Your Frenemy may Crack an Egg on your Head

Normal sudoku rules apply. Friendly cells must contain digits which match at least one of the row, column, or box number. Two cells separated by an X must contain digits adding up to 10 and must contain exactly one friendly cell. Two cells separated by a V must contain digits adding up to 5 and must contain exactly one friendly cell. Not all X’s and V’s are necessarily given.

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▶Music◀
Tim McCaskey (Guitar) or Lucy Audrin (Piano) or Riffclown 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

[alarictaqiarentza]

Terima kasih banyak (thank you very much) Mark, for featuring another of my puzzle and for the birthday wishes! Best birthday present! :)

This puzzle is meant to be introduction indeed to this new ruleset, so I make it approachable. The way I approach the "triomino" of XV, is either there will be 1 friendly cell in the middle, or there will be 2 friendly cell. I think that makes it a little easier to approach it.

I hope everyone enjoy it!

[RMGiroux]

No innuendo at all: The speed with which Mark spots naked single cells is just amazing.

[theAngr]

that sneaky i-wing gave me a chuckle. ty

[rolandkimbrough]

31:44. My first ever friendly cell puzzle and it definitely took me some time to wrap my head around the rules.

[SmartHobbies]

This was a refreshing take on some familiar rule sets. I enjoyed working out the different X's and V's.

[kpwxx]

36 minutes! Really enjoyed this one, truly approachable for me (I didn't need to come to the video part way through for hints!)

[emilywilliams]

"... if you don't eliminate the right ones you'll end up with something wrong..." I just love this. 😊 You are right, a head-scratcher. I made some assumptions and ended up with clashes, but later on tonight I will try it again with the benefit of your method and solve ringing in my ears. Thanks for this puzzle, Alaric, and for this video, Mark - and all of the videos. I love them all.

[BrooksMoses]

14:08 -- not quite faster than Mark, but almost within a minute. I'll take that! An amusing puzzle, too.

[wossaaaat]

Really like the check to see it obeys the rules. Imagine it's a lot of fuss to do it, but a helpful touch. (I actually got this one right, but there have been others where I haven't and not even known it til watching the vid)

[stevesebzda]

This was a cool one.
[I started across those Xs down the bottom -- then to the VX triple in box7 THEN to Vs up top]

Kept on going with the Xs and Vs then
[I don't know how Mark kept track of them writing them ALL in at one time on those conjoining triples -- I just checked one at a time what would work for the 1st two and see if something would be eliminated if that 3rd one couldn't be [

Worked out GREAT [57 mins , but THAT'S FINE because it was FUN].

NICE ONE

[Adam-heyc]

36:36 for me, was a bit blocked until I realized that EXACTLY one friendly cell must be in an X or V. Great puzzle!

[apiyo_puzzles]

Lovely puzzle Alaric! Neat how smoothly the constraint played out, especially with quite a symmetrical grid.

[benjaminrealy]

14:48. Loved this approachable sudoku. Great concept with an easy introduction to the ruleset!

[TheLocalDisasterTourGuide]

I failed this puzzle, but upon watching this video, i quickly figured out my error. This was a fun puzzle & I feel like I learned something.

More approachable puzzles like this, please! A lot of puzzles feel overwhelming, but this one, even if I failed, felt engaging & allowed me to improve as a solver.

[mikesage]

Another easy one I could solve! Enjoyed figuring out the X and Vs and then regular sudoku from there

[piarittersporn]

A beautiful and relaxing puzzle, which I enjoyed very much.

[MoD]

44:16 for me. Seeing as I don't even try most of the puzzles shown here due to difficulty, I am happy with that result. Could have been quicker if I hadn't messed up my pencilmarks on the XV triominoes (espescially the box 3 one) by having possibilities in there, that didn't match the friendly cell rule. Took me quite a bit to see that my pencilmarks were wrong.

[bobblebardsley]

Solved in 24:04 with only one minor cock-up while resolving the last few pairs, but I was able to fix it. Very happy to follow the friendly cell logic and come out with a time not a million miles away from the video length.

[bennyt]

36:57 - I did break it a couple of times, but I always do that with new constraints lol. But it was enjoyable and I learned something! :)

[Xiuhtec]

Messed up at one point and had to backtrack, but still ended up with a time of just under 24 minutes. Nice accessible puzzle!