Exploring the Foggy Sudoku Prison!!

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
Dorlir returns today with another gorgeous and challenging Fog Of War puzzle called Closed Prison. As one might expect, this one is chockful of clever and innovative logic. Simon definitely has his hands full with this one!

Play the puzzle at the following link:

Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits in a cage don't repeat and sum to the given clue in the top left corner of the cage (the clue is always given and must be located in the leftmost cell of the uppermost row of the cage.) Digits separated by a white dot are consecutive digits. Additionally the grid is partially covered in fog. Placing correct digits will clear the fog from surrounding cells, possibly revealing more clues.

*** OUR DECEMBER COMPETITION & SIMON'S BONUS SOLVES ***
100 4x4 Snackdoku pack from the Skunkworks was released two days ago as our monthly reward.

Join us on Patreon (for as little as $2):

*** KICKSTARTER - FOG OF WAR ***
You can still order a copy of our perfect sudoku Christmas present!

*** 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:

*** NEW GAS PACK: VOLUME 2 IS OUT ***
The new GAS (Genuinely Approachable Sudoku) pack is out on all platforms here:

60 original puzzles by Clover, Bill Murphy and Philip Newman!! Earn party hats and dinosaurs with these brand new puzzles!

▶ 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 Intro
1:40 Check Out The Kickstarter
2:16 Please subscribe if you Like us!
2:54 Rules
4:45 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.

[wiler]

Sometimes I wonder if Simon and I could be an elite solving sudoku pair. He would do 99% of the solving, and occasionally I would remind him of something he said earlier in the solve.

[dorlirahmeti]

Thank you for doing one of my puzzles once again. I was hoping you do this puzzle because I thought it had some really unique ideas with cages and fog which weren't used before. And it seemed you liked the puzzle very much. So thanks again and take care, really satisfied how you solved the puzzle.

[Kversten]

I totally agree that this channel truly is is "an oasis of calm in a strange world"! 🧘‍♂

[joshrobbins]

many colors! Once you uncovered most of the cages, clean up those colors and get rid of all the flashes. Once you get rid of the fog and can see most of the cages, undo the colors and then just color individual cells. Makes it so much easier to see things. Great puzzle

[janerobson]

I love the fact that Simon uses parity and cage logic to prove things which simple Sudoku could prove! Every time!

[馬善萄]

What I love about this puzzle is that the last piece of fog revealed is the total of the first cage, which made me feel that I have completed a whole journey of fog revealing.

[stevieinselby]

In fog puzzles, it can be a huge help to use the line tool to draw a line through cells that form part of a cage, rather than colouring, because it allows you to see more easily where the fog remains. It also frees up colouring for pairing up matching cells (top tip: use a white flash on all coloured cells and then it is obvious whether it is still fogged up or not). But the *absolute* top tip for colouring in *any* puzzle is to REMOVE THE COLOURING WHEN YOU NO LONGER NEED IT.

[Zardoz]

It's very gratifying to watch Simon get stuck and flounder at exactly the same point in the puzzle where I got stuck and floundered.

[Jake_Etc]

I always feel better about giving up halfway through a puzzl when Simon gets stuck at the same spot for 20 minutes.

[elmaminsk]

I can give you a piece of advise: remove colors once you don't need them. For example, you could remove pink, orange at the moment the entire strip was revealed or light green once you got '4' in there and have corresponding labeling

[BryanLu]

37:47 Uniqueness does not apply because the red digit can't repeat in the cage

51:20 Actually, what I was screaming about is that green can't repeat in the blue cage

[markwright]

WOW! What a fantastic puzzle. My favourite fog of war so far and, most challenging yet. Loved it.

[fredgoodyer]

35:30 This is a very helpful (and beautiful) deduction, and would have uniquely answered most of his subsequently asked questions 😊 If only he had written it down! Oh well, you can’t be perfect in live solves, he does a pretty excellent job and I have improved my solving massively thanks to these videos ☺️ Thanks Simon 😊

[jaega]

Great puzzle, and great solve by Simon as always!
Really enjoyed it, but needed a little reminder from Simon's video as I got stuck on the 18 cage: Cages never go upwards above the cell with the cage total. One of those tiny rules, just like king/knights move, that I often forget about in the middle of my solves.

[Tsunami]

10 minutes in: This puzzle seems approachable. How did it get 4 stars?

30 minutes in: Oh...

[wangmanting]

Did it in 53:37, it was the first 1h+ video puzzle that I actually tried myself.

[inspiringsand]

Rules: 02:55
Let's Get Cracking: 04:50
Simon's time: 1h1m50s
Puzzle Solved: 1:06:40

What about this video's Top Tier Simarkisms?!
Maverick: 4x (11:18, 11:18, 11:21, 11:23)
The Secret: 4x (14:53, 15:04, 25:48, 1:05:23)
Bobbins: 1x (23:45)
Three In the Corner: 1x (24:49)

And how about this video's Simarkisms?!
Ah: 19x (10:55, 14:16, 14:16, 21:25, 21:55, 23:06, 27:50, 28:17, 33:58, 38:23, 38:23, 39:38, 50:56, 51:51, 54:12, 55:06, 1:00:39, 1:02:33, 1:03:50)
Hang On: 15x (08:31, 09:59, 14:20, 16:55, 20:17, 21:28, 23:39, 24:20, 26:07, 27:50, 30:32, 30:32, 32:21, 39:38, 42:31)
Obviously: 11x (05:20, 06:36, 09:11, 12:10, 21:30, 27:50, 28:56, 35:35, 57:26, 57:28, 59:27)
In Fact: 10x (07:31, 08:31, 08:44, 17:12, 17:15, 24:24, 45:06, 58:04, 58:09, 1:01:58)
By Sudoku: 9x (10:51, 29:54, 30:12, 33:36, 43:25, 45:26, 45:31, 48:34, 58:27)
Sorry: 8x (23:57, 25:22, 29:33, 30:39, 32:07, 46:57, 49:04, 53:19)
Lovely: 6x (10:31, 10:34, 58:04, 58:06, 1:04:38, 1:04:46)
Beautiful: 6x (17:37, 18:49, 53:59, 55:49, 1:07:32, 1:07:32)
Naked Single: 5x (10:31, 23:45, 1:01:54, 1:04:00, 1:05:44)
The Answer is: 5x (19:01, 32:30, 39:53, 43:19, 54:56)
Pencil Mark/mark: 5x (26:31, 29:14, 34:54, 40:59, 1:04:10)
Weird: 5x (09:58, 17:20, 47:11, 1:01:56, 1:06:29)
Clever: 4x (30:44, 54:01, 58:36, 1:04:46)
What Does This Mean?: 4x (31:17, 35:15, 43:44, 45:49)
Uniqueness: 4x (37:35, 38:03, 38:11, 52:02)
Good Grief: 3x (55:49, 56:30, 58:33)
Stuck: 3x (25:22, 49:18, 49:21)
Brilliant: 3x (29:22, 29:33, 1:04:54)
Triangular Number: 3x (11:57, 12:08, 14:33)
Goodness: 2x (25:39, 50:58)
Naughty: 2x (51:09, 51:11)
Gorgeous: 2x (22:06, 58:33)
Shouting: 2x (51:16, 53:25)
I Have no Clue: 1x (32:30)
Ridiculous: 1x (46:47)
Discombobulating: 1x (1:06:07)
Alacrity: 1x (07:45)
I've Got It!: 1x (53:17)
Phone is Buzzing: 1x (02:02)
Progress: 1x (01:25)
Wow: 1x (20:58)
Next Trick: 1x (57:34)
Baffling: 1x (49:34)
Nature: 1x (18:26)

Most popular number(>9), digit and colour this video:
Seventy Eight (16 mentions)
Four (82 mentions)
Green (36 mentions)

Antithesis Battles:
High (4) - Low (3)
Even (12) - Odd (2)
Higher (3) - Lower (1)
White (7) - Black (2)
Row (33) - Column (16)

FAQ:
Q1: You missed something!
A1: That could very well be the case! Human speech can be hard to understand for computers like me! Point out the ones that I missed and maybe I'll learn!
Q2: Can you do this for another channel?
A2: I've been thinking about that and wrote some code to make that possible. Let me know which channel you think would be a good fit!

[Yttria]

Made great progress until halfway through the puzzle and then it came to a grinding halt a few times but soldiered through them. ~146 minutes to solve. Definitely deserves the higher difficulty ranking.

[Hakucho]

Wow, what a puzzle. Took me 1:47:15, but I got there in the end. This channel has taught me so much.

[nattixer]

I needed this today. Thank you Simon for everything you do !