Find and Clear the Sudoku Space Lanes

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:16]Hi and welcome to Brimster Puzzles, a channel where I showcase the fun that could be had in the world of variant Sudoku. And today I'm doing this with a puzzle that was submitted by Will Power, which is apparently one of Willpower's first puzzles. So, I'm looking forward to trying what they thought was one of their interesting first creations. Um, cuz Willpower has done some incredible puzzles. Before I get on to this one though, I do want to call out that starting in a couple of days, there's going to be a new Sedokudes pack.

[00:00:43]Sedokudes being the coffee to lunch break puzzles that I've been creating for about a year. Um, and this would be Sedokudes pack 11. And it will come out as a free post on my Patreon. You won't even need to be a Patreon um subscriber to Patreon to get it. it'll be available for everyone, but the videos for the puzzles are coming out on other channels. Half of them will be coming out on Timab's channel and half of them will be coming out on Puzzle Pets's channel. So, if you want to make sure you catch those, then I highly recommend you jump over to Puzzle Peter and Timab and subscribe to their channels because they're really, really good and you should absolutely check out the puzzles that they present. Okay, but before then, let's have a look at Galaxy Mind Sweeper Sudoku by Willpower. Um so of course there'll be a link below to where you can try this puzzle for yourself. Um let's have a look at the rules. We've got normal Sudoku rules apply which means in every box in every row and in every column the digits 1 to nine must be placed without repetition. Then there are four non-over overlapping paths which are spiral arms of orthogonally or diagonally adjacent cells that contain the digits from one to n in ascending order. Okay. So what that would mean is let's say this was a path um like maybe like that then that path would have to contain the digits 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8.

[00:02:04]Okay, that couldn't work. But let's say this was a path that would um and it was doing this. Let's ignore the given digits for now. That would be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 or 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and it couldn't overlap with another path. Now, it's possible maybe a path could do something like that, but you couldn't have a path that went into that cell as well because that would be an overlap and the paths cannot overlap. Okay? So, all paths end in the central three oh end in the central 3x3 box. So, they all end in this box um with this five, six, seven, and eight. So, that means that all um one of them is going to end on the five in this box. One of them is going to end on the six in this box. One of them is going to end on the seven in that box.

[00:02:51]And one of them is going to end on the eight in box five. Okay, cool. The paths are found by adding the total number of pink cells, the mines surrounding the cell, including itself. The mines have no effect on the puzzle other than determining the four spiral arms. So, let's redraw that path. If this was a path doing say that, that would be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Okay, that doesn't work. But um if let's deal with that by dropping that off then this okay so what that would say is because well actually let's not worry about this but because this is on the path it would be counting the number of pink cells the paths are found found by adding the total number of pink cells mine surrounding the cell including itself.

[00:03:41]So this cell would count those those cells and that would have to be the six.

[00:03:46]So this could be a six because 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 six cells are counted. So that could only be a six if that was on the path. This cell if it was on the path could be 1 2 3 4 5. This cell if it was on the path could only be a three because it only sees three cells around it including itself. Okay, I'm going to restart the puzzle to restart my timer.

[00:04:09]Let's give this a shot.

[00:04:12]So, I can see by Sudoku that seven is in one of those two. If that's a seven, it's not on the path. I probably need to start by figuring out where the digits can be because there needs to be an eight in this box that ends the path.

[00:04:26]Now, that only sees 1 2 3 4 5 six cells.

[00:04:29]That's not the eight. That one sees 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. That's not the eight. That one sees 1 2 3 4 5 cells. That's not the eight. That one sees 1 2 3 4 5 6 7.

[00:04:42]That's not the eight. That one sees five cells. That's not the eight. That one sees seven cells. That's not the eight.

[00:04:49]That one sees seven cells. That's not the eight. That's the eight. And it must move to a seven, which must be one of those two because and it can't be that one. And the reason it must be one of those two is the only 87 that that could touch because it has to go from one to n ending in um box five is because um it can't overlap with the path that must end with the seven in box five. So it has to move to one of those.

[00:05:19]But that's only a five. So it's not there. And that 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. That is the seven. And that path goes to there which now must go to a six.

[00:05:33]So, one of the Well, it can't be there because um it can't be in box five because there is a path ending as six in box five. So, there's a six in one of those cells.

[00:05:45]So, purple is going to jump to there, there, there, or there. Now, this cell here sees one. This cell here sees 1 2 3 4. That's not it. This cell sees 1 2 3 4. That's not it. That cell says 1 2 3 4 5 6. That cell says 1 2 3 4 5. That's not it. And this is the six. And the path jumps to there.

[00:06:10]And that's now that has to jump to a five.

[00:06:15]And the five. Oops. Get out. Let's get uh doing that. That might have been a bit overboard. The five has to be in one of those. Now that's only a four. That's only a two. That's only a four. The five is in one of those two. That is a five.

[00:06:27]And that is a five. So the five is in one of those two and the purple path is going to jump to one of those two.

[00:06:37]Okay, let's maybe look at seven because seven can't be there anymore. Seven is in one of those. That is 1 2 3 4 5 6.

[00:06:45]That's not the seven. That is a seven with six and one. That is only five.

[00:06:51]That's not the seven. So one of those two is the seven.

[00:06:55]Six is also up here because six can't be in those. So six is also in one of those. That one is 1 2 3 4 5 six. That could be a six. That's a seven. Yeah.

[00:07:06]Any of them that could be seven can't be six because the count is wrong. And that one is only five. This is the six.

[00:07:15]So if that was a seven, now it would have to get its six in one of those two.

[00:07:22]But that would be a six. That could be fine.

[00:07:26]That would only be a four. So if that's a seven, that's a six.

[00:07:33]And I need to put a five in this box.

[00:07:36]Well, it can't be what? That's a seven.

[00:07:38]These are possible seven. So the five is only one of those. That one sees seven.

[00:07:42]So that's not the five. That one sees seven. So that's not the five. That one sees five. And that one sees five. Okay.

[00:07:51]So I've got it down to this.

[00:07:56]This six is definitely the end of a line and it needs to jump to a five.

[00:08:03]So, there's a five in one of uh It can't be there. There's a five in one of those.

[00:08:11]They're all fives. Oh, that one's not.

[00:08:13]That's four. 1 2 3 four. Those three are all fives.

[00:08:20]So, all of those are possible.

[00:08:33]So, if that's a seven, six is in one of those two cuz I can't stay in the box. Six is in one of those two. It can't be there. Now, it can't be there cuz that's only a three. So, that would be the six and that it does say six. So, if that's seven, that's six.

[00:09:02]Where would the five be?

[00:09:06]It can't go back into the box. So, if that's the six, the five would have to be in one of those three, but that's a five. 765 could work.

[00:09:23]Yeah, that could work.

[00:09:27]But hang on a minute.

[00:09:29]Where would that six get its five from?

[00:09:32]Then it would have to take that one and then it would take.

[00:09:46]If this is seven, this becomes six and that would be the five.

[00:09:53]And then the four couldn't go this way.

[00:10:02]The four would still have to be in this box.

[00:10:06]So that would be the four. So 76 54.

[00:10:17]That works. But then where does this six go?

[00:10:28]Where does this six go?

[00:10:35]It feels like they'd both be running into this area and they'd be running out of room, but I'm not sure how to prove that.

[00:10:50]Can that be a seven?

[00:10:53]Yeah, because of Sudoku, the six would have to be there. And that is one 1 2 3 4 5 6. That would be the six.

[00:11:02]And that seems okay, too.

[00:11:12]And then that would have to jump to a five, which could just be in the middle of the box, or that would be could be a five.

[00:11:21]So there's options.

[00:11:26]Is it down here? Is it continuing with this path? Cuz if this is a five, it's got to go to a four. Now that's not a four. That's a five. And it' have to be in one of these. It could be in this box because well, it Yeah, it has to be in one of these cuz it has to jump to a four. Now that's not a four cuz it sees seven. That does see four. That only sees two. That sees three. And that sees five. So it'll be five. Four. And that would then have to jump to a three.

[00:12:00]And it can't. I guess it could. 5 43.

[00:12:07]5 43. Cuz that only sees three in those nine cells. And then that would be a two. And that would be a one.

[00:12:16]Oh, where does this get its one from?

[00:12:22]Does that have to be the purple one?

[00:12:27]Cuz if this goes five, it's got to go four. I can't get three in this box.

[00:12:32]That's only two. That's only two.

[00:12:35]That's four. So out of four here, out of all of those, that's the only three. So it' be 5 43.

[00:12:45]But if this is the five, that would be a four.

[00:12:53]That would be a three.

[00:12:57]That would be a two. And that would be a one. That's always the purple one. And I think that has to be the purple two.

[00:13:06]No, that could be the purple two. 5 4 3.

[00:13:09]That could be the purple two. But that is always the purple one.

[00:13:17]Um, okay. So, six could go to there for a five. That's a five. And that's a five.

[00:13:36]Whichever way that goes, it then needs to jump to a four.

[00:13:44]Well, it can't jump to that four.

[00:13:51]So, where are the fours up here?

[00:13:57]If this is a five, that's a four. So, if it's here, it goes to there.

[00:14:08]If it's here, it goes to there. And if it's here, it goes to there.

[00:14:17]But if it cuz it can't go to here cuz that's actually six.

[00:14:22]And the So it couldn't go to any of those or that cuz while that's uh cuz there's a four and that's not a four. So if it's there, it goes there. But then where does it get its three?

[00:14:36]If it goes five, four, where's the three?

[00:14:44]Not a three, not a three.

[00:14:47]That's a four. That's a four. That's a one. That's an eight. That's a two.

[00:14:51]That's a four. This can't be the five.

[00:14:53]It' have to go to there. And there's no three around it. So, that is not the five. The five is in one of these two.

[00:15:00]Now, if this is the five, where's the four?

[00:15:04]Can't be there. That's not a four. None of those a four. That's not a four.

[00:15:11]Is that always the four? No. One of the Yeah, I think that has to be the four.

[00:15:15]That's not a four. That's always the four. That's always the yellow four, which then has to jump to a three.

[00:15:27]Now that's a three.

[00:15:29]That's a three.

[00:15:31]So it could jump to there. It could jump to there. Uh there's no no there's quite a few options here cuz 4 3 2 1 works.

[00:15:43]4 3 2 1 works. 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 No, that doesn't work.

[00:16:00]432 43 Yeah, there's a lot of options there.

[00:16:11]Hang on. But that takes four out of here. So where was this? Five's four.

[00:16:16]That's So if this is a five now, it has to jump to one of those two. But that's a three. And that's a thing. That's not the five anymore.

[00:16:26]This is the five.

[00:16:30]And it can't jump to there because that's a five. That's the four.

[00:16:37]Whoops. Wrong place.

[00:16:39]That's the four, which has to jump to a three. That's a two. That's a five.

[00:16:44]That's the three.

[00:16:46]And now it has to connect up via that cell. So we can just draw that line. Get rid of the X. Get rid of the And this becomes the two. And that line is done.

[00:17:00]That puts four in one of those two.

[00:17:14]If that's the seven now, how do I grow it? The six would be there.

[00:17:23]Then where would I put the five?

[00:17:27]The only place I could put the five would be there. But I can't put the five there because the five for yellow is in one of those two.

[00:17:38]So if this is seven, this is six. And I'd have to put the five here, which isn't a five, or here, which isn't a five. That's not the seven. This is the seven, which must go to a six. But by sudoku, um, it's in one of those three, but to be adjacent, but the two sixes mean that's the six.

[00:17:57]which now has to jump to a five.

[00:18:02]Well, there's lots of play. I can't jump back into the box. Now, one of those two is a five, which has to jump to a four.

[00:18:09]Well, that's not a right. So, if that was a five, it can't jump to either of those anymore. And that's not a four.

[00:18:16]And it Oh, no. It could go back into the box, but it can't because that's a seven. So, that's not the five. That's the five, which has to jump to a four.

[00:18:27]That's not a four. It has to be one of those. That's not a four. That is That is That's not That's not The four is in one of those two. So, we can use green. Oops. No, I wanted this sort of green. Five goes into one of those two, which then has to jump to a three.

[00:18:59]Can that four jump to a three? That's not a three. That's not a three. That's not a three. That's not a three. It's only two. That's two. That's four. And that is four. So that four can't jump to a three.

[00:19:15]So that's the four, which now also has to jump to a three.

[00:19:23]Let's put four in one of those two.

[00:19:29]Has to jump to a three.

[00:19:32]In one of those cells.

[00:19:35]That's not three. That's not three.

[00:19:38]That's not three. That's not three.

[00:19:41]That's not three. Those are both three. So the four is jumping to one of those two.

[00:20:04]So where is this six getting its five now?

[00:20:08]It has to be one of those three cells because it can't be either of those and it can't jump back into the box. One of those is the five. Now, that sees 1 2 3 4. Okay, that can't be the five cuz it only Oh, no. Any of those could be the five. Holy cow. That sees five. 1 2 3 4 5. That sees 1 2 3 4 5. And that sees 1 2 3 4 5. Any of those could be the five.

[00:20:34]Well, that's a bore.

[00:20:40]If this was the five, can I jump to a four? Yes, that's a four. 1 2 3 four.

[00:20:47]No, that can't be the four. If that's a five, where does it get its four?

[00:20:52]That's a five and that's a five. So, it' have to go down to a four. That's a three and that's only a two. That can't be the five. And that's only a two. So the five is in one of those two. So blue goes up into one of those two which means five is in one of those two.

[00:21:12]And this five looks up saying not there.

[00:21:14]That's the five eight is down here actually. Should I be doing more sedoku?

[00:21:32]1 2 3 4 5 6 7 and nine. Oh, seven. Oh, no, that's not a seven. That's a six or a nine.

[00:21:45]This is a 5- seven pair. 5757. That is a 5-7 pair.

[00:21:53]These are Where's the two in this row?

[00:21:56]That's the two. And these are one and three.

[00:22:01]So that can't be the three anymore.

[00:22:06]This is the three, which has to jump to a two, which can't be down here. So this three has to jump to a two. It's not any of those. That's not two.

[00:22:18]All of those could be the two. That sees those two. That sees those two. And that sees those two.

[00:22:26]But the two then needs to jump to a one.

[00:22:29]That two would need to find a one in one of those. Those are filled. That's a four.

[00:22:36]That's a two. That's a two. That's a two. That's not That's a That's a three.

[00:22:41]That's not the two. That two could jump to a one. There.

[00:22:47]Is there any other ones around that two?

[00:22:49]That's not a two. Sorry, that's not a one. That's not a one. That's not a one.

[00:22:55]That is That's filled. That's a two.

[00:22:58]That's a three. That's not a one. Now, if the two is there, that's the one. If that's the two, it's in one of those. Not a two, not a Sorry, not a one, not a one, not a one, not a one, not a one, not a one, not a one. That's always the one for green.

[00:23:18]So green, oops, wrong color. Green goes into one of those two and then into the three.

[00:23:26]But the one means this is the three and this is the one.

[00:23:32]These are four, eight, and nine. There's no nine there.

[00:23:39]So that means there's no four there.

[00:23:40]That's the four. These are 1, two, and three. There's no two there. There's no one there.

[00:23:50]So, this is from 1 and three. And the one looks down, making that the three.

[00:23:55]Cuz 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. These are 1 2 3.

[00:24:00]The 1 two makes that the three, that the two, that the one, which makes that the three. These are one and nine.

[00:24:14]This still needs to jump to a four.

[00:24:19]Well, that that can't be the four because there's a four in the box. So, the four it jumps into is in one of those two.

[00:24:28]Yeah, because it can't jump to a four in this box. It has to because of the 4 8 9. It has to jump into these, which means that's not the four. That's the four. That is sees 1 2 3 4. That sees 1 2 3 4. No, that sees five. 1 2 3 4 5.

[00:24:42]That's not the four. That's the four.

[00:24:44]Which means that has to be the five because I can't jump from there to there. This is very clever. Whoops.

[00:24:50]That's the wrong sort of line drawing that goes to there. Which means this is not the line to the five. That's the seven.

[00:24:58]Four needs to jump to three now. Well, it can't jump to a three in this column.

[00:25:03]It's one of those two. But that is a five. So that's the three. And I can draw in the blue line, which now needs to jump to a two.

[00:25:14]Well, that's a two. That's a two. That's a two.

[00:25:19]That's not That's a two. So any of those could be the two. But it then needs to jump to a one. If that's the two, there's no one in range because neither of those are a one. If that's a two, there's no one in range cuz neither none of those are a one. So the two is in one of those two.

[00:25:42]Oh, by Sudoku. One is in one of those two cuz one, one, and one. And I think this has to get its one in this box because that's not because by um minds that sees two, that sees three, that sees five, that's a nine, that sees two, and that sees two. So the one for this path is over here. So, this is going to have to go into one of the twos and then into one of the ones. And it could go either way. That's strange, but cool.

[00:26:18]So, is this telling me anything about this path? This four needs to go to a three.

[00:26:30]If that was the three.

[00:26:35]Yeah. If this was the three, where would it get its two? None of those are two.

[00:26:41]So, it would have to go two and then it would have to pick up its one over here.

[00:26:45]But this one is now allocated to blue.

[00:26:47]And they can't overlap. So, this can't go up to here to a three. That's not a three. That's not a three. That That's a four. That's not a three. That's the five. So, the three is there. And yellow goes that way.

[00:27:03]And then that needs to jump to a two in one of those. Well, that's a three.

[00:27:08]That's a four. So that's the two.

[00:27:12]And the only thing one it can reach is that one, but I'm not sure which five it gets.

[00:27:18]I know that one of those two is a five by Sudoku.

[00:27:26]These are 6 7 and 9 and must contain a seven.

[00:27:31]1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 8 9. These are 189. That can't be Oh, that's an eight cuz it can't be a one or a nine. That's an eight. There's no eight here.

[00:27:43]There's an eight in one of those two.

[00:27:47]Seven looks down saying no seven there.

[00:27:48]That's the seven.

[00:27:56]The two looks across saying that's not the two. So this is the two. And I can simplify the path because it goes into that two which jumps to one of those two ones.

[00:28:14]I still don't know that that can't be the five. I could put the two the fives in those positions. I think so. Now it's a lot more sedoku.

[00:28:24]Two and two puts two in one of those three, but not there. Two is in one of those two.

[00:28:34]Four is in one of those two. That's not a four.

[00:28:42]Five.

[00:28:45]That's only six or seven. It can't be 1 2 3 4 5 8 or nine. That's only six or seven.

[00:28:59]That's a one. One and one means that's a one, which means that's not the one.

[00:29:03]That's the one, which means the blue path is finished.

[00:29:14]2 3 2 3 means three is in one of those two.

[00:29:25]Seven is in one of those two.

[00:29:40]There's got to be a way of narrowing this down, assuming I haven't made a terrible mistake, which is very possible.

[00:29:48]We've all watched me solve column 4 2 6 8 9. So that's only 2 or six.

[00:30:00]That's 68 or 9.

[00:30:03]That's 68 or 9. This is not it.

[00:30:25]Column 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8. These are four, five, and eight. And the four, five looks across making that the eight, that the four, that the five. That takes four out of there.

[00:30:42]So now, where's four in this box? Four and four means it's down here. But those two fours means that's a four. So this is 6, eight or nine.

[00:30:54]So five is in one of those two.

[00:31:07]Three is in one of those two because of the threes looking into this box.

[00:31:16]The eight is looking across saying that's not the eight. That's the eight.

[00:31:19]And now eight is there by Sudoku.

[00:31:25]So that looks up saying that's not the eight. This is 2, six or nine.

[00:31:31]Where's one in this row? One and one means that's the one. Meaning that's the nine. That's the one. This is six or nine.

[00:31:49]Five is in one of those two. This is 2, six, or nine for the column.

[00:31:56]Five is in one of those two. Five is in one of these. I don't see how to narrow that down.

[00:32:04]Oh, I've got the count wrong. 1 2 3 4.

[00:32:07]That only sees four. That's the five.

[00:32:11]That one only saw four cells. That's the ah that's where I went wrong.

[00:32:18]So that's now the three and that's the two. The five looks down saying that's not the five, that's the five. The two looks down saying that's not the two.

[00:32:27]The three looks down saying that's not the three, that's the three.

[00:32:33]Two and two means that's the two.

[00:32:35]Meaning that's not the two, that's the two. And I've now finished the paths.

[00:32:43]So this is six or nine for the row. This is six or nine with the six looking down. Making that the nine. That the six.

[00:32:52]Making that the nine. Taking nine out of there.

[00:32:58]This column that's a seven. So that's not a seven.

[00:33:03]That's a seven. These are six and eight.

[00:33:13]This is 6 8 or 9 for the for the column because it's 6 7 8 9 but that one can't be a seven. So that's a 689 triple. So that is the five.

[00:33:26]So this is 6 8 or 9. But five and five means that's the five and this is a 6-9.

[00:33:33]And the nine makes that the six, that the nine, that the six, that the nine, that the six, that the nine. The six makes that the seven. The nine makes that the eight and that the nine. The eight and the nine means that's the six.

[00:33:50]There's no six there. The nine means that's the eight, making that the six, that the eight. And that is the correct solution. What a puzzle. Now, I know this puzzle is years old, so for it to only have 21 solves is kind of broken.

[00:34:05]That was incredible.

[00:34:08]Absolutely stunning puzzle willpower.

[00:34:12]What an in interesting puzzle.

[00:34:18]Thank you everyone for watching. I hope you found that one. Yeah. And it was spirals. You can see that they all go in the same direction. But man, finding that was weird. Very cool stuff. Thank you everyone for watching. I hope you enjoyed this one and as always, good luck with your solving.