Thanks for featuring my puzzle, and thank you to everyone that recommended it! You followed my intended solve path spot on! Out of all the puzzles I've made I think this one went through the most iterations before I found a version I liked.
I was confused by the rules for a while (until reading a comment) - I thought that circles outside the grid could be empty (in which case they have no constraint). It might be helpful to state in the rules that every circle contains a number.
That's just brilliant! I don't know how you set this up with circles in the "right places" (so that it cover both for positive and negative constraints, AND create a solvable path) but you definitely dit it. Solving it was a very enjoyable and just hard enough ride. Thank you very much for your puzzle!
@@zirco77 The creation process went something like this: Set up valid beginning position for the X-Sums. Mark a bunch of cells that can't be circles because it would break key logic. Place some circles to drive the puzzle along. Place the rest of the circles in the only places they can go. Test and realize key logic is now broken. Back track/Try Again/Repeat.
The fact that the rules refer to a "number" in a circle instead of a "digit" is fantastic; I was sure I had made a counting error, just like Simon thought, but then I noticed that one, brilliant word in the rules. Thank you for a great puzzle!
I agree. First I heard Simon's explanation I thought "well, the rules don't specify that circles can be higher than 9". And yet actually they do. Such a subtle change. I guess the lesson is: read the rules very carefully!
Magnificent. Just wow. This didn't feel like a sudoku, it felt like a magic trick - one which is even more satisfying after you figure out how it was done.
I want to thank you very much for so many years of making me/us happy every day with amazing puzzles. It requires a lot of dedication, even though it also gives you pleasure to work on puzzles. It is seen and therefore this particular thank you to both of you and those involved behind the scenes.
One of the best circle-counting puzzles we’ve seen so far. Brilliant construction OddlyEven, starting with a really nice elegant break-in concept, which led onto a silky smooth solve path. The stuff in the middle with 4s and 5s was delicious. Great reaction and solving from Simon too
I wrote down a list of numbers adding to 9, then gradually crossed off each combination when I discovered a digit having to appear in a circle, and was left with 4+5 as the only option. I'm gonna watch Simon's video now, and I'm sure my way was ridiculously cumbersome compared to whatever Simon will do ^^ I'm gonna guess he discovered either a 4 or a 5 that COULDN'T appear in a circle, to make the process easier. I noticed that I had a 4 that couldn't appear in any circle for a while, but didn't think about that until later. edit, watching the video, yeah, he had six uncircled 4s (along with circled 2) which proved 4+5 as uncircled, so easy to miss these helpful logical steps, by just simply not thinking of it!
31:34 This one was available just about as the door bell rang, and the 2's in box 8 (putting one 2 in the circles) had just been set, followed by the 23. Easy to miss when returning after a break.
Yeah, I was wondering that , too (the 2 being in the circles in box8) and the "23 pairs" (either none more or three all told - which is too much). [As early as @21:19]] I was wondering how that was going to be resolved, then I finally saw box6 could have a 2 in the circle. Cool one.
@34:00 he's still missing that "2" in box6. He was on that trail (with the 23s) after he came back and abandoned it. (No excuses about "coming back from a break" there) Cool puzzle.
I posted one rave after my own solve; I'm posting another one now that I've watched the video. This is a strong contender for sudoku GOAT. Such a brilliant, surprising, and even funny break-in; and after, several moments where just when it looked like it was about to get tedious, a lovely aha illuminated the way. Truly stellar.
just to throw my voice in the mix. i much prefer the "proving its position" line. love the original song but think the revised line suits the tone better of both the channel and the bit itself. obviously a very small matter! delighted to have found this community.
Solved this one all on my own! Really fun and interesting puzzle. I love the start with figuring out that all of the circles outside the grid must be 10s, and the way to separate the 2-3 pairs using boxes 2 and 5. Highly recommend this one :D
This is one of very few puzzles I solved myself and then went back to watch Simon's solve. Usually I do it myself, or watch the pros do it, but not both. But for the truly wonderful puzzles, I indulge in both.
I did it the same way as you did it. Normally, I try to solve it, get stuck at some point, then watch the video for a single small clue, then resume on my own until I get stuck again and so on. I think, I lack that tiny bit of genious, that Mark and Simon definitively do possess. But often, I am not so confused as Simon. But to be a real genious a little confusion might be included as a trade-off. Otherwise you won't be able to think in a direction, other people ignore but holds the solution.
I stared at the puzzle for far too long before I watched this video to learn than 10 can be a number. I had assumed that if the number were a double digit number the circle would be pill-shaped. But once I watched the first few minutes of the solve, learned I was wrong about that, the solve was quite lovely. Fun to start with a 3 in the corner!
28:43 finish. Loved this puzzle. I saw the break-in immediately, and quickly used it to travel around the edge. Unfortunately I got stuck in the middle, as I had forgotten to finish one of the X clues. Even after checking all of them, I missed that I hadn't finished it. It probably added a bit of time, as I sat staring for a few minutes.
For me, the key was realizing that in column 1, only the bottom xsum could be 2. If either of the others were 2, it would force 8 out of 2 circles, which isn't allowed. (To be clear, the 2 would immediately put an 8 in a non-circle position in column 2, and then there is no circle available for 8 in box 7. Thus, 2 non-circled 8s.)
@@dylanh8163 You mean at the very beginning? The cells colum 9 near the circles have to be a 2-3-4 triple, the 4 has to go into the middle leaving the corners with the 2-3 pair. As the top corner has 2 circles neat to it, there can't be a 2 up there, which would force two 8s into that box. Therefore the 2 has to go in the bottom left corner and has to be accompanied by an 8 to produce the 10 in the circle beneath the 2. And an 8 in the bottom left corner would mean, you have to sum up 8 digits in the bottom row, which is at least 36, much more than the required 10.
That was a marvelous puzzle to solve. I loved pretty much every logical step, especially figuring out whether 5-4 or 9 was missing from circles! 14:33 solve time.
I managed to make a few bad assumptions on my way to solving this. Great thing I found in the software right at the start of my solve was that double-clicking on an empty circle cell selected all the circled cells. Wonderful! That was exactly the behavior I had wanted at that moment.
I struggled with this puzzle a lot but finally conquered it! I love the circle rule, and there were so many delightful pieces of logic. lovely construction :)
The pencil marks placed at ~13:45 also tell you the disposition of the 34 pair in the bottom row - whichever is a 4 needs a 123 above it, which can only be one of them given the 123 triple in row 6...
Watching this in the US a week after it came out makes for a funny intro, because for me it is also a Sunday and we just set our clocks back last night as well.
12:09: "Each circled cell has 2, 3 or 4 next to it". Yes! And specifically, r1c9 has to be a 3, because it is next to *two* circles. If it were a 2, you'd have to put an 8 in both r1c8 and r2c9, which is obviously not allowed due to repeating an 8 in the box. If it were 4, you'd have to place 1, 2 and 3 next to it twice. Four of the six cells you would need to place them in are also in box 3. So you would again have to repeat (at least) one digit in box 3. Since you could put one of the digits from r1c7/8 in r4c9, you would have to place the other one in r2/3c9, repeating it in box 3. Therefore, the only digit that can possibly go in r1c9 is the one that can sum to 10 in two ways, which is 3. So not only do we get a digit, but the first digit we get is also a 3 in the corner. 😉
I’m not always a fan of Simon taking the difficult route when there are more obvious deductions to be made. But at 27:10 I found myself looking at the X-wing on fives on columns 7 and 8, rather than just checking column 9, just as Simon 😊
I discovered CtC in March/April 2020. Wonderful couple of years watching the channel evolve but the vast majority of videos from Simon remain a total mystery to me! 🙈 how can I improve???
This is anedoctal and my own experience, but I started by trying on my own the sudoku before watching. If I didn't see anything I would start bifurcating a suspicious cell (that i color pink to be able to backtrack easily with the cancel move feature) on a short chain. Once i found something breaking that I knew was wrong, I would try to find WHY it was wrong in the grand scheme of things and if there was some logic I could generalize from it. I was able to start grasping x/y wings, kropkis, arrows and the like way better. And if I was truly stuck I'd go back to the video to watch up until what I was missing. Sometimes innocuous remarks about constraints would give me the solution way before simon catched up to my point. Nowadays I tend to finish before starting watching half the time, and I even sometimes beat simon's and even mark's times! It's mostly practice in the end. Although I found I do way better with some comstraints and types than others, and you can see comparative strong suits and uneases in both simon's and mark's solves, where mark is incredibly quick and precise with arithmetic and pure sudoku, where simon's excels at geometric patterns, pencil puzzles hybrids and unusual constraints. Finding a kind of sudoku where it just flows for you is just the best and helps feeling progress and motivated which makes for smoother solves.
Open the puzzle for any video and just give it a try. If you get stuck come back to the video for a pointer, then continue from there. You'll get better with practice!
Often a puzzle has a monstrous break-in but then follows fairly standard techniques. So watch the break-ins, try to understand what's going on, but equally don't be afraid to start your own solve using Simon's 'help' and see if you can solve it the rest of the way, treating his first few placed digits as 'given'. Also maybe go back to some of those earlier videos and see if the puzzles make more sense to you now, because they've definitely got more and more difficult over the years and there are some useful techniques to be learned from 2020ish. (I'm not an expert solver at all btw, these are just suggestions!)
@@cherriespancakes I got got completely stuck on this video every step of the way and had to give up. I had no chance with this one. I can solve some of them, but this one clearly wasn't for me.
Also look at the length of the video the longer it is the harder Simon found it. So start by solving videos less than an hour. (I’d say less than 30mins but when you get a 10-15min intro less then an hour seems fair).
Amazing puzzle, did it in 25:51 with a teeny bit of help from Simon right at the beginning of his solve (my brain was locked into thinking all circles were single digits, whoops 😅). Really enjoyed this one!
This grid made me happy and smiley. I thought I was being so wily. I placed fives, fours and threes Then I muttered "Oh geez!" When I saw I had broke it entirely. (Trust me, fellow Americans, it will rhyme when Simon reads it.) (Leaves a virtual plate full of cupcake crumbs. I broke that, too.)
Interesting puzzle. At first I tried in vain to calculate in which form the 9 could be missing... individually or in combination of two digits. Then I turned on Simon to see how he calculated it and listened to his explanation of the circles outside the grid. Everything then went fantastically quickly, although I couldn't fully understand this explanation, possibly because of my English language deficits.... or brain deficits...... Who knows. I will definitely listen to the explanation over and over again until I finally understand it.
I noticed the x-wing on 9s in rows 3 and 7 while watching Simon's solve, that would have helped my own solve tremendously. Fitting that Simon didn't see it either
I got hooked last week and started doing these, and it's so much proper fun. My sudoku technique is very limited, so having a lot of fun thinking about and discovering the logic in these puzzles. Stoked to get this one in 100 minutes (all though I messed up the logic of me thinking that 9s had to be missing from the circles, when it could be any number adding up to 9, so I had to restart once). Anyways, improving since a few days ago when I spent over 4 hours on one puzzle, and that after restarting twice :D edit: in my solve here, I did a technique I never saw Simon doing, and unsure if it's considered a bad technique: But I had discovered a bunch of 234s, and looking at 1s which I think I had placed two of. In the top left corner, 1 had two positions (one in circle one outside), so I first colored possible 1 cells yellow, then the permutations of each "path" with red and green, and then deleted purely yellow squares as possible 1s, which helped me progress from that point (hardest sticking point for me then). Is that considered a viable technique? The 1s only being able to be put in 1 circle maximum, made this possible this time, eliminating some cells.
94:00 on the dot for me, but over 45 mins was lost to an early mistake that I didn't catch, woops! :x As a weaker puzzler I really enjoyed this! Nothing ever felt particularly beyond reach, but very little was just given - overall super satisfying!
Having been out of town for a couple of days, I was eager to get back to my daily CtC fix. This was a wonderful puzzle, Simon, very fun. I actually solve it mostly before watching you tackle it, but then realized I would run out of time and could not do both - so I decided to watch you. Thanks so much.
My reaction to this puzzle was "I solved this???" I gave up at the start when I counted 46 bubbles and figured I was misreading the rules but had the same "Eureka" moment as Simon and the flow of the puzzle came together.
I love how Simon revels in the magical thinking about how he deduced 5 is not circled at the 24-26 minute mark, when the whole time R3C6 has to be a 5 using sudoku, taking us directly there.
Actually not very directly. If 5 is not in the circle in box 2, it could be circles in other boxs. But if we cannot use 5 to make sum 9, we have to use 2+3+4=9, but we already got 23pair in the circle, and that conclude 5 must not in any circles.
@@khoozu7802 Yes, that what I thought too. You have to find at least five 5s outside a circle to prove, that it's definitively out. As of minute 24, there were still a lot of possible circled 5s in the grid. I did it the same way, as Simon did it: As 4 was out, a single 9 was no longer an option. To make up 9-4=5, in 2 digits, you can either use 1+4 (would repeat a 4) or 2+3 (would use the 2, which was definitively in). So, it could be only 5 missing.
Hah, I had another way of breaking in to the puzzle. I couldn't be bothered to count the circles right away ("I'll have to do that later, I'm sure") Instead, I hypothesized that the surrounding circles are all one digit numbers. That would only allow for 1, 2 and 3 as the first digit of the X-sums. That would leave you with multiple X-sums starting with 1 -> multiple X-sums clues being 1's - > but there can only be one circle with a 1 in it. Therefore, there has to be at least one two digit number in the clues - > 10 is the only one that works - > and off we go. Lovely puzzle!
I don't think that works as none of the first digits in the X sums are circled. That's also how I tried to start and eventually made my way to the intended break in.
A wonderful puzzle! Simon, you missed a cracking bit of logic on 2s by finding an equally cracking bit of logic on 6: when you placed the circled 2 in box 8, you still needed one more circled 2, and box 6 was the only remaining possibility. Either route to finding the 6 and the 2 in row 4 is very pretty, but I really enjoyed finding it my way, because it felt very unexpected that 2 would be restricted in that way!
At the point Simon counted 6s in circles (36:30), it was also possible to count 2s in circles, and see that the only place for a final 2 in a circle was right next to Simon's 6. It was an alternative way to disambiguate the 26 pair in row 4. (I know, because I counted 2s, not 6s. 🙂)
Funny enough. I counted the circles, expecting there to be 45. I counted 46, and thought "well, I guess I am wrong about maximum being 45", but then the realization hit like a truck. It was fun to figure out which numbers are not present in the circles, overall I wouldn't call this one "The best I ever solved", but it was up there. It was closer to my level, unfortunately I'm not good enough to solve the "Best of the best", but this one was exactly my level
42:32 but I took one hint. Counted the total number of circles, but didn't consider all the possibilities until I found myself forcing a digit that I assumed wasn't possible
I just noticed something: you need to change the intro card. Mark is unfortunately not the reigning Times Crossword champion right now. It should say "12 time and future Times Crossword champion", so we can call him the once and future king!
I think its funny that you upload after US time not Europe time 😂 I living in Sweden and was surprised of the early upload time! I guess next sunday we have same time has usually upload time or are it going to be a earlier upload time the whole winter?
Wow This is another one that I just kept having to restart. I really felt like I could do it, but over and again I'd break it. I finally found teh way, though! 64:05 on my Nth attempt.
@25:50 (talking about those 4s and 5s not being in the circles is fine) but what I'm wondering is (being the "2 in row7 of box8 being in a circle") means there are "2" of them. I can't seem to work that out (there's either one of them - in that "box8" - or there's "three" of them (between those "23 pairs). Does three of them count as two of them (there has to be 2 to have 3)? Is that how that's resolved?? Thanks
Took me a minute to figure out how it wasn't impossible to have circles adding up to more than 45. 34:30 was my time. I feel like I got stuck on stuff I shouldn't have a few times.
What an absolutely fabulous puzzle. I failed at the first hurdle by miscounting the circled digits as 45, and could therefore not make the 10s leap. Bah!
Me: counting the circles around the grid. 10. Also me: would be hillarious if the circles outside the grid have to have 10 in it, wouldn't it? Simon: prooves that. 🤣 already loving this puzzle
DANG! This is what I get for reading the comments before attempting the puzzle! (was looking to see why I couldn't type into the cells outside of the grid)
Thanks for featuring my puzzle, and thank you to everyone that recommended it!
You followed my intended solve path spot on!
Out of all the puzzles I've made I think this one went through the most iterations before I found a version I liked.
It is a lovely puzzle. Just the right amount of difficulty and magic!! ✨
Veeeery nice and fun puzzle! A joy to solve. A good reminder that a beautiful and clever puzzle doesn't need to be very hard! Thanks 🙂
I was confused by the rules for a while (until reading a comment) - I thought that circles outside the grid could be empty (in which case they have no constraint). It might be helpful to state in the rules that every circle contains a number.
That's just brilliant! I don't know how you set this up with circles in the "right places" (so that it cover both for positive and negative constraints, AND create a solvable path) but you definitely dit it. Solving it was a very enjoyable and just hard enough ride. Thank you very much for your puzzle!
@@zirco77 The creation process went something like this:
Set up valid beginning position for the X-Sums. Mark a bunch of cells that can't be circles because it would break key logic. Place some circles to drive the puzzle along. Place the rest of the circles in the only places they can go. Test and realize key logic is now broken. Back track/Try Again/Repeat.
The fact that the rules refer to a "number" in a circle instead of a "digit" is fantastic; I was sure I had made a counting error, just like Simon thought, but then I noticed that one, brilliant word in the rules. Thank you for a great puzzle!
I agree. First I heard Simon's explanation I thought "well, the rules don't specify that circles can be higher than 9". And yet actually they do. Such a subtle change. I guess the lesson is: read the rules very carefully!
Magnificent. Just wow. This didn't feel like a sudoku, it felt like a magic trick - one which is even more satisfying after you figure out how it was done.
Oddlyeven is one of my favorite constructors. Yet again a masterpiece. I loved solving this one.
I want to thank you very much for so many years of making me/us happy every day with amazing puzzles. It requires a lot of dedication, even though it also gives you pleasure to work on puzzles. It is seen and therefore this particular thank you to both of you and those involved behind the scenes.
One of the best circle-counting puzzles we’ve seen so far. Brilliant construction OddlyEven, starting with a really nice elegant break-in concept, which led onto a silky smooth solve path. The stuff in the middle with 4s and 5s was delicious. Great reaction and solving from Simon too
I wrote down a list of numbers adding to 9, then gradually crossed off each combination when I discovered a digit having to appear in a circle, and was left with 4+5 as the only option. I'm gonna watch Simon's video now, and I'm sure my way was ridiculously cumbersome compared to whatever Simon will do ^^ I'm gonna guess he discovered either a 4 or a 5 that COULDN'T appear in a circle, to make the process easier. I noticed that I had a 4 that couldn't appear in any circle for a while, but didn't think about that until later. edit, watching the video, yeah, he had six uncircled 4s (along with circled 2) which proved 4+5 as uncircled, so easy to miss these helpful logical steps, by just simply not thinking of it!
Very glad to see this being counted among the greatest hits. Which it is!
31:34 This one was available just about as the door bell rang, and the 2's in box 8 (putting one 2 in the circles) had just been set, followed by the 23. Easy to miss when returning after a break.
Yeah, I was wondering that , too (the 2 being in the circles in box8) and the "23 pairs" (either none more or three all told - which is too much).
[As early as @21:19]]
I was wondering how that was going to be resolved, then I finally saw box6 could have a 2 in the circle.
Cool one.
@34:00 he's still missing that "2" in box6.
He was on that trail (with the 23s) after he came back and abandoned it.
(No excuses about "coming back from a break" there)
Cool puzzle.
Love it! 16:52 today, everything clicked nicely for me.
I posted one rave after my own solve; I'm posting another one now that I've watched the video. This is a strong contender for sudoku GOAT. Such a brilliant, surprising, and even funny break-in; and after, several moments where just when it looked like it was about to get tedious, a lovely aha illuminated the way. Truly stellar.
39:49 What a brilliant break-in. Loved it!
I do love this new rule about the circles! I think this looks like one worth trying before watching the pro solve it
just to throw my voice in the mix. i much prefer the "proving its position" line. love the original song but think the revised line suits the tone better of both the channel and the bit itself. obviously a very small matter! delighted to have found this community.
Solved this one all on my own! Really fun and interesting puzzle. I love the start with figuring out that all of the circles outside the grid must be 10s, and the way to separate the 2-3 pairs using boxes 2 and 5. Highly recommend this one :D
That was indeed one of the most beautiful puzzles. After shouting at it that it cannot work... well it did and it was amazing ❤
Totally agree, this is one of the best Sudokus. Thoroughly enjoyed it and hope there are more Circle Sudokus to come.
This is one of very few puzzles I solved myself and then went back to watch Simon's solve. Usually I do it myself, or watch the pros do it, but not both. But for the truly wonderful puzzles, I indulge in both.
I did it the same way as you did it. Normally, I try to solve it, get stuck at some point, then watch the video for a single small clue, then resume on my own until I get stuck again and so on.
I think, I lack that tiny bit of genious, that Mark and Simon definitively do possess. But often, I am not so confused as Simon. But to be a real genious a little confusion might be included as a trade-off. Otherwise you won't be able to think in a direction, other people ignore but holds the solution.
I stared at the puzzle for far too long before I watched this video to learn than 10 can be a number. I had assumed that if the number were a double digit number the circle would be pill-shaped. But once I watched the first few minutes of the solve, learned I was wrong about that, the solve was quite lovely. Fun to start with a 3 in the corner!
28:43 finish. Loved this puzzle. I saw the break-in immediately, and quickly used it to travel around the edge. Unfortunately I got stuck in the middle, as I had forgotten to finish one of the X clues. Even after checking all of them, I missed that I hadn't finished it. It probably added a bit of time, as I sat staring for a few minutes.
My clock DID change and yet the video came out at a surprising time... x)
I had the pleasure of solving this puzzle and it was an absolute delight; I'm glad to see it featured here!
1:08:02 - That was another gorgeous puzzle.
For me, the key was realizing that in column 1, only the bottom xsum could be 2. If either of the others were 2, it would force 8 out of 2 circles, which isn't allowed. (To be clear, the 2 would immediately put an 8 in a non-circle position in column 2, and then there is no circle available for 8 in box 7. Thus, 2 non-circled 8s.)
I’m missing something. Why can’t the bottom left be an 8 if the 8 is in c2 in box 1 or 4?
@@dylanh8163 You mean at the very beginning? The cells colum 9 near the circles have to be a 2-3-4 triple, the 4 has to go into the middle leaving the corners with the 2-3 pair. As the top corner has 2 circles neat to it, there can't be a 2 up there, which would force two 8s into that box. Therefore the 2 has to go in the bottom left corner and has to be accompanied by an 8 to produce the 10 in the circle beneath the 2.
And an 8 in the bottom left corner would mean, you have to sum up 8 digits in the bottom row, which is at least 36, much more than the required 10.
31:00 when I found the 23 trick , I wasn't sure it was intended and somehow found a harder way to solve the puzzle I'm happy you found it too
That was a marvelous puzzle to solve. I loved pretty much every logical step, especially figuring out whether 5-4 or 9 was missing from circles! 14:33 solve time.
I needed a TINY bit of help from Simon but i got it in about 50 minutes. Fantastic puzzle!
I managed to make a few bad assumptions on my way to solving this. Great thing I found in the software right at the start of my solve was that double-clicking on an empty circle cell selected all the circled cells. Wonderful! That was exactly the behavior I had wanted at that moment.
My time was 20:43, solver number 341. A great addition to the counting-circles constraint!
I struggled with this puzzle a lot but finally conquered it! I love the circle rule, and there were so many delightful pieces of logic. lovely construction :)
This was a lot of fun. I love these circle puzzles!
Wow wow wow, a seemingly random assortment of circles yields beautiful logic and somehow a unique solution, brilliant.
Circle puzzles and Parity puzzles are the best!
I'm starting to learn to not make assumptions while doing these puzzles.
Oh! Needed your help to start but I finished alone, happy to be able to do that! Super interesring constraint!
I would say, don't worry about what others think of your choice of lyrics; you should sing the version that sits in your heart.
Brilliant puzzle .
10:51 for me. Very nice puzzle!!
Finished in 37:09. Very fun puzzle with a nice logic to it.
The pencil marks placed at ~13:45 also tell you the disposition of the 34 pair in the bottom row - whichever is a 4 needs a 123 above it, which can only be one of them given the 123 triple in row 6...
A new knowledge bomb from Simon at 10:14 "because obviously 46 minus 9 is 36" hehe...
10:15 when Simon says 46-9=36… might be my favorite part. Lol
Absolutely brilliant puzzle!
I too do love this new circle rule! I think it's time someone comes up with a fitting name for it. Any suggestions?
Solved without watching the video (and most of the time I will need hints for this length of video). A pretty satisfying puzzle and solution. :-)
Your solve route is different to mine, because I disambiguated the 2s and 3s at the very end.
Very beautiful puzzle indeed! Really enjoyed solving it :)
Watching this in the US a week after it came out makes for a funny intro, because for me it is also a Sunday and we just set our clocks back last night as well.
I love how the very first digit entered during this solve is a 3 in the corner. That was true for me, as well.
12:09: "Each circled cell has 2, 3 or 4 next to it".
Yes! And specifically, r1c9 has to be a 3, because it is next to *two* circles. If it were a 2, you'd have to put an 8 in both r1c8 and r2c9, which is obviously not allowed due to repeating an 8 in the box. If it were 4, you'd have to place 1, 2 and 3 next to it twice. Four of the six cells you would need to place them in are also in box 3. So you would again have to repeat (at least) one digit in box 3. Since you could put one of the digits from r1c7/8 in r4c9, you would have to place the other one in r2/3c9, repeating it in box 3. Therefore, the only digit that can possibly go in r1c9 is the one that can sum to 10 in two ways, which is 3.
So not only do we get a digit, but the first digit we get is also a 3 in the corner. 😉
I’m not always a fan of Simon taking the difficult route when there are more obvious deductions to be made. But at 27:10 I found myself looking at the X-wing on fives on columns 7 and 8, rather than just checking column 9, just as Simon 😊
Tks!!!! So hard when i try it, so easy when you explain it 😅😅😅
Looking forward to watch this !
I discovered CtC in March/April 2020. Wonderful couple of years watching the channel evolve but the vast majority of videos from Simon remain a total mystery to me! 🙈 how can I improve???
This is anedoctal and my own experience, but I started by trying on my own the sudoku before watching. If I didn't see anything I would start bifurcating a suspicious cell (that i color pink to be able to backtrack easily with the cancel move feature) on a short chain. Once i found something breaking that I knew was wrong, I would try to find WHY it was wrong in the grand scheme of things and if there was some logic I could generalize from it. I was able to start grasping x/y wings, kropkis, arrows and the like way better. And if I was truly stuck I'd go back to the video to watch up until what I was missing. Sometimes innocuous remarks about constraints would give me the solution way before simon catched up to my point.
Nowadays I tend to finish before starting watching half the time, and I even sometimes beat simon's and even mark's times!
It's mostly practice in the end. Although I found I do way better with some comstraints and types than others, and you can see comparative strong suits and uneases in both simon's and mark's solves, where mark is incredibly quick and precise with arithmetic and pure sudoku, where simon's excels at geometric patterns, pencil puzzles hybrids and unusual constraints. Finding a kind of sudoku where it just flows for you is just the best and helps feeling progress and motivated which makes for smoother solves.
Open the puzzle for any video and just give it a try. If you get stuck come back to the video for a pointer, then continue from there. You'll get better with practice!
Often a puzzle has a monstrous break-in but then follows fairly standard techniques. So watch the break-ins, try to understand what's going on, but equally don't be afraid to start your own solve using Simon's 'help' and see if you can solve it the rest of the way, treating his first few placed digits as 'given'. Also maybe go back to some of those earlier videos and see if the puzzles make more sense to you now, because they've definitely got more and more difficult over the years and there are some useful techniques to be learned from 2020ish. (I'm not an expert solver at all btw, these are just suggestions!)
@@cherriespancakes I got got completely stuck on this video every step of the way and had to give up. I had no chance with this one. I can solve some of them, but this one clearly wasn't for me.
Also look at the length of the video the longer it is the harder Simon found it. So start by solving videos less than an hour. (I’d say less than 30mins but when you get a 10-15min intro less then an hour seems fair).
What a great ending! Very fun!
Amazing puzzle, did it in 25:51 with a teeny bit of help from Simon right at the beginning of his solve (my brain was locked into thinking all circles were single digits, whoops 😅). Really enjoyed this one!
I love the REM reference you guys always use on this channel
This grid made me happy and smiley.
I thought I was being so wily.
I placed fives, fours and threes
Then I muttered "Oh geez!"
When I saw I had broke it entirely.
(Trust me, fellow Americans, it will rhyme when Simon reads it.)
(Leaves a virtual plate full of cupcake crumbs. I broke that, too.)
That was an amazing puzzle, even down to the last few digits.
Interesting puzzle. At first I tried in vain to calculate in which form the 9 could be missing... individually or in combination of two digits. Then I turned on Simon to see how he calculated it and listened to his explanation of the circles outside the grid. Everything then went fantastically quickly, although I couldn't fully understand this explanation, possibly because of my English language deficits.... or brain deficits...... Who knows. I will definitely listen to the explanation over and over again until I finally understand it.
I noticed the x-wing on 9s in rows 3 and 7 while watching Simon's solve, that would have helped my own solve tremendously. Fitting that Simon didn't see it either
Totally enjoyable!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Seeing your infamous 👏👏👏👏 is enjoyable for me. ❤😁
@@davidrattner9 😄❤️
That was a pretty cool solve!
4 + 9 > 9
These are the knowledge bombs I listen for!
I must finally be learning some sudoku variant logic because I spotted the 2-3 circle issue before Simon.
25:51 for me. I felt that puzzle had a moderate level of difficulty which it maintained throughout. A very enjoyable solve.
25:56 for me, so very close to you! It was fun.
I got hooked last week and started doing these, and it's so much proper fun. My sudoku technique is very limited, so having a lot of fun thinking about and discovering the logic in these puzzles. Stoked to get this one in 100 minutes (all though I messed up the logic of me thinking that 9s had to be missing from the circles, when it could be any number adding up to 9, so I had to restart once). Anyways, improving since a few days ago when I spent over 4 hours on one puzzle, and that after restarting twice :D
edit: in my solve here, I did a technique I never saw Simon doing, and unsure if it's considered a bad technique: But I had discovered a bunch of 234s, and looking at 1s which I think I had placed two of. In the top left corner, 1 had two positions (one in circle one outside), so I first colored possible 1 cells yellow, then the permutations of each "path" with red and green, and then deleted purely yellow squares as possible 1s, which helped me progress from that point (hardest sticking point for me then). Is that considered a viable technique? The 1s only being able to be put in 1 circle maximum, made this possible this time, eliminating some cells.
36:43 for me. Interesting puzzle!
Billiant solve!
94:00 on the dot for me, but over 45 mins was lost to an early mistake that I didn't catch, woops! :x
As a weaker puzzler I really enjoyed this! Nothing ever felt particularly beyond reach, but very little was just given - overall super satisfying!
This turned out to be a lot easier when I counted the circles correctly.... Fun puzzle!
Having been out of town for a couple of days, I was eager to get back to my daily CtC fix. This was a wonderful puzzle, Simon, very fun. I actually solve it mostly before watching you tackle it, but then realized I would run out of time and could not do both - so I decided to watch you. Thanks so much.
Hope you had a wonderful time being out of town.
My reaction to this puzzle was "I solved this???" I gave up at the start when I counted 46 bubbles and figured I was misreading the rules but had the same "Eureka" moment as Simon and the flow of the puzzle came together.
27:55 for me. Lovely! Short and quick! :)
Very cool.
I love how Simon revels in the magical thinking about how he deduced 5 is not circled at the 24-26 minute mark, when the whole time R3C6 has to be a 5 using sudoku, taking us directly there.
Actually not very directly.
If 5 is not in the circle in box 2, it could be circles in other boxs. But if we cannot use 5 to make sum 9, we have to use 2+3+4=9, but we already got 23pair in the circle, and that conclude 5 must not in any circles.
@@khoozu7802 Yes, that what I thought too. You have to find at least five 5s outside a circle to prove, that it's definitively out. As of minute 24, there were still a lot of possible circled 5s in the grid.
I did it the same way, as Simon did it: As 4 was out, a single 9 was no longer an option. To make up 9-4=5, in 2 digits, you can either use 1+4 (would repeat a 4) or 2+3 (would use the 2, which was definitively in). So, it could be only 5 missing.
Genius!
Hah, I had another way of breaking in to the puzzle. I couldn't be bothered to count the circles right away ("I'll have to do that later, I'm sure")
Instead, I hypothesized that the surrounding circles are all one digit numbers. That would only allow for
1, 2 and 3 as the first digit of the X-sums. That would leave you with multiple X-sums starting with 1 -> multiple X-sums clues being 1's - > but there can only be one circle with a 1 in it.
Therefore, there has to be at least one two digit number in the clues - > 10 is the only one that works - > and off we go.
Lovely puzzle!
Lovely logical break-in as well!
I don't think that works as none of the first digits in the X sums are circled. That's also how I tried to start and eventually made my way to the intended break in.
@@ModusTrollens91 it works, because if the first digit of the x-sum is 1, then the x-sum itself, which is in a circle, is also 1.
ah and it is impossible for 4 to be the first digit in the xsum for a sum < 10 so there has to be two 1s somewhere in the 3 triples of 123.
Solved it with help from the video.
A wonderful puzzle! Simon, you missed a cracking bit of logic on 2s by finding an equally cracking bit of logic on 6: when you placed the circled 2 in box 8, you still needed one more circled 2, and box 6 was the only remaining possibility. Either route to finding the 6 and the 2 in row 4 is very pretty, but I really enjoyed finding it my way, because it felt very unexpected that 2 would be restricted in that way!
And you all missed a cracking bit of logic by filling in the x-sum starting from r9c7 😅
At the point Simon counted 6s in circles (36:30), it was also possible to count 2s in circles, and see that the only place for a final 2 in a circle was right next to Simon's 6. It was an alternative way to disambiguate the 26 pair in row 4.
(I know, because I counted 2s, not 6s. 🙂)
I think it would be fun if the circle rule was called Ouroboros Circles, because they’re round and also self referential in an ouroboros-like way!
😍😍😍😍🐍🐍🐍
Funny enough. I counted the circles, expecting there to be 45. I counted 46, and thought "well, I guess I am wrong about maximum being 45", but then the realization hit like a truck. It was fun to figure out which numbers are not present in the circles, overall I wouldn't call this one "The best I ever solved", but it was up there. It was closer to my level, unfortunately I'm not good enough to solve the "Best of the best", but this one was exactly my level
I counted 46 and then went to the comments to see if I was going crazy... I get it now. Very devious!
42:32 but I took one hint. Counted the total number of circles, but didn't consider all the possibilities until I found myself forcing a digit that I assumed wasn't possible
I just noticed something: you need to change the intro card. Mark is unfortunately not the reigning Times Crossword champion right now. It should say "12 time and future Times Crossword champion", so we can call him the once and future king!
Brilliant puzzle..needed help with simom figuring out that the 10 goes outside. I wasnt able to get over the mental block of 1-9 digits lol
25:53 for me.
Spoiler warning!
Starting on a blank grid by placing a 3 in the corner felt like the puzzle was crafted just for Simon 😅
Lovely puzzle. One of very few from the channel I have managed to complete. 47:53 for me
Well done with your time Amy!!! Congrats on completing it. 🙂
@@davidrattner9 thank you!
I made lots of funny noises because of how amazing this puzzle is
I did this by myself first and had to watch the video just to hear Simon sing 3 in the corner on the first move!
18:28 scrolling ahead he never oranges the fifth row making a lovely pattern, darn.
I think its funny that you upload after US time not Europe time 😂 I living in Sweden and was surprised of the early upload time! I guess next sunday we have same time has usually upload time or are it going to be a earlier upload time the whole winter?
Wow This is another one that I just kept having to restart. I really felt like I could do it, but over and again I'd break it. I finally found teh way, though! 64:05 on my Nth attempt.
@25:50 (talking about those 4s and 5s not being in the circles is fine) but what I'm wondering is (being the "2 in row7 of box8 being in a circle") means there are "2" of them.
I can't seem to work that out (there's either one of them - in that "box8" - or there's "three" of them (between those "23 pairs).
Does three of them count as two of them (there has to be 2 to have 3)?
Is that how that's resolved??
Thanks
Oh, we can have a "2" in box6.
That's how that goes.
Took me a minute to figure out how it wasn't impossible to have circles adding up to more than 45. 34:30 was my time. I feel like I got stuck on stuff I shouldn't have a few times.
Also roping made a surprise feature!
“Because obviously 46 minus 9 is 36” - Simon, 2023 ;)
45:50 for me, but a lot of that was wasted being completely wrong in box 7
The 46 had me stomped
What an absolutely fabulous puzzle. I failed at the first hurdle by miscounting the circled digits as 45, and could therefore not make the 10s leap. Bah!
Under an hour. Fun puzzle.
Me: counting the circles around the grid. 10. Also me: would be hillarious if the circles outside the grid have to have 10 in it, wouldn't it? Simon: prooves that. 🤣 already loving this puzzle
DANG! This is what I get for reading the comments before attempting the puzzle!
(was looking to see why I couldn't type into the cells outside of the grid)
@@srwapo sorry :/ you can't because you don't need to x)
@@MaierFlorian 😃