WOW! I'm so happy to see this featured. It was one of those puzzles that felt special from the beginning. Simon, that 3 in the corner was for YOU!! Lovely to see the Santa Hat! Thank You so much.. You mentioned the rule set and remembering it. Run-on Renbans were first featured in the Skunkworks Puzzle, Overlap. AnalyticalNinja also used it in their puzzle, Imperfect Flower.
@@RoofingConnecticut Simon solved slightly out of order but the intended steps are somewhat independent. The 1 on row two and realizing the value of that Renban was the intended start of the puzzle. The discovery of the 5's along with realizing the 1 in column eight forces 6 on the ring follows quickly.
Great puzzle! Your comment confirms an unfair (if slight) home-team advantage: I now assume candidate corner 3s are deliberate. "...and that's 3 in the corner, by the magic of Simonism."
Simon, the fact that you take the time to so elegantly explain yesterday's puzzle with such panache, just again goes to show how much love and respect you have for this amazing channel and the amount of respect, love and comraderie you have for the comminity! Constant thank you for being who you are.
Mark should learn from him. I said that before but Simon makes tiny mistakes once in a blue moon and still reads the comments and admits to his errors. Mark makes ridiculous random guesses during the puzzle almost every day and never addresses it despite the comment section going crazy about it
the amount of time Simon didn't see the 7 being eliminated from R5C3.. ahhhh! 60 minutes on this puzzle for me.. i made an error somewhere and had to backtrack quite a bit to find it, but enjoyable none the less. Great puzzle.
I'm very pleased you enjoyed the AI exposé! It was even better read in your voice. To top it off, Harvest Moon is my girlfriend's absolute favorite song, so this intro has something for both of us. Thank you Simon!
Simon, if that may help, you are not alone suffering from the bitter cold. Here in Bangkok suburbs, it was less than twenty five degrees centigrade this morning. I almost got a frost bite when walking to work.
Rules: 10:15 Let's Get Cracking: 12:33 Simon's time: 36m33s Puzzle Solved: 49:06 What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?! Bobbins: 3x (21:57, 36:54, 40:11) Three In the Corner: 1x (48:32) The Secret: 1x (04:28) And how about this video's Simarkisms?! In Fact: 11x (00:35, 07:43, 13:01, 13:42, 24:18, 26:28, 32:51, 37:23, 40:50, 44:16, 48:15) By Sudoku: 10x (08:39, 25:55, 29:04, 32:07, 33:22, 33:51, 35:38, 35:50, 36:33, 46:37) Hang On: 10x (15:35, 17:45, 19:25, 19:25, 19:25, 23:09, 32:37, 32:37, 36:41, 45:00) Wow: 9x (32:03, 32:03, 32:42, 32:42, 32:45, 32:45, 32:45, 32:45, 42:46) Pencil Mark/mark: 9x (25:05, 27:10, 33:29, 35:31, 36:17, 40:48, 41:49, 46:50, 47:51) Ah: 7x (06:05, 06:59, 19:25, 22:26, 34:49, 35:07, 36:28) Sorry: 5x (04:03, 09:31, 09:54, 36:39, 39:04) Clever: 4x (34:46, 39:13, 46:28, 46:28) Lovely: 4x (21:34, 38:29, 44:36, 44:38) Brilliant: 4x (03:48, 04:19, 22:26, 43:03) Goodness: 2x (40:36, 40:59) Gorgeous: 2x (45:19, 45:22) Snake: 2x (04:26, 04:28) Naked Single: 1x (45:02) The Answer is: 1x (37:31) Out of Nowhere: 1x (33:19) In the Spotlight: 1x (48:35) Stuck: 1x (39:25) Beautiful: 1x (27:54) Incredible: 1x (01:23) Take a Bow: 1x (49:26) Our old Friend Sudoku: 1x (35:55) Shouting: 1x (29:21) Approachable: 1x (00:48) Epiphany: 1x (06:14) Magnificent: 1x (32:33) Disappointing: 1x (22:00) Obviously: 1x (15:25) Whoopsie: 1x (48:12) That's Huge: 1x (40:59) Nature: 1x (02:39) Cake!: 1x (03:55) Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video: Sixteen (2 mentions) Five (93 mentions) Green (17 mentions) Antithesis Battles: High (4) - Low (0) Even (10) - Odd (0) Row (9) - Column (6) 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!
Lovely to hear my name in a video where Harvest Moon is in the intro. One of my favorite songs! Also, so much respect for Simon for acknowledging his mistakes, signs of a great person. Can’t wait for the Phistomefel puzzles, but I’m also quite scared for it… Anyway, love from the Netherlands!!
The comment that Simon scans better when he is drunk is absolutely true. I was screaming about the 7 across from the 78 for 15 minutes and Simon never saw ever saw it.
Yup. The smile could have been completely resolved as soon as he put in the 7s in green. Only took another 15 to 20 minutes to get there. I really struggle to break in to these puzzles, but once Simon has broken in i see sooo many things that he just doesn't.
I was so irritated that the cross logic he used in the middle box to determine the 2/7 pairs couldn't be directly across somehow eluded him when he could have easily placed to 2&7 in box 5, could have placed the 7 in the smile, could have placed so many digits that he just flat out missed. But then again, I watched this video when I was already tired and cranky. Probably should have gone to bed and saved it for tomorrow. Lol.
I followed pretty much the same path as Simon. Surprisingly I used more coloring than Simon, as I chose to color each cell around the central ring. Then I was able to place the 5s on the ring and the smile. Everything flowed from there. One deduction I made that Simon didn't highlight is that the only cells that can "flip" around the ring are the extreme digits in the consecutive sequence. This wasn't particularly important in the solve, it turned out. A very enjoyable puzzle!
Cool puzzle. And even with all his careful explaining... I think this may be the first time I've managed to beat Simon's time. The ring was neat and I understood it right away. Making up for my general slowness.
2 hearts, 2 exclamation points and a smiley!! Got to love the combo you used today. 😁 More importantly, always constantly love the enthusiasm, support and dedication you show!!
@@davidrattner9 Thank you, David! sometimes the enthusiasm I feel for this channel helps to spark enthusiasm in my own life as well. (Like maybe today). And kind words from you are very much appreciated!!! 🤗
@longwaytotipperary always constantly appreciate your kind words and full of energy. Hope that this channel and mine, Emily's , Amos's, along with others in the community posts helps you with well being on a daily basis
Wonderful musical intro! And thanks for correcting the error, well done! Loved this puzzle, so many pairs and X-wings and pieces of interesting logic throughout, very well set/solved!!
42:11 😃 Ok I wasn't explaining it, and my timer didn't include birthday wishes etc, but I'm still pleased to have recorded a shorter time than the timer - even if it's not shorter than Simon. I loved the logic of the ring, and it turns out I placed 5s first as well. Nice solve, and another great puzzle. Thanks!
Really terrific puzzle. I love the logic around 5s on the clown smile. Really think uncolouring cells once they've served their purpose would help with scanning. A dark shade plus the thick purple line really obscures the pencilled digits.
28:08 finish. I also started by placing five 5s in the grid (after color coding the ring in rainbow fashion). I like how the placed 5s show that the eyes are extreme renbans (either 1-4 or 6-9), eliminating a lot of possibilities. Excellent puzzle, as always!
That's a funny AI blurb. My AI chatbot, when asked the same question, wrote, "I'm not aware of any particularly dark or sinister aspects of this game."
😂 I didn't even ask it to go dark, just a 300 word exposé. It's like it wanted revenge for every comment Simon ever made about computer generated sudoku puzzles.
36:26 there’s a 7 in row 5 that sees the 789 in column 3, so that’s an 89 pair on Frosty’s smile and you’ll need a 7 on the smile, which can’t be in column 5 or box 6, so 7 in r7c6. At 36:49 as soon as you put in the 4 you had some bright green 2s and 7s looking into box 5 making a 7-2 pair in box 5; and the 2 can't be in Frosty's eye with the 6
Here (@39:00 approx)how, Oh, I thought Simon was going to say it/see it. The "2s" are on the outside in box3 [and they're most certainly on the *outside* of box6 coming down] so the 2 is in the *middle* (col8) in box9.. [And it's not in row8] So, the "2" is in c8r9 there.. [Which fixes the "12s" in box7] That's something, anyway. [49 mins all told-- with Simon's start] Nice one Good job, Constructor. 👍😂😎☕️😎
I did laugh at the expose. It immediately reminded me of the IT Crowd episode where they delved into the world of 'Street Countdown'. So funny. Wouldn't it be strange if there was a secret 'street sudoku' scene....
90min for me, struggled with this one took me a while to realize the connection between different sections of the long renban.. but so happy to finally finish it, was close to giving up!
66:52, I peaked after being stuck for twenty minutes up to the hour mark and realized that the 5's I already had on the center line ruled out most of the 5's I penciled in Column 8, which is logic I already did multiple times earlier. Fell apart at that point.
I did colour the big ring modulo 5 and it definitely helped me to keep track of which digits could go where. Not a very efficient solve overall though, I wasn't looking in the right place at the right time I don't think, but I got it done in 40 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed it 👍🏻
No useful time for me, as I fell asleep while solving and wound up with 2.5hr on the clock. But I really enjoyed discovering the logic of this one. I'm often amazed how Simon or Mark cut right to the essence of the logic and sum it up in the most elegant, far-reaching way, whereas I am laboriously arriving at some mere corollary after 20 minutes, without seeing the heart or its broader ramifications. It seems petty to balance the scales by yelling about sevens, but I do think a Post-it or Alexa trigger saying "scan thoroughly after pencil-marking" would cut some of these solve times even more.
AI Essay on Soduko. If my roommate was not working from home (on this cold December day) I would be laughing historically. That's just wild, no, more mad. How do I get the idea that CtC had some defininate influence on that AI generated essay. And now back to our regularly scheduled puzzle. Random thought. Simon: Who are you?? Ghost: I am the Ghost of Soduko Past ... Simon: Are you of the Deep Past? Ghost: No, I am from your recent past. Simon: Damn. You must be Phisimetal (sp?)! Ghost: Come on Simon ... now, Let's Get Cracking!
I was not _quite_ able to solve this all on my own. The loop twisted my head into knots, and I got a couple of things the wrong way around. After a bit of video help, though, I did sort out the rest and finished in 57:42.
Great solve, and quite the fun looking puzzle. One software suggestion - when it comes time to Sudoku it out at the end, it seems that the purple lines interfere with your scanning rows and columns. Maybe a way to toggle that off when you've used all of the logic they have to give? Anyhow, always fun - cheers!
I think if I were to ever set a puzzle, my goal would be two 3's in the corner for a double song, and as many "Bobbins McBonninsFace's" twists as I could dream up.
I don't know if there's another obvious way to solve it... I followed almost the an identical path to Simon, took me an hour. But yeah, the breakin for me was also the realization of cells in 5-apart spaces have to be 5 apart, leading to the deduction there must be 4 fives... and then simply realizing due to the center smile there's only 1 place they could be.
Somehow frustrating that Simon didn't need to learn that adjacent numbers along the face line can never jump anything other than 1 or 4. I used this extensively in my solve, though it is a bit of a corollary to the 5-apart logic. Simon could have at least disambiguated the 36 pair in box 2 much earlier with this property.
Very approachable if you don't misunderstand the rules. I somehow decided the large purple line had the same 5 digits repeated, broke the puzzle and restarted twice before realising my mistake. Was a very quick solve after that.
1:04:22….I’m not too mad at that. Approachable?? Mmm maybe not…I found it kinda tricky Edit: But I am in no way an expert at variant sudoku so it’s probably just me 😅
Wow I took a very different path than Simon! Which I guess isn't surprising because I started by pencilmarking everything lol. But I wouldn't have known you could put digits into all those green cells at that point in the solve. Anyway that was very fun! :D
Simon, this was very fun, what a great video and puzzle. I loved your chortling and pleasure at discovery. I will have to try this puzzle myself. Actually, I did download it and take a look at a couple of things to prepare myself to follow your solve, but decided to sit back and watch you after all, as it is now a day later than you originally posted it. (At some point the sync between the video image and your voice got a bit off - somewhat disconcerting, as I like to watch your face while you solve as much as the grid...)
When getting the 5s you ruled out the blue cells for some reason, saying "you cant put 5 on an even cell..". But I didn't get it, what is an even cell?
Don’t forget that blue can only be 246 and none of those are x+/-5. I think this means blue is all the same number and as such it can’t be 2 so it’s 4 or 6.
I'm not following. Only the blue with the grey square has to be 246. The other blues could have been 791, each 5 away from one of 246. Or are you not talking about the start?
Has Simon not watched the 2005 Hitchhikers Guide film? he really seemed not to recognize the name Humma Kavula... I had to look it up but apparently he was a character only in that film (played by John Malkovich) and not in any other adaptation
He is mentioned but makes no appearance in the first book and the radio drama. I think you are the first person who ever looked up my obscure British Sci Fi reference. I give Simon credit for pronouncing it right anyway. 😂
@@columbusplusone Then you would love the radio dramas. My family listened to the first two series on a road trip to Colorado and memorized every line. They got the surviving cast back to complete the 5 volume trilogy in the 2000s.
Like this comment so that @Sven will see suggestions for the app.. 1. A button to convert all corners pencil marks to the center pencil mark if the centre is empty and vice versa 2. Ability to snapshot the grid. An example with 2 buttons [Snapshot/Commit] [Revert] Snapshot saves the current state to memory and changes the button label to "Commit." Changes the grid outer border colour to red. Commit erases snapshot from memory and keeps the grid as it is. It also changes the button label to "Snapshot." Change grid border colour to original. Revert restores the grid to memory. Change grid border colour to original. Three button solution is also possible. 3. Ability to bold, italics, and underline pencil marks. Example: if 2 cells in a 3x3 box can be 1,2,9 with a definite 2 in one of the cells. 2 can be made bold. Similarly, it underlines for row logic and italics for column logic. 4. Ability to assign colours to numbers. It might make the normal sudoku puzzles more accessible to people with dyslexia. Example: assigning red to "7" will make pen marked cells containing 7 red. Pencil mark "7" will have a text colour of red to the digit 7. 5. Auto dim grid cells contain fully filled digits. For example, if all the 5s are filled in the grid, the text colour of all the "5" (including pencil marks) changes from black to grey. 6. Ability to make digit pairs in central pencil mark. "/,." can be used to demark two sets for digits. For example, two cell killer cages with a sum of 6 can have a value of 5,1 or 2,4. It can be denoted by the center pencil mark as "51/24".
@rontyson7941 well, it's upto him to implement anything. The suggestions are based on difficulties encountered by Simon and Mark compiled from a lot of CTC videos..
