A Sudoku With Only 4 Given SCISSORS? !
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2024
- ** TODAY'S PUZZLE **
There are some sudoku setters whose puzzles you really don't want to miss: Aad van de Wetering is one such constructor!! His latest, Four Scissors, demonstrates his usual blend of elegance and genius (and he generously supplies SIX given digits!!)
(During the video Simon mentions that the next Hexcells stream will be on Thursday. Actually, due to a diary clash, it will now be tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10pm UK time.)
Play the puzzle at the following link:
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Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. Digits along an arrow must sum to the digit in that arrow's circle. For the avoidance of doubt, all arrows in this puzzle are straight lines.
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▶ Contents Of This Video ◀
0:00 Theme music & Puzzle intro
0:50 9 Million Views
1:26 Hexcells stream NOW TUESDAY
1:59 Riffclown teaser
2:36 Scrabblegrams by David Cohen
5:45 Happy Birthdays
6:52 Rules
8:16 Start of Solve: Let's Get Cracking
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Often we see puzzles that make use of the Phistomefel Ring, but here we see a wonderful example of the lesser-known Aad van de Wete-Ring.
Nice. 👏👏👏🙂
Wonderful comment!!
👏👏👏
CtC comment of the year! Bravo.
For the last several minutes of Simon's solve, the question was not "Will he finish it?" but "Will he notice that non-orange six???"
I couldn't stop watching it.
Aad always goes "how do I find the most obscure set and build a Sudoku out of it?"
Yeah, I also like that they are not monstrously hard. They are clever but doable.
Sometimes different sets break in the puzzle. (Mine, for example, were different from both versions of Simon's. I wanted the same number of cells in both sets.) Who knows which set Aad had in mind?
I love how Simon went "let me just demonstrate this, i know its wrong but let me try anyways", then immediately stumbles on the solution
Simon putting an 8 on the arrow in box 9 because there has to be an even digit and then not adding 1+8 to get the 9 🤣
Yeah, such a Simon thing to do...
There was a given digit involved that wanted to be ignored so it was soon forgotten
Classic Simon. Gotta love the guy.😂
The next 60 seconds was me saying, progressively more forcefully, "Simon... Simon. Simon!"
Aad's puzzles are always so elegant, that it almost looks like he tailored it for a fashion show. No wonder there are scissors left on the board.
That’s a great comment!
I love this so much. The puzzle itself is nice, but SImon solving 1+(7 or 8) = (7 or 9) by noting the requirement for an even number, and not seeing that 1+7 does not equal 7 or 9, and THEN no doing the 1+8=9 calculation at all. It's so classic Simon, and I'm here for it.
SIX Given Digits?? What a treat for Simon!
A miracle there even are digits
Been watching you on and off for a couple years, I don't watch every puzzle and im not good at sudoku myself, but I always seem to come back to these after a while. Glad you're still making these
I am kind of amazed that I was able to solve this one and this a great example of how my skills are shaped by CTC videos. I started the puzzle thinking that it shouldn't be too difficult to find restrictions in the circles since there are so many arrows. Then I quickly realized that it wasn't a trivial solve. So then I remembered what Simon always says that if nothing is obvious then the answer is usually set. But here is where I usually struggle, finding a good set that yields the type of relationship from where deductions can be made. But I got it right this time and was able to solve the puzzle. CTC brings joy to your day!
OMG WOW I GOT A SET THEORY BREAK IN ALL ON MY OWN THIS IS LIKE THE FIRST TIME EVER AND I'M SO EXCITED 🤣🤣
I used rows 1,2,5,8 and columns 3,4,6,7, which gave me a set of 12 digits that had a minimum of 30, and a set of 4 digits that had a maximum of 30, and from there it was fairly straightforward for an 18 minute solve.
That IS exciting. Understanding what's been done is (imo) relatively easy, but actually coming up with it on my own.....not yet.
Awesome job!
Wonderful!!
@@Mephistahpheles That's where I've been for the last couple of years - I could follow the explanation no problem, but could never make the leap of intuiting to use SET and which sets to use.
I'm usually very bad at set and this was the first time (apart from some phistomefel ring puzzles) that I figured out which sets to use completely on my own
Yay!!!
17:35 Simon: "We've done it! That's very odd!"
No, Simon, that's very Aad.
😆
😂
I often appreciate the puzzles without necessarily finding them 'beautiful' but in this case it's just absolutely gorgeous.
17:36 “That’s very Aad”
In April 2020 I discovered CTC and Aad van de Watering for the first time. I'll always have a soft spot for Aad's puzzles, as his was the first one I solved here, and I don't think I've missed one since. This one was lovely -- as always.
The rotational symmetry in this is gorgeous: the given arrows, the rotational set, and the orange digits
What a delight! Aad’s puzzles are so crisp and elegant.
Simon can take set theory, which I assume is complicated, and he explains it in a way that I completely understand it in every video! Well done Simon.
Yes, I kinda miss scrabble tiles in the explanation though...
That sort of assumption is the main obstacle to learning mathematics. Plenty of times math is just giving a name to something really simple.
I love how you take something Aad and make it seem easy!
😁
I just want to say I really enjoy your videos, I'm going through a rough patch but seeing a new upload from you really cheers me up. Your simple joy when solving puzzles is infectious. Mark too!
I hope your rough patch smoothes out soon!!
@@longwaytotipperary thanks. Me too. It's unfortunate going to be at least a 4+ month ordeal but I'm trying to see the other side.
@@lukebpowell keep finding activities/people/entertainment that “lift” you up every day. This channel helps me a lot! It’s like my friends, Simon and Mark (and the kind people in comments) come by every day to cheer me. I like to watch humorous CZcamss, lots of cute funny animals and hobbies that take my mind off the rough stuff.
I never tire of hearing Simon explain the Secret
You are one of his favourite people 🙂
Same!
Kind comment (even before having watched until the end of the video) : I enjoy watching these sudoku videos because even when I feel like I don´t understand, I enjoy listening because I can tell that you are enjoying how the number match and go together. it´s not just the logic, it´s that I can hear your smile brought on by logic. Thank you for making these videos - they brighten my day.
Loved this puzzle and this video. It’s great having both, I always try myself as much as possible then come to the video when I goet stuck. This was the first time I’ve broken into a puzzle using sets on my own which I was really happy with but still needed simon to spot what the 3 Xiang meant. :) Thanks for a great solve and I’m so impressed at how quickly you do all the sodoku at the end. 🎉
As regards to not being used to SET working 2 ways, I ended up finding a far more complicated SET by taking the top 2, middle, and bottom 2 rows to cancel out 4 horizontal rows. All 4 horizontal rows ended up getting cancelled after arrow work, and left me with 17 cells adding up to 45, giving me the exact same digits in the exact same spaces, but only after much more work!
SET is weird.
Delightful setting - polite applause for Aad!
Mind blown with the Scrabblegrams!!!
Have you worked out the solutions yet? I'm stuck on #6 and #8. Gestapo??? Unwaived??? Unless I have made an error somewhere else.
Don't worry, I discovered my errors. Got them now!
Recently found this channel, just amazing! I mean, who on earth would think of that system at the start and that quickly… simply amazing.
What a beautiful way to solve a puzzle! Thanks Aad and Simon! 😆
Aad has ever been my favorite constructor. This puzzle is beautiful and elegant as always. Especially the x-wing logic on 3s is top notch construction.
SUCH a nice puzzle. Got a bit stuck on the X wing in the mid-solve, but found the set right away (though was at 90 degrees to yours, Simon) and was really tickled by the symmetry. Not at all a fiendish puzzle, and a good one for anybody who is beginning to get acclimatised to SET.
Brilliant Simon!
Your intuition is astonishing!
My favorite humorous moment of this video is how the “A-ha!” at 36:00 is followed. Such a Simon classic 😄 You’re an amazing solver and explainer, Simon, but also very human, and I love all those things.
Beautiful, a new set in 2 different ways to start off a puzzle. That's an elegant setup.
Loved that you solved the colouring in and then filled in the last few numbers by sudoku
This was so elegant and clever. I multiple times got stuck for a minute or two, started pencilmarking things and in the end felt stupid when the answer was so simple and hidden in plain sight. Those few hints also were really used for maximum effect. Puzzles like this always feel so much cleverer that I am able to give them credit for. Mad respect.
Another beautiful Sudoku by my favorite setter. Thank you Aad!
Thank you for this great solving and all the explanations! :)
Aad van de Wetering is my fav setter by far. Always such complexity and elegance in seemingly simple settings.
after long time I managed to look at full video of yours solving Simon, I am pretty proud of myself, there should also been said, that I usually get yours vidoes in my country in late night. Thank you for making my day!
I get them at around 3 or 4 AM, they are very good to watch with my coffee and warming my brain for the work day ahead.
That is just fantastic. What a wonderful puzzle and video. Thank you, Simon. Amazing. I especially appreciate that you showed that it works (the "it" meaning the application of SET) either way around. Marvelous!
You got that so quickly. Unreal set finding that fast
Unusual for me, I spotted the break-in really quickly. Yay!
It is such an impossible looking sudoku. It's amazing how you find the logic to crack such puzzles. This is probably the best arrow sudoku I have ever seen.
I am so proud of myself for this puzzle: I stumbled for several minutes and then I though "I don't get it, let me see Simon's solve"... and then, before I finished that thought "Wait, every time I cannot make a start, it's because it's set... let me see"... and it's the first time I solve a set-based puzzle without help! Now on to watching your solution, and see if you did something completely different...
Just over an hour for me. I got a bit stuck in the middle not noticing the simple fact that certain digits had to always be different and forcing a lot of other digits. Once I stopped being blind it was smooth sailing.
It's good because it's cool while approachable, and theefor perfect for the channel. We all need a phistomefel some of the time, but most of us needs these brilliant yet doable puzzles most of the time (and sometimes something in the middle :P Top Work Aad, as always ❤❤❤❤
Anyone else find this break-in? I highlighted C3,C4,C6,C7 and R3,R4,R6,R7 which included the arrows twice each, so highlighting the circles as well gives 8 sets of 45, leaving the 17 remaining cells adding to 45. I feel like this might be the intended route?
Beautiful puzzle!!!
Is this the "Scissor-G" Simon mentions from time to time?
👏🏻 Take a bow, Esperanto Joe 👏🏻
Hahah excellent. Maybe Simon and Aad have been setting this up for about 4 years and today was the punchline.
❤️this comment!
I'm not sure how often it's mentioned, but syzygy is a lovely word.
@@0LoneTech yes!!
What a puzzle....and relatively easy once you know how it works. But I didn't know that at the beginning and despaired of various attempts. Finally I looked at how Simon started. Brilliant!!! A few minutes were enough to make the puzzle accessible. You should always remember Simon's tricks with the scrabble bags if you get stuck. Thanks Simon, last night I was able to fall asleep again without number knots in my head. 🙂
1735 Is Simon saying "that is very odd" or "that is very Aad?"
yes
@@nathanmays7926 😄
Wonderful! (as always) ☺
Delighted to hear Simon has a big garden with lots of trees
I hope the ones in the corner are still standing
Simon’s absolute refusal to pencil mark any of the arrows was definitely on brand. 😂
Also, did Aad specifically design this puzzle to create the fastest elimination of a 3 in a corner?
This was truly an enjoyable absolutely remarkable puzzle!
28:29 - Really enjoyed that and was so pleased to spot the break in straight away. I usually struggle with arrows and set!
I had a simpler breakin. Highlight the cells in r3,4,6,7 and c3,4,6,7 - you're double counting all the arrow cells, but not the arrow heads, so cancel out the double counting by also excluding the arrow heads. The remaining cells must sum to 45. Once you work out you can't put a 2 in the remaining cells r2, or a 1 in r8, you have no degrees of freedom.
Very good puzzle.
Have Simon and Mark tried changing the given digits to blue? It really works.
I suspect he would then wonder how he deduced the digits at some point in the solve if they did that...
Very nice puzzle!
I love Aad's puzzles, but as many commented, it's the first one involving (new) sets that I completed by myself. And what puzzles me more is that my solution seems a lot more simple than Simon's and others I've read here. Surely I missed something.
I just took the set of columns 3,4,6,7 and rows 3,4,6,7, and noticed that the "arrows numbers" zones were duplicated, so if I add the "arrows total" cells, that would mean the total would be 8 * 45, and that the remaining cells total would equal 45. It's pretty low for 17 cells and there's only one way to fill it right.
It seems there are a lot of ways to solve this one with sets. I like that.
There’s a second Scrabblegrams puzzle within the article. Here are the clues if anyone wants to attempt it:
Baker dozen (8)
Monopoly square (4, 7)
Cajun stew (9)
Religious (6)
I’ve fed a fox (9)
Egg with bacon (6, 8)
Li’l deer (4)
Apart (7)
Vitamin studier (12)
Thinly (7)
A CEO (13)
For me, the first 2 and the deer clue were quite easy, I should’ve guessed the third more quickly, I was _wayyyyy_ too confused by the fox clue, I was proud of getting the egg one (my mom used to eat these at our favorite restaurant when I was a kid), I got the wrong word at first for someone who studies vitamins (I just knew it’d end in “-ist”), and I had the right word for the last one but then second guessed myself when I shouldn’t have. 😅
Set theory is like sorcery to me.
Very nice puzzle and solve
Happy Birthday Eliott !!! ❤
Great puzzle, Aad
Sounds like you had some scary weather. Two trees down sounds like a bother, but I'm glad you're safe!
I think Aad and Simon must be soul mates.
I think Simon would make a good programmer based on how he is curious about problems and lets his curiosity lead him to solutions
Nice double set break in.
So sorry about your fallen trees! The scrabble grams are amazing!!! So scrabble grams guy and one of the birthday people are from Georgia! Yay Georgians!! I think I would definitely like (and probably already have had) wine with chocolate cake. I think it would go well with a red wine 🍷- maybe old vine Zinfandel? I like the coinage “Phistomefelian!” Always ❤set theory resolvable puzzles! And the pure joy Simon expresses when solving them!!!
Go you Georgians!! 😁
@@davidrattner9 😃
@@davidrattner9 😄
I did the set a bit differently. I highlighted the green that you did, then the circles in orange and then I added the top row to create an equivalence. When you do that you end up with a bunch of orange digits that must add up to 30 or less and it turns out that it forced one of the cells to be a 1, and the rest of them to be the minimum they can be giving you a ton of information in the puzzle.
I had a different approach to the break-in: take the set 1 as C1, C3, C4, C6, C7, and set 2 as R1, R2, R5, R8, R9. Subtract the common cells, subtract the arrows and circles. The remainder in set 1 has a minimum sum of 30, and the remainder in set 2 has a maximum sum of 30 (and is a 6789 quad). Observe that to make the minimum sum of set 1 work, R1C1 and R9C1 must be a 45 pair, which is resolved by the given 5 in box 7. The remaining cells in set 1 are 1's, 2's, and 3's. Repeat the exercise, except use C9 instead of C1 in set 1, and you have a mirror result: R1C9 and R9C9 must be a 45 pair, and all cells in set 1 solve by sudoku. (You can swap rows and columns, and do the exercise again to get the 123 triples and 6789 quads in R1 and R9, which I did not think to do, and it not strictly neccessary, but it saves a little bit of time.) The puzzle solves easily from there.
What a break-in !
This videos are so wholesome
I did okay on this one other than some pencilmarking blunders that set me back quite a ways. Approachable and fun though!
Wow I didn’t see that type of solution 😮😉👍
Hi Simon, awesome video as always. Did you notice at the end, that the orange high digits were forming a symmetrical pattern? It looked great
I was wondering whether that was a coincidence (I doubt it), an inherent property of the SET shenanigans or (my best bet) Aad having a bit of a flourish just because he can. And why not!
I was thinking the exact same thing @36:40!
11:22 for me. Very nice puzzle!!
It took me a bit longer to commit to the SET path, but I found a slightly different variation where you start with rows 3467 and columns 3467 in the same set, and compare them to all the boxes except for the middle one. It's a bit messier to balance the colors but you get to the same position in the end without having to add 45 on one side of the equation or duplicate the logic with symmetry.
That is what I did too! I was trying to spot what to do and decided to embrace madness comparing 8 sets of digits. Had a little gasp when I got the 3 in the middle of the puzzle.
Quite plesing to be able to solve an Aad puzzles using sets. I remember one of his previous ones had some kind of checker board pattern sets.
Awww. I thought this was going to be a new ruleset!
Amazing
As still a novice with SET, I wanted two sets of the same number of digits from 1 to 9. Therefore, I used the same horizontal rows as Simon's second version, but instead, I used columns 1, 2, 8, and 9 as the vertical version. I removed the common digits, and then arrows reflecting the common sums. I was left with five cells in columns 1 and 9 and the extreme cells of columns 2 and 8 in one set, and a smattering of digits in the other set -- specifically, a couple arrows and digits in column 5. A nice thing happened: I could replace the arrows with the circles in column 5, leaving me with six digits in column 5.
Comparing the minimum and maximum, required the remaining three digits in column 5 to sum to 6, 7, or 8. Given digits forced the minimum digits in columns 2 and 8 upward a couple times (and the maximum of the three column-5 digits downward) until the three digits in column 5 could only sum to 6. Those three cells were R1C5, R5C5, and R9C5 that had to be 1, 2, and 3.
I reached the same position as Simon after his SET analysis. I followed up quite slowly, applying the arrows, and removing possible digits.
26:00 Simon considered one pair of the cornermarked 3s, but didn't consider the other pair and how they break the puzzle.
28:50 He's doing it now.
At 17:35... Yes, Simon, that is very "Aad."
I hope your garden can get fixed quickly
I ended up using a somewhat different SET to break in that I think must be equivalent to your two but seems so different that I’m not sure how the mapping works. I started with the traditional phistomefel ring SET (columns and rows 3 and 7 in one group and boxes 1, 3, 7, and 9 in another). I added box 9 to the “ring” group and column 5 and row 5 to the corners group. After cancelling sums you’re left with cells in only one group (which must sum to 45 since that group had one extra set of digits) and there are enough of them in the right geometry with the right givens that you can fill them all in quite quickly.
I managed to solve this on my own, cool puzzle.
Great, great puzzle! Solved it with set theory but in a different way than Simon, I ended up REMOVING the Phistomefel ring!
Did find the break-in, but I completely missed that there was a dual break-in. Unsurprisingly, that then got a tad messy.
26:04 for me. the starting layup screamed set theory. sadly, I am crap at it. i found something that gave me same result as Simon.
I started with different set. I used {r1,r2,r5,r7,r9} and {c3,c4,c6,c7}, after removing digits that are in both sets and then removing all arrows I was left with {r1c1,r1c2,r1c5,r1c8,r1c9, r2c1,r2c9, r5c1,r5c5,r5c9, r8c1,r8c9, r9c1,r9c2,r9c5,r9c8,r9c9} which must sum to 45 and the only way to achieve this is to have 45 in corners and 123 everywhere else (minimizing top&bottom row or left&right column get sum of 30 - 12345 x2, so remaining 7 cells sum to 15, minimum middle cell can be is 3 and minimum sum of remaining cells is 12 - 123 x2, making all cells 5 or less with 45 in corners and 3 in the middle).
I had to go and find my wheeliebin which was recently emptied and did a bit of windsurfing.
A really nice puzzle and not too difficult if you've played around with SET a little bit.
I'm usually one to despise puzzles that require finding min-max relationships with well-chosen sets of digits, but surprisingly, I luckily stumbled on the solution and found this one fairly enjoyable. Or was it because I'm getting used to this style? Either way, I can imagine the frustration of running in circles looking for something interesting around these scissors while not having this very useful set theory tool in hand.
34:22 Simon breaks the collective brains of the audience by almost colouring all the high digits...
21:45 for me. i counted the set wrong and though they added the same but just from watching a little i relaized
Simon, did you eventually see the 'New link with solution' link in the confirmation box?
Random observation, mulling a bit about the break-in (which I found, but then got stuck at the X-wing of 3s). This scissors arrangement of arrows limits the central cell to be 3 at most, right? So ruling out 1 and 2 from the central cell in any way (like it is done with givens in this puzzle)- the high-low distribution (1-5 vs 6-9) in the perimeter is forced. Nice!
Well, it doesn't really matter what "rotation" we start with. The seven(!) orange digits must sum to 45 *less* than the eight(!) green digits. And since four of the green digits always see each other, the *absolute maximum* we can get out of the green digits is 60 (2×(6+7+8+9)).
So the absolute maximum that all of the orange digits can sum to is 60-45=15. That is *not much* when you need to fill seven cells.
What's more is we can rule out that the orange digit in box 5 is a 1, since there is already a 1 in that box. Since of the remaining six orange digits again always three see each other in a row, we can place a maximum of two 1s in orange cells. We can also never place three 2s in the orange cells, since the given 2 in row 2 sees sees both orange cells in row two and of the other orange cells, again, there is an absolute maximum of two that don't see each other. So even absolutely minimising the orange cells still means we need to place two 1s, two 2s and three 3s, which - wouldn't you know it - sums to exactly 15. Which was also our maximum, so that is, in fact, what needs to go in the orange cells.
We also know pretty exactly where they need to go. There must be a 3 in the orange cell in box 5, because that is the only way you can ever place three of any digit in the orange cells. The other two, of course, then can't be in boxes 4 or 6, since they see the orange digit in box 5. And there also can't be a 3 in box 3, since there already is a given one. That forces us to put another 3 in the orange cell in box 1, which then also sees the one in box 7, placing the last orange 3 in box 9.
Next, we know that we need to place two 2s, but there can't be one in the orange cell in box 3, since that sees a given 2. There also can't be one in the orange in box 4, since that would see both other possible spots for 2s, meaning we couldnt place another one, forcing us to place at least one 4, which would break the puzzle. So the two orange 2s go in boxes 6 and 7.
Which leaves two 1s to place in the orange cells in boxes 3 and 4 and, just like that, we have more than doubled our number of digits in the grid.
And then of course if we *do* consider the rotation, that's *another* six digits we can immediately place by much the same method, tripling our original digits