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Comment by Smaug123 | Hacker News Reader

Answering the object-level problem "my grandma wanted to play some sudokus on her computer", I really enjoyed the Cracking the Cryptic-affiliated game "Classic Sudoku", which is available on Steam, although some of the puzzles are really hard. The puzzles are all handmade, and many of them have some specific reason to exist: e.g. there's at least one which is clearly intended to teach you the swordfish pattern, and there are a few which appear to be built around some beautiful one-off ideas.

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Cracking the cryptic is fantastic. The beauty in the setting of some of their showcased puzzles is truly wonderful to watch get solved.

I love the feeling of finding the beauty of how a puzzle resolves. The hand set puzzles are as much a challenge to player as they are a demonstration of the setter's own skill and cleverness.

And it is such a fantastic resource to learn! You want to get into puzzles like they do on the channel? Just open a video, pause it, and click the link in the description. Stare at the puzzle, trying to figure it out. The first time you do this, you probably won't. Once you lose patience (but give yourself some time!), watch the video until Simon or Mark get to the first deduction and explain it. Pause the video again, and try to continue using your new knowledge. When you get stuck again, what (or skim) through the video until they do enter a deduction that you have not found. Rinse and repeat.

Do this a couple of times with different videos, and you will start to build a repertoire of techniques yourself. At some point, you will be capable of solving puzzles on your own. (And if you get stuck, the video is there to help you.)

Very reminiscent of agadmator and his chess videos, but without the app

Normally I get a bit tired or skip ahead when technical topics or gameplay centered strategies are explained over and over again on the same channel, but I can watch them prove the Phistomefel ring or break down the logic on disqualifying candidates with their shaders every time.

Cracking The Cryptic also has a "Genuinely Approachable Sudoku" community (Discord is the only public feed I'm aware of), where a handmade puzzle using all sorts of Sudoku variants is posted daily.

There’s also the self-titled “Cracking the Cryptic” app that has a bunch of handmade Sudoku & friends puzzles that range in difficulty from pretty tricky up to fiendish.

https://crackingthecryptic.com/#apps

Puzzles featured on their channel are usually too hard for me. Not all, but I spend 5-10x more time than regulars and get stuck often. So I solve these with Simon in a parallel tab (there’s a playable pink under every video). Sometimes I yell at him because he solves it in a very complex way when there was a sudoku move available.

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