Only 2 People Per Month Can Solve This Puzzle

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
A very unusual but incredibly interesting sudoku today from dumediat called Qaak. It has some normal sudoku features but in other ways it departs dramatically from the normal logic. It's had very few solves since its original release (13 months ago) but it deserves a LOT more!

Play the puzzle at the link below:

Rules:
Place the digits 1 to 9 once each into the 3x3 boxes. Digits may not repeat in the same row, column, or box of the 6x6 grid. Each of the two marked diagonals contains only 3 distinct digits. Digits along an arrow must sum to the value in that arrow's circle. Digits in cages must not repeat, and sum to the small number in the top left corner of the cage.

Thanks to all of you who have helped us achieve the milestone of 600,000 subscribers on YouTube. Below you can find a link to a free puzzle pack we have curated to celebrate :)

*** NEW SUDOKU HUNT JUST RELEASED ***
We've launched a brand new competition - a sudoku hunt based on Hollywood sandwiches! 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.

*** BRAID STREAM ***
You can watch our recent stream at this link:

▶ 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 ◀

1:28 We're streaming on Wednesday
2:22 NEW Patreon competition just out
2:51 Simon's glasses
3:13 Happy Birthdays
5:38 Rules
8:00 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking

▶ Contact Us ◀

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#sudoku, #puzzlesolving, #chatgpt

[dumediat_]

Thank you so much for featuring this puzzle, Simon! The solve counter is a bit misleading here, I had set it over a year ago but I wasn't sure what to do with it since it was such a strange puzzle. I finally decided to publish it to LMD a little over a week ago, and much to my surprise it showed up here today!

This was great fun to watch, and you found essentially the exact same path I intended while setting it. The back story to this puzzle involved a conversation between damasosos92 and I about whether one could set a Quattroquadri puzzle using SET as a break-in, since the grid doesn't have "complete" rows or columns. The SET I put in here involves boxes 1 and 4 (for anyone interested) and canceling cells using the arrows and anti-diagonal line, which leads to the same deductions about the red and yellow cells that you made in your solve.

Good luck with your stream tonight, and thanks again for the solve and kind words!

[lesabre]

This video went completely over my head but I watched till the end because there is something so sublime in watching Simon solving.

[furbyfubar]

My guess for why the sum calculator in sudokupad not working (without testing it) would be that since it's a 6x6 grid it assumes the numbers must be from 1 to 6.

[Grandy_UiD]

Stared at this for twenty minutes and gave up. Came back to the video for a fantastic solve of an utterly brilliant puzzle. Based on the video length I was confident I could solve this, but I never would've figured this one out. Goes to show I still have a lot to learn after all.

[chocolateboy]

I finished in 98 minutes. This may have been a small puzzle, but it packed so much into it. I think this might be the first time that I was able to use SET Theory properly. I compared boxes 1 and 4, deducted the cages and was left with x = y + 10. This helped reduce the values of r1c3, r3c1, r3c4, and r4c3 to low values of 123, while r4c6 and r6c4 had to be high values of 789. I think my favorite part was after reducing r1c3 and r3c1 to 12 and getting 13 for r3c4 and r4c3, noticing that 3 was very restricted in box 1, forcing into the diagonal of the 23 cage. I really enjoyed this one. Great Puzzle!

[Coyotek]

I spent over 30 minutes on this one, getting little more than some degrees of freedom issues, and saved my progress. Came back weeks later and eventually saw that r3c4 could not be 1 ... which led to an unraveling of the sudoku. All told, I spent just over an hour on this one (1:01:45).

Nice puzzle!

[gavinneedham]

I don’t think I understood a single thing from this video before digits started dropping.

[mstmar]

i had a nice set theory solve for this one. if you put box 1 vs box 4, then add simons yellow cells to both sets, you can cancel out most of the cells via the arrows and cages. you're left with the 2 circle cells in box 4 = 10 more than the sum of 2 yellow cells + arrow tips in box 1. the 4 cells are a min of 6 and so the circles add to 16 or 17. and the 4 cells are from 123, containing at least 2 1s and a 2. its similar math than simon did, but without any intermediary cells (red)

[brianarsuaga]

This is one where I'm glad I didn't really attempt it myself, but it was fun to watch Simon do it

[maiapatel]

Thank you for the birthday shoutout, it made my day!!!

[srwapo]

Well, I gave it a shot and I'm NOT one of those two people.

[AditaBattleForge]

one day later, this has gotten another more than 1000 solves :D Took me an hour but was really great!

[henk-ottolimburg]

I used set theory to solve this, left upper box vs down right box. With the addition of 2 x 2 cells along the arrows.
Result: a set of cells on the arrows (max 17-3) that is 10 bigger than 2 remaining cells

[FryGuy]

I figured there was a set thing going on with this, so i colored rows 135 and columns 246 in different colors, and it proved everything was a 1 and there was an 8 in the 11 cage which immediately broke. I spent like 10 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong, only to realize that the rows and columns do not contain the digits 1 to 9 once each.

[btestware]

I solved this after three or four days of staring at it. During that time, I identified one cell in particular that seemed to be under a lot of pressure, so I just tried different values: 1, 2, 3.... It was on a short arrow, so then I tried different values for the circle: 2, 3, 4. One by one I eliminated possibilities. And on my 14th try, the puzzle solved. Decaquatrofurcation.

[MattYDdraig]

32:02
Took 25 minutes to place the first digit after a lot of circling around and gradual whittling but it came together beautifully. Such a witty puzzle. ❤

[vid_dmn]

To difficult for me to break in, but i loved the moment of realisation when Simon drew the lines😄

[elizabethgrosvenor]

After you disambiguated the orange/dark green, I thought that would do the purple/dark green also. I was yelling "dark green can't have dark green on it's own arrow!! dark green can't have dark green on it's own arrow!!" Except I forgot that dark green was two different numbers, and oh yes it can! 😂

[PathOfShrines]

Very interesting. Stalled for a long time figuring out how to use the difference logic. 56:06

[ManiacGamer]

Most people don't look like themselves when they take off their glasses.

But Simon without glasses looks like...Simon...without glasses. Weird.