Is This Puzzle Actually Solvable?

Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits do not repeat in cages. The sum of digits in a cage is given with the first digit as its precision (eg a cage 'sum' of 30 means the actual sum is somewhere between 30-3 (27) and 30+3 (33).

If you can't solve it, watch the video!

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▶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

[samplename]

My face hurts from smiling! I had to watch the video twice to believe it, and when the first digit was in the corner it was just too much :) Thanks for featuring my puzzle and spotting without fail every fun thing i managed to cram in it, i'm particularily proud of the "i don't know where it happens but i can get a digit in box 1" moment which was totally intended! Never expected to see Mark angry, doubtful and finally happy - that's exactly the process i go through when attempting to solve most of the CtC featured puzzles. Big thanks for the kind words to Mark and to everyone who commented - i was jumping with joy! I also very much like the term Fuzzy Killer Cages suggested by Josh and enjoyed reading through the sudoku related backronyms :)

The full title is Loosing my precision 9 (±9) - a veiled hint to start with extreme digits and to not underestimate the 9 cage, it's deceptively helpful. It's also another small inside joke as 9±9 can be 1 and this is genuinely the first sudoku i set, so have hope fellow amateur setters - it does happen! I was surprised to be chosen and almost missed it.

To everyone who struggled - don't torture yourself over it, the puzzle was from the start designed to hide it's secrets at least for a little while from experienced killer sudoku solvers. I used 8/9 coloring in my test solves and while i couldn't make it necessary for the solve i think this sort of highlighting can be useful to spot the next deduction. Finding the simplest way through all of them is a matter of luck or intuition and i'm not surprised at the variance of times posted. The big cages are just screaming "hello?!" though, no idea how Mark missed them xD

"booms-booms-betiss-wuff"

[Jindychick]

That's 3 in the corner, losing it's precision! You just made my day Mark:)

[AussieJohnny]

I immediately spotted the 27+5+6 in box 9 required the maximum 29+10+6. I remembered the (9+8)-(2+1) from yesterday's Differential Thermometers and spotted that difference in the 41+25 cages in boxes 7 and 8. And oh the joy when I realised that the 9 cage in box 5 had to be 3, 4, 5, 6. After finishing I then had the joy of watching Mark's solve. I joined Mark in giving a standing ovation to the setter. A brilliant puzzle that at first seemed impossible.

[eclectichoosier]

What a brilliant concept!
When I did "Rounding Errors, " it was similar, in that it was effectively a "liar cage" variant, with a limit on how much a cage (or other clue) was allowed to lie.
The greater brilliance of this one is that it is a liar cage with a lot more flexibility - that is, you can tune each cage's range for lying to you.
Hats off to the setter, whose name looks like it must be Welsh...? Great job!
And great job, Mark. You always amaze us with your mental flexibility and inhuman ability to juggle numbers.

[dancerec]

I'm going for "You Must Have Seen Better, More Beautiful Electric Shutters In This Window Frame"

[geofft]

Amazing play by Mark to reference the secret in the intro without spilling it. Lasted until 7:40 before he cracked.

[f.w.]

Marc shines with complex puzzles involving mental arithmetic.

Brilliant solve of a very hard puzzle. What a feat in well under 30 min.

[Swisswavey]

What a beautiful puzzle. It took me a while, 26 minutes, but the logic wasn't difficult - just took a bit of getting used to.
I absolutely loved it. Genius. Thank you for creating. Thank you for uploading.

[gordonglenn]

Kudos to the setter, and congratulations to Mark for sticking with it. I just knew it was going to take his "if this, then that, leading to the other" kind of reasoning. What a pleasure to watch it unfold.

[elvagabundo]

Wow Mark what an emotional roller coaster of a solve that was! That was so enjoyable to see you move from Impossible to a standing O at the end.
Well done on setting the puzzle "erialskdroiuahf" (if I got the spelling correct), I hope you come on the comments and let us know what that is an acronym of, I am guessing it starts with "Yo

[VnmTV]

How likable and polite someone can solve a puzzle?
Mark: yes

Thank you for your effort!

[Coyotek]

42:04 ... I had a big scare at the 25-minute point of my solve when I broke near the end, but fortunately I didn't have to *completely* start over; I was able to backtrack and spot my error (I made a bad assumption in box 3 regarding the two '10' cages), and was then able to continue on to the end. That gave me a lot of satisfaction.

Incredible puzzle!

[ryfors]

That's 3(three) in the corner, losing my precision is such a complex and wonderful joke. I love it. Well set

[nomore]

The video length is 27:17, and at 5:41, Mark said he's struggling to believe this puzzle has a solution. Amazingly quick solve for this brutal puzzle. That's why he's the champ and we're in the comments section.

[MitchellD]

This one was a lot of fun and I found it quite approachable. Very creative ruleset.

[Gonzalo_Garcia_]

16:16 for me. The way every single clue works perfectly the moment you need it… this is so clever. It took me a little bit to get started, but once I did it was just a game of maximum and minimum values. Awesome.

[mjdevorick]

Really enjoyed watching Mark enjoy solving this puzzle !

[Xelger]

Odd rules like this make for quite the entertaining videos. Great work as usual, Mark.

[inspiringsand]

Rules: 02:17
Let's get cracking: 03:22

And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Sorry: 3 (18:09, 22:53, 23:34)
Clever: 3 (13:03, 16:17, 16:20)
Good Grief: 2 (09:23, 18:01)
Secret: 2 (03:05, 07:43)
Brilliant: 2 (20:13, 26:32)
Useless: 1 (07:09)
Goodness: 1 (13:01)
Bother: 1 (22:07)
In the Corner: 1 (09:37)

FAQ:
Q1: How do you do this so fast?
A1: I'm not made of flesh and blood, but of sand ...
Q2: Why don't you include 'XX' and 'YY'?
A2: Probably it's already on the list, but not mentioned in this video. But if you think it's not, tell me what you'd like me to include and there's a good chance I'll add it!
Q3: You missed 'XX' at 'YY:ZZ'!
A3: That could very well be the case! Human speech is hard to understand for computers like me, especially British sometimes! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn!

[BlueCyann]

Made a dumb mistake somewhere and broke it in the clean-up phase, too tired to go back and find the error. Was a fun puzzle to "solve". Top comment compared it to a 'liar cage' variant, and that's a great comparison! Because it effectively is, and I tend to enjoy those as well.