The Alarm Clock: A Sudoku Wake-Up Call

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
[A reminder we're streaming tonight at 10pm UK time - link below.]
Simon realised he hadn't done a zetamath puzzle in too long and decided to put that right! Here he attempts Alarm - which turns out to be every bit as clever as we've come to expect from one of the World's leading constructors.

Play the puzzle at the link below:

Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Each thick grey line can be divided into one or more non-overlapping segments. Each segment contains digits that sum to 10. Eg 513173 is a valid fill for a length 6 line, because it can be broken into 5131 and 73, each of which sum to 10. Digits on a purple line form a set of non-repeating, consecutive digits. These digits can appear in any order. Digits along a thin grey line connecting two circles must have values between the digits in the circles. Eg if the two circles at a line’s ends contain 3 and 8 then digits on the line itself must be selected from [4567]. Digits separated by a black dot have a 1:2 ratio, meaning one digit is exactly double the other. Not all dots are necessarily given.

*** NEW SUDOKU HUNT COMPETITION RELEASED 1 NOVEMBER ***
November's sudoku hunt competition has just launched! It's Duality II by the Sudoku Skunkworks. It really is a fantastic collection of puzzles and we've decided to have a different type of prize. The winner (drawn after the closing date of 20 November) will be invited (NOT required) to make a sudoku video solving with Simon...

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

*** NEW TAMETSI STREAM ***
Simon and Mark will be streaming more Tametsi on Wednesday evening at 10pm UK time. You can watch here:

▶ 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 Theme music & puzzle introduction
2:05 Fog App News
3:00 New Patreon Competition With A New Prize!
1:37 Streaming Tomorrow at 10pm
3:31 Happy Birthdays
5:29 Rules
8:40 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking

▶ Contact Us ◀

Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic

Our PO Box address:

Simon Anthony & Mark Goodliffe
Box 102
56 Gloucester Road
London
SW7 4UB

(Please note to use our real names rather than 'Cracking The Cryptic'.)

**************************************************************

▶ CTC FAN DISCORD SERVER◀

▶ OUR BACK CATALOGUE – ALL CATEGORISED WITH LINKS!◀

▶ *NEW* CRACKING THE CRYPTIC MERCHANDISE◀

▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀

▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: @crypticcracking
We also post the Wordle In A Minute videos on TikTok.

#sudoku #puzzle #alarm

[michaelkelly]

I am absolutely atrocious at sudoku. But I watch Simon every day, I learn nothing from his methodologies, they are all way above my pay grade, but I do love a beautiful bobbin’s.

[penningmeestercgkdelft]

I admire the way in which Simon deals with time pressure day after day, for many years already... Even when "life gets in the way of solving puzzles"...

[DarklordZagarna]

I have to say, in a world that seems increasingly bleak and hateful toward the sort of kind, inquisitive, brilliant people that Simon and Mark and the community at CtC are, that this channel has been one of the very small number of things that have helped distract me and move me a little bit forward. CtC is an island of sanity in a world gone mad. It may well be the only reason I retain some semblance of mental health. So thank you for what you've done, and created, here. It is a beautiful thing and such things should not be taken for granted.

[Coyotek]

38:47 ... I initially skipped this one when it dropped, but I'm glad I did actually try it

Nice puzzle!

[markp]

53:49 finish. A very nice puzzle with some tricky logic to follow. Excellent!

[davidrattner]

Love seeing how Zetamath constantly sets such beauties with panache!! Fabulous with how he forced the 19 to the left. More wonderfulness in your solve Simon and your admiration for this great setter!!

[uptoyouization]

Thank you for bringing us some peace during this stressful time

[chrislewandoski]

52:54. This has been a lousy day but this puzzle brought a brief respite. Thanks.

[emilywilliams]

So interesting, and I loved your meticulous pathway through the early and middle parts of this solution, Simon. Thank you for this video!

[Paolo_De_Leva]

Excellent puzzle and video.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[ericpraline]

Top class stuff from Zetamath as usual. He seems to unerringly hit the sweet spot of supremely elegant logic without horrendous difficulty.

[kosumi]

Pretty logic in this one, thank you Simon!

[Gonzalo_Garcia_]

25:00 for me. Fantastic puzzle, really liked this one!!

[davidblake]

But Simon, you do 'unnecessarily complicated' so well! In this case, it was an application of the Simon-Zeta function. Great solve, by the way. I did not even try this one I'm afraid, but the one Mark did today was about my speed.

[lucysky]

57:52 for me. Loved it from the beginning to the end. A wonderful puzzle!

[erichvereen]

Thank you for the birthday wishes, Simon. I always remember about Sousa when my birthday comes up because I grew up on many British shows on our PBS channel, with Monty Python being one I always looked forward to seeing.

Thank you again for that and for all the puzzles. Can’t wait to see what things the setters have for you in the future. 😁

[mrsawiggins]

"This is so Zetamath-y!" Missed ya, man! Glad to see another puzzle of yours!

[chocolateboy]

I finished in 151 minutes. This has to be one of the strangest puzzles I have ever solved. I was sure that I would be required to use SET Theory, so I actually managed to create a reasonable looking set. I used the edges compared to the four corner boxes. I knew the top two mini boxes added up to 50, but I couldn't see anything with it. I modified the set and moved the bottom edge up one and that looked better, but I still couldn't see anything. Then, I spotted something completely different and asked where 9 goes in row 1. That broke open the puzzle for me as I started to realize how restrictive the side with 9 on it became. This led to me existing in two worlds with a bunch of messy pencil marks. It took me a while, but I finally saw the disambiguation, which I think is my favorite part. If 9 existed on the right side ten line, then a 189 pair forms in r7&8&9c9, forcing the ten line to be 235. This breaks as the circle clue above it had to a 2 or 3 to make the line work. My pencil marking really payed off there. That was such a wild thing to see. From there, the puzzle practically finished itself. I didn't even need SET Theory. That was so wild to me. I did check as I was finishing and my set was correct so that was awesome. This was so strange to solve. I felt like I was going down a secret path that I wasn't suppose to, but it worked and it has to be intended. This has to be one of my favorite puzzles. Great Puzzle!

[NiennaNeryam]

I'd been sitting on a blown up, slightly scewed Phistomefel Ring for this puzzle for weeks (Row 1 and 8 and Column 1 and 9 in one set, boxes 1, 3, 7 and 9 in the other). There was something with ones and nines but I couldn't wrap my head around it. After Simon started his solve I was convinced I'd just been going on a wild goose chase and it didn't mean anything. But with the deduction around 55 minutes of where the 8 and 9 go in row 8, it finally became useful as that eliminated 1s in one of the sets, thus making it impossible for the circles in r9c3, r9c7 and r7c8 to have 1s in them. Now granted, that deduction can be made without the sets as we see Simon do, but I was still happy to see some use out of it!

[codahighland]

Holy heavens, four and a half hours... but I DID it!