crackingthecryptic

Vignettes by zetamath

In the second of our series of videos in which Simon and Mark collaborate to solve a puzzle, they pit their combined wits against this outstanding puzzle: Vignettes by zetamath.  This is a wonderful and intricate set of sudokus that will definitely give you a buzz if you give it a try!

Play the puzzle(s) at the link below:  

https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/LLTqgTJ682 2022-10-01 19:00:12 +0000 UTC View Post

October Patreon reward - Duality!

Hi Patreons,

Thank you so much for supporting our channel. We are really grateful, and your support helps us to keep the channel going in the form that it is.

We are delighted to present Duality, a pack of incredible sudoku puzzles by the Sudoku Skunkworks, a collective of sudoku enthusiasts and constructors, who have given us the opportunity to present this pack as a Patreon reward.

To be in with the chance of the monthly prize, which this month is a copy of our book Cracki...

September Reward - the Solution Video

Hi Patreons,

Thanks for sponsoring us! here is the Solution Video for Linked Sudoku, the September Monthly Reward. The video description includes links for the puzzles, and the video includes what the 'correct (3-digit) answer' was, although we also accepted the middle rows of all three sudokus, and various alternatives!

Here's the video: https://youtu.be/sULUbrOiPbo 

Simon & Mark

Jabberwocky by DadJokes

We thought you might like to watch us solve a puzzle collaboratively so we're delighted to share this video with you - made today - in which we take on the sudoku Jabberwocky by DadJokes.

It features an extraordinary ruleset but it's a fascinating solve and we really enjoyed pitting our collected wits against it!   

Let us know what you think of this new style :)  

The video can be watched here:

2022-09-15 18:17:44 +0000 UTC View Post

Cracking the Listener Crossword

Mark has a crack at a live solve of the Listener Crossword, a hard themed cryptic that appears each week in The Times. This is Envy by Quinapalus from August 12th, and the solution has just been published, so it is no longer live as a competition puzzle.

It is only available to try to members of the Times Crossword Club (ie subscribers to The Times newspaper online).

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/GZVfbB-rbkg...

September Patreon Reward: Linked Sudoku

Hello Patreons!

Thanks for supporting us – we really appreciate it. The attached document contains links, rules and grids for this month's reward, and also how to send us the answer, by September 20th at the latest.

Note - you should use the information that the three puzzles are linked!

Have fun with these puzzles,

Simon & Mark

GASP Prize Puzzles - the Solution Video

Hi patreons! Thank you for supporting our channel. We appreciate you.

Here is a video of how to get to the solutions for this month's Genuinely Approachable Sudoku/Puzzles, starting with Kakuro, working through Star Battle and finishing with Minesweeper.

This should help if you were struggling with any of the puzzles, or just wanted to see how we would go about them. You can watch the video here:

https://youtu....

The Crossword of Terror

Mark settles down again with the Times Monthly Club Special, the cryptic crossword that mixes extraordinary difficult clues with the most obscure of vocabulary.

This one, July's edition, is by Richard Rogan, the Times Crossword Editor. And it is extremely cruel.

Nonetheless, Mark blithely attempts it without a dictionary to hand ... watch the video here:

https://youtu.be/F0eGvIWP1No

August Patreon reward - GASP

Just reposting in case people haven't noriced the attachment on the first post:

Hello Patreons!

Thanks for supporting us – we have had some great competition puzzle packs in the last couple of months (thanks ZooZ, Panthera, TheAsylm and Grkles!), but this month’s competition returns to something genuinely approachable. We call this Genuinely Approachable Sudoku/Puzzles (GASP) as it mixes sudoku with some of the more popular and understandable pencil puzzle types.

You can...

August Patreon Reward

Sorry there is a short delay while we get the correct file (and attach it).  Yes, we are technological imbeciles.  It shouldn't be too long - probably just over an hour.  Watch this space.

Simon & Mark

August Patreon reward - GASP! WITH the pdf

Hello Patreons!

Thanks for supporting us – we have had some great competition puzzle packs in the last couple of months (thanks ZooZ, Panthera, TheAsylm and Grkles!), but this month’s competition returns to something genuinely approachable. We call this Genuinely Approachable Sudoku/Puzzles (GASP) as it mixes sudoku with some of the more popular and understandable pencil puzzle types.

You can see the puzzles in the attached document, which also has links to play them in our so...

That criminal cryptic crossword

This is where Mark takes on that criminal cryptic crossword, the Times  Monthly Club Special, from June. The audio didn't work on the video, so  Mark has dubbed on a commentary!   This puzzle, no 20261, is by Roger Phillips, the Listener Crossword  editor.

See the video here:

https://youtu.be/49C3tk-SKgk

Equal Sum Lines Solutions

Hi Patreons!

Thanks so much for supporting us, and thanks to everyone who said such kind comments about Joseph Nehme’s brilliant puzzle pack, themed on Equal Sum Lines, which was our July monthly reward, posted on 1st July.

$3 Patreons (and above) are entitled to the solution videos we create for our Monthly Rewards, and here is the full set of videos for the Equal Sum Lines pack, a set of 13 fantastic variations on the theme.

1) Something New: 2022-07-24 22:31:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Equal Sum Lines - Solution Videos

Here are the first two videos from the Equal Sum Lines puzzle pack by Joseph Nehme - the rest will be released either today or tomorrow!

Something New: https://youtu.be/CW4SRIiNx8M

Hopscotch Line: https://youtu.be/ilfLpDmNI8U

Thanks for watching as always,

Mark & Simon

Modular Lines - Competition Pack

Super excited to share with our patrons today this brand new sudoku pack based around modular lines.  We owe huge thanks to FullDeck, Missing A Few Cards, JC Godart, jeremydover, Raumplaner and rockratzero for putting this together.

How does this new variation work? Well, it's explained in the packs but, along these modular lines, every set of three sequential digits must contain a complete set of residues modulo 3, i.e. one digit from {1,4,7}, one from {2,5,8}, and one from {3,6,9...

Modular Lines - a brand new sudoku variant

Super excited to share with you today two packs featuring a brand new sudoku variant - modular lines.  This variation is the brainchild of two eminent math(s) professors, FullDeck and Missing A Few Cards but they (and we) are indebted to the rest of the team of setters who have contributed equally to these packs: JC Godart, jeremydover, Raumplaner and rockratzero.   

How does this new variation work? Well, it's explained in the packs but, along these modular lines, every ...

Whoops, and whoops again

Oh dear. Sorry for the post today of the May Times Monthly Club Special cryptic crossword, which was indeed a repeat of the video posted last month.

It turns out that for June's puzzle we have a problem - Mark did have a go at it, and record his solve, but the sound did not work (although there was no indication of this during the recording process). Accordingly we currently have a silent video of the solve. The plan now is that Mark will talk over the silent video, to explain what was ...

7000 Puzzles On Our Fan Discord!!!

The CTC discord server is busier than ever. And yesterday, the puzzle archive hit the incredible milestone of 7000 puzzles! All crafted and tested within the CTC discord community. That's 20 years worth of puzzles if you do one each day...

Discord user BenceJoyful has done an amazing amount of work to coordinate a puzzle pack to celebrate this milestone - the pack contains puzzles by many authors whose names will be familiar to you!

There's even a small puzzle hunt (and rumours ...

It's Crazy Cryptic Time

Time to try May's Times Monthly Club Special cryptic crossword, the puzzle that uses the most erudite and obscure vocabulary to defeat would-be solvers.

But Mark tries it without using a dictionary!

This one is by Richard Rogan, the Times Crossword Editor. See the video here:

https://youtu.be/yoXZ73f2r4A 

July Monthly Reward

Equal Sum Lines by Joseph Nehme (ZooZ)

Hello Patreons! Thank you so much for supporting us. Your main reward this month is a pack of puzzles themed on Equal Sum Lines.  PLEASE try them - we think they are Epic! The links to play them in our software are all in the attached pdf file.

Thanks to Joseph for creating them, and checking the pack. To enter the competition (a Baba is You key will be the prize) send us the digits from middle row of the puzzle Endgame (no spaces needed...

PBN Institute Puzzle Packs - the Solution Videos

Panthera, The Asylm and Grkles not only created two fantastic Japanese-Sums-based puzzle packs for our June monthly rewards, they also created solution videos for every single puzzle in them!

We are so grateful to these authors for their incredible work, and indeed for their excellent videos. Kudos, guys!

In the attached pdf, you can find links to solution videos for each of the puzzles in the two packs - but of course you won't earn your doctorate unless you work through all the ...

Could Frame by Sam Cavnar-Johnson

This is a very nice classic sudoku from Sam which needs some complicated tricks (or bifurcation!) unless you spot its secret.

Have a go at the puzzle at the link below:

https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/HM2hg3Pngf

Rules:

Normal sudoku rules apply.

And here's a video in which you can watch both Mark and Simon's solve - Mark doesn't know the trick but Simon does... ...

Constructing 'Jubilee Sudoku'

Mark tries to construct a puzzle to commemorate 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth's Platinum (70 years) Jubilee.  Watch how he goes about it.

The video includes a section of Mark test-solving the puzzle which explains how it can be solved.  The puzzle itself can be tried here: https://app.crackingthecryptic.com/sudoku/TdJmg2nT4M and the rules appear next to the puzzle.

The video is her...

Jubilee Sudoku

Nobody sent us a Jubilee Sudoku to celebrate the reign of Queen Elizabeth II who is aged 96, and has reigned as monarch for 70 years.  Mark decided to try and construct one instead, and to film himself doing so.

In the end, although he is confident this is a unique-answer and solvable sudoku, he wasn't certain the solution path was elegant enough to be a video for the channel, so we are sending it out to Patreons, and would be very interested to know how you find the puzzle.

...

June monthly reward - small update

No matter how much testing is done, when a puzzle pack goes live there's always something that could have been better! This post includes the PBN Patreon Reward puzzle pack, and the Doctoral Program pack, both slightly revised, in one case to make a small clarification to the method of entering the answers, and in another case to tidy up a little ambiguity in one puzzle.

Well done to those (several) who have already completed both packs and sent the right answers! And those (many) who h...

Patreon June Monthly Reward

Patreon June Monthly Reward

Hello Patreons! Thank you so much for supporting our channel. As this month’s reward, we are delighted to present two puzzle packs under the title The PBN Institute Thinks Big.

Our thanks go to Professors Panthera, TheAsylm and Grkles, who have created two PBN Institute packs. Both packs contain a number of Japanese Sums-style sudokus and instructions on how to derive the secret message to send to 2022-06-01 15:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post

Will that Mad Crossword make a Fool of Me?

Mark tries April's Times Monthly Club Special, the insane crossword that delves the depths of the English dictionary. How will he get on this time?

Here is where you can check out the video:

https://youtu.be/g_60EOgqQco

Simon Solves Tapa Sudoku

Hi all, 

We hope many of you will have had a chance to watch the incredible solve of Thomas Snyder of this puzzle on the main channel already. Originally I made this video intending to pick bits of it out for use in that video but it got very messy in editing so we decided to go for a "commentary" style for the main channel video.  We wondered whether some of our patrons might enjoy watching Simon struggle through the puzzle so here it is :)  

Serkan has just releas...

The Insane Cryptic Crossword

Mark battles again with the Times Monthly Club Special. Fair warning: there will be some bonkers vocabulary ahead!

This puzzle is by Richard Rogan, and is available to Times Crossword Club members.

Here is the link to the video: 

https://youtu.be/u3CxezzCPVM 

May Patreon Reward - Solution Key Update

It has been pointed out - quite correctly - that there is a tie in the category we requested (total of the corner cells)!  So we are changing the solution key request to the largest total for a 9-cell diagonal amongst the three puzzles, eg "Puzzle 1: 45".

The puzzle grids are unchanged this time!  And now ... I am going for a lie down ...