Imagine If THIS Was The First Sudoku You'd Ever Constructed

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
After yesterday's fireworks in the fog, today we have fireworks of a different sort. We are told that this sudoku (XX Sandwich) is the first ever created by its constructor, Tomatenalat. When you try this, you'll find that extraordinary. It is a sensationally good puzzle. (Please excuse Simon's voice today, he's a little under the weather.)

Play the puzzle at the link below:

Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Cells separated by a knight's move in chess cannot contain the same digit. Digits in cages must sum to the value shown. Digits along the arrow sum to the number in the attached circle. All arrows go in a straight line.

*** OUR RECENT "THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE HERE" STREAM ***
We had a blast playing this very original and Monty Python-esque game. You can watch here:

Please be aware that this game does involve a couple of swear words so please don't watch if it may offend you.

*** STRATFORD LITERARY FESTIVAL: LIVE CRACKING THE CRYPTIC ***
If you're interested in watching a live episode of Cracking The Cryptic and meeting us in real life then there is a link to the live show we're doing on 27 October at 10am at the Stratford Literary Festival below. We aren't sure how many tickets are available so please do book early if you are keen to go.

*** CLOSING DATE FOR THIS MONTH'S COMPETITION ***
September's competition - a sudoku hunt based on Hollywood sandwiches - has just finished. Solution videos will be released shortly.

Check it out for as little as $2/month here:

There's also a new solve of Jay Dyer's brutal sudoku: Repeat Prescription

Other treats on Patreon include:

- The Lord Of The Rings Sudoku Hunt by Blobz (and Simon's solve videos)
- Simon's solve of Sky-Skyscraper by Phistomefel has just been uploaded for our patrons.
- Mark's latest solve of The Times Club Monthly cryptic crossword
- Mark's latest series of solves of Connections, the daily New York Times puzzle based on the Only Connect wall game.

▶ SUDOKU PAD - Use Our Software For Your Puzzles ◀

You can input classic sudoku puzzles into our software and help support Sven, the programmer responsible for the wonderful user interface we all use to play these puzzles everyday. The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us:

iOS:

Android:

ALSO on Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”

▶ Contents Of This Video ◀

0:00 Intro music and puzzle intro
1:21 Yesterday's incredible sudoku
1:46 Simon unwell
2:14 Sol makes us smile
3:43 Happy Birthdays & Other messages
7:13 Rules
8:50 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking

▶ Contact Us ◀

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#sudoku, #fog, #puzzle

[tomatenalat]

One Night I woke up at 2:30am and couldnt fall asleep while having visions of anti-Knight geometry, so I decided to construct a puzzle.
Thank you for the feature! I had a Blast watching you solve my Puzzle. Me and my dad are watching this channel for Years now. Im quite excited to have made it in a Video, and even having a 3 in the Corner.
at 40:20 when I was setting my worries were that people miss the beauty, that r3c4 and r5c4 must sum to 8 but you seemed to have spotted it which im glad about.
Thank you all for the nice and kind feedback. I thought it was funny having a Sudoku-variant in the name thats not in the puzzle. IF I make another one I will probably try to do that again.

[jeffreytennant]

I loved this puzzle. There was a creative break-in with familiar rules rather than a creative rule with a familiar break-in

[dustpan]

The way I saw the middle box was that the 3 and 4 sums have to share the 1. If the 1 is in R4C5, you end up with two 3s in a column (in the circle in row 3 and on the 4-arrow below it I. Row 5).

[David_K_Booth]

If your Scrabble hand includes the letters Q and X, it's worth knowing that the x-shaped pattern of five dots on the face of a die is a quincunx.

[TheSonicPerson]

I solved this puzzle as soon as the video was put up and I gotta say this has to be one of the best sudoku puzzles I've ever solved. No hyperbole.

[ginbecell]

There is one thing that never ceases to amaze me: Simon‘s incredible talent to establish complex logic for the sole purpose of completely neglecting it a mere second later, creating elaborate colouring exercises in order to ignore their implications for any deduction (especially if said deduction would be obvious) but instead formulating excessive new logic to circumvent the utilisation of any previously mentioned conclusions while stubbornly refusing to use any of the rules or - even more stubbornly - normal sudoku.
But he still manages to solve about 90% of the puzzles faster than I can even hope to find the break-in.

[emilywilliams]

What a nice puzzle!! A brilliant puzzle made up of basic variant rules without anything very strange. I am always a fan of knight's move sudoku, and it does usually devolve, for me, into searching for individual digits in the end. Thank you, Simon, for recording this video despite not feeling your best. I hope that you will rest well and feel much better tomorrow!

[TheMNbassHunter]

The time it took for Simon to get the 3 in R6C5 was rather brutal. Haha. We'll forgive... this time... 😂

[sevimhasan]

Great debut puzzle!

Following the mentions in the introduction to "The Secret" and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", I realised that the Sudoku Secret is greater, even than the ultimate question - the meaning of life, the universe and everything because as we all know that only comes to 42!

[sjm]

I must admit I smile just like Sol when I hear Simon say "Hello and welcome to ...'s edition of Cracking the Cryptic"

[A_CC_K]

Hope you feel better soon Simon. As always an brilliant video. Your videos always make me feel so much better so I hope you feel better soon.

[inspiringsand]

Let's Get Cracking: 08:55
Simon's time: 48m35s
Puzzle Solved: 57:30

What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
Bobbins: 2x (33:06, 48:50)
Three In the Corner: 2x (39:20, 57:11)
The Secret: 2x (05:04, 09:06)
You Rotten Thing: 1x (53:17)

And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Sorry: 9x (11:34, 19:06, 20:17, 23:34, 27:17, 37:58, 44:45, 47:12, 47:12)
Ah: 8x (16:38, 23:30, 33:06, 44:15, 45:00, 50:25, 53:57, 56:52)
Cake!: 8x (04:00, 04:02, 04:15, 04:21, 04:43, 04:46, 04:51, 04:53)
Brilliant: 6x (00:51, 03:57, 24:31, 57:23, 57:46, 58:01)
In Fact: 6x (02:16, 12:57, 14:49, 16:04, 37:34, 37:34)
Obviously: 6x (04:39, 05:09, 10:25, 20:01, 20:22, 40:38)
By Sudoku: 5x (42:04, 44:23, 45:03, 46:43, 55:33)
Hang On: 5x (34:03, 34:03, 37:24, 51:16, 51:16)
Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (27:26, 37:55, 48:38, 50:48, 55:07)
Goodness: 4x (09:54, 34:34, 37:58, 57:03)
Beautiful: 4x (01:12, 40:11, 44:18, 45:11)
Lovely: 3x (02:19, 56:12, 58:04)
Bother: 2x (47:06, 53:44)
Nonsense: 2x (12:31, 54:01)
Clever: 2x (53:57, 57:35)
Magnificent: 2x (25:02, 25:05)
I've Got It!: 2x (23:30, 23:30)
Wow: 2x (57:30, 57:30)
Symmetry: 2x (10:57, 17:29)
Apologies: 1x (02:05)
Home Straight: 1x (57:17)
In the Spotlight: 1x (57:11)
Deadly Pattern: 1x (56:58)
Disconcerting: 1x (09:03)
Shouting: 1x (37:43)
Whoopsie: 1x (40:11)
We Can Do Better Than That: 1x (55:49)
What Does This Mean?: 1x (34:41)

Most popular number(>9), digit, colour and box this video:
Twenty (13 mentions)
One (98 mentions)
Green (13 mentions)
Box 5 (2 mentions)

Antithesis Battles:
Low (8) - High (4)
Even (2) - Odd (0)
Column (11) - Row (8)

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!

[hummakavula]

I've watched Simon long enough to know exactly where to skip to in the video to see Simon overcome where I've gotten stuck

[dwdei]

Bravo, and an ingenious challenge!
A little shortcut - when you have the circle digits down to only a, b, c and d (not giving them away), their total is the sum of every arrow digit used twice. That breaks in.

[RichSmith]

I don't know why Simon doesn't remove the colours after they've ceased being useful. I'm sure they only hinder his ability to scan digits later in the solve, e.g. the red 2 in box 5 looking at a 28 pencilmark in box 6. That's one thing I do appreciate about Mark's videos. He tends to remove colours once they're finished with. It makes the grid look so much less cluttered.

[parkerprice]

For Diana's student:

If you have a standard Killer Cage with some number s as its sum, and it contains some quantity q of digits, let's define n to be the number of distinct combinations of digits you can have. For example, s = 8 and q = 3 would yield n = 2, because of {1, 2, 5} and {1, 3, 4}. Can you write a formula that accurately calculates n as a function of s and q?

Give it a try on your own before you look up anything, but if you need to do some research for the project the type of math you're looking for is called Combinatorics.

If you want to challenge yourself, after you figure out a formula for a 9x9 sudoku, you could then move on to a 6x6, and then a 4x4. In fact, you could add in a third variable m for the maximum value of a digit, and abstract it completely.

Good luck!

[leftysheppey]

Just my ideas for an essay, although I don't know the level of maths involved.

Combinatorics: something to do with the amount of permutations of a sudoku grid

Although it has already been proven, I don't know how difficult the proof is, the minimum number of digits needed for a unique solution (17 if anybody has missed that). This could be extended to other restrictions, like knights/kings move, diagonals not having repeated digits.

Anything to do with set equivalence theory can be an introduction to mathematical groups, which while I don't think is commonly taught at the age of 17, it's definitely not out of the realms of understanding for at least an introduction to group theory

[davidrattner]

Continue to feel better Simon and take care of self.
We will all be here waiting for you and Mark to stream again.

[chocolateboy]

I finished in 75 minutes. Anti-Knight Sudokus are always one of the rule types I struggle with the most. I find it really hard to see all the possibilities. That being said, the break-in was quite lovely. It is really cool how every single bulb had to be a different digit, in addition to the 20 cage also having to contain different digits than those on the bulb. I really enjoyed that part. Great Puzzle!

[piarittersporn]

Brilliant puzzle with a difficult start. I really enjoyed it very much.