A Sudoku With Only 8 Given Digits

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
A few days ago we showcased a wonderful and approachable sudoku by Scojo called Cascade. It is extremely difficult to make puzzles that are simultaneously not too hard but also retain interesting and beautiful logic. Scojo does it again tonight with Electric Explosion - rated 1* only for difficulty (it might verge on 2*)!

Have a go at the puzzle here:

Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Adjacent digits along a green line must have a difference of at least 5.

The puzzle Simon mentioned in the introduction is called Region Geometry and it's by Emre Kolotoğlu. If you have some minutes free, you can try it at the link below. We will make this 3hr 36min video available on Patreon in the coming days.

*** CIRCLE SUMS by JESPER ***
Simon's solve of this unbelievably good (and very challenging) sudoku is now available to watch on Patreon. It is over 2 hours long and is suitable only for those who enjoy movies...

There's also a new sudoku hunt from Riffclown for our February competition! Get it here for just $2:

Other bonuses on Patreon currently include:

Simon's 2.5 hour solve of Roller Coaster Nurikabe
Mark's latest solve of The Times Club Monthly Special Crossword

*** HEXCELLS STREAM ***
Our latest Hexcells stream happened last night and you can watch it at the following link:

*** KICKSTARTER - DELIVERED 24 December 2023 ***
Our Kickstarter has finished and we've created the finished novella/puzzle collection for you. It was delivered on Christmas Eve so check your inboxes!

*** ORDER OUR NEW BOOK AT THIS LINK ***

If you would like to get hold of a physical copy of our new book, Cracking The Cryptic's Greatest Hits - Volume 2, there is still a chance. Visit the link below:

▶ 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
1:15 Should I make this crossword video?
2:30 Happy Birthdays
3:38 Rules
4:19 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking

▶ Contact Us ◀

Twitter: @Cracking The Cryptic

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

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

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We also post the Wordle In A Minute videos on TikTok.

[Scojo]

The way you resolved the polarity is actually a way I haven't seen anyone else use, but I think it's a bit easier than what I had intended! For anyone curious, my way was to use the 238 triple that formed in column 9 after placing the initial flurry of digits. Since the pink and the gray in that triple are different polarities, one of them has to be the 8, leaving r5c9 as 23. Now if gray were low, the grays in b6 could only be from 23 and we would have three 23s in that box. Excellent solve, despite the distractions! It's always an honor to be featured here, thanks!

[addeleven]

They have done so many weird sudokus at this point that I was willing to accept "So there is is no 7 at all in this column" as a fact

[bobblebardsley]

*Rhyming Rules* (easy one tonight!)

To fill the grid, the rules you need to know:
In every box, each column and each row,
insert the digits 1 to 9 once each
(the rules that all Sudoku teachers teach).

Adjacent cells on Whisper lines in green
must differ by no less than five between.
Along with only eight provided clues,
these rules are all that you should need to use.

[reubenmckay]

Simon solving crosswords is probably my favourite "bonus" content on this channel so I will totally watch any crossword video he releases.

[BremSterPuzzles]

This was an amazing puzzle. One of the most interesting Whisper puzzles in a while. Scojo puzzles are always a treat.

[patrickgass]

There's something about a symmetrical grid that makes a puzzle all the more impressive.

[Django-uz]

hey, one of the very few Puzzles on the Channel i Was actually able to solve, although it took me nearly an hour. really appreciate you also doing some easier Puzzles!

[BijickY]

This puzzle looks marvelous! Thanks Simon and Scojo for giving us a treat.

[s.grey.k]

This was a fun way to wake up my brain before work! 17:07. Stuck mostly to coloring until the last possible second, and it worked a treat. Thanks as always for sharing!

[ToniLeys]

Wow, I got lost and started following you when you got a couple of digits wrong, so I thought I was wrong and started backtracking until you backtracked, god it was a mess, but it was super fun! Video after video I learn more and more about this fantastic hobby. I'm yet to solve one of these all by myself without looking for clues in the videos when I get lost, I hope I'll soon make it!

[emilywilliams]

That was really wonderful! And you never need to apologize for making a mistake whether distracted or not Simon. It’s all just fine! I could not do this puzzle before watching your video, but I’m definitely going to try it this evening. Excellent puzzle, excellent video.

[xBlackout]

I think that Simon should pick a difficult puzzle and solve it as quickly as he can without doing any commentary just to show us how quickly he can solve a puzzle. Then maybe he can go back and talk about how he solved it.

[handlesareanunfortunatefeature]

Happy to see a recent wave of puzzles with simple rulesets. Something that an average human can comprehend.

[mridaho]

I use an excel spreadsheet to do these puzzles. It has 1-9 in each square which are deleted as numbers are eliminated. It's time consuming but works since I have no net access on my computer. Once I eliminated the 4s and 6s from the double line squares, I found several numbers that took you longer to find just because I could see which numbers were left. I just found your site a week ago, and I'm still learning what the rules do and their tricks. Thanks for the videos, I enjoy them immensely even when they keep me up till 3 am.

[MrNatetheTeacher]

I believe this is the first one that I have ever solved prior to watching the video. Thanks to Simon's secrets and explanations in prior videos, I knew I had to start with 5s and then I took a look at where 4s and 6s could go. I marked the polarity, solved a bit, walked away, returned with fresh eyes, and eventually saw what I needed to to get to the end. Thanks to CTC for introducing me to these kinds of puzzles.

[Landis]

41:22 this time! Loved how everything just seemed to flow once I got around to keeping track of where all the high and low digits were.

[Harry-spfz]

After a year of watching CtC, I can't believe I am in a position where I can solve puzzles like this in under 20 minutes. If you know the basics of german whispers (i e. the digits 4, 5, 6), this really is easy and I would hope pretty much everyone could solve it.
Loved this one, right up until the very end the German whisper logic applied

[raysouth]

Loved this. I got as much done with 4/5/6 as possible and should have the seen immediately how to disambiguate the lines but that took me a good while. It’s amazing what asking the right question at the right time can do!

[suewilliams]

always love a good cryptic crossword video simon, look forward to watching it!

[jojojGaming]

I get the joy of test solving many of Scojo's puzzles, a very good setter, with fun puzzles at all difficulty levels