The Invisible Thermometers

*** SIMON SOLVES CRUX by JAY DYER ***
Join us on Patreon (for as little as $2) for a brand new sudoku hunt from DiMono and Simon's (very very long) solve of Crux (2hours 42minutes).

*** TODAY'S PUZZLE ***
Dorlir has come up with a new and extraordinary ruleset for this one: there are invisible thermometers to find hidden in the yin yang (!). This feels like a sort of Miracle Sudoku, it's not easy but it is magnificent.

Play the puzzle at the link below:

Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Shade some cells such that all shaded cells are orthogonally connected, and all unshaded cells are orthogonally connected, and no 2x2 area may be fully shaded or unshaded. Each cell in row 9 reveals how many shaded cells are in that column. Furthermore, in each column the shaded digits in that column, must increase in value, going from either top to bottom or bottom to top. Cells separated by a red dot sum up to 9. A digit on a circle has its value increased by 9.

Today's intro is Damien Rice's I Remember.

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▶ Contents Of This Video ◀

0:00 Theme Music & Introduction to today's puzzle
1:16 Crux by Jay Dyer on Patreon
2:49 Bonus crossword video today
3:07 The ARG On Discord
4:59 Happy Birthday
5:24 Rules
9:10 Start of Solve - Let's Get Cracking!

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[dorlirahmeti]

Thank you for doing one of my puzzles again. Really enjoyed it. However I think on minute 34:00 there was slightly a mistake because you didn't considered that 7 can be unshaded which could been fixed by what you did prove on 17:30 that either row 1 or row 9 is entirely shaded. And since you proved 9 on row 1 is unshaded it means that entire row 9 is shaded hence 7 is also. And rest of the solve seemed to be correct.

[biaberg]

Just a comment to what Simon said in the start of the video, it’s not just watching a guy solving a puzzle in nearly 3 hours. It’s watching Simon solving a puzzle in nearly 3 hours. It’s a world of difference 😊

[jov]

I rarely comment but I really wanted to thank Mark and Simon for all of the amazing solves and puzzles. I have been watching your videos every day after school for several months now and I can without a doubt say that you are saving my sanity. Thank you so much!
P. S. I apologize for any mistakes I may have made, English is not my native language.

[ryanthompson]

Simon, your humility is so endearing. We dont just want to watch any one person solve the nearly 3 hr puzzle - it is specifically YOU, you silly goose! You have such a way and talent in astounding your audience with your cleverness but also an uncanny ability to lift us all to your level of thought through patient, deliberate, and unassuming teaching. Your passion and excitement for this corner of the world are purely infectious, and we are thrilled to take part in witnessing it all shine bright.

[tremkl]

No, Simon, thank YOU for providing us all hundreds of hours of entertainment, mental stimulation, and for some of us, therapeutic wellness. ❤

[TaleraxDeAvon]

It wouldn't be Simon's video if he didn't miss the obvious and still solve it anyway, always love that.

[coloripple]

those last 6 minutes were such a simon moment!
That ending woul have been so much easier if you simply counted the amount of gray cells per collumn at 1:00:18, but you decided to solve the end through every other peace of logic than the obvious xD
Looking forward to the 3h vid :)

[Mikey-rjfg]

So happy that we are going to get that 3 hour video on the main channel. You should do a live stream release so we can all watch in real time upon release

[istvanmagi]

The most bizarre episode in CtC history: Simon spends 8 minutes trying to prove that you can't put numbers like 16 in the middle of a thermometer that ends in a single digit number. Roughly between 20:00 and 28:00. "Let's just double check".

[bessieish]

42:25 "just gonna double check that i agree with my brain here. Brain, do i agree with you?"

Legit gonna steal this XD

[elLooto]

We always watch for Simon doing something the complicated way. In this edition its coloring column 8, when the red dot is already resolved, giving the number of greys in column 8. :)

[lazyjoe]

Not filling those 3 and 4 in the bottom row for so long felt almost like a war crime to me 😭
It was such a Simon moment to workaround such simple things

[kevinmartin]

I'm not sure I understand why Simon is having so much trouble around 28:00: *Any* circled digit has a larger value than *any* non-circled digit, so it is impossible to have the shaded digits in a column be circled-uncircled-circled or vice versa because this assuredly produces an ordering bigger-smaller-bigger (or vice versa) which violates the thermo requirement. Any shaded (thermo) cells in columns 4 and 7 must start at the thermo's low end with (possibly zero) uncircled cells, and end at its high end with (possibly zero) circled cells.

[chipsounder]

Bought a killer sudoku book. I solved one of the puzzles without pencil marking or bifurcation. Then another and another. The best £4.30 ever. I used a pen as well and the best of the knowledge from you on how to approach and the speed solve mindset of mark. Massive grins 😊

[tedg]

Small problem with the 7 column logic at 36:40 is that a thermo that would satisfy the rules could be made by having from bottom up 7, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 8 with the 7 an 9 being green. That would be cleared up by noting that whatever value is placed at R9C9 would indicate a cell in that column must be shaded. If it is the 8 then shading is already established. Other wise the 8 column is placing an unshaded 9 in the top row and placing an unshaded digits at R9C9 would require there to be to many changes along the perimeter.

[martysears]

I tackled this puzzle when it was first released and have to say I found it very discombobulating! Thoroughly enjoyed it though and marvelled at its genius. Remarkable that the whole thing is forced from only 7 small starting clues, and with such a fun solve path. Simon's solve was very impressive, seeming to tap into Dorlir's brain throughout. I found it much harder and had to get a few tips from Dorlir as I went along haha. Congrats mate, this was a much deserved feature of a brilliant idea and construction

[laurasmith]

I love watching Simon do battle with puzzles of any type. The longer the video, the more likely it is that I will learn something new and be able to advance my sudoku solving skills. I do look forward to the longer videos and thoroughly enjoy them. Thank you for providing us such great consistency and so many hours of relief from every day life.

[puritan]

I feel Simon got a little lucky as he didn't prove the 7 could not be 2345689 with the 1 further down. But what a wonderful puzzle! Thank you Dorlir, and thank you Simon for bringing it to us!

[appalachianenthusiast]

Simon Anthony: Neglecting at least one rule in a sudoku puzzle since 2017!

[HunterJE]

Hah was wondering if the 34 at the bottom would be the last thing he got to but didn't have "got them by sudoku and never noticed they'd been available by axiom since the shading was completed" on my betting sheet