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Kakuro — January Puzzle Test — 11th-13th January50 posts • Page 1 of 2 • 1 2
@ 2014-01-11 11:38 AM (#14066 - in reply to #14015) (#14066) Top

achan1058



Posts: 80
20202020
Country : Canada

achan1058 posted @ 2014-01-11 11:38 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Very nice contest. I especially loved how the solve path plays out for some of the puzzles.

@chaotic_iak: Most of the puzzles worked out just fine for me. I scored nearly 700, and would have gotten another 100 if I haven't botched solving the big odd/even. On the other hand, I am quite comfortable with Kakuro. Ya, there are some additions for sure, but I always take that as a part of Kakuro, as long as it isn't too ridiculous.

Edited by achan1058 2014-01-11 11:41 AM
@ 2014-01-11 3:11 PM (#14068 - in reply to #14065) (#14068) Top

greenhorn



Posts: 164
100202020
Country : Slovakia

greenhorn posted @ 2014-01-11 3:11 PM

chaotic_iak - 2014-01-11 11:34 AM

I don't know whether it's because I plain suck at Kakuro or the puzzles are terribly imbalanced toward the hard side, but having only 50% complete while I usually score around 70-80% sounds a bit unusual...

The solving paths seem to require some bruteforce in most puzzles I attempted? Or otherwise require a lot of mental additions. (I used scratch paper.) Or I just miss much more elegant solving paths.

Anyway, good test.


All the puzzles are solvable by plain logic. Yes, some of them are harder, but no bruteforce is needed. As you can see, quarter of the participants have solved (nearly) everything, some of them in incredibly good times.

Edited by greenhorn 2014-01-11 3:12 PM
@ 2014-01-11 3:23 PM (#14069 - in reply to #14066) (#14069) Top

greenhorn



Posts: 164
100202020
Country : Slovakia

greenhorn posted @ 2014-01-11 3:23 PM

achan1058 - 2014-01-11 11:38 AM

Very nice contest. I especially loved how the solve path plays out for some of the puzzles.

@chaotic_iak: Most of the puzzles worked out just fine for me. I scored nearly 700, and would have gotten another 100 if I haven't botched solving the big odd/even. On the other hand, I am quite comfortable with Kakuro. Ya, there are some additions for sure, but I always take that as a part of Kakuro, as long as it isn't too ridiculous.


Thank you, Aaron
@ 2014-01-11 10:34 PM (#14071 - in reply to #14015) (#14071) Top

xevs



Posts: 43
2020
Country : Japan

xevs posted @ 2014-01-11 10:34 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? A bit skewed
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many hard puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-12 12:59 AM (#14073 - in reply to #14015) (#14073) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2014-01-12 12:59 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many medium difficult puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-12 6:36 AM (#14075 - in reply to #14015) (#14075) Top

auroux



Posts: 144
1002020
Country : France

auroux posted @ 2014-01-12 6:36 AM

This was a fun contest! The puzzles were very nice -- but I don't think the point distribution was very good. In many cases the big puzzle barely took me any more time (if any) than the small one despite being worth a lot more points.
@ 2014-01-12 2:54 PM (#14076 - in reply to #14015) (#14076) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2014-01-12 2:54 PM

 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many medium difficult puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-12 3:38 PM (#14077 - in reply to #14015) (#14077) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2014-01-12 3:38 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-12 7:31 PM (#14079 - in reply to #14015) (#14079) Top

TiiT



Posts: 139
10020
Country : Estonia

TiiT posted @ 2014-01-12 7:31 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-12 9:31 PM (#14080 - in reply to #14015) (#14080) Top

krytterka



Posts: 3

Country : Czech Republic

krytterka posted @ 2014-01-12 9:31 PM

Well, I don't know if this was the issue with online version only (as I did the online version and haven't downloaded the PDF) but I found mistakes in odd-even small. There were two "equations" that didn't fit my numbers in the table but afterall I submitted them (even I knew my equals are lower than the wanted ones) and it was considered right...
(my different equations were 36 (the original one in online version test - third from the right in the top row) - mine got 34; and 35 (original one - second from the bottom in the left column) - mine was 33.)
I just thought if it was a general mistake or something else.
@ 2014-01-12 10:02 PM (#14081 - in reply to #14080) (#14081) Top

jaku111



Posts: 6

Country : Czech Republic

jaku111 posted @ 2014-01-12 10:02 PM

krytterka - 2014-01-12 9:31 PM

Well, I don't know if this was the issue with online version only (as I did the online version and haven't downloaded the PDF) but I found mistakes in odd-even small. There were two "equations" that didn't fit my numbers in the table but afterall I submitted them (even I knew my equals are lower than the wanted ones) and it was considered right...
(my different equations were 36 (the original one in online version test - third from the right in the top row) - mine got 34; and 35 (original one - second from the bottom in the left column) - mine was 33.)
I just thought if it was a general mistake or something else.


The kakuro is considered right when you have the two marked rows or columns correct (as to pdf version when you only copy these numbers). You were lucky that your mistake was out of these rows/columns. You had probably some small mistake...
@ 2014-01-13 12:53 AM (#14083 - in reply to #14081) (#14083) Top

krytterka



Posts: 3

Country : Czech Republic

krytterka posted @ 2014-01-13 12:53 AM

ok. Anyway, looking forward the solution sheet for this task. It was weird to me that all other additions were right and those two, even out-of-answer-line weren't.
So far, this was just a trial for me (I'm still more to sudoku than logic and this kakuro, even it is "sudoku-like"). But thanks for game and your answer.
@ 2014-01-13 5:47 AM (#14085 - in reply to #14083) (#14085) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2014-01-13 5:47 AM

krytterka - 2014-01-13 12:53 AM

ok. Anyway, looking forward the solution sheet for this task. It was weird to me that all other additions were right and those two, even out-of-answer-line weren't.
So far, this was just a trial for me (I'm still more to sudoku than logic and this kakuro, even it is "sudoku-like"). But thanks for game and your answer.

Solution on left side and your submission on right.

@ 2014-01-13 12:41 PM (#14088 - in reply to #14015) (#14088) Top

Ziti



Posts: 42
2020
Country : United States

Ziti posted @ 2014-01-13 12:41 PM

Thank you very much, Matus and Jakub. Those were fun puzzles with a nice new set of rules and I really enjoyed them.
@ 2014-01-13 2:16 PM (#14089 - in reply to #14015) (#14089) Top

swaroop2011




Posts: 668
500100202020
Country : India

swaroop2011 posted @ 2014-01-13 2:16 PM

Awesome test, Nice puzzles, i really liked the path of solving in few puzzles
Thanks to authors and LMI for such great test.
From results i can see that i am poor at Kakuro, while solving especially my 1st one hour was very slow and then it went good. Luckily finished big quadruple in last few min with 20 sec to left. :)
@ 2014-01-13 4:34 PM (#14090 - in reply to #14015) (#14090) Top

Gotroch



Posts: 83
20202020
Country : Czech Republic

Gotroch posted @ 2014-01-13 4:34 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many medium difficult puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little


Thanks for the nice test. I enjoyed it a lot.
But I was missing some challenging Kakuro variant in the set. Something where I have to think what should be my next step in the puzzle. Usually, during puzzle contests, I have moments, where I just staring at puzzle for several minutes before I realize what to do. This was probably my first puzzle contest here, where that didn't happen and I proceeded through all puzzles pretty straightforward.
@ 2014-01-13 5:58 PM (#14091 - in reply to #14015) (#14091) Top

ukonet



Posts: 9

Country : Turkey

ukonet posted @ 2014-01-13 5:58 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? A bit skewed
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many medium difficult puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too few puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-13 7:09 PM (#14092 - in reply to #14015) (#14092) Top

rajeshk




Posts: 542
5002020
Country : India

rajeshk posted @ 2014-01-13 7:09 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-13 8:21 PM (#14093 - in reply to #14015) (#14093) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2014-01-13 8:21 PM

Extended by 12 hours


The test is extended by 12 hours. Please check the submission page for the new end time, in your timezone.


@ 2014-01-13 10:24 PM (#14095 - in reply to #14015) (#14095) Top

rvarun



Posts: 268
100100202020
Country : India

rvarun posted @ 2014-01-13 10:24 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2014-01-14 3:40 AM (#14097 - in reply to #14015) (#14097) Top

detuned



Posts: 152
1002020
Country : United Kingdom

detuned posted @ 2014-01-14 3:40 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Very skewed
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Perhaps some of my answers reflect the inadequacies of the survey rather than the test - e.g. of course a kakuro only test is going to be skewed! I found that a couple of the puzzles I had the answer keys way before I'd finished the puzzles. Finally, the test had a strange "feel" to it - more like sudoku than kakuro. But given the password, perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised!
@ 2014-01-14 4:34 AM (#14098 - in reply to #14097) (#14098) Top

greenhorn



Posts: 164
100202020
Country : Slovakia

greenhorn posted @ 2014-01-14 4:34 AM

detuned - 2014-01-14 3:40 AM

Perhaps some of my answers reflect the inadequacies of the survey rather than the test - e.g. of course a kakuro only test is going to be skewed! I found that a couple of the puzzles I had the answer keys way before I'd finished the puzzles. Finally, the test had a strange "feel" to it - more like sudoku than kakuro. But given the password, perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised!


Yes, you are right. It was not mentioned before, but the original theme of the contest is Kakuro with instructions borrowed from common Sudoku variants... But this name is too long, so we decided to call it just Kakuro.

Edit: Sorry Gotroch, I have not seen your comment before. There were no strange and challanging variants because of the reasons that Tom mentioned in his comment. When we thought about the variants we may use, we come up with three categories - sudoku variants, common variants (as in Antalya 2009) or new challenging ones. We realized that it is enough material to have more than one Kakuro contest. Now it is too early to promise two more competitions (maybe there will be no interest after this contest), but I just want to may you sure, that we have talked about this with Deb few months ago.

Edited by greenhorn 2014-01-14 4:41 AM
@ 2014-01-14 12:54 PM (#14101 - in reply to #14015) (#14101) Top

kishy72



Posts: 417
100100100100
Country : India

kishy72 posted @ 2014-01-14 12:54 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Enjoyable Test ! I had great fun solving the test.I am glad that I did not give the test a miss.
There was certainly a thing or two that I learnt from attempting the test ,
which I would certainly remember in similar future tests.Now eagerly looking forward to solving the rest of the unfinished ones in some time.
Thanks to both the authors for creating such a wonderful set of puzzles coupled with a nice practice set!!A great didactic Kakuro test!
@ 2014-01-14 4:09 PM (#14102 - in reply to #14015) (#14102) Top

davep



Posts: 43
2020
Country : United States

davep posted @ 2014-01-14 4:09 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Perfectly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Just right
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Just right
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


Enjoyed the test very much, thanks to Matus and Jakub for the excellent work!
@ 2014-01-14 5:30 PM (#14103 - in reply to #14015) (#14103) Top

tnv




Posts: 22
20
Country : India

tnv posted @ 2014-01-14 5:30 PM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles? Too many hard puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? A bit too many puzzles
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount


Kakuro — January Puzzle Test — 11th-13th January50 posts • Page 1 of 2 • 1 2
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