Two new sudoku variants at the World Championship

▶TRY OUR SANDWICH SUDOKU APP◀

▶SUPPORT US + ACCESS EXCLUSIVE "CRACKING THE CRYPTIC" PUZZLES/VIDEOS◀

▶SEND US PUZZLES TO SOLVE/CONTACT US◀

▶FOLLOW US◀
Twitter: #crypticcracking
@crypticcracking

▶SOFTWARE◀
Or our own software, which you can access by clicking on the links under the video.

▶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 eleven-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

[tone]

This was fun, although I do wish the examples were a bit harder so you had to actually think about the logic of the variant a bit. Still, not your fault their examples are easy, and I'm looking forward to seeing the real puzzles after the Championship!

[gposchman]

I liked both puzzles. The first was a new variation for me, so I was glad that it was an easy one, so I could focus on working out the rules. As for the magic square, I wasn't aware of all the elements of it, so I appreciated the brief tutorial. I ran into a bit of a problem, in box 4 &5 there was a 37 double pair which gave me pause, and then I realized the magic square in box 5 would resolve it. I would like to see more of both.

[draconicdusk]

6:00 for puzzle 1 and 6:41 for puzzle 2. So a total of 12:41. Of course, these being example puzzles made them very simple, but they were fun varients. Can't wait to see more!

[littleschnitzel]

Today I was just saying to myself how marvelous it would be to encounter some new interesting sudoku variants. Luckily, there is CrackingTheCryptic for us! The first one was really easy and not much of a variant, as the outside clues only served as to being rewritten as an "outer frame". The other one was fun as hell, though, and it screws with one's head before realizing quite a few obvious facts. I especially liked there were many different solving paths for this one, easy, straightforward ones, as well those heartwarmingly difficult spots, which, again, weren't actually required for the solve.

[lakarto]

I've only recently started enjoying these 'variant' sudokus (after being a huge classic sudoku fan for a long time) and I'm really having fun.
Thanks for the videos, as always and I'm looking forward to seeing more puzzles.

Also, one interesting thing I'm noticing when tackling these variants is that 'uniqueness' strategies such as URs should be actively avoided, since they can actually lead to the wrong answer. (as opposed to when solving a classic Sudoku that may have multiple solutions - in this case as far as I know, applying uniqueness will simply lead to one of the multiple correct solutions) I guess it kind of makes sense, since with these puzzles so-called 'normal sudoku rules' aren't the only factors limiting the solution.

The second puzzle took me much longer than it should have, since I ran into a contradiction after applying the uniqueness rectangle strategy midway. After almost undoing the entire puzzle and then solving it again, I realized that the final correct answer actually has a UR in it (3 & 7 in R4, R4, C2, C5), and I realized what I had done wrong. Interesting.

[dolf]

I didn't feel shortchanged on the odd/even. Quite opposite, I was quite happy with actually being able to solve the puzzle within what I believe was the time limit. (I didn't actually check the time, and had pulled it up a while before I started and have no clue how long time had actually elapsed before I started, but I think I did it in about the same time as Mark)

[bristolrovers]

Couple of very reasonable examples of the variations, I look forward to being mind boggled by those set in the world championships

[chrisg]

07:44 on 2nd puzzle - flows really well

[chrisg]

12:11 such an easy puzzle... love the symmetry

[Wouter]

First puzzle: you could immediately fill the first/last digit of each column with clues, because it's always the digit that isn't given.


Second puzzle: I actually constructed the magic square first outside of the puzzle, and then tried to fit it into the sudoku three times. But your method's much more efficient

[johndavidalexander]

1st puzzle 7:36, second one 8:13, pleased with that. The clues in the first one seemed a bit obvious though as they allowed you to resolve all of the outer cells from the clues

[freddiehand]

4:48 for first one, 3:58 for the second (both on paper). Both nice and easy puzzles, I’m just physically unable to get faster than 3 minutes on any sudoku. I expect world class solvers could finish each of these in about 2:30.

[RandomBurfness]

As there's only one way up to 90 degree rotations and reflections along the horizontal or vertical axis to make a 3x3 magic square with the digits 1-9, the second variant is easily solvable once you realise something about the empty 3x3 blocks.

[blahberguy]

Anyone noticed the new description for Mark in the video?

[smitcher]

Is there not a uniqueness issue with the Magic Square one? I was left with the 37 x-wing in squares 1, 2 and 2, 2 and either combination is a solution...

[davidbeaumier]

at 12:07, why did you put a 3 in that square (4th row 5th column) ?? i can't figure it out why. i finished the puzzle with 4 box marked 3 and 7 forming an x wing and no real way of knowing which go where...

[RoderickEtheria]

Two new variants. Two ridiculously easy puzzles. I thought it was generally known that there's really just one form of magic square for 3x3, where the odds besides 5 are at the sides and the evens were in the corners.

[glennmelven]

Two fun variants.
10 minutes on the first one and I never even had to take notes.
The second was a little harder. Mostly because I wasn't familiar with the constraint.

[sammiddleton]

I managed to almost solve the magic square sudoku (after getting the hint about 5's in the centre) just considering the lines through the centre of each square. I got it down to 3's and 7's in the middle left and centre blocks, then had to pop back to the video to be reminded that the edges had to sum to 15 as well.

[facilvenir]

4 minutes. This was really easy (and I'm not usually fast)