Wow, 20:50 for me. This is very first time for the last two or three years when my time is kinda equal to Simon's time. Should I be proud of myself? I think I should :)
Rarely do I dare to attempt puzzles that Simon does on the channel. But today's was a shorter video and I'm so glad I tried. Absolutely loved the puzzle, such beautiful back and forth between the thermos.
The reason this channel is full of people who are always in the corners at parties is because that's where the threes reside, and three is a crowd. So it's like we're having our own little party within a party.
I'm quite new to the world of Sudoku but I'm happy to say that this puzzle was so approachable that it is my first puzzle I was able to complete with no help from the video! Normally I need help with the break in but I seem to be better at thermos than anything else. My time was not great (I'd rather not say coz it was a silly little scanning sudoku problem that got me stuck) but I am still proud that I did it!
It's an academy, isn't it? We start out looking on, amazed. Then we join in, getting as far as we can, and looking at the video whenever an obstacle gets in the way. And eventually ... congratulations! I do remember how it felt when I got through the puzzle without any help.
After spending two days on a thermo sudoku, this video is timely. And I might have known that Aad would come up with something far more elegant than I could!
Been watching these for a while, and this was the first time I felt compelled enough from just looking at the presentation of it to try one for myself. Finished it in 13 minutes, felt very satisfying to discover the logic the whole way through!
There weren't too many long rules. You had not a whole lot of tools. Just thermos (or planets?) But you went and ran it And proved CTC are no fools. Just thought you might enjoy knowing that at our house, Wednesdays are when my son and daughter come over and we all draw comics together over coffee and donuts. Since CTC is a "sponsor" of our comics, we decided you deserved a watch, so we spent our break time watching you solve this puzzle.
10:56 for me - That doesn't just border on approachable, that's barely less approachable than GAS tends to be (where I typically get about 8-9 minute times)
I think that one of the (many) things I like about CtC is that you and Mark truly do take the time to explain your thinking. I would have been interested, probably, in this channel even if you did not do that, because you are (both) interesting and charming people. But the chance to also learn how to think about these variants has helped me become a better solver, but even before that, helped me be interested in being a better solver. This puzzle was beautiful, as advertised, approachable, as advertised, and really fun to solve - and even though I solved it myself before watching your solve, Simon, I still wanted to sit by you and watch you do it, getting the insights into how to think about it that you provide. Thanks so much - and thanks again to Aad for another great puzzle.
I agree, and that's definitely something that elevates this channel. Even in this video, when Simon corner marked the 2s in box 2 to the top corners, which already had the corner marked 1s, he quickly explained how that changes them both to center marks and what that means. I've been watching almost all videos for about 3 years now, but that is the sort of thing that is needed to attract new viewers. And I haven't said it in a while, so it's worth mentioning, that Emily, you are also one of the (many) things that I, and I know many others, like about CtC. David also commented on it, but I always look forward to your comments on the daily videos and Wordle in a Minute shorts!
I am torn about this one. On the one hand, it is incredibly elegant and it was fun to solve, on the other hand it basically solves itself. Let's call it GAAAAS (genuinly accessible and also aesthetic sudoku).
That was a lovely puzzle. I finished it in 37:23 which surprised the heck out of me - under 2x Simon's time. I'd say it was GAS plus. Once I figured out the logic it all seemed to unfold. I'm sure that the experienced solvers will have been able to do this quite quickly but I had to take it more step by step.
14:51 for me, definitely a fast solve for me. As I was doing it and the puzzle was unraveling thanks to pencil marking the possibilities for every single thermo and eliminating as I went, I had the thought that it would probably take Simon a while because he wouldn't be so liberal with center pencil marks!
This was truly delightful -- final time 13:08! Finished it while listening to Simon doing birthdays and announcements, and now I get to watch the video 💜
I had 12:14 and this was most definitely the most I've ever "beaten" Simon (proportionally at least). I think a lot of times, Simon mentions how he spends too much time on the variant part of a puzzle, and forgets about the sudoku part. But I found this puzzle very easy to just jump right into the thermometers and how they interacted, and then when I watched Simon solve, he was doing a lot of sudoku/pencil marking, and I think if he only focused on the thermo parts, he would have blown right through it. He even had the immediate insight to mention right when he finished that he didn't think he took the most efficient path through it.
@@chris5619 likewise, this is probably one of my best proportionately. I think my best was 1/3 his time? But I've also had some where he beat me by hours. And then there's been some SET puzzles I couldn't figure out at all. I think if he was told it was a GAS he might have approached it better.
Something in life to cherish..find something that you love to do every day!! Your joy for solving puzzles by these world class setters brings out the best in you and Mark all 365 days a year.
Lovely puzzle. 18:13. Makes me think it'd be a lot of fun if there were a "blast from the past" puzzle in a community post, if the editors have time. There's so many neat old puzzles, and we're often at the mercy of the RU-vid algorithm to suggest them.
First time I've ever attempted a CTC puzzle. Took me 36 mins but I really enjoyed it! A few more "simple" puzzles like this might encourage me to try again :-)
@24:00 Two digits left in c3 are 5 and 6, but 5 can not go to r8c3 because of thermo. Ergo r8c3=6 r7c3=r8c4=5, r7c4=3, r8c6=7 r8c7=8 r7c7=7 r7c2=8 and r9c1=8.
As soon as you said it was approachable I knew I had to try it. I love a good thermo. 14 minutes. 12 seconds. Normally a puzzle like this I would pencil mark 1-9 in all boxes and then eliminate candidates. This time I tried to be stratigic about it. In the end I probably pencil marked a lot more than mark would have, but still I got about half of it done without excessive pencil marking.
That 12345 quint could have been narrowed down further, looking at the length of the five thermos, it neatly splits the options into the longest could only be 1, the middle length could only be 2-3 because if they were higher you would not have been able to fit all the required digits on the line, leaving the 4-5 for the shortest thermos. I myself only saw that bit of logic after I had done the puzzle for myself, which I enjoyed immensely with a time of 23 min, and during the point you were pointing out how they had to be a quintuple. Aad should take a bow that was a very approachable masterpiece. As should you Simon, for showing these gems to the world!
I was thinking about Aad lately, was missing him on the channel, so it is such a joy to see a puzzle by him again! And the video not being that long, i will give it a go myself before finishing the video. 25:38 Loved that, made a mistake and backtracked found it and finished all in 25 minutes!~ Great puzzle Aad, thank you! Simon thank you for showing it to us. And theaching me (us) in all these years where to do logic in this kind of puzzle, where i would have started goodliffing the living daylights out of it a couple of years ago.
A very elegant puzzle. I started with goodliffing the whole thing, which was a bit of nonsensical as I very soon found out. OTOH the goodliffing combined with spotting some anti-stacking requirements made me finish the whole thing in only 9:20 minutes.
00:21:05 just 4% slower than Simon! Hot dog that was way faster than my typical 100-200% slower range! I started with 1s because they looked so obvious, ran 9s next and when it wasn't as decisive as 1s I moved to 2s and started counting up my thermo ladder and when I got done with 4s marked up my thermos the rest of the way and it all just came together so nicely and cleanly.
Just looking at the thumbnail thaught: I got to try this one! I loved solving it! Not too diffucult, and fantastic interactions up/down/left/rigth/highs/lows. Not any long and complicated deduction chains, but fairly short, yet precise ones, most of them ending up with one digit after another.
Remarkably elegant puzzle - clues look so simple one may wonder how it can solve to a unique solution. Even more remarkable is only two digits to disambiguate everything. I used extensive pencil-marking and it took me 15 mins or so.
I actually managed to solve without seeing the video beforehand. Great solve path. Thanks go to both Aad for the puzzle, and Simon for showing me the elegant way of solving it.
Well at 60:42 I feel like I'm the slowest person to solve this puzzle but I'm still really pleased because I'm not very practiced so it's rare that I can complete one of these puzzles without any help from Simon, but this time I managed it. What's more, I spotted where the start was right away which is usually the hardest part for me.
There was actually something even more beautiful about the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 quintuple that you just missed. The middle thermo needed 8 digits higher than it, forcing it to be a 1. The two inner thermos both needed 6 digits higher than it, forcing them to be 1, 2 or 3. But 1 is already in the row it made a 2, 3 pair. You then follow that logic to the outer thermos to create a 4, 5 pair.
After solving the puzzle I get to watch a lovely video celebrate some birthdays 🎉 and share some joy at solving a beautiful puzzle and read the kind comments. Not many better ways to spend a morning.
Very stylish setting. Definitely approachable for anyone with a bit of thermo experience. Considering how simple this was, you didn't half make a meal out of it; not just by missing easy logic, but by droning on about the most trivial logic you did find. A 1 can only go on the bulb, and 9 can only go on the tip of a thermo is all you have to say. You don't have to explain why, it's obvious, and you certainly don't have to demonstrate what happens if you try to put them elsewhere. You don't have to keep telling us the same thing over and over. Your audience are not idiots, don't patronise them - nobody likes it.
What an enjoyable solve. Really approachable for the mere mortals like me. Solved in 20:32 without needing to watch Simon for clues. Pretty pleased with that.
Messed up the first time (failed to consider which direction to solve in, and found myself missing a valid location for 8 in box 2), but when I returned with fresh eyes, it fell in place, and I pulled it together in 11:52. Can't claim that as my actual proper time, since I did have the reset, but I'm very happy having found the solution in the end.
14:21 for me, unusually fast even for a hard standard sudoku! Definitely give it a shot if you've done a thermo puzzle or two before, quite approachable.
I Marked each thermo the Goodliffe way and solved it. Lovely. Had to watch Simon's solve because you know he will not do it that way. My time was terrible but then I am the old fart in corner who can only do gas puzzles.
Funny enough, my solve time was approximately equal to the timestamp at which Simon _started_ his solve. No doubt he'd have been done in mere _minutes_ if he wasn't explaining his solve process for the viewers.
Managed this one in 23:04, as my first sudoku on this channel where I didn’t need to go back to the video for clues. Although the logic in this puzzle is simple, it flows very nicely without being trivial.
The first time in a while I made that chain of deductions faster than Simon - 13:05 for me and I think part of the time was because I was on mobile XD fun puzzle and lovely video!
7:59 for me. Really enjoyable solve. As for the difficulty, there are multiple puzzles in the CtC app GAS packs that are more difficult than this one. Definitely give this one a shot if you're on the fence!
I finally solved a puzzle! It took me 47:43 and whole a lot of pencil marking to rule out options, but I'm glad I was able to do one that wasn't a GAS for once
36.26! I think that's the fastest I've ever done one from the channel and I didn't even need Simon to get me started. Does anyone else hear Simon's voice in their head when doing a Sodoku now though?
00:29:00 Tricky but man is the logic beautiful once it starts to unfold and you realize the secrets and consequences of what row 5 does to row 3 and 7.
