Wow wasn't expecting this! If i recall 99%sneaky had a puzzle solved on the channel not long ago that also used disjoint/diagonal and required set so i didn't submit as i felt the puzzles were very similar and 99%sneaky did a great job so i posted on LMD based off discord feedback. Fjam was obviously kind enough to recommend and i am thrilled to see it featured! As for the solve, the 'stairs' play a pivotal role but like Simon concluded at the end of the puzzle, you actually dont know much about them until after the break-in. Once i played around with the break-in though i HAD to ensure the puzzle for finished and I am very happy with the end product. This was one of the harder puzzles I've done though so congrats to the solvers and no shame in not getting far in it for less experienced solvers :)

@iceberg54321

9 ай бұрын

Well, the ruleset is broken. In box 8 there are three line segments, a three cell and a two cell or two two cell segments, depending on which direction you are coming from. These have to be different totals, which is fine, but there is no way the other line segments in different boxes can equal two totals, so the ruleset breaks.

@sskar9390

9 ай бұрын

​​@@iceberg54321a single line for the intended ladder can be drawn if the horizontal segment between the 4 (in box 8) and the 7 (in box 9 ) is deleted and a diagonal segment is drawn joining the 7 (in box 8) with the 7 (in box 9). Maybe the line was "misdrawn" from the original.

@iceberg54321

9 ай бұрын

@@sskar9390 That would be one way to fix it.

@celery6397

9 ай бұрын

@@iceberg54321 I personally think it’s pretty clear. It’s all one line and they pass through different 3x3 boxes with equal sums in each box.

@grantfraser5430

9 ай бұрын

Agreed. The line could be drawn differently for clarity but it is quite clear that the region sum line equality involves 2 cells in box 9 and 3 cells in box 8.

Classic Simon. Solves a puzzle with an insane break-in that even his own testers couldn't solve, then apologizes for doing it poorly. My guy, WE should be apologizing to YOU.

I had a good laugh watching Simon use the disjoint sets he says he's bad at to rule out a 9 that was already ruled out by a placed 9 via normal Sudoku. 😂

@camilogarcia1803

9 ай бұрын

Came here to the comments section to say exactly the same 🤣 I started to enjoy a lot how Simon manages to eliminate numbers in the most complex ways just to avoid doing sudoku on a sudoku puzzle. 😂

@corozal987

9 ай бұрын

😂 exactly what I was about to comment

@svnb.3466

9 ай бұрын

also let's mention the poor 3 in box 6

The problem I have with puzzles like this is that I have no idea where to start. I spend about 20 minutes thinking about different tactics, but nothing gets me to the break-in. Apparently it is all about choosing the right color to highlight things.

@BlueCyann

9 ай бұрын

You're not the only one. It is very, very rare for me to be able to break in to a SET puzzle. I try and try and it never seems to get better. Everything else in Sukoku I've gotten miles better at, but my brain won't wrap itself around this.

@azrobbins01

9 ай бұрын

@@BlueCyann I get the concepts behind set theory, but even if you told me this was a set puzzle, I would probably never have found out how to use it to crack into this puzzle.

@CuriousChameleon

9 ай бұрын

Dont feel bad, I think all of us at this skill level did the Phisto ring. I knew the puzzle had to do something with set theory. But Simon is the champ for a reason. We're getting there!

@pedrosaraiva1411

9 ай бұрын

Set is so hard to spot, I cant never see it by myself

@letsmakeit110

9 ай бұрын

I'm making a video of simon saying things out of context. "I don't really understand purple" stuff like that. But I didn't just want to bully the guy for four minutes, so I've been looking for a clip to put at the end where he really shows off and I think this is it.

I (and others!) often post about the crazily simple things that Simon doesn't see. I am willing to bet we've all actually yelled at the screen on occasion. I want Simon to understand that these various comments in no way undermine the utter brilliance he generally shows along the way to solving these puzzles. To consistently find a break-in and complete many of these very difficult puzzles all while filming is honestly remarkable, even a little awe-inspiring. Same with Mark. Their work is a testament to what effort, determination and some intuitive intelligence can accomplish. Cheers.

I've been watching CtC videos for a bit over a month now and this one really made me realize how brilliant Simon really is with these puzzles. How about you take a bow yourself!

The puzzle hunt was great! So fun! As a minor suggestion, this time around you only needed to find 1 cell in each puzzle to get the url (4th cell of 4th row). Because of this, there are several puzzles that didn't need to be fully completed.. maybe using a row or at least a few more cells might be better. But still the puzzles were excellent!

@Anne_Mahoney

9 ай бұрын

Congratulations on being first and fastest. So far I have done exactly one (1) of the puzzles. But I'll get there! 😸

@riffclown8909

9 ай бұрын

Congratulations on solving this pack so very quickly. Well Done!.. As for the key cells. I agree. We were trying to keep it quick and easy this time. In the future we'll tune to digits in each puzzle that are filled in later in the solves.. Have you by chance found and started the Hidden treats? There are 11 more puzzles to find after the pack is finished. Some of those ramp up difficulty quite a bit.

@KurtHugoSchneider

9 ай бұрын

@@riffclown8909 yes! i've solved all the hidden puzzles... the mini arrow chessdoku one i found quite hard.. couldn't quite find the right way to group cells together and ended up bifurcated it..

@palfly1864

9 ай бұрын

​@KurtHugoSchneider it is definitely quite tough, especially because we're so used to sudoku around here :p

@rockratzero

9 ай бұрын

Very glad you had fun, and congrats on the amazingly quick work! We have some more complicated ideas for Skunkworks hunts in the future. This particular one was turned around on a very quick timeline with the direction for it to be "a bit easier" than some recent fare.

Did anyone else notice the giant staircase-shaped blue line had a 7 in all five of its boxes? I would never have imagined that.

@chitraagarwal8259

9 ай бұрын

Was the first thing I noticed

@SimonK91

9 ай бұрын

It's a stairway to s[h]e[a]ven

"I like a escalator, man, 'cause an escalator can never break. It can only become Stairs."

@18Wolves77

9 ай бұрын

RIP Mitch

@sheazellweger5450

9 ай бұрын

sorry for the convenience

@dylanlenn7836

9 ай бұрын

I used to solve puzzles, I still do but I used to too

54:00 "I think the 3's been sitting there for a while..." (For like 20 minutes. But that why we love Simon, he does the hard part, we pick on the easy ones.)

It's maddening watching Simon work out the hardest break-ins while, simultaneously, missing the most basic deductions. 🤣🤣

@johnh2052

9 ай бұрын

That's just the confounding brilliance of Simon. :) The 3 in box 6 waited a surprisingly long time to be resolved, for example.

@dianamonaco2348

9 ай бұрын

​@@johnh2052 That 3 in box 6 was killing me lol

@aguy3896

9 ай бұрын

Missing the forest for the tree in the corner proving its position

@dipunm

9 ай бұрын

Think of it this way... the simple solves were already there, but Simon wouldn't look there because he already knew it was easy pickings that didn't help anywhere else (most of the time)

@GeekRedux

9 ай бұрын

Like ruling out *a* nine at 41:34.

Oh boy, disjoint subset, good luck in your scanning, Simon!

@CrackingTheCryptic

9 ай бұрын

Meanie :)

@changjsc

9 ай бұрын

He actually did better than usual on this one!

Thank you for the birthday shout-out for my 40th! It was the absolute highlight of my day! Just settling in after my birthday dinner (and chocolate bourbon bread pudding) to solve the puzzles for today!

Rules: 07:21 Let's Get Cracking: 09:18 Simon's time: 48m39s Puzzle Solved: 57:57 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Bobbins: 2x (42:50, 52:06) The Secret: 2x (27:52, 28:05) Knowledge Bomb: 1x (54:31) Three In the Corner: 1x (54:21) Maverick: 1x (05:22) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! Sorry: 12x (12:16, 18:33, 20:08, 20:42, 21:24, 23:11, 35:55, 38:29, 43:39, 48:57, 52:29, 53:08) Hang On: 12x (01:11, 10:12, 20:33, 22:54, 23:04, 31:27, 35:55, 38:46, 40:51, 42:23, 56:15) Brilliant: 6x (00:47, 02:14, 02:16, 02:32, 1:00:14, 1:00:14) Obviously: 6x (01:43, 01:56, 08:38, 23:59, 25:10, 27:15) Cake!: 6x (05:09, 05:13, 05:22, 06:50, 06:54, 06:58) Ah: 5x (14:53, 20:46, 23:04, 34:17, 39:18) By Sudoku: 4x (32:20, 44:49, 50:00, 57:11) Shouting: 3x (02:21, 05:00, 58:15) Pencil Mark/mark: 3x (49:37, 56:58, 57:01) Nonsense: 2x (21:40, 54:54) Lovely: 2x (45:39, 56:40) Wow: 2x (37:37, 58:07) Scrabble Tiles: 2x (23:07, 23:22) What on Earth: 1x (48:12) Bother: 1x (45:05) Naked Single: 1x (38:10) In the Spotlight: 1x (54:24) I Have no Clue: 1x (46:04) Break the Puzzle: 1x (56:40) Fascinating: 1x (26:58) Incredible: 1x (02:52) Bonkers: 1x (30:36) If I Trust my Pencil Marks: 1x (57:01) Surely: 1x (55:07) In Fact: 1x (14:35) Whoopsie: 1x (43:06) We Can Do Better Than That: 1x (49:02) Phone is Buzzing: 1x (19:31) What Does This Mean?: 1x (15:49) That's Huge: 1x (35:55) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Sixteen (8 mentions) One (96 mentions) Red (33 mentions) Antithesis Battles: Low (6) - High (1) Even (3) - Odd (0) Column (13) - Row (3) 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! Q2: Can you do this for another channel? A2: I've been thinking about that and wrote some code to make that possible. Let me know which channel you think would be a good fit!

1:51 "Well, I might not." Simon being self aware.

Yikes. I would never have figured out that break in. Well blooming done.

What an elegant break in. I didn't get close.

I had a slightly different break in that is basically the same but only has 1 set. like simon, i considered the top, top right and right cells, plus the diagonal. thats 4 sets of the digits 1-9 and sum to 4*secret. we can then move around some cells to equivalent ones. those being shift the cells on the escalator to box 1 and 2, filling them. as well as the cells in boxes 2 and 5 into box 3. we can get rid of boxes 1 and 5, since they're 2 whole boxes they add to 2*secret. this leaves us with simon's red cells + 6 cells in box 9. all of these sum to 2*secret. 6 cells in box 9 add to at most 39, 5 cells in box 3 add to at most 35 and 3 red cells in box 7 add to at most 16 (r7c3 + r7c4 = 1 --> r7c3 + r7c4 - r8c1 = red cells

I laughed when Simon uses where 1's are located to determine the last 9's because he refuses to do suduko 🤣

I feel like your scanning of disjoint sets has improved quite a bit.

@smylesg

9 ай бұрын

Now if he could just nail the rows and columns....

41:35 absolutely genuineous! No way we could've figured that out in an easier way. _Glances to the right_

This has got to be one of my favorite break-ins!

I can often follow the logic in these puzzles, but in this one I was lost from the start. Kudos to Simon!

Stared at this one a long time, with just some very preliminary pencil-marking, until my eyes dried up. So grateful for a team prepared to confront these tough nuts for the sake of us softer nuts.

No matter how many times I see SET used I'm always fascinated by it

Great puzzle and Simon's solving skills continue to impress me

This puzzle is bonkers ... seriously brilliant, and even more brilliant to find that break-in. Very well done.

Not that it matters, but to add just a tiny bit of elegance to the break-in, if you add the cell in r8c1 back into the yellow and red scrabble bags, you can then remove the reds from box 7, add the red back to box 8, and you're left with a 45+7 = 35+17 equivalence that's slightly easier to see.

*checks puzzle before watching* solve counter: 1 oh no

I’m very glad I solved this before reading the description or watching the video, otherwise I probably would have given up! Took me a bit longer than Simon but I’m so pleased that I managed to spot that break in. What a beauty!

Great break in the puzzle. After applying the set sum it becomes quite easy and straightforward.

I am so proud of my solve here, since I would have never been able to solve myself before I started following this channel. Especially finding the break-in was ecstatic, as I would have never seen myself in the past coming up with such a complex but phoned-in set theory setup, and almost set in stone that was the intended method. Solved in 42m36s (75th solver).

@celery6397

9 ай бұрын

Congrats. Progression as a solver can be very satisfying. Thanks for trying the puzzle!

@danielepicone1480

9 ай бұрын

@@tangente00 No I did not know it used it but I did see a lot of set theory puzzles here. So once I was stuck not doing anything I just decided to use it.

Ive never watched a setting video yet but i would love to see one for this, it amazes me how people can come up with ideas like this for puzzles

What a lovely puzzle. I had no idea how to start it so watched 22 mins of the video until the part where Simon started explaining his colouring then went off and did the same colouring and it all just flowed so smoothly from there (48:06).

None of the testers could not solve this puzzle, but Simon makes it look so easy. Simon, you are on another level!

I couldn’t figure out the break-in, so I watched Simon’s solve up until 32:08 and then I saw a next move that allowed me to finish the rest of the puzzle on my own in about 40 more minutes.

Wonderful use of using set Simon to get the break in! Loved the solve and your fist pump for the 3 in the corner!

That was amazing! I stared at it for 40 minutes with anger then watched the video in bliss! 🎉

@omardiaz6255

9 ай бұрын

Same, couldnt get anything but nonsense colors, i must improve my sets

@pedrosaraiva1411

9 ай бұрын

I bet a lot of people here have a some hard time with set too . Differently of other soduko techniches which if you apply them a lot of times you can dominate them quite easily after some time, I feel set its always super hard to spot no matter how many puzzles with set you did before . In fact while I am much better at any variant sodoku now , I am so bad at set, that I follow the channel for about a year at least, and until today, I could never finnish a single puzzle which required set

I bow my head in awe 🫡 Kudos on that break-in Simon👏

I feel congratulations are in order, Simon - this is the best I've ever seen you scan for disjoint set restrictions. The power of neural networks.

@Paolo_De_Leva

9 ай бұрын

I agree. Simon's disjoint scanning was excellent this time. Even more than his S.E.T. break-in, which was also excellent and amazingly quick, but could have been simplified a little bit... Basic sudoku scanning was sloppy, as usual 🤣

what a delightful puzzle! that kind of geometric break in would take me forever to find, but i find it beautifully creative to see :)

didn't manage the break-in without your help with set theory, still happy i managed to finish after that, even if it took me ages.

Great puzzle. This time I needed a little help getting started because I had absolutely no idea how to eliminate or restrict numbers.

Wow.. that was a hard one. I couldn't figure out the break in, so needed to use Simon as a giant hint haha. Great puzzle

brilliant! just brilliant, so fun to watch

I've found that puzzle videos are only enjoyable when the puzzler is objectively more intelligent than you, and therefore sees the answers faster than you can. Today, Simon displayed that genius, and made a truly enjoyable video for, I would suspect, the vast majority of people. Perfect explanations and perfect pacing throughout this solve! Well done

the 9 logic at 41:01 really tickles me because of the 9 in R4C7

@rutterbrian

9 ай бұрын

Impressive! And a delight to watch. Mahalo!

41min50sec. I saw the SET fairly quickly actually, obviously the puzzle is basically impossible if you don't see it though, Then you have to realsie the big region sum can't be 9 because of the 123 in box 9. Really cool logic in this one!

Spoiler The only reason I figured it out, is because aside from the secret the thing I've learned most from this channel is when in doubt do set theory

Solved in almost precisely an hour. Nobody is more surprised than me. Also, "not the first introduction today"? Simon failed a sudoku?? What???

@elizabethgrosvenor153

9 ай бұрын

I thought he was saying he hopes he doesn't fail it?

Great puzzle! Very difficult break-in, then I flew through the rest 😊

Great puzzle. Very challenging. I did well on this one. I had to get partial help with the break in and I’m seeing the relative position rule set better.

Puzzles that require set are my favourite. Interestingly, the breakthrough is also possible by picking boxes 1 3 and 5, and you get to the same conclusion that the 3 cells in box 6 add up to 16. Thank you for the puzzle and the solve

Loved watching this one, was relatively approachable after the 'brain the size of a planet' requirements for the break in. I doff my cap to you Simon, absolute genius logic

Shouting at Simon: “Way to go!”

Brilliant break-in.

What a crazy break in. I don't think I would have ever spotted that one...

I love it when the first thing Simon says is you probably won't see this. I'm looking forward to what promises to be a fantastic solve!

@gilbertleblanc9358

9 ай бұрын

There should be a compilation video of all the puzzles Simon said you won't see and we haven't.

God, that’s an amazing puzzle and an amazing video.

Me: Maybe I CAN solve this puzzle by myself. Me: Nah, too hard, I'll just watch simon. Simon: Makes one deduction I didn't see Me: Sees one deduction simon doesn't see. Go to top

Fantastic effort Simon!

I loved it, thank you Simon. The most difficult for me is to find how to start, maybe I need scrabble bags :)

I love how the total of the escalator encourages us to walk on the escalator: left, right, left, right, 1, 2, 1, 2. 😂

38:08 "Maybe I should do some sudoku now", he says, regretfully .

I love the idea of disjointed sets, there's a point where box 7 and box 9 both had 4s in the 6th and 9th positions. If you asked yourself what box does the 4 belong in position 3, box 8 might have struck you. Fun rule set.

When doing the equivalence at the start you can get two adjacent squares in red, and in yellow the areas in boxes 3 and 9 plus one more square in box 7. Makes the math a little easier.

you did very well Simon, take a bow😊

43:52 "Although it's probably revealed by a disjoint trick somewhere around the grid" At this point the 7 in box 8 disjoints with the 57 pair in box 3, forcing 5 to then disjoint with the 45 value in box 7, forcing that to be a 4+3=7.

Good morning from New Zealand!!

26:54 From this point, the red 789 must be in boxes 3 & 7. This forces r1c7 to be 6, and places 123 in red. The remaining blue lines on red cells need at least 3 more low digits. This forces the extra yellow cells in box 9 to be 123.

Melody: Losing My Religion - R.E.M. Oh the grid, it's bigger So much bigger than you With nine by nine, see The lengths that I will go to The digits in your cells Oh no, I've filled too much I messed it up That's three in the corner That's three in the spot-light Solving this sudoku Trying to keep up with clues And I don't know if I can do it Oh no, I've filled too much I haven't filled enough I thought that I found swordfish I thought that I cracked X-wing I think I thought I saw your sum Every whisper, of every waking hour I'm scanning for my naked singles Trying to keep an eye on you Like a hurt, lost and blinded fool, fool Oh no, I've filled too much I messed it up Consider this Consider this, the disjoint set of tragedy Consider this, the slip That brought me to my knees, failed What if all these candidates come Flailing around Now I've filled too much I thought that I found a swordfish I thought that I cracked X-wings I think I thought I saw your sum But that was just a dream That was just a dream That's three in the corner That's three in the spot-light Proving its position Trying to keep up with clues And I don't know if I can do it Oh no, I've filled too much I haven't filled enough I thought that I found a swordfish I thought that I cracked X-wings I think I thought I saw your sum But that was just a dream Try, scan, fill, plan That was just a dream Just a dream Just a dream, dream

Simon: "It's probably revealed by a disjoint trick somewhere around the grid" Before he's even finished that sentence, he hovered his mouse over the exact two cells that fix it 😂

This man really spent 2 minutes explaining why this square couldn't be a 9 when its in a row that already has a 9 in it.

5 minutes in and I have seen more colors in this puzzle than in a rainbow. I'm giggling like a silly person here

31:27 you actually have a very close idea of what the blue line adds up to. the blue line in box 9 can’t have a 123 on it, 6 on it, or 89 on it (you haven’t pencil marked that in yet in r7c3). so that leaves 457 which means it’s either 9,11,12.

36:15 "We still don't know what the total of these lines are". Yes we do.

59:23 for me, but I needed help with the break-in, so not even a proper solve. Absolutely terrible today.

@tessabrisac7423

9 ай бұрын

That’s comforting, your usual times are so intimidating that it feels good to know you sometimes stumble like everyone else!

that break-in is absolutely mad

If you think Simon missed row 6/column 9 being a 3 for that whole time, think again. He just didn't want to rule 3 out of the corner in boxes 3 & 9 so early on 😁

@elizabethgrosvenor153

9 ай бұрын

I did wonder about that

50:10 disjoint sets says the 7 is in the bottom row of box 2. So it’s in r2c1.

39:14 for me. Brilliant puzzle and break-in!

@tessabrisac7423

9 ай бұрын

🎉🎉🎉

41:44 There's a 9 looking at the pencil marked 9s in Box 4, but let's figure out the most complicated solution to remove one of the pencil marks. 😂

@ 36:22 - "We still don't know what the total is for this line here" - Yes you do. You have a naked pair for the line in box 9. It can't contain 1-4, 6, 8, or 9. It's therefore a 57 pair. @ 40:11 - "That's got to be 9, so that's got to be 8" - And there we have it - a classic example of you not following up on your placements. You placed the 9, but did nothing with it, when in fact you could have got all the 9s. @ 41:35 - "That's interesting for this cell, because if that was a 9..." - See what I mean? Your failure to follow up, and your inability to see a dirty great 9 in the row, means you're considering that cell being 9. @ 43:53 - "it's probably revealed by a disjoint trick somewhere around the grid" - so why not look? The 7 in box 8 resolves the 57 pair in box 3, which resolves it for you. That in turn resolves the 48 pair in box 9 I know I go on about you not following up on your placements, but when you're dealing with disjoint sets it's even more important. You placed the 7 in box 7, but didn't use it to resolve the 57 pair in box 3, which meant you weren't able to resolve the 23/45 in box 7, which meant you weren't able to resolve the 48 pair in box 9. Instead, we had to sit through several minutes of floundering, asking where you should look next. Apart from the break-in, which was tricky to spot, the rest of this was quite simple. Not using each placement to remove candidates from the same disjoint set, and then complaining that you're rubbish at scanning disjoint sets gets no sympathy from me, because it's completely avoidable with a bit of discipline. How long did you fail to place the 3 in box 6? You had a 123 triple, put 12 on the line, and just left 123 in R6C9 for an eternity.

Not gonna lie the first thing I tought after seeing the disjoint restriction is that we will more than likely have a 3 in the corner and I was absolutely ready for the payoff.

The lack of an early joke with "I can stare ('stair') at it" made me sad, such a missed opportunity!

28 minutes for me! This is the kind of puzzle that if you can't find the break-in, you can't even start it. However, it just flows like a river once you spot it.

51:15, needed to watch the video for the break in, still had a hard time. I was able to reduce certain digits to certain cells in each box, but then kept mixing up, say, the lower middle cell in one box with the lower right cell in another box.

63:31 for me! Great puzzle!!

I think the 3 in box 6 lost its religion and then some

line pack is out on steam now! :)

It's really astonishing watching Simon, who is usually lighning quick on deductions, miss that obvious 123 triple in the left column of box 6.

nearly 80 min 🥺 Still, once you see the openingstrick it's not that diff tbh. Well build puzzle, loved it ❤❤❤❤

Question...doesn't the joint set rule preclude the diagonal from containg the same digits? Curious!

@tessabrisac7423

9 ай бұрын

Don’t see why it should, could you explain?

56:40 "Oh it's lovely how that hasn't broken the puzzle." I can't tell if he's stating the obvious, or just genuinely relieved that this train of thought hasn't been wrong an hour into the puzzle

@kindlin

7 ай бұрын

He's always ready and almost expecting to break the puzzle at any moment. When everything just falls into place, Simon gets a lot of joy out of that.

You are puzzle man in my house too :)

Stairs / escalator and hand rail?

The solver counter seems misleading. @58:06 . Looks like your solve was the only solve under 1 hour. Any other solve must have been over.

@celery6397

9 ай бұрын

Think its because in my version on logic masters Germany, i used a standard blue diagonal. It was changed to red for the video probably creating a new URL as the puzzle is technically different. It has minimal solves though on my submitted version so its not far off lol :)

Love those videos! Helps me a lot to learn to solve these puzzles better by myself. Still I dont get why Simon says quadrupel to triples...^^

The break in is hard, but after that it seems fairly straight forward, definitely a lot of missed sudoku and disjoints that would have made the back half smoother, but a nice solve nonetheless.