Making Positives out of the Negative

Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits along thermometers must increase from the bulb. Diagonally adjacent digits joined by a white dot must be consecutive; those joined by a black dot must have a 1:2 ratio (1 and 2 might be joined by a white or black dot). No other diagonally adjacent digits in the grid can be consecutive or have a 1:2 ratio.

▶ SUDOKU PAD - Our New App ◀ NOW AVAILABLE - You can now input your own classic sudoku puzzles into our software using our new App! The app also comes with 12 handmade puzzles from us and it is NOW AVAILABLE at these links:
Amazon: Search for “SudokuPad”

▶Our merchandise (including birthday merch) is here: ◀

▶ OUR KILLER SUDOKU IS ALSO AVAILABLE◀

▶ CTC FAN DISCORD SERVER◀

▶ OUR PATREON PAGE – JOIN THE COMMUNITY, SUPPORT US AND TRY OUR PUZZLE HUNTS◀

▶ OUR BACK CATALOGUE – ALL CATEGORISED WITH LINKS!◀

Miracle Sudoku is available on Android, Steam and App Store.

▶ THERMO SUDOKU is available too!◀

▶ TRY OUR CHESS SUDOKU APP◀

▶TRY OUR CLASSIC SUDOKU APP◀

▶TRY OUR SANDWICH SUDOKU APP◀

▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀

▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: #crypticcracking
@crypticcracking

▶Music◀
Tim McCaskey (Guitar) or Lucy Audrin (Piano) plays Mozart's Sonata no 16 ("Sonata Facile")
▶SOFTWARE◀
Play the puzzle in the video by clicking the link under the video (above). Thanks to Sam Cappleman-Lynes and Sven Neumann for their work.
▶Logo Design◀
Melvyn Mainini

▶Opening Credits Design◀
Joel Blundell
▶ABOUT US◀
Hi! We're Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, two of the UK's most enthusiastic puzzle solvers. We have both represented the UK at the World Sudoku Championships and the World Puzzle Championships. We're also "cryptic crossword" aficionados. Mark is the twelve-time winner of The Times championship and Simon is the former record holder for most consecutive correct solutions to The Listener crossword. We hope we can help your puzzle solving while also introducing you to some of the world's best puzzles.

Thank you for watching!
Simon and Mark

[Rangsk]

I'm so happy that you did this one! I really like how this comes together, especially the ending where you just get this cascade of digits and can't help but smile at it :) I called it "2 degrees" because it's two dots, and the degree sign is a dot. (I'm not that creative with titles.) I also agree that I wouldn't want a ton of these puzzles, which is why I haven't made more, but I really like how this one came together regardless.

I really like your spot in box 7, but an alternative spot that ends up being really fun is around 17:39 you can see that 58 in r7c7 eliminates 4 from r8c6, which limits 4 to two places in c6. This eliminates the 3 and 5 from r8c5 (placing 6), and now the 3s in c5 eliminate 2, and the 2s in c4 eliminate 4, and the 4s in c3 eliminate 3 and 8!

[glum_hippo]

Negative constraint: It's when the puzzle solves YOU, rather than the other way around

[JediJess]

That was a brilliant puzzle rangsk! Thank you very much.
Also, you absolutely did this puzzle justice Mark! Loved watching. Thanks for a great solve!

[walkingwriter]

This one was like chipping away at a mountain with a little hammer and chisel, but I finally got it done at 1:14:08. Now I can watch to see how you finished it so fast. Cool puzzle!

[alaintremblay]

This is one of the few puzzles that I've solved that required a breakout instead of a break-in. The start is super easy, but then you get stuck after having completed boxes 1, 2, 4 and 5 (at around 18:30 in Mark's solve). My own breakout was when I realized that having a 4 in r8c3 would have required a 9 in both r7c2 and r9c2. Having the 4 limited to r7c3 and r9c3 in turn eliminated 3 and 8 from r8c2, and it all cascaded from there. A clever, entertaining and very strange puzzle!

P.S. Today was the the second time I solved this puzzle. Funnily enough, I remember having to restart my first solve a few months ago because I kept making the mistake that Mark almost made a few times in the video, i.e. excluding digits as if there was a king's move constrain!

[emreyazici]

9:09 i think there should also be a possible 3 in r5c3, which will be eliminated later by the 3 in r1c3

[kkurasbiggeststan]

liked this one! i tend to like negative constraints and this one was fun

[chesshead]

CTC puzzle of the week, for me. Why? Minimal clues, simple ruleset, short solve, no Phistomefel ring. Looking at it first glance, you'd assume extra rules like anti-knight or anti-king move. And you'd expect Mark to sweat for over an hour. I reckon the only thing it's missing is colouring fun.

[oliolion]

'let's start by Goodliffing the thermo, ' — I laughed outloud.

[nixhixx]

Such fun, amazing that it solves, and the sound Mark makes at 20:30 is priceless!

[philthebaldguy]

Awesome puzzle. I'm a big fan of the negative constraint... Especially when it gives Mark grief! :-)

[Swisswavey]

What a brilliant puzzle. I loved how the logic jumped from one row/column/box to the next.
It took me 42 minutes but that time flew by.
Thank you

[Raven-Creations]

That was incredible. When I saw the grid, I couldn't help laughing. After solving the given clues, I did struggle for a while, until I got to grips with some of the subtler ways the digits interacted, but then it seemed to hit a critical mass, and suddenly became much easier. Mark found an easier path than I did, so his solve flowed more smoothly than mine.
For this to solve, using just the negative constraint, once all the clues had been used is quite remarkable, given how much empty space the was.

[gordonglenn]

Monster of a puzzle, having to think of both negative constraints and avoiding the King's Rule, as I was tempted too often. A miracle!

[davidkomai]

It took me till more than half way through the puzzle to stop wanting to eliminate the same digit from the diagonal, and at that point i was finding myself missing obvious things like a digit already existing on the row/column, I was just so tunnel visioned, lol. Great fun though.

[wossaaaat]

Man alive, I made a meal of this... A little over an hour, slowly grinding away one cell at a time. Couldn't wrap my head around it for ages.
Great puzzle. Very satisfying solve.

[ericpraline]

Really nice. Pencil marking important on this one, and I still managed to break it towards the end due to confusing the rules but managed to backtrack.

[KarasuGamma]

I love this ruleset, and definitely want to see more puzzles like it.

[Whyamiwatching.]

8:25 lol, I made that exact mistake except I didn’t catch it. I thought it was a naked single 5 and then carried on for I don’t know how long before the puzzle broke and had to come back and realized that this was my mistake. And even after that, it was still so hard to keep track that there was no Kings move restraint.

[SonicGamesPlayer]

This was a little tough, but I really loved the minimal construction, and the ruleset worked very nicely! 40:48 for me.