got my first digit, a 4 in the lower right corner edit: and how I got it, noticing that there was a 1234 quadruple in box 3, leaving 2 of the 56789 quintiple in box 3, column 9, completing the 56789 quintiple in column 9, leaving a 4 in r9c9 in the thermo -,-
I love how the start of the puzzle, he clearly established that if he finds a way to make the middle 345 into a 45, he would have a triple that forces the 7 in the middle column. Then promptly forgets about it when it becomes relevant information.
Nah I am more looking at that 89-pair in r9c5 that's been a nine by sudoku for ages. But as always, squinting hard at the difficult makes the easy impossible to spot.
The beauty of Simon mentioning very early on into the solve that r9c4/5 will be the two digits on the end of the left hook, and then just not coming back to it for another 30 minutes, that's true Kino right there
Computer-generated Sudokus are good for practising speed-solving, but that's about it. Every good puzzle is like a glimpse into the mind of the constructor, and a hand-crafted Sudoku is a treat. It's as though the constructor has transported you to a place of wonder in their imagination: a beach with rock pools to gaze into and gentle lapping waves; a forest with birdsong accompanied by a babbling brook, a magnificent cathedral with stained-glass windows, mosaic tiles and intricate carvings; a peaceful meadow with flowers to smell and butterflies aflutter; downtown in a city at night with booming speakers, car horns, street vendors crying out their wares, neon signs, a metro to ride and bars to sit and drink in. Or just 81 empty squares and a set of relationships, some known and some to be discovered, between the digits that must occupy them ..... The puzzle constructor is trying to show us something. A piece of art whose true beauty can only be revealed by interacting with it in some way. A good human constructor actually wants you to solve their puzzles, as well ..... and they may even care enough to give you pointers that will guide you towards the solution, such as a given digit or early deduction becoming important later, or even showing you a trick you will need to apply again later somewhere else -- but perhaps with an added fiendish twist ..... All a computer is programmed to look as though it cares about is, the puzzle must have a unique solution that can be reached from the starting position using only some limited subset of techniques dependent on the difficulty level. It's just an exercise in applying those techniques yourself. There is no thought given to the way the path to the solution is to be revealed, no underlying aesthetic, no message. Only cold, hard logic. If a computer-generated Sudoku is any fun at all, that is just a matter of sheer, blind luck. (Or you're just too easily amused.)
No. However it means that one of them is xx56789 and the other is 12345xx. The first/ last 2 digits can still be anything from 1234 or 6789 as we have the quadruples.
Simon: “Sorry if you are cross with me. I feel like you have all seen it.”
Me: *folding pizza to take a bite and just numbly watching Simon do the most insane mental gymnastics to solve the puzzle*
We usually see Simon reluctant to do Sudoku in Sudoku puzzles, but today, we witnessed him reluctant to do thermometers in a thermometer puzzle.
52:00 "I apologize if you've been cross with me..."
I don't know about anyone else, but I was laughing my ass off. 😂
Another fantastic example of a "normal" thermo (or any straightforward variant) puzzle that is mind-blowing in its complexity. Thanks for featuring not only the unique and novel, Simon, but also the exceptional examples of something that has now become very familiar.
“i’m sorry if it’s obvious what’s going on here” i promise you simon, it definitely is not
38:30 A slightly easier way to see this: If the 1 is on the left thermo and the 9 on the right thermo, both 1 and 9 could only be in r5c5 of your lime green extra region
I love this style of puzzle: simple layout, simple rules, difficult solve with a tough break-in, loads of pencilmarking, and heavy sudoku to finish.
This is probably the most beautiful break-in I've ever seen in the few years I'm watching the videos from Simon. Well done to Blashyrkh! I'm so happy I've discovered this channel, so many more interesting sudoku variants I didn't know of before I started watching. Keep it up Simon! I love the content :-)
I see a "simple" thermo sudoku, I immediately know it's Blashyrkh ready to break our brains with geometry.
There are quite a few such beauties by ppl like Pulverizing Pancake
I finished in 111 minutes. This clean looking sudokus with just one rule always scare me. I know I have to concentrate and find some beautiful geometry with-in the puzzle. This one was no exception and took me about 40 minutes to spot the beginning of the break-in involving the L shaped thermos and boxes 3 and 7. I felt very happy to finally spot that. Then, I became happier when I spotted that 1234 and 6789 had to belong on one of them, so wherever they intersected, it ruled them out, which is how I got r3c7 to be a 4. I think my favorite part was seeing that 5 couldn't go in r6c4, due to 4 having to be in r7c4, which causes 4 to be in r6c5, forcing a 5 into r7c5, breaking where 5 can go in box 2. This was such a clean construction. Great Puzzle!
This is the most reluctant “I don’t want to be solved” puzzle ever 🤯 Every advancement is always just a tiny step forward followed by another eternity of brain wrecking. Yet somehow I couldn’t put it down. What a tease 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Simon & Mark have symmetrical puzzle solve times for today (15 July 2024)
-Mark completed his puzzle in 33:30
-Simon completed his puzzle in 55:50
I'm smiling. This comment gave me a sense of being among my peeps. Is there any other channel where someone would make such an observation? And then others would find it satisfying? 😆
23:30 - ish. I spotted something much easier that breaks through the puzzle. If R4C1 is 1 and R6C9 is 9, one of the two possible options, that affects both hooks, and means that 456 have to occupy 4 cells in C5. It removes 3 from R6C5 and 7 from R4C5.
Yeah. I came to the video as I was really stuck even how to think about it, and then when Simon explained that one thermo began with a 1 and the other ended in a nine I spotted that too and went back to the puzzle. Got stuck again, of course! and saw Simon didn't go down that route, but spots it 15mins later.
If Simon doesn't notice a symmetry, he works out the same facts twice.
If Simon does notice a symmetry, he works out the same facts fifteen times.
The logic in the middle box was extremely enjoyable
27:30 I am stuck, although I discovered one further thing. The logic that eliminates 5 from the corners also requires 5 to follow or precede the 46 cell. Also the cells preceding and following 46 cannot contain 4 or 6; they're 35 and 57.
Very challenging for me, I could not break into it at all. I’m incredibly impressed by your intuitions as always, Simon!
37:35 I was a little quicker to see this point that the edge thermos one definitely has a 1 on it and the other definitely had a 9 on it. Which caused me to look at the option that effects the hooks more and see that it breaks and it was very satisfying, and satisfying to see the bread crumbs of why you should look at one set vs the other.
Just wonderful to see that a standard thermo is featured with such beauty and panache! Kudos to blashyrkh for this elegance and giving Simon all he can handle.
28:51
So often the minimalist puzzles end up becoming trivial because of symmetries or a hidden mathematical property that resolves everything, but this one had much more subtlety, and the interactions caused by the slightly different shaped hooks were really clever.
Am I the only one going crazy over this near perfect 10 geometry? I mean look at relationships in c1&9(almost there) r1&9, boxes2&8 and box 5. such symmetry. Beautiful puzzle :O
24:25 Simon seeing that r2c1 = 3 or r9c8 = 3 implies r2c8 < 3, but then not taking the next step of seeing that r3c1 = 2 or r9c7 = 2 implies r2c8 > 2...
I believe it's a recurring theme that Simon has tons of smart ideas I would never been able to come up with, but then doesn't systematiclaly scan the puzzle to see if his idea applies elsewhere.
Excellent construction. I came at it a different way which may be worth you looking at to see if it simplifies the logic somewhere. I asked "where do 123 go in row 1 and where do 123 go in column 9?" When combined with the 123 in the middle of box 3 and the 234 in the bottom left of box 3 I think you can probably prove that the top right of box 3 must be from 123 and that top middle and top right of box 2 are from 123 and middle right and bottom middle of box 6 are from 123 as something breaks if that isn't the case (although I couldn't quite prove it completely). The same question can be asked of column 1 and row 9 but with 789s, i.e "where do 789 go in column 1 and where do 789 go in row 9?" Again, I think you can probably prove bottom left in box 7 is from 789 and that the other 789 digits go middle left and bottom middle of box 4 and bottom left and bottom middle of box 8 but again I couldn't quite manage it completely. My failure to finish the puzzle just meant I had to watch your video though so that was a plus. Well done.
33:33 and that digit.... Could be anything 😂😂😂
Finished in 80:36. Interesting use of thermometers to just limit the things enough to force a limiting principle in the other digits in certain cells.
Fun puzzle!
I am so bad at thermo sudoku, but thoroughly appreciated the beauty of this, and in awe of Simon's solving skills as usual. Great vid
A legendary masterpiece at that
24:50 How do you start going through the squares and not bother with the 2?!
Another great hit on *Cosmic tube❗️*
_"Brain-crafted on Earth"_ is always welcome by trillions, immediately after publication.
A few months back, Simon also did a beautiful thermo. It involved 2 thermos at the left and 2 at the top, including some weird action at the centre.
Maybe "Dots and Stripes" by GBPack?
38:43 first digit. That's amazing.
This puzzle is so good and (for me) so very difficult. Thank you, Blashyrkh.
Huge fan of the channel! Keep up the amazing work :)
Stellar solve, as usual, and no, we're never "cross' with you. :)
One note I've made before, however, is that sometimes you seem to have trouble "seeing" digits or marks that are atop other features, like the thermo lines in this puzzle.
If the software had a way to toggle that off, I do think it would be useful visually.
Anyhow, love the channel - peace!
Once you get the extra region in the middle, you can see one orientation of 46 puts both a 1 and 9 in the central cell. Only slightly less steps than your breakin
Really brutal puzzle. Tried it but needed lots of help to find the break-in.
If there was any better title for this channel it would be the title of this puzzle.
18:15 for me. Fantastic puzzle, very impressive!!
Cool puzzle - glad to see it on the channel.
One way of looking at the logic is to say there is a firework on 123 in R1/C9 and on 789 in C1/R9 (ua-cam.com/video/Jk3HYYbhHa4/v-deo.html)
I think the way the symmetry chipped away at the extremities, it was inevitable you would end up with 5 in the middle.
An observation - in a German Whisper line, the two digits that are most restricted are 6 and 4. Both corners have to be a 6 and a 4 to have valid Thermo sequences. Which digit cannot appear on a German Whisper line? The 5 - which has to be in the center digit. In the other two corners, look at the 8 and the 2. The digits that the 8 can pair up with on German Whisper lines are 1, 2, or 3 - which form the first numbers of the 4-corner Thermo. Same with the 2 in the opposite corner - the digits that the 2 can pair up with on German Whisper lines are 7, 8, or 9 - which happen to form the LAST numbers on the 6-corner Thermo. Is all this coincidence?
please update the steam apps to the CTC interface. Except for the CTC app, they still use the old UI. All the android apps got updated to the CTC interface. It makes it a lot easier. Also please consider re-releasing all of these as DLC for the CTC app. I would happily buy all of them again (on android and steam) just to have them in a single app.
Absolutely agree. I keep leaving comments asking the developers to include the WASD shortcuts in the Steam app, but they just aren't listening. In the steam app, I keep hitting "S" to move the cursor (muscle memory is hard to forget), but it dumps a 19 pencil mark instead. Yikes!
@@cathybryant5119 lol I use it on a 2in1 so I've never used the keybaord. Only the touch screen.
Missed on scan for 8 at the end the 8 in the corner, do I totaly forgive you Simon, you give me headack sometime to follow with in your resoning :)
I spent like an hour messing with this, tried a lot of bifurcation, and just gave up in the end. I ALMOST got the 46 pair in the corners, might have been able to go from there.
I wish Simon would stop using the dark green highlighting since it makes it so difficult to read the blue digits, especially when they're small pencilmarks, and especially on a smaller screen. He's always very concerned about using colorblind-friendly colors, so I wish he'd avoid blue digits on dark green.
Finished in 24:01 with help from the video
What a beautiful sudoku. I tried using the link to solve it, but I keep having issues with website. Numbered cells keep clearing out, and I’ve had puzzles with given digits that go away. Has anyone else experienced this?
Where go the hooks off box 2/6/8 in box 5 , you could colour 😊
"Quite a complicated puzzle" *slipped while doing basic sudoku rapidly*
I'm amazed how bad your scanning is. You had 36789 in R3 and confidently proclaimed the remaining digits were 1234. You put the 3 in R3C4 where it clashed with the 3 in R3C7, giving you the 124 triple in box 1. When you got the 124 in the box which already had 5678, you decided the missing digits were 3 and 5, right next to the 5. Seconds after resolving the 35 debacle, because you spotted the 5, you the put another 5 in R2! Not only is your scanning rubbish, your memory's abysmal too.
This puzzle was hard enough without repeatedly shooting yourself in the foot.
This is my favourite type of puzzle, just one variant, with brilliant setting, making best use of the ruleset to make a tricky but rewarding solve.
Thanks, I've watched all the other videos over the span of a week. Need more!!!
ALL! 😅 That's quite a statement 🤪 CtC is phenomenal... 🤷🏾♂️
@@hewholimpsmartin All 5330 of them :D
48:48 This is now a WHAT?! a THREE!?! You should be ashamed of yourself!! 😂 The double 3s chilling
Always makes me laugh when you say, "Sorry if it's obvious..." Trust me: it's not (it never is) 😅
Is every digit mirrored? Like every 7 to a 3, 6 to a 4, etc?
I had the same thought. Most of the grid is mirrored, but it breaks a bit in the corner boxes.
Forgive me oh Simon, for I have bifurcated. So much bifurcation. I am truly ashamed.
This is much easier if (like me) you're used to grinding down heavily pencil marked thermos.
How is your time 55:50 when your video at that point is only at 55:03? Maybe some encoding went funny
I think that means he had the puzzle up for 47 seconds before starting the recording. He usually resets the puzzle and starts the timer over when he gets cracking, but didn't do that this time.
No 3 in the corner this time 🥲
I found this so incredibly hard. 110 minutes in and I got my first digit, a 4 in the lower right corner
edit: and how I got it, noticing that there was a 1234 quadruple in box 3, leaving 2 of the 56789 quintiple in box 3, column 9, completing the 56789 quintiple in column 9, leaving a 4 in r9c9 in the thermo -,-
Re: your comments at the end, I think a puzzle with length 9 thermos is just a classic sudoku with a funny pattern of given digits. That's no fun
I love how the start of the puzzle, he clearly established that if he finds a way to make the middle 345 into a 45, he would have a triple that forces the 7 in the middle column. Then promptly forgets about it when it becomes relevant information.
An Immortal fan I see
Nah I am more looking at that 89-pair in r9c5 that's been a nine by sudoku for ages. But as always, squinting hard at the difficult makes the easy impossible to spot.
The beauty of Simon mentioning very early on into the solve that r9c4/5 will be the two digits on the end of the left hook, and then just not coming back to it for another 30 minutes, that's true Kino right there
26:13 for me
When Simon bifurcates :)
Computer-generated Sudokus are good for practising speed-solving, but that's about it.
Every good puzzle is like a glimpse into the mind of the constructor, and a hand-crafted Sudoku is a treat. It's as though the constructor has transported you to a place of wonder in their imagination: a beach with rock pools to gaze into and gentle lapping waves; a forest with birdsong accompanied by a babbling brook, a magnificent cathedral with stained-glass windows, mosaic tiles and intricate carvings; a peaceful meadow with flowers to smell and butterflies aflutter; downtown in a city at night with booming speakers, car horns, street vendors crying out their wares, neon signs, a metro to ride and bars to sit and drink in. Or just 81 empty squares and a set of relationships, some known and some to be discovered, between the digits that must occupy them ..... The puzzle constructor is trying to show us something. A piece of art whose true beauty can only be revealed by interacting with it in some way.
A good human constructor actually wants you to solve their puzzles, as well ..... and they may even care enough to give you pointers that will guide you towards the solution, such as a given digit or early deduction becoming important later, or even showing you a trick you will need to apply again later somewhere else -- but perhaps with an added fiendish twist .....
All a computer is programmed to look as though it cares about is, the puzzle must have a unique solution that can be reached from the starting position using only some limited subset of techniques dependent on the difficulty level. It's just an exercise in applying those techniques yourself. There is no thought given to the way the path to the solution is to be revealed, no underlying aesthetic, no message. Only cold, hard logic. If a computer-generated Sudoku is any fun at all, that is just a matter of sheer, blind luck. (Or you're just too easily amused.)
23:50 I may be wrong, but doesn't all this mean that one of the thermos is 1234567 and the other 3456789 ?
No. However it means that one of them is xx56789 and the other is 12345xx.
The first/ last 2 digits can still be anything from 1234 or 6789 as we have the quadruples.
@@assieto Yes I realised that seconds after posting ;-). Thanks for the correction anyway.
Clever puzzle. Not quite easy.
Phwoar!
First
47:10 Simon places a 5 in R7C6 and completely ignores the 45 pencilmark in R7C5. Audience: 😮
Love your solves, Simon 😊