OpenTube

This Sudoku's Circles Are Invisible!

Cracking The Cryptic

24,042 views

** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
An absolutely gorgeous sudoku tonight from FIT7Y about which the only disagreement seems to be regarding its difficulty! Some say it's a mere bagatelle (2/5), others have used the word "Brutal"... However you approach it, it's really clever and a lot of fun to solve. Enjoy!

Play the puzzle at the links below:

https://sudokupad.app/70gesrzbl4

Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. (Place the digits 1-9 once each into every row, column, and 3x3 box). A cell is "friendly" if its digit matches its row, column, or box number (boxes are numbered from left to right and top to bottom ie in normal reading order). Draw a circle in every friendly cell that doesn't already contain a circle. If a digit N appears on a circle, then it appears N times on circles.

You can find out more about the crossword Hope by Pieman (Simon's crossword pseudonym) here:
Patreon: hope-by-pieman-166650507

The golfer, Jack Munro, with whom Simon has just been playing in Scotland has a fantastic clothing brand. Check it out here:

https://ornumco.com/

▶ BRAND NEW COMPETITION ON PATREON ◀
Our new competition launched today on Patreon! Solve the nine sudokus to be in with a chance to win! Closing date 20 August. Good luck!

Patreon: crackingthecryptic

▶ SUNDAY'S STREAM: LORELEI AND THE LASER EYES ◀
You can watch our second stream of Lorelei and the Laser Eyes at 10pm on Sunday night here:

https://youtube.com/live/p6LQ0yROlhQ

▶ ZETAMATH'S WORM: OUR BRAND NEW APP ◀
We've released a brand new collection of sudoku puzzles by Blobz. The worm features 12 connected sudokus and is a great way to enjoy more creations from this popular constructor:

Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/47...
AppStore
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/crackin...
Android:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

All our apps can be found at our website with links to all outlets:
https://www.crackingthecryptic.com/apps

▶ NEW MERCHANDISE INCLUDING RAT RUN GOODIES ◀
https://cracking-the-cryptric-shop.fo...

▶ SIMON & MARK ATTEMPT BLUE PRINCE: THE SUDOKU ◀
This new epic (and epically long) video is now on Patreon (as well as our monthly sudoku hunt competition by Sandra & Nala). Check it all out here:

Patreon: crackingthecryptic

▶ SVEN’S SUDOKU PAD ◀
Input classic sudoku puzzles into our software. With 12 free puzzles:
iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/svens-s...
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/17...
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...
Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”

▶ CTC FAN DISCORD SERVER◀
Discord: discord

▶ OUR VIDEO CATALOGUE – CATEGORISED WITH LINKS◀
https://tinyurl.com/CTCCatalogue

▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀
crackingthecryptic@gmail.com
Snailmail: Mark Goodliffe, Box 102, 56 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4UB

▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: #crypticcracking
@crypticcracking
Instagram @crackingthecryptic

▶Credits◀
Music: Lucy Audrin (Piano): Mozart's Sonata no 16; and Mark’s outro music by Riffclown.
SOFTWARE: Thanks to Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Sven Neumann
Logo: Melvyn Mainini
Opening Credits: Burak Mescioğlu

▶ Contents Of This Video ◀

0:00 Intro music and crossword stuff
1:29 Puzzle introduction
2:43 St Andrews
5:16 Happy Birthdays
9:26 Rules
12:16 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking

#sudoku #puzzle #logic

20 Comments

@SuperSeran 1 month ago

Me, pointing at the screen saying he missed a thing.

Also me, wouldnt have been able to wrap my head around the puzzle without Simon.

Great video!

@alexperez7238 1 month ago

I loved how he was able to completely break down the puzzle (which I could have never thought of) but also was taking SO LONG to see the 4 in the 5th box, and that 9 in box 9 couldn't bee in a circle, and I haven't finished the video but WHY ARE THE 8's he put hypothetically still there !??

@spatulamahn 1 month ago

"If we use a color for 4?" as he ignores the color for 4 - green! LOL

@maljamin 1 month ago

Tip for avoiding goofs with temporary digits: color them, x them, line mark them, something not used otherwise. This helps with crossbox corner marks, temporary examples, aide memoirs, etc.

@FIT7Y 1 month ago

What a lovely surprise! It was very fun to watch you catch onto the ideas in this puzzle, and work your way through the digits.

I was very lucky when it came to setting this puzzle, with only a few iterations I found this arrangement of circles which I absolutely loved the logic of and went much farther than I expected it to. From here I was very willing to use as many given digits as needed to finish the puzzle because I liked it so much, but after checking in a solver I found that it was barely possible to do it with just one given and I knew then that it had to be the final version of the puzzle.

I got very close to no givens and I think it could be possible, so I'll pass the torch if anyone else wants to try.

@stevieinselby 1 month ago

That was a fantastic puzzle! It took me 45 minutes without help from the video – definitely helps having done some friendly puzzles before so knowing that there has to be at least one friendly cell with each digit and more than one for most, meaning that we're going for the full 45 circles. Then a bit of sums to work out that we need to maximise the number of friendly circles, so none of the given circles can be friendly. Once you see the right line of attack, it's relatively straightforward, but I can appreciate that it might not be obvious how to get started, especially as friendly cells are not featured all that frequently.

@seanfarrow9417 1 month ago (edited)

For me the key was realizing I had to add 24 "friendly" circles. You can only add one 1, and two 2s. That leaves 7 numbers and 21 friendly circles and once I saw that 9 could only create three friendly circles, I figured each number has to create 3 friendly circles. Unwinding 1,2,3 at the end took me forever though. Can't wait to see how it's supposed to be done.

@tonysailer8470 1 month ago (edited)

@21:50 "Like a piece of bread at the end of a roast dinner."
Simon is spot on and wins me over for the Nth time where N= the number of times he has ever said "Bobbins".
We love you Simon.

@Mandragorn66 1 month ago

Watching Simon solve puzzles using anything but sudoku is my favorite part of the day

@Lorenc7 1 month ago

at 1:14:50 Simon decides to get rid of useless coloring
Thank you, Simon. Please do this (remove colors when they have served their purpose) more often.

@ProteJ4YDGT 1 month ago

34:07 “and a partridge in a pear tree” 😂

@Ardalambdion 1 month ago

Don't be too hard on Simon alright? As we say in Norwegian: Kan ikke se skogen for bare trær.

@HRMSeriously 1 month ago (edited)

It took me just a few minutes to figure out that there had to be a total of 45 circles. It took me nearly an hour of staring at the puzzle before it dawned on me that you need every single possible hidden circle to get to 45 total circles. This has been my favorite puzzle I’ve done in quite some time.

@kicorse 1 month ago

Enjoyed this one a lot. I like puzzles where you can make a lot of progress just by thinking in general terms, as you could here. Not just that there would be 45 circles, but also that there would be 3 new circles for every digit greater than 2. That said, I agree with Simon that the puzzle was challenging enough even after that deduction.

@emilywilliams3237 1 month ago

Fantastic, what an interesting puzzle! I have always found it a bit hard to scan in 'friendly' puzzles, but you breezed through it. And your golf! I remember watching golf on television with my father and watching tournaments that took place at St. Andrews - stunning landscape and perpetually windy! What a great experience you have had, Simon.

@GrifterMage 1 month ago

I came at the count realization slightly differently, by realizing there's a maximum of 27 friendly digits in the puzzle. That plus the given 21 gets us to 48, which is three over, but the rules only allow for one 1 and two 2s to get circled rather than three each, removing three from the possible count and getting us to exactly the needed 45.

@A_CC_K 1 month ago

Interesting ruleset, the crossword masterclass was brilliant. Now it is time to watch Simon battling this

@4thright 1 month ago

Coming here to hear Simon use amazing words like 'perforce' is what brings me back here. Oh, and wildly amazing puzzles!

@bobbie0976 1 month ago

It should have mentioned that the given circles don’t need to contain a friendly digit. Threw me off right from the start.

@dinane 1 month ago

When I’m using colors to place things across boxes or whatever, I use the color in my palette that is in the same place as the number in the number pad.