Thanks again for a wonderful video, and for featuring my puzzle! You're right that the previous puzzle you did with the diagonal/ring logic was one of mine, my first on the channel, and this one was designed as something of a sequel to that one. I have to admit: 36 minutes, two rings, and just 8 pencil marks to get the first digit... I'm pretty proud of that.
Absolutely amazing puzzle. Using the central element theorem to pit two different versions of the Phistomefel ring against each other is completely wild!
Loved the title, but even with the clue of 'rings' (plural), I'm not sure it was fair(y) requiring 2 different set theories. I also loved the little fairies in the corners, obviously causing trouble when they look so innocent--but isn't that the way with all fairies?
Excellent puzzle, Jay. I maintain a Word document with different examples of SET puzzles and it includes your earlier puzzle with the diagonal/ring logic. But it still took me more than 90 minutes to finally solve this one. 90 most enjoyable minutes.
Nice puzzle! Having watched this channel almost from the beginning, I don't think I've ever seen a puzzle _requiring_ comparison of the sets to resolve digits. I'm wondering if that's because it's hard to construct such a puzzle …
I have a job where I have to figure out new techniques to solve problems and I could not imagine someone standing over my shoulder watching me do it and making me articulate my every thought process. It is an absolute joy watching your mind work as you discover the solution to these puzzles and considering the difficulty you should never feel embarrassed if you don't see the path immediately.
@@jpryan90 A good chunk of my job involves receiving files (mostly graphic design) from external sources, troubleshooting them, and organizing them for use in projects. Dozens, often hundreds a month. Because of the level of detail in keeping everything straight-and because the only person who's _really_ checking my work is me-I have written a lot of programming scripts to assist me. Since no two months are exactly the same, I often have to invent ad hoc scripts and procedures. There's more but that's the gist.
Every time Simon explaining set theory: me nodding happily and following along Every time I try to implement set theory on my own: face into hands and hopelessly confused
Well if your first selection of sets doesn't have overlap, You can just colour the other sets 1 set at a time And delete the 2-coloured cells after each set. Just make sure to use the same amount of sets, Because otherwise you end up with a different amount of tiles.
@@MrMarcLaflamme Exactly. When you chose the wrong columns and rows you kind of get a useless set. So the theory is simple, applying it is rather hard. But maybe it's just experience, and in a few months/years/whatever we look back and laugh at ourselves.
Hello Simon, please never apologize for not getting the solution immediately or having to take an important call, especially if family is involved. I'm 100% sure that the followers of this channel will never get upset at something like that. Not getting the solution immediately is never something to apologixe for; one thinking head will never be able to parse every single hypotesis/possibility/theory as fast as mutiple people. Furthermore, when a person is talking about what is doing and not solely doing it the task becomes more difficult and some details might get missed. Fantastic puzzle as always
This was another wonderful puzzle from Jay Dyer that showcases that in Sudoku X, The Phistomefel "Rings" can only be missing one digit because that digit must go in the central cell, just like in my puzzle which showcased the same thing with knight's moves.
@@ae7457 Yes, but it's programmer probably has too much time on their hands too. And I love this bot. Every time I see it, the programmer has made so many small improvements.
This is going to be hard to catch, but Simon is now sometimes using the term "PencilMark" instead of "Goodliffing" . He says it twice in a few seconds at 41:00 . Good luck distinguishing this from lower-case "pencil marks". But in this one he does say "PencilMark mode" the first time and has some context around the second: "PencilMark as I call him".
I try and solve ever puzzle without watching the videos and recently, thanks to Simon and Mark I can do it about 80% of the time. But there was not a chance I was going to be able to do this. Couldn't even break any logic in other than the basic 1-in the 8-clue etc even after 30 minutes of staring at the grid. Thank You, Simon for making us fall in love with sudoku again !
Even though I’m not nearly as good of a sudoku player as this man, I still enjoy watching him complete these puzzles. I like how I can try to work it out with him. I also like when he gets happy when all of it clicks in his brain, allowing him to complete the puzzle.
Once again, to prove the Expanded Phistomefel Ring you can use a similar trick as with the original: just highlight row 1, box 4, box 6 and row 9 in blue, and highlight columns 2, 3, 7 and 8 in orange. Then get rid of all cells that have 2 colours. This way, you avoid the double-counting-problem.
Can you do that with the 3rd ring? With r1c1, r3c1, r1c3, and r3c3 in blue, r2c2 and r2c4-6 in orange, plus rotational symmetry? Edit: I just realized. By using the 2box/2row vs 4 column method (as opposed to the 4box vs 2row/2column method), you can even construct asymmetrical rings. I... I have to think about this. It could mean so much.
@@flabort Absolutely! You can do all sorts of weird stuff. The original ring is "nice" because all the "ring" cells end up being connected. Select any number of boxes, rows, columns for one set, the same number for the other set and cancel the common squares. Always works! The simplest case is one box and an intersecting row or column. You'll get: The 6 digits that are in the row/column that are not in the box are in the 2x3 area in the box. We all know that!
No need to call yourself stupid Simon. Personally, I wouldn't have a clue how to start this puzzle. Thank you for the video and congrats again on solving another wonderful puzzle! 🎶
I’m always grateful for CtC, but as currently I’m standing in a very long DMV line, I’m *especially* grateful for CtC at the moment. (And for headphones.)
I find it comforting that you find "strange things beautiful" because I do too! I love having the wonder and elegance of something pointed out to me when I might not otherwise see it, and that's one of the joys of this channel. What makes it so engaging is not only your amazing skill and logic, but also your appreciation for a puzzle's artistry. And please don't apologize! I wouldn't have any right to get angry at you for not getting the solution right away (I don't think I could get half as far as you have in these puzzles!) and even if I did, I think it would be very unkind of me to do so. So, keep being you, keeping being awesome. :)
39:20 for me, this time around. I remembered Jay's last puzzle and that helped with this logic. This was such a fun puzzle! Thank you, Jay, for your awesome mind. :) Hope this starts a good streak for me! Woo! I'm pumped. 😁
This puzzle is great! At 48:07 one can even deduce that the for the 1XYZ-Thermometer, the X must be a 2! (Because if there would be a digit, which didn't appear on a thermo, it would have to be the 9 in the center. This rules-set is just something special!)
30:30 Simon frequently has these moments where I think his brain understands something intuitively, and it's only when he tries to explain it to us that he trips himself up and thinks he did it wrong, only to rediscover that he was right the first time. This happens several times a week, and it just goes to show how good at this he is.
If you look at split-brain phenomenon, it appears that we have not only one conscious thought happening at any one time. Thoughts seem to occur often overlapping and we focus on typically a single dominant structure. For that reason, it's common to say there's a "subconscious" activity or a "in the zone/flow state", I believe these have to do with brain activity. It could be that Simon's brain has one portion that is very good at solving and potentially one that is very good at articulating logic. I find it funny that perhaps in this scenerio his enthusiasm and excitement is absolutely genuine because the "solving" portion of his brain throws the solution at Simon just as Simon throws it at us, from seemingly out of nowhere, like magic.
What a brilliant construction. I'm so used to the Phistomefel variants that I even use them in normal solves, but this is the first puzzle where I've needed to use both at once. Before concluding that there must be a 1 in a bulb, you could have ruled it out of R9C1 because the 11 cage had to have either 7 or 8, and therefore needed a 1. The fact there was only one possible candidate left in the original Phistomefel was what made me consider whether it was possible for it not to be a 1. Other than that, my solve was effectively the same as yours.
29:20 - no, there is no reason why the centre digit (the one that doesn't feature in the Exploded Phistomefel Ring) _can't_ feature in the Standard Phistomefel Ring. It isn't that there _has_ to be a digit that isn't in The Ring, it's that there can _only_ be one such digit and _if_ there is such a digit then it goes in the centre cell. *But* that is still relevant. Because in the Standard Phistomefel Ring, you now know that it _must_ contain a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 because they _can't_ be in the centre cell. So where does 1 go in the corner 2×2 boxes? Only in r1c1 (we also know that the 11-cage must have a 1 in it, if it has to contain a high digit then it's 1-2-8 or 1-3-7). _Edit_ - and he's got there a minute later. And no, Simon, you're *not* being unbearably obtuse just because you took slightly longer than I did to spot a corollary to a deduction that I could never have made in the first place!
Thanks for your explanation. Rephrasing: If there is a missing number, it must go in the center square. There is a missing number because all of 789 can't go in the outer ring. Then, when we switch rings, all of 123456 must be present in each set, therefore 1 must go in the upper right corner.
30:30 No, no. You're certainly not stupid. You're a master puzzle solver. Even if you didn't find a powerful line of logic to solve the puzzle instantly, we are still marveling at your skill. And I for one am proud of just trying to keep up. Lol
An observation: if for some inexplicable reason you decide to treat the thermos as arrows, then you can enjoy a frustrating time finding that the puzzle breaks.
I'm 6 weeks behind on these videos and trying to catch up :) Stunning puzzle - remarkable it has unique solution with such a simple set of clues. Simon really needs to stop admonishing himself - I have a PhD in maths and got the extended Phistomefel ring but then had no clue how to progress after that. Simon solves these difficult puzzles, day in, day out literally. I doubt there's anyone here who has the stamina for doing what Simon (and Mark) do.
What a fun puzzle! I have to disagree with the commenter above who suggested that you skip doing the set explanations in each video and make a separate video to reference. I really enjoy listening to the explanations again with the context of the current puzzle. I'm 37 and still find a lot of this quite complex (admittedly - I was never great at math 😅). I don't find your explanations patronizing or condescending at all. I think based on the comments I see, a lot of people actually watch for entertainment/relaxation as the primary reason. I like listening to your voice and find these videos almost meditative (side note: I'd definitely listen to you narrate audiobooks)! All that said, I am learning a lot about Sudoku and puzzle solving as well. I'm curious how many people who regularly watch these videos actually attempt the puzzles... 🤔
For those that don't want to listen can skip forwards using right arrow (5 secs) or l (for left) (10 secs). Left arrow - back 5 secs, j - back 10 secs and k or spacebar to pause.
Started this puzzle late last night and was flying through it. To the extant that after 10 minutes I was wondering why it was so easy. So I started to watch the video and only then realised it was thermometers! I'd been treating the corner cells as circles. Left it until today at that point. Nearly 1 hour 20 to complete. That's more like it! Great puzzle.
It would be so interesting to see a set theory/phistomefel ring type geometry that directly interacts with the diagonal in some more wild or unexpected ways. I think it makes for some fun challenge and I personally love set theory every time it pops up! Don’t know how you would go looking a puzzle like this without having preemptively known it was an important part of the solve (nobody likes a spoiler after all), but I’d love to see the mechanic more in the future!!
This one took me several hours to solve, but I'm glad I stuck with it. It was amazing when the penny finally dropped.
2 роки тому+2
I think you can make the Phistomefel ring explanation clearer if you use two separate colors for rows and columns. That way you wouldn't need special reasoning for the corner tiles, as they will have three colors each.
Is there a possibility of the fillomino aquarium solve appearing on the channel? Watching hard puzzle solves is therapeutic and I love Phistomefel puzzles.
Simon, I for one, have been watching you for 30 minutes. And spent a couple hours with you on pause thinking for myself. I've found some interesting things but need to keep watching to figure out how to solve this. All that to say, I certainly don't think you're stupid. You're figuring this out in real time in a quarter of the time, so far, that I've taken to not been able to figure it out.
Again YOU ARE NOT A NUMPTY STOP TALKING BAD ABOUT YOURSELF. Also idk why people don’t like the black highlighting, I think it works fine and contrasts well against the brighter colors! I will edit this comment with my thoughts as I continue watching the video Edit: this was a great puzzle and solve again. The double-Phistomefel-ness is great, the deductions were great, Simon was brilliant, it’s another awesome CTC video in the books!
I like calling the alternate version of Phistomefel's Ring the Extended Phistomefel's RIng, because it's both an extension of the Phistomefel theory, and because the ring is physically extended beyond its equivalent set
50:37 or so you can place the 2 here because blue must have a 2 (if it didn't, the central square would be 2) and there is nowhere else for a 2. Thought you'd be curious as you were thinking this way earlier.
If ruling it out of one phistomefel ruled it out of others, that would rule that digit out of all 4 corner boxes entirely, which clearly cannot be true.
Ok, this puzzle destroyed me. I did solve it in the end, but that was after almost losing my mind for a whole hour. It wasn't until I gave up and took a rest that, with a clearer mind, I finally managed to come back to it and finish it. Total time of around 80 minutes I guess, I don't exactly know as I restarted the timer. Awesome logic, but it almost took my sanity away.
This was an amazing puzzle! Even after watching Simon solve it, I don't really understand the structure of it, which seems to go far deeper than the logic that's needed to get that first digit. There were multiple times when I lost the train of deductions needed, even after I had reduced all of the constraints to pencil marks, and even though the logic (at that point) was just simple Sudoku. Watching Simon, I get the sense that he had a similar (albeit much, much faster) experience!
Been binge watching these the last week. Love the videos. My 8 year old is sad when I watch one without him. We heard something about pencil puzzles on Discord on another video? Cab you help me find that? Thanks
I clicked the link before watching the video, and stared at the screen for 10 minutes having no idea where to start. I feel less stupid given that one of the world's best took 15 minutes to really get started.
Did it without set theory. I considered where 789 could be in rows and columns 1 and 9. In box 2, 4, 6 and 8 only two of the boxes can have a single 7,8, or 9. Whatever one isn't in a middle box cage must be the center digit. If there are no 1's in the corner squares, the 1's are eliminated from the Phistomefel inner ring corners [without considering set theory] or the whole inner ring [if considering set theory.] The center square would have to be a 1 in either case, breaking the puzzle. A 1 in a column 1 corner eliminates 9 from box 2, and sets the center square as 9. The 1 r1c1 follows immediately.
Wow. Keeps on giving. After sleep I realized I did have the right set of 259 but box 5 wrong. Thermo bulbs were 1346. So do the center 8 & 12 cages really push out the 4 and 6 all the way to corners? Where they go in box 5 probably indicates corner placement. (And the 4 corner digits desire non-diagonal placement in box 5.)
Regarding the diagonal overlays, the 2 cell 8 cage at R45C4 is a little difficult to read because the blue line cuts through the 8. Other digits in the same position might become completely incomprehensible. It would be better to draw the blue lines under some other clues as interruptions to an otherwise continuous line will not be confusing at any point. Probably a more complex layering system is needed in the software to display these things flexibly, and may also be needed in the future as new rule sets are conceived.
Lovely, Simon. The fact that a 9 appears in the middle means that the digits 1-8 have to appear in the blue 2x2's in the corner of the normal phistomofel ring plus corner 2x2's. It does not, however, mean that a 9 does not appear (although it might not).
@9:47 Simon: "Where's my ONE pencilmark.?" ["We can't lose THAT.!?" , he might say relaxedly.. ] That's RIGHT, Simon, lol. We're really CRUISIN' now We can't lose that Simon's gonna break it apart at some point lol ;)) 😂😎☕[
Took me several hours of staring, but eventually got it. 1h once I got the breakin. I did everything quite differently except the initial phisto ring. I noticed that only 2 cells in the blue can have high digits of 789 similar to what Simon found. But then noticed you need 6 high digits on the diagonals. So 4 of them must go in the central box. But you can only put three, so the center cell must be high to perform double duty. I also saw huge restrictions on column 9 and the thermos as well as row 8. The rest went in a wildly different direction than Simon.
Now this puzzle is tormenting me at work without sight of the grid. Today I managed to pinpoint exactly what my intuition is telling me, why I initially circled 53 and 84 for box 5's center cages. (This was also without sight of the grid and done on a pad of paper.) Intuitively the 8 cage is saying 3 things: 4 is in a corner, 5 is not in a corner but 3 is in a corner. Intuitively the 12 cage is also saying 3 things: saying 6 is in the corner, 1 may be in the corner or 2 may be in the corner. The cage contents are relatively superfluous. (It may look like it's saying 4 is in the corner but that is just an echo.) And so the 12 cage overrides my instinct to put a 1 in a corner. The remaining corner digit is either a 1 or a 2. The significance of a 9 not being in the 11 cage probably needs to sink in like the significance did of the 1 and 2 not being in the 12 cage.
There are three variants of the phistomephel ring. The two you're familiar with, and the intermediate one (r1c1,r1c3,r3c1,r3c3,etc... along with r2c2,r2c4,r2c5,r2c6,r2c8,etc...). When and only when they are used in conjunction with the blue diagonals, it becomes true that there is zero or one digit that does not appear in the rings - shared across all three rings - that is then pushed into r5c5. Once you have found this digit to exist in one ring, then the other rings are either also missing that digit, or they do not miss any digits, as it is no longer possible for the other rings to be missing a different digit since r5c5 is already filled. So if another ring is missing a digit, it has to be the same digit, but it doesn't have to be missing a digit at all. Indeed it is impossible for the digit to be missing from all three phistomephel rings, since between them they cover all of the cells in the corner boxes, which would break sudoku. Hope that makes sense.
Given what was discovered just weeks ago, the central digit is forced... the rest flows from there - but there's a very sneaky use of a pair on the diagonal that really breaks it open - completed in 35m57s.
I wish Simon had looked at the 11-cage in box 8 as soon as he noticed the middle digit had to be a 789. Since the cage needed a high digit in it, then it also had to include a 1.
an easy way to disprove the hypothesis of "if one Phistomefel's ring is missing an x, then the others are too" is that if you look at all 3 Phistomefel rings, they cover the entire puzzle except for any cell in the middle box, and so in total contain 8 copies of the missing digit. so the hypothesis wrong.
Looked at this myself for 25mins and wasn't able to deduce a single digit 😂 Now watching the video Edit: well in my defence the same is true for Simon, but he has made rather more impressive and useful deductions than I managed to in my 25 mins 😂
There are 3 versions of the ring, the one you didn't address in this video would be in rows 2 and 8 and columns 2 and 8. So if you couldn't have the same digit in every version of the ring, then it would be impossible to place that digit in boxes 2, 4, 6, and 8
That’s a good point. Technically, there are more, if you count lopsided/asymmetric ones. Basically, you can swap any two rows/columns (within the same box) to transition between them.
Thanks again for a wonderful video, and for featuring my puzzle! You're right that the previous puzzle you did with the diagonal/ring logic was one of mine, my first on the channel, and this one was designed as something of a sequel to that one. I have to admit: 36 minutes, two rings, and just 8 pencil marks to get the first digit... I'm pretty proud of that.
Absolutely amazing puzzle. Using the central element theorem to pit two different versions of the Phistomefel ring against each other is completely wild!
Loved the title, but even with the clue of 'rings' (plural), I'm not sure it was fair(y) requiring 2 different set theories. I also loved the little fairies in the corners, obviously causing trouble when they look so innocent--but isn't that the way with all fairies?
Excellent puzzle, Jay. I maintain a Word document with different examples of SET puzzles and it includes your earlier puzzle with the diagonal/ring logic. But it still took me more than 90 minutes to finally solve this one. 90 most enjoyable minutes.
First there was the Phistomefel ring. Now ladies and gentlemen, we have the Dyer Rule. Amazing puzzle sir. Simply stunning.
Nice puzzle! Having watched this channel almost from the beginning, I don't think I've ever seen a puzzle _requiring_ comparison of the sets to resolve digits. I'm wondering if that's because it's hard to construct such a puzzle …
I have a job where I have to figure out new techniques to solve problems and I could not imagine someone standing over my shoulder watching me do it and making me articulate my every thought process. It is an absolute joy watching your mind work as you discover the solution to these puzzles and considering the difficulty you should never feel embarrassed if you don't see the path immediately.
Well said! totally agree! 👍
@@jpryan90 A good chunk of my job involves receiving files (mostly graphic design) from external sources, troubleshooting them, and organizing them for use in projects. Dozens, often hundreds a month. Because of the level of detail in keeping everything straight-and because the only person who's _really_ checking my work is me-I have written a lot of programming scripts to assist me. Since no two months are exactly the same, I often have to invent ad hoc scripts and procedures. There's more but that's the gist.
Every time Simon explaining set theory: me nodding happily and following along
Every time I try to implement set theory on my own: face into hands and hopelessly confused
Well if your first selection of sets doesn't have overlap,
You can just colour the other sets 1 set at a time
And delete the 2-coloured cells after each set.
Just make sure to use the same amount of sets,
Because otherwise you end up with a different amount of tiles.
@@BramLastname Yeah I understand the premise behind them it's just they don't end up helping me like the do in the videos 🙂
@@MrMarcLaflamme it's rarely needed
@@MrMarcLaflamme Exactly. When you chose the wrong columns and rows you kind of get a useless set. So the theory is simple, applying it is rather hard.
But maybe it's just experience, and in a few months/years/whatever we look back and laugh at ourselves.
Hello Simon, please never apologize for not getting the solution immediately or having to take an important call, especially if family is involved. I'm 100% sure that the followers of this channel will never get upset at something like that.
Not getting the solution immediately is never something to apologixe for; one thinking head will never be able to parse every single hypotesis/possibility/theory as fast as mutiple people. Furthermore, when a person is talking about what is doing and not solely doing it the task becomes more difficult and some details might get missed.
Fantastic puzzle as always
I'd be more upset going without a video from Simon for a full month, articulate or not! 😆
"I know I find strange things beautiful." No, you find beauty where others wouldn't even look.
I think most of us viewers "find strange things beautiful", otherwise we wouldn't be here!
This was another wonderful puzzle from Jay Dyer that showcases that in Sudoku X, The Phistomefel "Rings" can only be missing one digit because that digit must go in the central cell, just like in my puzzle which showcased the same thing with knight's moves.
This comment's energy is amplified greatly by your name and profile picture.
I like, "Pencil-Mark," more than the expression: Goodliffing
😲
Stop calling yourself negative words, Simon!
You're a genius, and you're smart.
30:30 : Simon: "Sorry, sorry. I am so stupid."
I: "Here we come. Simon is a genius."
Rules: 03:23
Let's Get Cracking: 04:49
Puzzle Solved: 58:00
Simon's time: 53m11s
What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
Phistomefel: 21x (00:50, 00:52, 01:04, 01:21, 05:30, 06:11, 10:08, 18:39, 18:42, 28:33, 29:02, 29:54, 30:07, 31:31, 34:17, 35:21, 38:21, 39:29, 39:39, 43:13, 58:18)
Bobbins: 1x (52:04)
Goodliffing: 1x (08:50)
Schrödinger Cell: 1x (21:37)
And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Sorry: 11x (08:13, 16:25, 25:14, 26:30, 29:29, 30:29, 30:29, 36:01, 49:18, 49:18, 55:20)
Beautiful: 9x (07:56, 20:48, 20:52, 20:55, 27:57, 34:42, 42:08, 47:18, 54:21)
In Fact: 9x (01:04, 10:44, 15:26, 35:34, 41:53, 48:34, 50:31, 55:22, 56:19)
Obviously: 5x (10:46, 11:24, 12:16, 21:31, 30:41)
Good Grief: 4x (17:04, 38:29, 47:52, 50:56)
Lovely: 4x (40:15, 50:34, 55:25, 57:43)
Ridiculous: 4x (28:00, 32:05, 48:00, 48:04)
Bother: 3x (16:32, 22:56, 23:26)
Nonsense: 3x (16:15, 16:23, 21:41)
By Sudoku: 3x (06:38, 41:04, 53:37)
Hang On: 3x (07:23, 39:09, 42:30)
Goodness: 2x (58:34, 58:38)
Naked Single: 2x (48:40, 56:19)
Stuck: 2x (24:54, 52:44)
Extraordinary: 2x (01:48, 58:06)
Stunning: 2x (47:58, 58:34)
Proof: 2x (29:25, 33:11)
We Can Do Better Than That: 2x (44:14, 51:25)
Wow: 2x (17:10, 58:02)
Diddly Squat: 1x (49:35)
What a Puzzle: 1x (57:47)
Apologies: 1x (33:07)
The Answer is: 1x (43:48)
Bingo: 1x (34:17)
Inarticulate: 1x (25:16)
Take a Bow: 1x (58:02)
Epiphany: 1x (22:49)
Facetious: 1x (19:05)
Magnificent: 1x (01:29)
Corollary: 1x (30:20)
QED: 1x (34:17)
Progress: 1x (25:23)
Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video:
Thirteen (16 mentions)
One (152 mentions)
Orange (42 mentions)
Antithesis Battles:
High (11) - Low (7)
Even (7) - Odd (0)
Higher (5) - Lower (1)
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!
someone has too much time on their hands.
@@kyleborders420 is a bot
@@ae7457 Yes, but it's programmer probably has too much time on their hands too.
And I love this bot. Every time I see it, the programmer has made so many small improvements.
This is going to be hard to catch, but Simon is now sometimes using the term "PencilMark" instead of "Goodliffing" . He says it twice in a few seconds at 41:00 . Good luck distinguishing this from lower-case "pencil marks". But in this one he does say "PencilMark mode" the first time and has some context around the second: "PencilMark as I call him".
@Inspiring sand, thanks as always.
I think this puzzle put Simon in the corner, in the highlighting, finding his Sudoku.
I try and solve ever puzzle without watching the videos and recently, thanks to Simon and Mark I can do it about 80% of the time. But there was not a chance I was going to be able to do this. Couldn't even break any logic in other than the basic 1-in the 8-clue etc even after 30 minutes of staring at the grid. Thank You, Simon for making us fall in love with sudoku again !
Even though I’m not nearly as good of a sudoku player as this man, I still enjoy watching him complete these puzzles. I like how I can try to work it out with him. I also like when he gets happy when all of it clicks in his brain, allowing him to complete the puzzle.
yeah, I only wish my brain worked as well has his...
Once again, to prove the Expanded Phistomefel Ring you can use a similar trick as with the original: just highlight row 1, box 4, box 6 and row 9 in blue, and highlight columns 2, 3, 7 and 8 in orange. Then get rid of all cells that have 2 colours.
This way, you avoid the double-counting-problem.
I'd been looking for this, but couldn't find it. Thanks!
Can you do that with the 3rd ring? With r1c1, r3c1, r1c3, and r3c3 in blue, r2c2 and r2c4-6 in orange, plus rotational symmetry?
Edit: I just realized. By using the 2box/2row vs 4 column method (as opposed to the 4box vs 2row/2column method), you can even construct asymmetrical rings. I... I have to think about this. It could mean so much.
@@flabort Absolutely! You can do all sorts of weird stuff. The original ring is "nice" because all the "ring" cells end up being connected.
Select any number of boxes, rows, columns for one set, the same number for the other set and cancel the common squares. Always works!
The simplest case is one box and an intersecting row or column. You'll get: The 6 digits that are in the row/column that are not in the box are in the 2x3 area in the box. We all know that!
@@flabort Yes, you can do it with the 3rd Ring as well.
Just highlight row 2, box 4, box 6 and row 8 in blue, and columns 1, 3, 7 and 9 in orange.
Amazing. The logic and solve was way above my head throughout dizzying
Incredible puzzle, incredible solve. I solve a lot of the puzzles on here, but this is beyond me!
Thanks for explaining it so clearly and beautifully!
No need to call yourself stupid Simon. Personally, I wouldn't have a clue how to start this puzzle. Thank you for the video and congrats again on solving another wonderful puzzle! 🎶
I’m always grateful for CtC, but as currently I’m standing in a very long DMV line, I’m *especially* grateful for CtC at the moment. (And for headphones.)
Stay strong man we all know how slow those lines are 🙏🙏
Wow, that 789 logic at the start truly is gorgeous.
I find it comforting that you find "strange things beautiful" because I do too! I love having the wonder and elegance of something pointed out to me when I might not otherwise see it, and that's one of the joys of this channel. What makes it so engaging is not only your amazing skill and logic, but also your appreciation for a puzzle's artistry. And please don't apologize! I wouldn't have any right to get angry at you for not getting the solution right away (I don't think I could get half as far as you have in these puzzles!) and even if I did, I think it would be very unkind of me to do so. So, keep being you, keeping being awesome. :)
39:20 for me, this time around. I remembered Jay's last puzzle and that helped with this logic. This was such a fun puzzle! Thank you, Jay, for your awesome mind. :) Hope this starts a good streak for me! Woo! I'm pumped. 😁
An absolutely beautiful solve. Take a bow, Simon.
What an incredible thumbnail
Love the thumbnail!
17:50 The way Simon ponders over the name Potatohead gives me life.
glad I chose that name for sudoku
Jay should appear more on the channel, solved several of her puzzles and they're all great.
I couldn't solve this one without help. Brilliant setting and Simon's solve was impressive as always. Loved it
36:00 ... a wonderful dual-threat of devil rings!
Amazing puzzle!
Nice job Simon. You aren't dumb. I couldn't make any progress on this one. Well done
This puzzle is great!
At 48:07 one can even deduce that the for the 1XYZ-Thermometer, the X must be a 2!
(Because if there would be a digit, which didn't appear on a thermo, it would have to be the 9 in the center. This rules-set is just something special!)
Show up 1 minute after posting. 2 views, 5 likes. What better way to describe CTC videos.
UA-cam can be a little wonky with its statistics. They don't always update in sync.
30:30 Simon frequently has these moments where I think his brain understands something intuitively, and it's only when he tries to explain it to us that he trips himself up and thinks he did it wrong, only to rediscover that he was right the first time. This happens several times a week, and it just goes to show how good at this he is.
If you look at split-brain phenomenon, it appears that we have not only one conscious thought happening at any one time. Thoughts seem to occur often overlapping and we focus on typically a single dominant structure.
For that reason, it's common to say there's a "subconscious" activity or a "in the zone/flow state", I believe these have to do with brain activity.
It could be that Simon's brain has one portion that is very good at solving and potentially one that is very good at articulating logic.
I find it funny that perhaps in this scenerio his enthusiasm and excitement is absolutely genuine because the "solving" portion of his brain throws the solution at Simon just as Simon throws it at us, from seemingly out of nowhere, like magic.
"Not zero. Don’t put a zero." Simon educating all of us. 🤣
well done Simon, a magnificent logical bonanza for us, (me) to enjoy. Thank you.
What a brilliant construction. I'm so used to the Phistomefel variants that I even use them in normal solves, but this is the first puzzle where I've needed to use both at once. Before concluding that there must be a 1 in a bulb, you could have ruled it out of R9C1 because the 11 cage had to have either 7 or 8, and therefore needed a 1. The fact there was only one possible candidate left in the original Phistomefel was what made me consider whether it was possible for it not to be a 1. Other than that, my solve was effectively the same as yours.
29:20 - no, there is no reason why the centre digit (the one that doesn't feature in the Exploded Phistomefel Ring) _can't_ feature in the Standard Phistomefel Ring. It isn't that there _has_ to be a digit that isn't in The Ring, it's that there can _only_ be one such digit and _if_ there is such a digit then it goes in the centre cell.
*But* that is still relevant. Because in the Standard Phistomefel Ring, you now know that it _must_ contain a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 because they _can't_ be in the centre cell. So where does 1 go in the corner 2×2 boxes? Only in r1c1 (we also know that the 11-cage must have a 1 in it, if it has to contain a high digit then it's 1-2-8 or 1-3-7).
_Edit_ - and he's got there a minute later. And no, Simon, you're *not* being unbearably obtuse just because you took slightly longer than I did to spot a corollary to a deduction that I could never have made in the first place!
When Simon calls himself stupid he's actually just throwing shade on all of us that watched the video because we couldn't solve it ourselves.
@@andrewchandradat8312 Totally agree. Which makes it all the more fun *finally* seeing him making a logic error. But damn; he still gets away with it.
Thanks for your explanation. Rephrasing: If there is a missing number, it must go in the center square. There is a missing number because all of 789 can't go in the outer ring. Then, when we switch rings, all of 123456 must be present in each set, therefore 1 must go in the upper right corner.
Thank you for this! I have paused at around 30:00 and have come down looking for an explanation! Thank you!
Love it when he proves Phistomefel.
30:30 No, no. You're certainly not stupid. You're a master puzzle solver. Even if you didn't find a powerful line of logic to solve the puzzle instantly, we are still marveling at your skill. And I for one am proud of just trying to keep up. Lol
17:50 "I learned this highly advanced logical deduction from Potato Head" is way funnier than it should have been
he's talking about me. My setter name is PotatoHead21
@@TheSonicPerson that's a great name, especially in the context of advanced sudoku setting.
An observation: if for some inexplicable reason you decide to treat the thermos as arrows, then you can enjoy a frustrating time finding that the puzzle breaks.
A very wonderful puzzle! Great solve Simon. Don't be so hard on yourself!
Incredible puzzle! Having to use the fact that only one digit - and the same digit - can be missing from two separate SETs is a genius break-in.
I'm 6 weeks behind on these videos and trying to catch up :) Stunning puzzle - remarkable it has unique solution with such a simple set of clues. Simon really needs to stop admonishing himself - I have a PhD in maths and got the extended Phistomefel ring but then had no clue how to progress after that. Simon solves these difficult puzzles, day in, day out literally. I doubt there's anyone here who has the stamina for doing what Simon (and Mark) do.
Best thumbnail. You look like you’ve been working out.
Does anyone else get giddy when they hear their name called out by Simon? No... just me? Oh well. That was a great hunt.
Congratulations for correct answer - even though I have no idea about the contest. 😁
So good, I watched it twice!
I finally understand expanded Phistomefel thanks to the yellow colouring put back in the grid
What a fun puzzle! I have to disagree with the commenter above who suggested that you skip doing the set explanations in each video and make a separate video to reference. I really enjoy listening to the explanations again with the context of the current puzzle. I'm 37 and still find a lot of this quite complex (admittedly - I was never great at math 😅). I don't find your explanations patronizing or condescending at all. I think based on the comments I see, a lot of people actually watch for entertainment/relaxation as the primary reason. I like listening to your voice and find these videos almost meditative (side note: I'd definitely listen to you narrate audiobooks)! All that said, I am learning a lot about Sudoku and puzzle solving as well. I'm curious how many people who regularly watch these videos actually attempt the puzzles... 🤔
For those that don't want to listen can skip forwards using right arrow (5 secs) or l (for left) (10 secs). Left arrow - back 5 secs, j - back 10 secs and k or spacebar to pause.
I can't believe it!! I beat Simon on a puzzle by 10 minutes or so!! My goodness Jay, that was a gorgeous one!
Started this puzzle late last night and was flying through it. To the extant that after 10 minutes I was wondering why it was so easy.
So I started to watch the video and only then realised it was thermometers! I'd been treating the corner cells as circles. Left it until today at that point. Nearly 1 hour 20 to complete. That's more like it!
Great puzzle.
Great setting! Nice solve, Simon.
Explaining Phistomephel two times in one puzzle is a novelty, isnt it?
It would be so interesting to see a set theory/phistomefel ring type geometry that directly interacts with the diagonal in some more wild or unexpected ways. I think it makes for some fun challenge and I personally love set theory every time it pops up! Don’t know how you would go looking a puzzle like this without having preemptively known it was an important part of the solve (nobody likes a spoiler after all), but I’d love to see the mechanic more in the future!!
This one took me several hours to solve, but I'm glad I stuck with it. It was amazing when the penny finally dropped.
I think you can make the Phistomefel ring explanation clearer if you use two separate colors for rows and columns. That way you wouldn't need special reasoning for the corner tiles, as they will have three colors each.
Watching this video felt like watching a guy cracking Fermat's Last Theorem. I couldn't figure out how to even begin to try to solve this.
Is there a possibility of the fillomino aquarium solve appearing on the channel? Watching hard puzzle solves is therapeutic and I love Phistomefel puzzles.
These puzzles are getting out of hand! _not complaining_
Exactly an hour. What a concept!
Simon, I for one, have been watching you for 30 minutes. And spent a couple hours with you on pause thinking for myself. I've found some interesting things but need to keep watching to figure out how to solve this. All that to say, I certainly don't think you're stupid. You're figuring this out in real time in a quarter of the time, so far, that I've taken to not been able to figure it out.
Again YOU ARE NOT A NUMPTY STOP TALKING BAD ABOUT YOURSELF. Also idk why people don’t like the black highlighting, I think it works fine and contrasts well against the brighter colors! I will edit this comment with my thoughts as I continue watching the video
Edit: this was a great puzzle and solve again. The double-Phistomefel-ness is great, the deductions were great, Simon was brilliant, it’s another awesome CTC video in the books!
I like calling the alternate version of Phistomefel's Ring the Extended Phistomefel's RIng, because it's both an extension of the Phistomefel theory, and because the ring is physically extended beyond its equivalent set
I had to access your help at the beginning (789 in the middle and 1 in R1C1), otherwise I probably wouldn't have finished this puzzle until next week.
this dude staring at his screen while mumbling is making me sit at the edge of my seat out of excitement
I hate to be the guy who cheats you out of Patreon money, but I would love to see that new phistomefel on the main channel
50:37 or so you can place the 2 here because blue must have a 2 (if it didn't, the central square would be 2) and there is nowhere else for a 2. Thought you'd be curious as you were thinking this way earlier.
If ruling it out of one phistomefel ruled it out of others, that would rule that digit out of all 4 corner boxes entirely, which clearly cannot be true.
Ok, this puzzle destroyed me. I did solve it in the end, but that was after almost losing my mind for a whole hour. It wasn't until I gave up and took a rest that, with a clearer mind, I finally managed to come back to it and finish it. Total time of around 80 minutes I guess, I don't exactly know as I restarted the timer. Awesome logic, but it almost took my sanity away.
Wonderful wild ride!
Oh joy, another Phistomefel puzzle, I do so enjoy watching the same puzzle being solved over and over and over again :/
This was an amazing puzzle! Even after watching Simon solve it, I don't really understand the structure of it, which seems to go far deeper than the logic that's needed to get that first digit. There were multiple times when I lost the train of deductions needed, even after I had reduced all of the constraints to pencil marks, and even though the logic (at that point) was just simple Sudoku. Watching Simon, I get the sense that he had a similar (albeit much, much faster) experience!
Been binge watching these the last week. Love the videos. My 8 year old is sad when I watch one without him. We heard something about pencil puzzles on Discord on another video? Cab you help me find that? Thanks
This is why affirming the consequence is a fallacy. Just because x => y doesn't mean y => x
I clicked the link before watching the video, and stared at the screen for 10 minutes having no idea where to start. I feel less stupid given that one of the world's best took 15 minutes to really get started.
Did it without set theory. I considered where 789 could be in rows and columns 1 and 9. In box 2, 4, 6 and 8 only two of the boxes can have a single 7,8, or 9. Whatever one isn't in a middle box cage must be the center digit. If there are no 1's in the corner squares, the 1's are eliminated from the Phistomefel inner ring corners [without considering set theory] or the whole inner ring [if considering set theory.] The center square would have to be a 1 in either case, breaking the puzzle. A 1 in a column 1 corner eliminates 9 from box 2, and sets the center square as 9. The 1 r1c1 follows immediately.
Wow. Keeps on giving. After sleep I realized I did have the right set of 259 but box 5 wrong. Thermo bulbs were 1346. So do the center 8 & 12 cages really push out the 4 and 6 all the way to corners? Where they go in box 5 probably indicates corner placement. (And the 4 corner digits desire non-diagonal placement in box 5.)
Regarding the diagonal overlays, the 2 cell 8 cage at R45C4 is a little difficult to read because the blue line cuts through the 8. Other digits in the same position might become completely incomprehensible. It would be better to draw the blue lines under some other clues as interruptions to an otherwise continuous line will not be confusing at any point. Probably a more complex layering system is needed in the software to display these things flexibly, and may also be needed in the future as new rule sets are conceived.
Just got the email saying my book is on the way!
I just don’t have the words for this one. File it under, “If you gave me explicit instructions and a year to set this, I couldn’t.”
ugh, the 1-2 pair in row 8 deduction at 44:10 ... I was utterly stuck and staring at the grid for ages!
Lovely, Simon. The fact that a 9 appears in the middle means that the digits 1-8 have to appear in the blue 2x2's in the corner of the normal phistomofel ring plus corner 2x2's. It does not, however, mean that a 9 does not appear (although it might not).
@9:47
Simon:
"Where's my ONE pencilmark.?"
["We can't lose THAT.!?" , he might say relaxedly.. ]
That's RIGHT, Simon, lol.
We're really CRUISIN' now
We can't lose that
Simon's gonna break it apart at some point lol ;)) 😂😎☕[
Last digit in box 1, "can this be a 4?" Well, there must be some sudoku I missed, so look at this diagonal instead...
28:04 you state there has to be a 1 in the left corners, which rules out a 1 in the 13 cage. That in turn proves that the middle digit has to be a 9.
Solved it with help from the video for the start.
The diagonal restriction's effect on the corner cells applies to all four rings. (i.e. the corner cells must contain different digits on each ring.)
Took me several hours of staring, but eventually got it. 1h once I got the breakin. I did everything quite differently except the initial phisto ring. I noticed that only 2 cells in the blue can have high digits of 789 similar to what Simon found. But then noticed you need 6 high digits on the diagonals. So 4 of them must go in the central box. But you can only put three, so the center cell must be high to perform double duty. I also saw huge restrictions on column 9 and the thermos as well as row 8. The rest went in a wildly different direction than Simon.
Will you please post the Phistomefel video on the channel eventually
Even if you don't use the bifurcation I do love hearing the intuition.
Now this puzzle is tormenting me at work without sight of the grid. Today I managed to pinpoint exactly what my intuition is telling me, why I initially circled 53 and 84 for box 5's center cages. (This was also without sight of the grid and done on a pad of paper.) Intuitively the 8 cage is saying 3 things: 4 is in a corner, 5 is not in a corner but 3 is in a corner. Intuitively the 12 cage is also saying 3 things: saying 6 is in the corner, 1 may be in the corner or 2 may be in the corner. The cage contents are relatively superfluous. (It may look like it's saying 4 is in the corner but that is just an echo.) And so the 12 cage overrides my instinct to put a 1 in a corner. The remaining corner digit is either a 1 or a 2. The significance of a 9 not being in the 11 cage probably needs to sink in like the significance did of the 1 and 2 not being in the 12 cage.
There are three variants of the phistomephel ring. The two you're familiar with, and the intermediate one (r1c1,r1c3,r3c1,r3c3,etc... along with r2c2,r2c4,r2c5,r2c6,r2c8,etc...). When and only when they are used in conjunction with the blue diagonals, it becomes true that there is zero or one digit that does not appear in the rings - shared across all three rings - that is then pushed into r5c5. Once you have found this digit to exist in one ring, then the other rings are either also missing that digit, or they do not miss any digits, as it is no longer possible for the other rings to be missing a different digit since r5c5 is already filled. So if another ring is missing a digit, it has to be the same digit, but it doesn't have to be missing a digit at all. Indeed it is impossible for the digit to be missing from all three phistomephel rings, since between them they cover all of the cells in the corner boxes, which would break sudoku. Hope that makes sense.
Given what was discovered just weeks ago, the central digit is forced... the rest flows from there - but there's a very sneaky use of a pair on the diagonal that really breaks it open - completed in 35m57s.
At 10:22, I love the word, "Phistomefelian." Is this the first time this word has been used?
48:38 How did he place the 6 in r9c7? Could it not go in r7 or 8?
56:17 Same question - placing 5 in c6 - why not c5?
I wish Simon had looked at the 11-cage in box 8 as soon as he noticed the middle digit had to be a 789. Since the cage needed a high digit in it, then it also had to include a 1.
an easy way to disprove the hypothesis of "if one Phistomefel's ring is missing an x, then the others are too" is that if you look at all 3 Phistomefel rings, they cover the entire puzzle except for any cell in the middle box, and so in total contain 8 copies of the missing digit. so the hypothesis wrong.
Looked at this myself for 25mins and wasn't able to deduce a single digit 😂 Now watching the video
Edit: well in my defence the same is true for Simon, but he has made rather more impressive and useful deductions than I managed to in my 25 mins 😂
Simon: "Sorry for being so stupid"
Sir I would have given up within a minute of looking at this puzzle
"i find strange things beautiful" is part of being human
everything is beautiful, maybe not to everyone, but to someone
My book has been despatched - hurrah - I've not even looked at the PDF so I didn't spoil it !
16:44 solve starts
There are 3 versions of the ring, the one you didn't address in this video would be in rows 2 and 8 and columns 2 and 8. So if you couldn't have the same digit in every version of the ring, then it would be impossible to place that digit in boxes 2, 4, 6, and 8
That’s a good point. Technically, there are more, if you count lopsided/asymmetric ones.
Basically, you can swap any two rows/columns (within the same box) to transition between them.
@@nochsta well yeah there's a bunch of different ways you can use set to create cells with the same digits, I just meant 3 versions of the "ring"