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Administrator
   
Country : India | |
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Administrator
Country : India | |
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Administrator
Country : India | About Classic Tapa Contest - 2016- Classic Tapa Contest (CTC) is a contest for solving Classic Tapa Puzzles, along with its older sibling "Tapa Variations Contest".
- Everyday a new Tapa will be available to solve. Unlike TVC, all puzzles in CTCs are to be solved online.
- CTC will follow Indian Standard Time (which is 5.5 hours ahead of GMT). Check the submission page for exact timing in your time zone
- We will be publishing week wise grid sizes in advance
- At the end of 7 weeks (on the same day that TVC 2016 ends), a winner will be declared. The winner of CTC will have a title called Classic Tapa Master.
CTC Scoring systemThe scoring system and formula are exactly same as previous years.- Submissions within 60 minutes will be considered for scoring
- 2 minutes penalty for each wrong submission
- 15% time penalty for each late day (maximum 2 late days are allowed – so a puzzle can be solved upto 72 hours after it is uploaded)
- Each puzzle has its own points, which is computed from solving times of top 10% players on that day.
- Each player gets points for solving a puzzle based on own solving time and others’ solving times. Exponential distribution is used.
- Total points for a player is sum of puzzle points over 7 weeks.
Details in the pdf file Download | View
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Administrator
Country : India | |
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swaroop2011
Posts: 668
Country : India | So next couple of months be gonna fun :) |
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rob
Posts: 170
Country : Germany | rob posted @ 2015-12-30 1:37 PM There's a small bug with marking off clues: If you click a clue, there's no redraw until you move the mouse, so it feels like the click doesn't work. (This is on Mac OS.) |
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debmohanty
Country : India | rob - 2015-12-30 1:37 PM
There's a small bug with marking off clues: If you click a clue, there's no redraw until you move the mouse, so it feels like the click doesn't work. (This is on Mac OS.) Same problem on Windows as well. |
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muhorka
Posts: 13
Country : Slovakia | muhorka posted @ 2015-12-30 2:58 PM When I finish solving the puzzle (date 29th december) say, it is correct, but it doesnt. I do not know, if it si problem only in this puzzle or general problem... |
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ghirsch
Posts: 102
Country : United States | ghirsch posted @ 2015-12-31 2:39 AM muhorka - 2015-12-29 3:58 PM
When I finish solving the puzzle (date 29th december) say, it is correct, but it doesnt. I do not know, if it si problem only in this puzzle or general problem...
The same thing happened to me on today's puzzle. Edited by ghirsch 2015-12-31 2:39 AM
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tamz29
Posts: 225
Country : Thailand | tamz29 posted @ 2016-01-01 1:58 AM Are the standings available for those outside top 20? |
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Administrator
Country : India | tamz29 - 2016-01-01 1:58 AM
Are the standings available for those outside top 20? Not for the trial days. It will be available only after the contest starts tomorrow. |
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Administrator
Country : India | Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 1Here are the grid sizes for this week.
2nd Jan : 9x9
3rd Jan : 10x10
4th Jan : 8x8
5th Jan : 9x9
6th Jan : 10x10
7th Jan : 13x13
8th Jan : 9x9
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Valezius
Posts: 66
Country : Hungary | I'm a bit confused.
Classic Tapa Contest (Day 0) ends at 1/2/2016 6:29:59 PM local time | 1/2/2016 5:29:59 PM GMT
Server current time 1/2/2016 12:45:13 PM local time | 1/2/2016 11:45:13 AM GMT
So the actual puzzle is official or not yet?
It's still day0. |
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Administrator
Country : India | Valezius - 2016-01-02 5:18 PM
I'm a bit confused.
Classic Tapa Contest (Day 0) ends at 1/2/2016 6:29:59 PM local time | 1/2/2016 5:29:59 PM GMT
Server current time 1/2/2016 12:45:13 PM local time | 1/2/2016 11:45:13 AM GMT
So the actual puzzle is official or not yet?
It's still day0. Fixed the message. It is Day 1. |
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Swagatam
Posts: 45
Country : India | When will be the full standings available? |
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debmohanty
Country : India | Swagatam - 2016-01-02 7:44 PM
When will be the full standings available? Soon. We are working on it |
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debmohanty
Country : India | |
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Administrator
Country : India | You can now view others' solves in the score page.
Also, I think the score page is fully functional now. If you notice any oddities, please post here. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-05 12:20 AM Comments on 2016-01-02's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-02 12:04:17Damn that was too slow for me. But was trying to avoid mistakes. Excellent Puzzle to start with.
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-02 23:02:39tough start :/
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-06 12:21 AM Comments on 2016-01-03's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-03 00:41:03ah. did bad again. Back to back tough ones.
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-03 01:27:29guess I'm the only one that couldnt do NEARLY any of the others but did this in the shortest time? guess I'm alone...
thesubro commented at 2016-01-03 01:51:48For those of us who must be missing the top 20, when do the full standings come out and will we be able to see how we did vis-a-vis the rest of the competitiors? Thx.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-03 04:41:19I think they are still working on Full scoreboard (as posted in forum ), it will be available soon.
debmohanty commented at 2016-01-03 06:00:18Full Standings - http://logicmastersindia.com/2016/CTC/score.asp
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-07 12:01 AM Comments on 2016-01-04's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-04 23:46:09decent. easy puzzle.
easonrevant commented at 2016-01-05 04:28:19easy, but a good test of speed solving ability
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-08 12:02 AM Comments on 2016-01-05's Tapa
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-05 04:58:20This is the first one where I couldn't see a logical path. I did after proving that the middle 3 clue had to have its right shaded, but proving that needed a fair bit of trial on its left. After that though this had very nice logic with connectivity prevented through certain areas.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-05 09:08:31Tough one. Not my day i guess.
I started out correctly, but kept making same mistake every time in the top. But anyways this is just getting started, hoping to catch up score on other days.
Grizix commented at 2016-01-05 09:31:44Same as Prasanna.
And I never thought I'd say that about a puzzle ^^
Para commented at 2016-01-05 15:04:48I couldn't see the path in the solve, but figured it out now.
rob commented at 2016-01-05 16:03:54My best argument so far is: The only way to connect the two halves of the 33 clue locally leaves the 2 of the 24 clue stranded on the right, so regardless, we have to loop from the top of the 33 clue all the way around the top right to the bottom middle. This implies that R5C3 is shaded, among others. Since the 24 clue takes one of the 13's shaded cells, as does the central 3 clue, R7C3 can't be shaded.
rob commented at 2016-01-05 16:04:38The best bet for solving quickly still seems to be a case distinction on the central 3 (and don't mess it up... ).
xevs commented at 2016-01-05 19:50:46tough...t'was bad day for me too...
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debmohanty
Country : India | Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 2Here are the grid sizes for this week.
9th Jan : 10x10
10th Jan : 11x11
11th Jan : 12x12
12th Jan : 9x9
13th Jan : 10x10
14th Jan : 11x11
15th Jan : 12x12
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-09 12:25 AM Comments on 2016-01-06's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-06 02:27:26Uff. Finally avoided the mistake. back to back hard ones. : )
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-06 02:31:42and yeah forgot to mention, there is nice uniqueness trick in top left : )
rob commented at 2016-01-07 14:15:14Besides the uniqueness, what I learnt here is that if two corners of a 113 clue are shaded, then all four must be shaded. Still not a smooth solve for me.
Para commented at 2016-01-07 19:00:01@Rob: Same goes for the cells orthogonally adjacent to the clue cell around a 113.
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-01-08 17:18:16Liked the flow of this puzzle. Though, took me a while to get things going. And completely missed the break-ins, ended up guessing throughout.
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-01-08 17:20:13Sorry, posted the comment on wrong day :- ) The above comment was supposed to be for 7th-Jan.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-10 12:26 AM Comments on 2016-01-07's Tapa
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-07 00:05:00That was really cool. : )
Igor_Aipkin commented at 2016-01-07 01:33:18Lovely puzzle
john_reid commented at 2016-01-07 05:06:39Excellent puzzle - I wish it hadn't taken me so long to see the break-in point. I don't remember ever having seen that clever use of a mostly surrounded 3-1-1 clue before!
rob commented at 2016-01-07 14:19:35This one was really fun, thank you!
Para commented at 2016-01-07 18:58:19That was really nice.
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-07 23:23:12Really fun puzzle. Learned to use uniqueness to solve the Tapa : )
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-08 02:35:38I went pretty slow on this one. but nice solve
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-01-08 17:19:31Liked the flow of this puzzle. Though, took me a while to get things going. And completely missed the break-ins, ended up guessing throughout.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-11 12:27 AM Comments on 2016-01-08's Tapa
debmohanty commented at 2016-01-08 00:28:03It looks like today's is going to be a mistake gallery.
rob commented at 2016-01-08 00:42:19I don't get it, it wasn't even that hard. But the batch of unsolvable puzzles at the start has put me into this guess early mode, and experimental solving just doesn't work for me with the applet...
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-08 03:01:43nice easy one. I guess i did one mistake with 2-2-1 combination clue, apart from that went smooth.
Para commented at 2016-01-08 09:57:08Not sure why, but I kept clicking the wrong button. Still a good time though.
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-08 15:32:08Nice puzzle
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-12 12:28 AM Comments on 2016-01-09's Tapa
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-09 01:52:39now that was fun!
bram28 commented at 2016-01-09 03:00:52Ugh! I perceived the 13 as a 113. Stared at it for 2 whole minutes before I saw my mistake.
sayan commented at 2016-01-09 07:08:57from where you started to begin?
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-09 12:43:40i started from the bottom right
Para commented at 2016-01-09 14:46:47@Sayan: Think about how the 33 interacts with the 6's next to it.
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-01-09 15:27:15That was indeed fun!
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-09 20:27:23Nice puzzle. once I was able to put some boxes in bottom right everything went very easy.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-13 12:29 AM Comments on 2016-01-10's Tapa
rob commented at 2016-01-10 01:01:46Really happy I didn't make a mistake on this one, it's so hard to look at adjacent clues independently...
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-10 02:54:20nice one. I went pretty fast. but took time to interpret adjacent 2 , 3 clue cells. nice one.
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-10 19:22:11Nice puzzle. Made mistake in lower corner for 1,2 hint. Very good puzzle
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-14 12:00 AM Comments on 2016-01-11's Tapa
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-11 00:06:52This one is beautiful. Figured out some new patterns here.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-11 09:57:29Another 3-1-1 clue that got me started on this one. Great puzzle!
anderson commented at 2016-01-11 19:16:08The 3-1-1, 3-2, 5-1 combination was great, I've never seen that before.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-15 12:01 AM Comments on 2016-01-12's Tapa
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-12 12:48:37Nice puzzle
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Administrator
Country : India | Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 3Here are the grid sizes for this week.
16th Jan : 13x13
17th Jan : 14x14
18th Jan : 15x15
19th Jan : 8x8
20th Jan : 8x8
21st Jan : 9x9
22nd Jan : 9x9
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-16 12:03 AM Comments on 2016-01-13's Tapa
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-13 00:17:04Saw the logical way on the resolve but I don't really regret not waiting for it because its really narrow and obscure. A nice puzzle once you figure it out though.
rob commented at 2016-01-13 00:49:37Hmm, care to share a hint? I only saw the wrong way out of the bottom left fail when the puzzle became non-unique in the top left... (And then it does fail due to connectivity, but that's going quite far. ) It's nice when the required case distinction is near the start, though, because then I can just "Clear Puzzle".
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-13 00:51:10Its a lot of connectivity stuff, thinking that something can't come out from two separate places at the same time. The bottom 3-1-1 can also be proven to be straight or curved early on which helps.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-13 00:53:40Specifically, the top left part of the bottom 3-1-1 will have to be part of the "3" of it and the top right of it can either come out upwards through the middle or through the right, meaning the bottom has to come out from the right. Does require some forward thinking but not much if you spot the right patterns.
kiwijam commented at 2016-01-13 06:24:03I've done this a few times now, but still don't see much logic at the start. If you guess wrong then there's no immediate contradiction, and you can continue happily until connectivity fails later. But I suppose guessing is probably still faster than trying to find a logical track.
kiwijam commented at 2016-01-13 06:29:24PS I found the top-right corner a faster place to start guessing.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-13 06:29:57Yeah - it was just TOO hard.
Para commented at 2016-01-13 09:32:19That was confusing. My brain really kept excluding correct options. Surprised I'm still so far at the top.
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-13 12:41:03For any guess I made, contradiction came very late and I have to redo this puzzle many times. Very nice puzzle to get your brain ticking.
anderson commented at 2016-01-13 21:15:35I kept thinking I had a contradiction when guessing my way through it, and it turned out that my very first guess wasn't actually a contradiction but I thought it was. Oops!
Is there a solution that doesn't involve thinking more than two steps forward at any point?
rob commented at 2016-01-14 00:56:34I'm somewhat closer to something reasonable now (trying out chess notation ): A3,B4,A5 shaded, DE6 blank. Can't go through below E2 (else D3 can't escape ). Wall between CD4 (else D2 can't escape ). There's now two options for C3: B3B4C4 shaded, in which case D3 has to escape along DEF3, or D234 shadedin which case D1 must also be shaded (say for A3 to escape ). So we also have two options for E2, and in both cases, F1 is a shaded 1.
rob commented at 2016-01-14 01:03:08...
Now we see that F3 has to be part of G4's 3, and its group can either escape up along the center, or to the bottom right (but not both ). So F3 has to escape along the right of I3. Now H4 must be blank, so G4 connects with G5's 3, hence G6 is blank. So our bottom right group needs to escape via I78 and EFG10. H8's 1 must now be H9, so we must shade H567, and finally we're ready to resolve the bottom left.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-17 12:04 AM Comments on 2016-01-14's Tapa
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-14 00:08:00I was too slow to see the bottom left and how that stopped connectivity. Ah well. Nice puzzle.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-14 07:51:31Much nicer than yesterday's! [I could actually work this one out.]
Great puzzle - I really like the theme of only 1 clues.
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-01-14 16:06:26This was really pleasant to solve after yesterday's 'colourful' one.
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-14 19:59:58Very nice theme
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-15 00:33:57Yes i also missed the bottom left flow. Did that at the end.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-18 12:01 AM Comments on 2016-01-15's Tapa
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-15 00:05:40Haha, nice finish, this is a Tapa with Borders puzzle in a way :P
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-15 00:33:23ah i am going too slow now a days. dont know why.
nilz commented at 2016-01-15 01:58:15Hmm, I was really slow, but this was a really nice puzzle. Tried to use uniqueness to put a line across the top from one 3 to the other. Which obviously didn't go well...
gareth commented at 2016-01-15 04:28:09I love the false uniqueness-assumption temptations in this puzzle. : )
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-01-15 15:26:14Interesting puzzle to defy intuition :- )
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-15 18:05:17Uniqueness used at many places in this puzzle.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-15 23:03:06No uniqueness rule requried. Logic flows through nicely.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-19 12:06 AM Comments on 2016-01-16's Tapa
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-16 00:05:20I do like these "travelling around the sides" ones. I feel I was a bit slow spotting the right side deductions in general.
Para commented at 2016-01-16 09:14:46That was fun. 113 seems to be a really frequent clue to create openings with this CTC.
wicktroll commented at 2016-01-16 18:39:39I lost time because I thought loop is not allowed in a Tapa.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-20 12:07 AM Comments on 2016-01-17's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-17 00:04:33Missed the break-in for a while. Really nice puzzle.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-17 01:32:59I started of fast. But stuck in middle. Considering big size, i wanted to avoid mistakes. But Very nice puzzle. Have to increase my speed.
kiwijam commented at 2016-01-17 04:27:32Very nice.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-17 08:10:19Great fun!
Para commented at 2016-01-17 08:29:13A good work out.
Grizix commented at 2016-01-17 20:00:31I'm unable to find any break-in ...
Grizix commented at 2016-01-17 20:15:56Ok, found it, power of posting.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-21 12:08 AM Comments on 2016-01-18's Tapa
rob commented at 2016-01-18 00:24:24Quite a steep difficulty progression in this one, and I have to admit I didn't get all the logic initially.
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-18 00:47:08Ouch, I completely missed the connectivity issues for a while. Really cool puzzle.
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-18 00:55:40got stuck on the upper left corner, dunno why. : ( cool puzzle but couldnt do it logically
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-18 01:05:50I have to guess many times in this puzzle to solve it completely.
gareth commented at 2016-01-18 02:49:09Far too hard for me - will give up playing if there are many more that take this long since I don't have time.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-18 05:30:54Yes, again, this was much too hard for me. I was ok with the top right and bottom left corners, but the diagonal from top left to bottom right was a complete mystery. I just ended up guessing and guessing and guessing which I hate to do. Maybe there was a way to use the 1-1-2 clue along with that pair of touching 1-4s to force that path in the top left? Anyway, it beat the hell out of me!
achan1058 commented at 2016-01-18 06:04:11Without a way of marking edges, it is just too taxing to solve on screen. I ended up guessing quite a bit, as it is the quicker way to go forward.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-18 08:48:59There is a connectivity progression there, there is no way for the top right and bottom left to connect through the 2-2s, and so they both need to go down to the bottom right separately using the 4-1 clue. If they connect directly using the 4-1 clue then the wall stops there. So top right will take the "4" and the left side will take the "1". I had to make a colour change and then realize it was a little unnecessary. That happened yesterday too.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-18 09:43:20Very nice puzzle. I did 2 mistakes while solving and had to undo little, could have saved 100 seconds more. But very nice logical flow using connectivity. I loved it.
snehasanjeevini commented at 2016-01-18 09:47:01Can somebody please explain the top left part? I am getting splits both at 1-4, 1-4, 1-1-2 clue and the middle 1-2, 2-2, 1-2 set.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-18 10:01:07Smaller sizes are coming up again tomorrow, so I'd think the time requirement would drop with that.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-18 10:08:07The wall goes around the two 4-1s to the top part, and doesn't connect through the 1-1-2. R3C4 and R4C3 are the "1s" for the 4-1 clues, and R4C4 is unshaded. Try connecting it now.
snehasanjeevini commented at 2016-01-18 10:39:36Yeah..got it ...thanks : )
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-01-18 12:27:03Ok, that was hard. I think I just got lucky with my guesswork.
Grizix commented at 2016-01-18 15:04:36Found that one easier than yesterday, so more pleasing.
Although, it would be really better if we could mark borders, as achan wrote.
I had to guess in the extreme top left and bottom right corner, but found the connectivity problems with the 2-2s and the 1-4. Just guessed that the wall goes around the two groups of two clues.
Guessing is not only luck, it's also intuition, which comes with experience !
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-18 22:48:17woah! pretty surprised with my time - didnt have to guess much - the puzzle broke into 4 corners and its a matter of joining them.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-22 12:09 AM Comments on 2016-01-19's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-19 00:02:09I'm already missing the big puzzle days :P
chaotic_iak commented at 2016-01-19 00:24:52I thought this could be solved intuitively quickly. How wrong I was. (The logical solution is far easier to spot. )
marred commented at 2016-01-19 00:39:34thanks for a break from big puzzle : ) but after a few day with smaller one i'll want switch to bigger ; )
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-19 01:14:25Big Puzzles are surely , rank changer ; )
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-19 10:39:37like solving minesweepers : )
udoroh commented at 2016-01-20 02:27:25It was very small and easy today :- )
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Administrator
Country : India | Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 4Here are the grid sizes for this week.
23rd Jan : 19x19
24th Jan : 18x18
25th Jan : 17x17
26th Jan : 16x16
27th Jan : 15x15
28th Jan : 10x10
29th Jan : 10x10
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-23 12:10 AM Comments on 2016-01-20's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-20 00:07:40I did some really silly stuff there.
rob commented at 2016-01-20 01:12:16Rushing got the better of me, too... I expect some ~20s times here really.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-20 01:51:51Me too. My first 20 seconds were utter madness and I still managed to solve it :P
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swaroop2011
Posts: 668
Country : India | Administrator - 2016-01-22 10:17 AM
Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 4Here are the grid sizes for this week.
23rd Jan : 19x19
24th Jan : 18x18
25th Jan : 17x17
26th Jan : 16x16
27th Jan : 15x15
28th Jan : 10x10
29th Jan : 10x10
wow this gonna be big week. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-24 12:11 AM Comments on 2016-01-21's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-21 00:10:02That was another one of those where I see a fiddly path later but don't regret it that I didn't wait around for it.
piet commented at 2016-01-21 00:20:34I was waiting for the good hour ...
... and YES, with 758 sec, I am in the first 20 !! ;- ) ;- )
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-21 00:22:33damn what the hell i was doing. Bad day for me.
bskbri commented at 2016-01-21 01:40:31I worry that all tapa story will vanish in a 113 clue :/
john_reid commented at 2016-01-21 10:26:22Guessing guessing guessing guessing guessing guessing guessing guessing guessing guessing...
MrLiang commented at 2016-01-21 10:51:54guessing for 113 clue more and more -_-
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-21 12:24:33There is a pattern here for people to know - 4-2 cannot have a shaded cell in all four corners. This helps at the top, since all the 5-1s and 3-1-1s must have all corners shaded, which forces 3 corners shaded for the 4-2. That gets some progress but I'm not sure about a solid path after that.
yureklis commented at 2016-01-21 13:27:24Please... I'm expert to prepare the Tapa, and I know so many tricks. So if you cannot see the path, please don't judge "guessing". For this puzzle, I'll prepare a file that show solving steps and I'll share the link which you can see the path.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-21 18:02:43I'd love to see that for the 1-3 day too. I think all authors here have experienced something like this where they put in some tricks and then solvers aren't able to find.the path. It should be taken in context, that solvers new to the tricks had to guess within time-constraints on an interface (which, no matter how great, won't replicate the markings of paper solving for some ). I've found new patterns over the course of this CTC so I don't doubt that I missed some too, and would love to learn.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-21 18:31:01By 1-3 day, I mean 13th Jan.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-22 08:38:23Sorry about my 'guessing' comment, I probably shouldn't have posted that. No offense intended to the constructor Serkan who I do have a lot of respect for. I was just frustrated at my own inability!
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-25 12:12 AM Comments on 2016-01-22's Tapa
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-22 00:10:40I think I'm getting the hang of this...
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-22 00:12:13My mouse gave me a real problem on this one, randomly sliding off to other cells : ( Ah well.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-22 04:33:48a relief i guess for me, after yesterdays bad day.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-22 08:40:35Alright! My kind of puzzle! I really like the 1-1-1-1 clues in this one!
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-22 18:22:00is it gonna get harder this week ?
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-22 19:38:08Well bigger doesn't always necessarily mean harder just like smaller doesn't mean easier, as yesterday showed. It definitely gets bigger though :P
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-23 18:30:12yay
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-26 12:13 AM Comments on 2016-01-23's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-23 00:41:27that was bad bad. Unconscious mouse hovering, shaded some cells black which i didnt even realize : ( .
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-23 00:48:57I continue to find new ways to mess up. Thankfully today's wasn't a huge loss, but somehow I clicked intto new tab while solving and when I came back a lot of random cells were shaded which I had to undo. Still, not as much damage I suppose. Great puzzle. A lot of basic filling with connectivity controlling the latter part of it.
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-23 00:59:26somehow I put dots into some random cells without even noticing. didnt notice it until I failed twice. great -big and hard!- puzzle.
TiiT commented at 2016-01-23 01:28:07Somehow I don't mess up at all. I don't like tapa but it just comes out well. :P
chaotic_iak commented at 2016-01-23 02:28:41Too big that it doesn't fit on my screen. And I also forgot there's scrollbar, so I was stuck for a minute or two without realizing there's a last row that is out of view.
rob commented at 2016-01-23 05:21:01The penalty for an error really scales weirdly with puzzle length.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-23 09:22:43Another great puzzle!
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-27 12:14 AM Comments on 2016-01-24's Tapa
john_reid commented at 2016-01-24 00:11:45Excellent! This is my favorite one so far. It will be interesting to see the fastest times on this one.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-24 00:28:08This was really cool. I tried something weird with controlling my mouse and I think it worked, even though I probably didn't do my best here.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-24 04:04:47My bad run continues. I think i need to change my mouse.
MrLiang commented at 2016-01-24 10:01:49today, I enjoy solving. : )
rob commented at 2016-01-24 23:20:03This hit the sweet spot for me in terms of difficulty. Really fun!
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Para
Posts: 315
Country : The Netherlands | Para posted @ 2016-01-27 5:07 AM I lost a lot of time on today's puzzle as it was stuck for a while on "waiting for server response". So I decided to click again after almost a minute and registered the time of my second click. That sucked. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-28 12:15 AM Comments on 2016-01-25's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-25 00:05:44I kept making the wrong deductions today for some reason.
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-25 00:13:04I resolved it now, and progress starting from the right is a bit tougher than progress starting from the left, but just enough that if you start there you can continue working it out. .This was mainly what slowed me down I suppose. Another great puzzle though. I don't see myself holding on to 2nd place for more than a day this time either.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-25 02:40:42Lower right corner was tough for me. Excellent puzzle. I love these big ones!
kiwijam commented at 2016-01-25 13:40:49Bigger are better : )
puzzlescot commented at 2016-01-25 23:14:42It would be nice to have a difficulty level visible before starting each puzzle. For the average solver, some are requiring 20+ minutes, so it's an issue if we've just put 5-10 minutes aside for a 'quick' solve. I don't think size alone is necessarily a sufficient indicator. Thanks.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-29 12:16 AM Comments on 2016-01-26's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-26 00:04:00I missed the trick a little again by waiting on pause-spots too much. This has been a really enjoyable week of large but not difficult puzzles.
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-26 01:24:51Circle the 8s!
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-26 02:39:00uff finally not that bad day. I missed the other 2 big puzzles. But no mistake on this one. Very nice puzzles. I wish there are more big puzzles coming in next week.
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-26 09:20:38Nice big puzzles. Yes, looking forward for big puzzles next week : )
MrLiang commented at 2016-01-26 09:45:25Yeah, a lot of 8. But, 8 and 2-4 trick me -_-
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Administrator
Country : India | Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 5Here are the grid sizes for this week.
30th Jan : 10x10
31st Jan : 10x10
1st Feb : 10x10
2nd Feb : 10x10
3rd Feb : 20x20
4th Feb : 9x9
5th Feb : 9x9
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-30 12:18 AM Comments on 2016-01-27's Tapa
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-27 00:32:02spent ages fixing the left side of the puzzle : (
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-27 00:49:12A lot of fun. Did a colour change for the start just to be careful, but it is definitely visible without that.
gareth commented at 2016-01-27 01:35:12Would be a little easier if 'undo' worked properly! : )
achan1058 commented at 2016-01-27 02:05:08Took me a while to find the break in, but other than that, it is fun.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-27 02:19:25yes took a while to get started, almost spent 2 min to put few cells and then it was quick run. Very nice puzzle : )
puzzlescot commented at 2016-01-27 08:31:041/2 hour of trial and error before deducing the break-in, then done in 5.
MrLiang commented at 2016-01-27 09:50:00bottom left clue nearly trick me. It's zigzag. -_-
john_reid commented at 2016-01-28 20:05:50Loved it! I was fortunate enough to get a quick start on this one.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-01-31 12:19 AM Comments on 2016-01-28's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-28 00:08:03For some reason this had some strange connectivity which my head just couldn't wrap around. My main thoughts were, "this can't possibly be a break in connectivity". Took a significant amount of time at the end checking because of this. Cool puzzle.
kishy72 commented at 2016-01-28 00:33:25I submitted at 2:21 precisely.The server registered by time as 2:27 .It showed "waiting for server response" while the timer continued to run??!
brecher92 commented at 2016-01-28 04:26:51I had the same problem...though my wi-fi connection has been flaky lately.
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-28 05:59:32brain block : (
MrLiang commented at 2016-01-28 09:53:28Yeah! It's my lucky day ^_^
john_reid commented at 2016-01-28 20:12:42Tricky finish for me with the right hand side. Took a while to work out the 6, 3-3 and pair of 2 clues on the right wall.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-28 23:39:41Very nice puzzle. Made silly mistake although just at the end, or else it would have been a nice finish.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-01 12:20 AM Comments on 2016-01-29's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-29 00:05:29Should have spotted the continuity break in top left, went for a guess instead. Unnecessary.
Prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-29 00:17:24For those wondering what I'm talking about (because it seems like others are missing it too ) - a 2-3 clue in the corner needs at least one of R1C3/R3C1 to be separate from R3C3 as the 'other' shaded block of the 2-3, and the 1-1-1-1 clue stops connectivity "around" the 2-3 because of this. I feel anyone who spots this quickly will do very well today.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-29 00:21:02I agree with you, after few seconds, I went for guess (not needed actually ) and it was not my lucky shot. But that guess made me realize the connectivity thing in left side. But avoided mistake today :p . Very nice puzzle again.
john_reid commented at 2016-01-29 08:09:54Too hard for me and unfortunately I had to guess on this one again. I can kind of understand this idea about connectivity regarding that 2-3 clue in the corner but these things are very hard for me to spot. I haven't really been able to advance from 'local' to 'global' thinking and so I get stuck on these tricky puzzles more often than not.
MrLiang commented at 2016-01-29 09:54:271-1-1-1 wrong guess slow my time record. -_-
achan1058 commented at 2016-01-29 20:05:26I hate messing up minor details. Forgot to colour a square on the bottom left.
rob commented at 2016-01-29 23:06:38I didn't spot the connectivity thing, but my wrong guess near the 33 did lead me to quickly discover it, and then it went smoothly from there.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-02 12:21 AM Comments on 2016-01-30's Tapa
rob commented at 2016-01-30 01:26:37The kind of puzzle where I'm really worried when hitting "Submit"...
brecher92 commented at 2016-01-30 02:42:35I'm like that for all puzzles. : )
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rob
Posts: 170
Country : Germany | rob posted @ 2016-02-02 12:59 AM The homepage link to the contest seems to have vanished. For a moment, I was worried it was already over! |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1779
Country : India | |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-03 12:17 AM Comments on 2016-01-31's Tapa
rob commented at 2016-01-31 00:04:49Fun!
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-01-31 00:28:33nice connectivity at top.
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-01-31 05:43:19Cool!
rajeshk commented at 2016-01-31 20:07:53Fun Puzzle
tamz29 commented at 2016-01-31 20:32:14nice and straightforward
hinowbye commented at 2016-01-31 21:16:02nice puzzle
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Gareth
Posts: 17
Country : United Kingdom | Gareth posted @ 2016-02-03 12:19 AM Is there no puzzle today? There's one listed in the schedule above, but there's no entry for today's date when I view the calendar on the competition page. |
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debmohanty
Country : India | Gareth - 2016-02-03 12:19 AM
Is there no puzzle today? There's one listed in the schedule above, but there's no entry for today's date when I view the calendar on the competition page. Sorry about that. We will be posting a puzzle, it will take some time, may be an hour from now. |
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debmohanty
Country : India | Puzzle for 3rd Feb now available to solve |
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debmohanty
Country : India | Since today's puzzle was available at around 6:30 AM, players can solve it until tomorrow 6:30 AM without late penalty. (All timings as per LMI server's time)
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Nilz
Posts: 29
Country : United Kingdom | Nilz posted @ 2016-02-04 12:08 AM debmohanty - 2016-02-03 10:34 AM
Since today's puzzle was available at around 6:30 AM, players can solve it until tomorrow 6:30 AM without late penalty. (All timings as per LMI server's time)
Not sure it would have made much difference to my score, but I started the Feb 3rd puzzle on the correct day. I thought I'd also (just about ) finished on the correct day, but I've had the 1.15 multiplier added to my time. I assume this will be sorted out given the information that we can solve until 6.30AM LMI time (thanks Deb ), I'm just curious to know if this is expected behaviour? I.e. the 'late' penalty is applied based on finish time, not start time? Also, just for my own curiosity, are you able to check exactly how long after midnight LMI time I actually submitted the puzzle? Cheers! |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-04 12:23 AM Comments on 2016-02-01's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-01 00:02:03I was too slow spotting the 4-1 clue getting resolved.
k3isim commented at 2016-02-01 00:33:32Satisfied by my solution, but... waiting half a minute for server response with running timer - a bit annoying...
kishy72 commented at 2016-02-01 01:06:17My mind interpreted the 3 and 3 clue on the bottom left as 3-3 clue in a single cell and I was getting a stranded island wondering what's wrong for ~15 seconds.Arghhh!
tamz29 commented at 2016-02-01 06:51:10Wow. 1 minute was added to my time because of "waiting for server response" ... >: (
debmohanty commented at 2016-02-01 08:49:02k3isim,tamz29,thesubro - Adjusted the timing.
k3isim commented at 2016-02-01 20:53:38Thanks! : )
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debmohanty
Country : India | Nilz - 2016-02-04 12:08 AM
Not sure it would have made much difference to my score, but I started the Feb 3rd puzzle on the correct day. I thought I'd also (just about) finished on the correct day, but I've had the 1.15 multiplier added to my time. I assume this will be sorted out given the information that we can solve until 6.30AM LMI time (thanks Deb) Right, I will have to do it manually, after the specified time is over. It is not automated.
Nilz - 2016-02-04 12:08 AM
I.e. the 'late' penalty is applied based on finish time, not start time? Late Penalty applies on finish time. I think we never defined if it should be based on "start" or "finish". Let me check with Serkan and see if we should make it start time based. We will then have to recompute all days' score - there are 25 such submissions in this years CTC so far.
Nilz - 2016-02-04 12:08 AM
Also, just for my own curiosity, are you able to check exactly how long after midnight LMI time I actually submitted the puzzle? At 2016-02-04 12:00:04 AM. So 4 seconds late.
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debmohanty
Country : India | debmohanty - 2016-02-04 6:14 AM
Nilz - 2016-02-04 12:08 AM
Not sure it would have made much difference to my score, but I started the Feb 3rd puzzle on the correct day. I thought I'd also (just about) finished on the correct day, but I've had the 1.15 multiplier added to my time. I assume this will be sorted out given the information that we can solve until 6.30AM LMI time (thanks Deb) Right, I will have to do it manually, after the specified time is over. It is not automated.
Done. Removed late penalty for all those did yesterday's puzzle today (until this time ). Late penalties will apply usual after this time. |
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vopani
Posts: 739
Country : India | vopani posted @ 2016-02-04 10:18 AM debmohanty - 2016-02-04 6:14 AM
Nilz - 2016-02-04 12:08 AM
I.e. the 'late' penalty is applied based on finish time, not start time? Late Penalty applies on finish time. I think we never defined if it should be based on "start" or "finish". Let me check with Serkan and see if we should make it start time based. We will then have to recompute all days' score - there are 25 such submissions in this years CTC so far.
It should be 'start-time'. If someone starts at 11:30pm and submits at 12:01am, you can't penalize the solver for solving slow :-|
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debmohanty
Country : India | Rohan Rao - 2016-02-04 10:18 AM
debmohanty - 2016-02-04 6:14 AM
Nilz - 2016-02-04 12:08 AM
I.e. the 'late' penalty is applied based on finish time, not start time? Late Penalty applies on finish time. I think we never defined if it should be based on "start" or "finish". Let me check with Serkan and see if we should make it start time based. We will then have to recompute all days' score - there are 25 such submissions in this years CTC so far.
It should be 'start-time'. If someone starts at 11:30pm and submits at 12:01am, you can't penalize the solver for solving slow :-|
We will make this change - penalty will be applicable based on start time of the puzzle. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-05 12:23 AM Comments on 2016-02-02's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-02 00:04:03Ouch. Read the 3-1-1 clue as 3-1, which meant the break-in wasn't logical, guessed wrong, restarted, and checked for a good amount of time to make sure I hadn't made any other errors. The 3-1-1 shortcoming is fully my own, the puzzle is great.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-02 00:16:40Nice one.
tamz29 commented at 2016-02-02 00:35:15Yuss!! : )
detuned commented at 2016-02-02 00:45:37Damn! The colours really weren't to my taste so I wasted a lot of time calibrating my screen. Then my mouse started squeaking which is always distracting (to be fair it had spotted some cheese ) so that after restarting a couple of times I really started to worry. Thankfully the solution then just came to me, as i from the Gods, so I didn't waste too much time!
rob commented at 2016-02-02 00:53:04Well done Tom : )
achan1058 commented at 2016-02-02 01:03:16I have completely missed the opening.What a disaster.
MrLiang commented at 2016-02-02 09:28:21Lucky guess in bottom-left. But, stuck in 4-1 clue (top-right ) for a short time.
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-02-02 17:08:16Missed some logic midway, but got through with a lucky guess! Nice puzzle.
john_reid commented at 2016-02-03 06:48:19Another excellent puzzle! It took me a while to get started - I finally got in using the 3-1-1 clue to determine the correct orientation of the 1-1-1-1. Things flowed smoothly after that. Very satisfying!
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debmohanty
Country : India | Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 6Here are the grid sizes for this week.
6th Feb : 14x14
7th Feb : 14x14
8th Feb : 13x13
9th Feb : 12x12
10th Feb : 12x12
11th Feb : 11x11
12th Feb : 17x17
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-06 12:00 AM Comments on 2016-02-03's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-03 07:24:27wow that was really nice. Easy flow. But i guess i was taking my time , so that i wont leave any cell blank and cost me penalty. It paid off. Finally did well in at least this biggest size puzzle so far. But have to wait to see other's timings to see how well i have done. Nice puzzle with connectivity and use of 1's.
yureklis commented at 2016-02-03 13:28:04Sorry guys for delay, this is on me. I had to get unplanned trip to Berlin, this is a kind of vacation for me. Anyway, I did the puzzle with Toketa vol 4 theme, because I thought it would match the Toketa competition -I checked the forum Toketa posts, as I saw there are huge positive responses in there- While I was constructing the puzzle in hostel lobby : ) at the early morning, I thought is that I's done, but entering the puzzle into the LMI system we saw there wasn't unique the top left..+
yureklis commented at 2016-02-03 13:32:35corner. Then I've made several changes, but I couldn't fix the puzzle. So I had to get out the hostel and visit some places, I asked Deb, how much times do I have for fixing the puzzle, he said nearly 6 hours. But even if I had 6 hours I couldn't catch the right moment, then we had to postpone. Anyway, why I'm giving these details, because I respect solvers, and LMI. I'm so sorry all of you guys, for today's puzzle and TVC XIX date changes. Best, serkan
tamz29 commented at 2016-02-03 13:49:44Two penalties. ouch : (
Thank you Serkan for doing these CTC's and TVC's for us. Have a nice trip in Berlin
hinowbye commented at 2016-02-03 14:07:27Nice puzzle : )
hinowbye commented at 2016-02-03 14:07:40My favorite so far
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-02-03 15:59:52Really nice puzzle. Would love to see more of these!
Nola commented at 2016-02-03 17:30:55Liked this puzzle very much!
gareth commented at 2016-02-03 23:58:36I'm sure noone minded waiting - it's amazing to have so many top quality puzzles to do, and all for free
rob commented at 2016-02-04 00:25:38Thanks for the puzzle (and all the others ), and hope you have a great stay here in Berlin!
detuned commented at 2016-02-04 02:00:31Whilst I have no problem whatsoeverwaiting for a delayed puzzle, I do think the decision to apply the 1.15 penalty less than 24 hours after the puzzle was actually published needs to be looked at!
kiwijam commented at 2016-02-04 02:12:06Yes, hopefully every puzzle will be available for 24 hours before penalties are applied.
And this was a very nice puzzle, thank you Serkan!
debmohanty commented at 2016-02-04 10:22:21We had announced in forum that late penalties before the puzzle was available for 24 hours will be removed. It had to be done manually.
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debmohanty
Country : India | 6th Feb's puzzle is delayed. Will post here when it is available. |
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debmohanty
Country : India | There will be no puzzle for 6th Feb |
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debmohanty
Country : India | No CTC puzzles on 7th and 8thSerkan has injured 2 fingers in his right hand. It is not too bad, but he will not be able to upload puzzles for next 2 days.
At this point, we think CTC will resume on 9th (Tuesday).
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-07 12:26 AM Comments on 2016-02-04's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-04 00:20:12Mouse issues again, but pretty minor this time.
detuned commented at 2016-02-04 02:11:01You should get a cat!
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-04 02:22:57After big one yesterday, this was a relief puzzle. Pretty easy, but nice one as usual.
MrLiang commented at 2016-02-04 10:03:39wrong guess in 1-1-1-1 again : (
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1779
Country : India | That's sad to know. Wish you a speedy recovery, Serkan! |
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Para
Posts: 315
Country : The Netherlands | Para posted @ 2016-02-07 6:24 PM Will the CTC still be 50 puzzles or just end on the normal date? |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-08 12:27 AM Comments on 2016-02-05's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-05 00:02:43Completely missed the bottom right break-in. Nice puzzle
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-05 00:18:33yeah same here. Took way more than required time.
kishy72 commented at 2016-02-05 00:30:19Realizing R7C9 cannot be shaded is vital here in this puzzle.Solving it multiple times later made me realize this. Hopeless : ( . Great puzzle with good bite !
hinowbye commented at 2016-02-05 01:35:57The feeling when you press submit before noticing you havent shaded 1 Fatal block... +120 on the score!
john_reid commented at 2016-02-05 10:27:27Yes, it took a long time to see that R7C9 square. A good hidden entry point there!
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debmohanty
Country : India | Revised Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 6
The originally planned puzzles are now shifted by 3 days. Here is list of updated grid sizes.
9th Feb : 14x14
10th Feb : 14x14
11th Feb : 13x13
12th Feb : 12x12
13th Feb : 12x12
14th Feb : 11x11
15th Feb : 17x17
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brecher92
Posts: 30
Country : United States | I hope Serkan's hand is better! |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-12 12:01 AM Comments on 2016-02-09's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-09 00:08:52A very nice puzzle. I got the start very quickly but got stuck in middle for 1 and half minute, then realize that what am I missing. Then it was quick. Very awesome puzzle.
kishy72 commented at 2016-02-09 00:17:219:09 on 9th February.Speaking of coincidences! .A highly difficult puzzle.Had to guess in between the solve .Solved it with pure logic later.Good one!
achan1058 commented at 2016-02-09 00:22:26Missed the break-in for a while, but once I figured that out, it was relatively quick.
swagatam commented at 2016-02-09 00:35:47Really a hard one, but very nice puzzle.
nilz commented at 2016-02-09 00:41:07It's so frustrating when you guess, and come to a contradiction, then try the other option and find another contradiction, so you go back to the first option and find it was right all along and you just made a stupid mistake...
john_reid commented at 2016-02-10 11:02:02Much too hard for me. Over 20 minutes to finish it. At least I didn't resort to guessing this time. Why can't I solve these?
rob commented at 2016-02-10 13:32:24Nice one!
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-13 12:02 AM Comments on 2016-02-10's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-10 00:08:46Missed the path initially, took a guess, but then almost immediately managed to prove that guess by seeing what I missed. Really nice puzzle!
achan1058 commented at 2016-02-10 00:59:04I hate that penalty.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-10 02:32:30I hate penalty too. Don't know why i keep doing stupid mistakes. Very nice puzzle, got it very fast with logical flow. Excellent puzzle. But put a dot at some place where it shouldn't be. damn. Could have have saved 180 seconds : ( .
john_reid commented at 2016-02-10 11:35:06For me, this is the hardest one so far. Good grief this was hard. I had to guess just endlessly. CAN ANYONE HELP. I don't think I'm stupid but the entire center of this puzzle is just completely opaque to me. Is there a break in somewhere? Man, solving this was torture. Curses to this puzzle!
rob commented at 2016-02-10 13:39:04Didn't see the path here, a lot of "it just feels sort of right if things connect this way", thankfully mostly correct.
rob commented at 2016-02-10 13:45:25john_reid: There's a lot you can do around the edges. And then there's a central break-in which I missed: That 6 next to the 22 shares shaded cells with the 24 above, the 7 below, but must have a gap next to the 22, so it goes around the other side. From this point, things flow quite well.
yureklis commented at 2016-02-10 14:17:15I've showed nearly all steps, I hope that works for you john_reid
Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz9JSOczh5gTdUJhNDJtSmd6TTg/view?us...
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-14 12:03 AM Comments on 2016-02-11's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-11 00:17:42wow that was really a tough one. After 1 guess i realized the connectivity issue in the bottom from right part to left. Then it was easy flow.
bskbri commented at 2016-02-11 01:36:16113's are back : )
MrLiang commented at 2016-02-11 10:19:39113 trick me again -_-"
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-11 10:24:13Would have been faster on this if I'd started from the right, where I think the connectivity starts getting forced. Starting from the left gives you markings but nothing to really grab onto.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-15 12:04 AM Comments on 2016-02-12's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-12 00:15:53Made a false assumption on the 1-1-1-1 near the bottom right, which took a while to fix, but went nicely otherwise.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-12 00:20:03This one no assumption. Went nicely entire time with little stopping for solving the right half. A nice puzzle again.
MrLiang commented at 2016-02-12 09:33:12my brain blocked by two 2-4 clue. : (
rajeshk commented at 2016-02-12 18:35:56Nice one. Did without any guess work.
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yureklis
Posts: 183
Country : Turkey | brecher92 - 2016-02-09 3:02 AM
I hope Serkan's hand is better!
Recently I had an operation, in these days the time is not by my side, it flows very slowly, and I'm perceiving so much pain than I'd already have, I'm living a delusion : ). Also I've figured how hard to able to write : ). I have so much pain, but I hope that in next 10 days it will be better for me.
Thanks for asking |
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Administrator
Country : India | Tapa Grid Sizes for Week 7 (last week)Here are the grid sizes for the last week.
16th Feb : 17x17
17th Feb : 18x18
18th Feb : 18x18
19th Feb : 8x8
20th Feb : 9x9
21st Feb : 10x10
22nd Feb : 19x19
23rd Feb : 13x13
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-16 12:05 AM Comments on 2016-02-13's Tapa
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-13 00:06:45Made a faulty assumption, had to restart, but really nice break-in with the 1111 forcing behaviour of the 112.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-13 00:09:20aah got stuck on this one. I think i am missing some start here. will have to try again.
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-13 00:21:05The start - the 1-1-1-1 in R7C4 forces the 1-1-2 below it to have its '2' around the 1-1-1-1-1 and so the 3-3 below the 1-1-2 can only have one of its '1's. This means R10R11C3 are shaded and their counterparts for the 3-3 clue, and I think it flows well from here.
rob commented at 2016-02-13 00:32:29Hah, damn, I made that deduction with that other 1111 next to the 12, but failed to see it near the 33. Weird.
rajeshk commented at 2016-02-13 11:54:40Thanks Prasanna for giving the logical break. I guessed to solve this one. However after reading your comment, I could solve it fully logically : )
masonjason commented at 2016-02-13 19:13:57I thought the interaction of the left-hand pair of (1, 1, 1, 1 )s via the (2, 3 ) was beautiful
john_reid commented at 2016-02-14 01:49:32Well I was able to solve this with no guessing but unfortunately someone stopped by when I was in the middle of it and I ended up chatting for 45 minutes with them before I got back to the puzzle! It was a great puzzle though and I'm proud that I was able to work out that 1-1-1-1 and 1-1-2 interaction that Prasanna described and didn't have to resort to any guessing. Very satisfying!
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-17 12:06 AM Comments on 2016-02-14's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-14 02:29:18Damn. Did one mistake, but luckily found it before submitting. Costed lot of time. Nice use of 1's and connectivity.
rob commented at 2016-02-14 19:47:53Fun! I like the lack of a heart theme.
john_reid commented at 2016-02-15 23:11:07Another great one!
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Nilz
Posts: 29
Country : United Kingdom | Nilz posted @ 2016-02-17 12:19 AM Is there an error in today's solution? I'm fairly sure I've solved it, but it's not letting me submit. Of course, it's possible I'm being an idiot, but I've triple-checked! |
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Nilz
Posts: 29
Country : United Kingdom | Nilz posted @ 2016-02-17 12:21 AM Hmm, it just let me submit 7 minutes later and I'm certain I didn't change anything- could you check my solve please and fix my time if you can see that I had the correct solution earlier (if this is possible)? Thanks. |
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debmohanty
Country : India | Nilz - 2016-02-17 12:19 AM
Is there an error in today's solution? I'm fairly sure I've solved it, but it's not letting me submit. Of course, it's possible I'm being an idiot, but I've triple-checked!
Nilz - 2016-02-17 12:21 AM
Hmm, it just let me submit 7 minutes later and I'm certain I didn't change anything- could you check my solve please and fix my time if you can see that I had the correct solution earlier (if this is possible)? Thanks.
The solution has been corrected. That is the reason your submission was accepted. I'm working on getting your (and Ivan's and some other players' ) timing correct. |
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Nilz
Posts: 29
Country : United Kingdom | Nilz posted @ 2016-02-17 12:24 AM Thanks Deb! |
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brecher92
Posts: 30
Country : United States | Administrator - 2015-12-28 9:25 PM
CTC Scoring systemThe scoring system and formula are exactly same as previous years.- Submissions within 60 minutes will be considered for scoring
- 2 minutes penalty for each wrong submission
- 15% time penalty for each late day (maximum 2 late days are allowed – so a puzzle can be solved upto 72 hours after it is uploaded)
- Each puzzle has its own points, which is computed from solving times of top 10% players on that day.
- Each player gets points for solving a puzzle based on own solving time and others’ solving times. Exponential distribution is used.
- Total points for a player is sum of puzzle points over 7 weeks.
Details in the pdf file Download | View
Just curious -- when there are a lot of people who did not finish the puzzle (as with today's), do they get factored into the calculation for MED? |
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debmohanty
Country : India | brecher92 - 2016-02-17 5:32 PM
Just curious -- when there are a lot of people who did not finish the puzzle (as with today's), do they get factored into the calculation for MED?
For scoring purpose, only players with CoTI <= 1 hour is considered. All DNFs are ignored.
For example, if you go to 14th Feb's in the score page, you should see a line at the top :
Results for 2016-02-14's puzzle / Num Players : 200 / Top 10% : 20 / Top 10% AVE : 102.1950 / PuPo : 10.1091 / MED : 275.5600
All 5 DNFs are ignored. All 3 players with CoTi > 3600 are ignored too.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-18 12:07 AM Comments on 2016-02-15's Tapa
Rohan Rao commented at 2016-02-15 00:03:45That was fun! One of the best so far.
Para commented at 2016-02-15 06:49:03This one had a lot of similarities to January 24th.
john_reid commented at 2016-02-15 23:21:10Excellent!
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brecher92
Posts: 30
Country : United States | yureklis - 2016-02-14 4:46 PM
brecher92 - 2016-02-09 3:02 AM
I hope Serkan's hand is better!
Recently I had an operation, in these days the time is not by my side, it flows very slowly, and I'm perceiving so much pain than I'd already have, I'm living a delusion : ). Also I've figured how hard to able to write : ). I have so much pain, but I hope that in next 10 days it will be better for me.
Thanks for asking
I know what you mean -- when I'm not well, it feels like the days last forever, and I just can't wait for the day I'm all better.
Hope that day is coming for you soon.
Edited by brecher92 2016-02-18 1:13 AM
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debmohanty
Country : India | 23rd Feb is the last day for CTC 2016
50th day of CTC will be on 23rd Feb.
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-19 12:39 AM Comments on 2016-02-16's Tapa
achan1058 commented at 2016-02-16 00:13:01Yet another 2 minutes...... I am really beginning to hate this penalty thing.
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cheese
Posts: 2
Country : Hungary | cheese posted @ 2016-02-19 12:46 AM I could not submit my solution (18th Feb) when I finished solving it (about 20 minutes before deadline). I tried again then some minutes later again but could submit only after a half hour. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-20 12:10 AM Comments on 2016-02-17's Tapa
debmohanty commented at 2016-02-17 00:59:13Timing adjusted for anurag, chaotic_iak, litleboy, nilz, prasanna16391, TiiT
prasanna16391 commented at 2016-02-17 01:01:16Not sure how to rate this one. I re-solved it later with some very narrow connectivity logic, which was excellent and a lot of fun. But I just don't think that this was something most people would be able to see with a timer running, and with the big size its more of a lottery for someone who just intuitively solves for the middle being empty. .
brecher92 commented at 2016-02-17 02:39:14I still don't see the logic with the 1-1-3 on the left side. I'm looking at a few other people's solves and see that this was handled early on, but I don't see how.
achan1058 commented at 2016-02-17 02:52:56I do not understand this puzzle. The amount of guesses I have made is insane.
achan1058 commented at 2016-02-17 02:57:55By the way, how do you view other people's solve?
detuned commented at 2016-02-17 03:50:30absolutely brutal!
brecher92 commented at 2016-02-17 03:51:37achan, it's on the standings page -- click on "Others' solves"
Para commented at 2016-02-17 04:31:45Well, that was awful.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-17 06:49:41very hard.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-17 06:50:16half of the puzzle i could solve it logically. But later had to guess couple of times which didn't went my way.
anderson commented at 2016-02-17 10:24:49I guessed the 1-1-3 on the left side and got lucky because that guess propagated through the whole puzzle. Looking at it again, I'm having a lot of trouble completing it logically (i.e. not looking more than 2 steps ahead ).
MrLiang commented at 2016-02-17 11:19:53Ahh!! brain block. It's look like "Puzzle Marathon" for me. : (
tamz29 commented at 2016-02-17 15:47:36Should've guessed earlier :/
rob commented at 2016-02-17 17:18:02I only figured out that left area towards the end, with some not-quite-rigorous solving before (though the middle area being empty was necessary due to uniqueness at some point ). But it's possible to start there. The core restriction there is that the bottom right cell of the 113 can't be isolated, else it breaks the single 4 together with the 24 and the 33 below. Then you can deduce that the top left cell of the 113 has to escape upwards past the 14, and the top left corner can be resolved.
gareth commented at 2016-02-18 00:16:34Far too hard for a daily puzzle - I had to give up since I couldn't spend long enough on it, and come back the next day. If a puzzle is extremely hard without warning then it's unreasonable to expect people to magically have enough time set aside at the moment they discover this. It also takes away the fun of it, and means those who don't have other commitments have a definite advantage. ; )
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aldentea
Posts: 10
Country : Japan | In the [Others' solve] view, is it impossible to resume playing once [Stop Playing]? I hope it's possible. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-21 12:11 AM Comments on 2016-02-18's Tapa
rob commented at 2016-02-18 04:18:32Fun! As usual, I'm fastest when I make mistakes that turn out to be right.
marred commented at 2016-02-18 11:53:05Nice beginings in many parts of diagram, but later problems with connecting it al togheter
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debmohanty
Country : India | CTC Comments - 2016-02-20 12:10 AM
gareth commented at 2016-02-18 00:16:34Far too hard for a daily puzzle - I had to give up since I couldn't spend long enough on it, and come back the next day. If a puzzle is extremely hard without warning then it's unreasonable to expect people to magically have enough time set aside at the moment they discover this. It also takes away the fun of it, and means those who don't have other commitments have a definite advantage. ; )
Good point. We plan to add a difficulty level in the next episode of CTC. |
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cheese
Posts: 2
Country : Hungary | cheese posted @ 2016-02-21 8:41 PM cheese - 2016-02-18 9:46 PM
I could not submit my solution (18th Feb) when I finished solving it (about 20 minutes before deadline). I tried again then some minutes later again but could submit only after a half hour.
Deb, sorry for disturbing again, could you check if I had the same problem as Nilz? Thank you! |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-22 12:12 AM Comments on 2016-02-19's Tapa
olejar commented at 2016-02-19 00:44:32Today I had a 30 minutes interruption of internet connection during of solving task :- (
katarina commented at 2016-02-19 01:13:45me too, i couldnt send solution
tamz29 commented at 2016-02-19 17:16:07Can I finally get a 1st place finish???
debmohanty commented at 2016-02-19 17:22:2026 seems like a winning score !!
tamz29 commented at 2016-02-19 17:24:21I'll check back in 8 hours ; )
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-20 08:38:23easy one to give yourself relief : )
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AndreyBogdanov
Posts: 44
Country : Russia | Is it possible that 22 Feb puzzle has duplicate solution? I'm stupidly looking to my solution for already 20 minutes and can't find any mistalkes. |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1779
Country : India | As it happened a few days ago, an incorrect solution seems to have been entered in the background. That is fixed now, and the timings of the 'incorrect' submissions which match the actual solution will be in the system and edited to reflect on the score page soon. |
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AndreyBogdanov
Posts: 44
Country : Russia | Thanks, now I've click submit again in the same solution and got it. I thought I was going crazy :) |
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debmohanty
Country : India | AndreyBogdanov - 2016-02-22 12:37 AM
Thanks, now I've click submit again in the same solution and got it. I thought I was going crazy :)
Fixed timings for
prasanna16391
AndreyBogdanov
OlgaShut
zorant
marred
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marred
Posts: 12
Country : Poland | marred posted @ 2016-02-22 12:56 PM debmohanty - 2016-02-22 12:41 AM
AndreyBogdanov - 2016-02-22 12:37 AM
Thanks, now I've click submit again in the same solution and got it. I thought I was going crazy :)
Fixed timings for
prasanna16391
AndreyBogdanov
OlgaShut
zorant
marred
Thanks : ) I though something has gone wrong as I saw prasanna16391 with result almost 20 minutes :D |
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debmohanty
Country : India | 23rd Feb's puzzle will be delayed by 2 hours. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-23 12:13 AM Comments on 2016-02-20's Tapa
john_reid commented at 2016-02-20 02:15:26Guessed in the middle, but the outside was doable.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-20 08:40:14nice easy one again.
MrLiang commented at 2016-02-20 09:27:40Yeah!! Lucky guess.
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brecher92
Posts: 30
Country : United States | Great battle on the USA side -- only 2.7 points separate first place from second, and only 1.3 points separate third place from fourth.
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debmohanty
Country : India | cheese - 2016-02-21 8:41 PM
cheese - 2016-02-18 9:46 PM
I could not submit my solution (18th Feb) when I finished solving it (about 20 minutes before deadline). I tried again then some minutes later again but could submit only after a half hour.
Deb, sorry for disturbing again, could you check if I had the same problem as Nilz? Thank you! Fixed.
Sorry about the delayed response. |
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marred
Posts: 12
Country : Poland | marred posted @ 2016-02-23 2:10 PM Thanks for great contest. I really enjoyed solving this puzzles. I think now my tapa skills are much higher than two months earlier :) |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-24 12:14 AM Comments on 2016-02-21's Tapa
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-21 00:57:44Nice easy puzzle. Nice connectivity rule used from bottom.
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swaroop2011
Posts: 668
Country : India | Thanks for the awesome puzzles. I messed up lot of days. But still had lot of fun. I hope you are feeling better now.
Thanks Serkan and LMI. |
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brecher92
Posts: 30
Country : United States | Great contest. Bravo. |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-25 12:15 AM Comments on 2016-02-22's Tapa
marred commented at 2016-02-22 00:28:05I'm pretty sure, that my second attempt was correct. But I get message this is incorrect. I lost about 10 minutes looking for mistake, not seeing any mistake sent the same solution and... it was correct. Is it possible?
marred commented at 2016-02-22 00:33:30Ok, nevermind, I didn't click "Send solution" after making amendments and I was still thinking that even after amendments I'm still wrong.
debmohanty commented at 2016-02-22 00:51:10An incorrect solution was recorded. We have fixed the same. See forum post for details.
swaroop2011 commented at 2016-02-22 04:42:15I kept making mistakes. Had to restart 5 times. I dunno why i was repeating same mistake. Bad day. So one more to go.
kiwijam commented at 2016-02-22 08:27:37Another great puzzle. It's sad to say goodbye soon : )
Many thanks to Serkan for this series. (I think you were the only author? )
hinowbye commented at 2016-02-23 00:31:33Today's the last puzzle?!? dang...This was fun!
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GaS
Posts: 24
Country : ITALY | GaS posted @ 2016-02-25 4:49 AM No more daily TAPA? Noooooo,
What a pity... :-(
Thanks very much to all the organizers and, expecially, Serkan: it was a great contest (despite my mediocre results, but I can't expect better :-)
Looking for next TVC to have more tapa puzzles! |
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EMJ
Posts: 7
Country : United States | EMJ posted @ 2016-02-25 7:55 AM Thanks so much to Serkan and all for the great puzzles and great contest. I especially liked the extended number of weeks. And the system works so well. I hope there will be another contest next year.
If there is, I have one suggestion that might not be too hard to implement. In the "Other's Solves" section, would it be possible to add a "Pause" button in addition to the stop button? After pressing the stop button, the start button clears the grid and starts the solve over. I would greatly enjoy the ability to pause on a solve to try to figure out what the next step should be and then continue from that point.
Another wish (which might be more difficult to implement) involves "reviewing" a puzzle. I sometimes clear previously solved puzzles and rework them. I would like to be able to confirm that my re-solve is correct, especially for the larger puzzles.
Thanks again, and I hope you are feeling much better soon, Serkan! |
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CTC Comments
| CTC Comments posted @ 2016-02-26 12:16 AM Comments on 2016-02-23's Tapa
Hotel commented at 2016-02-23 16:53:56This is the last day, and it's a nice puzzle too. Thanks for great Tapa puzzles!
Nola commented at 2016-02-23 16:56:08Oh no, finally my first error on the last day. But 50 wonderful puzzles! Thanks for the nice series!
rajeshk commented at 2016-02-23 23:25:26Thanks a lot for this Tapa Contest. Looking forward to some more similar contests : )
hinowbye commented at 2016-02-24 01:15:06Nice puzzle for the end : ) my mouse kinda died during this so I kinda lost like 45 seconds but its ok : )
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debmohanty
Country : India | Classic Tapa Contest for 2016 is officially over. sai won the contest, by a huge margin, as most of us were expecting. EKBM and Prasanna had a very close contest, with EKBM jumping ahead in last few days. Congratulations.
Despite the minor hiccups on few days, I hope everyone enjoyed the contest. Like every year, we will be posting some stats soon. |
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debmohanty
Country : India | Personally, it would have been very exciting to have Prasanna at the second place, but he can take consolation in the fact that he has lost to none other than the World Puzzle Champion. |
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debmohanty
Country : India | |
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debmohanty
Country : India | |
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debmohanty
Country : India | Some statistics (By Sizes )
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swaroop2011
Posts: 668
Country : India | I could solve this puzzle logically upto this point. I would like to know apart from intuition of using uniqueness at center, is there any other steps if others can figure out ?
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Para
Posts: 315
Country : The Netherlands | Para posted @ 2016-03-04 7:32 AM There is a hard deduction on the left side. You can't get past the 113 in R8C2. If you were to go past the left of it R7C3 would be an isolated cell because of the 14 and 24. The 22 blocks passing down the bottom. This means that section of the Tapa wall must connect down the bottom of the grid.
Edited by Para 2016-03-04 7:34 AM
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swaroop2011
Posts: 668
Country : India | Para - 2016-03-04 7:32 AM
There is a hard deduction on the left side. You can't get past the 113 in R8C2. If you were to go past the left of it R7C3 would be an isolated cell because of the 14 and 24. The 22 blocks passing down the bottom. This means that section of the Tapa wall must connect down the bottom of the grid.
ah i see now. Nice. Thanks. |
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prasanna16391
Posts: 1779
Country : India | debmohanty - 2016-03-04 4:48 AM
Some statistics about CTC 2016
Who would have predicted in 2012 that I would be one of the most consistent ones in a future edition? :P I still remember the drastic ups and downs from that year. Its sad that that one mistake came because of a double click around a 1-1 corner clue, would have been nice to have perfect accuracy like deu : ) |
Classic Tapa Contest — 2nd January - 20th February 2016
