Join the Smartie Party now 🥳to get EXCLUSIVE reward puzzle packs, ad free content, discord access, and so much more 👉👉www.buymeacoffee.com/timberlakeB/membership Time Stamps 0:00 Intro 00:29 Finned Swordfish Example 1 01:19 Swordfish Refresher 03:08 Finned Swordfish Definition 05:24 Finned Swordfish Eliminations 06:52 Finned Swordfish Example 2 07:28 Bypass to Finned Swordfish 09:15 The Catch With Bypass Strategy 10:06 Finned Swordfish Eliminations

Okay, I solved Example 1. Early, I found a skyscraper (also a two-string kite) in 6s, rows 1 and 9. Later on, after filling the grid, I found an X-wing in 6s. Then I saw a finned swordfish in 8s which didn't seem to do much. I still needed something else to avoid bifurcating the endgame. I was coloring 68s, when I saw a Y-wing in 246s that finally cracked the puzzle. The swordfish made that Y-wing possible by removing the 8 from one of the cells. I just noticed that the thumbnail colored the finned swordfish cells. With Example 2, I filled out the grid. I first found a swordfish in 3s with two fins, among the rest of the crud. I removed a 3 to give me a 37 pair and a 268 triple in row 9. Later came a finned swordfish in 7s that finally cracked the puzzle. The finned swordfish I found was a Sashimi finned swordfish in columns 2, 4, and 9. It eliminated the same 7, leaving only a 1.

@SmartHobbies

3 ай бұрын

Nice job John. I too notice that finned Swordfish can sometimes be seen as Sashimi. I plan to make future tutorials on Sashimi X-Wings and Swordfish.

Happy Sunday

@SmartHobbies

3 ай бұрын

Happy Sunday, Jalen!

Yesterday I clicked on this video, but didn't watch it. I clicked on the second puzzle (Uk Telegraph) and gave it a try. After 55 minutes I had a lot of the puzzle filled in, but I gave up. I had looked into finned swordfishes (including using the 7s), but didn't see it. Sometimes your eyes focus more on rows vs columns, or vice-versa and you don't see it. I started the puzzle again today from scratch and reached the sticking point, then watched the video up to where I learned the finned swordfish was on the 7's, and which rows to focus on. So I went back to my puzzle and was able to figure it out, then flew through the rest of the puzzle because I already had so much of it filled in. First try; 55 minutes. Second try: 38 minutes, and the time it took to watch the video. Those swordfishes are just so hard to spot.

@SmartHobbies

3 ай бұрын

Keep practicing, Brad. I am sure they will start showing a little easier.

@BradJames878

3 ай бұрын

@@SmartHobbies I came back to this video and tried the first puzzle. I was finally able to solve it using an AIC ( I think it's called that.) I had more BVC's filled in than the video showed though. I used the conjugant 29 in column 1, a 28 in block 3, a 68 in block 3, a 26 in block 9, and a 26 in block 7. So I knew a 2 could not be in the 26 cell in block 7, and that gave me the 6, which solved the puzzle.

@SmartHobbies

3 ай бұрын

@@BradJames878 Nice job. Glad to hear that you gave it another try.

Dear Timberlake, thank you for a fine lesson. In the first grid, a Finned Swordfish and a wing technique are sufficient to crack the puzzle, but I found another way, which involved the interplay between 2s and 6s. In short, a 6 in R9C8 implies a conflicting 6 in R1C8, or nowhere for a 6 in box 3: R9C8 = 6 → R9C2 = 2 → R3C1 = 2 → R2C7 = 2 → R1C8 = 6 = conflict. Does this reasoning correspond to a recognized 'legitimate' technique, or does it simply amount to bifurcation? It obviates the need for any further advanced techniques, but is it a sort of cheating? For the second grid, Simple Colouring on 7s from R4C3 cracked the puzzle in seconds. One of the problems with Finned Swordfish is that they are so difficult to identify, whereas opportunities for Colouring seem to stand out even with no notation. The 7s in the Telegraph puzzle are a case in point. Just following 7s from that cell quickly leads to a conflict. But why that cell? Simply because it looks promising. Alas, I will never know the starting configuration of the Telegraph puzzle, which is annoying. I wish people wouldn't start with partially solved grids in which solved cells are indistinguishable from given ones. I tried extracting a symmetrical grid from the 41 filled cells, but to no avail. This is the best I could manage by removing all redundant cells, but it's much harder than the grid in the video, and seems somewhat beyond newspaper difficulty: Daily Telegraph Diabolical, 8 November 2018, possible starting configuration, 23 givens, asymmetrical: 000 500 000 050 090 401 402 070 300 040 000 008 015 040 090 600 000 002 001 000 609 700 010 000 000 009 000 000500000050090401402070300040000008015040090600000002001000609700010000000009000 HoDoKu rating: Extreme 2202. Andrew Stuart rating: Very Hard Grade 350.

@SmartHobbies

3 ай бұрын

Thanks for the tips, Julian and the alternate grid.

At 6:02 why do you say you have to place 8 on both cells? You can put a 9 on top and 8 on bottom. Am I wrong?

@SmartHobbies

3 ай бұрын

You are correct in that you could put 9 on top and 8 on the bottom. If you put a 9 on top, then where would you put the 8 in Row 2? We run out of spots. Does that make sense?

@pistelli57

3 ай бұрын

@@SmartHobbies Oh yes indeed! I DIndn't notice it! Thanks!

@SmartHobbies

3 ай бұрын

You are welcome. @@pistelli57

Too confusing, it would be better if you pencil in all possible cells where an 8 can be. Leaving it blank cell makes hard to follow your example

@SmartHobbies

Ай бұрын

Ok. Thank you for the feedback. I will consider that.