Instructions Booklet published.

Link : http://logicmastersindia.com/SM/201601/

In Linked Classic,do the boxes correspond or it's for the solver to determine which is to which ?

Boxes will correspond.

The rule of "Twin Givens sudoku" is strangely formulated:

"Two cells will
remain empty as
these are twins and
of the same value."

What is the value of an empty cell ??

Fred

Yes, its quite an amusing way of stating it.
Lets just assume the value is 0 :-)

Or, if this value isn't 0, perhaps it represents the quantum vacuum (X is a quantum vacuum fluctuation when you enter codes)...

Can I get any twin givens 6*6 sudoku with step by step solution ? This variant seems to be very confusing to me.

As shown in the above image, it helps to have notations for cells which cannot be shaded. On paper I usually circle the cells which cannot be shaded/crossed out. Then its just about seeing how two shaded cells can be placed in some rows/columns/boxes with many circles considering that the two shaded cells can't be next to each other, and solving the rest as a classic from 1-4.

Will it always be 1-4 for a 6*6 and 1-7 for a 9*9 sudoku that will be unshaded??

For this contest, yes.

Is there a mechanism for marking X's in the Twin Givens Sudokus on the online applet? If not, would the applet accept my answer if I were to use a number that would not otherwise appear in the grid to mark X's, e.g. a 9? Or do the X squares have to be fully empty?

Edited by ghirsch 2016-01-08 10:45 PM

You can type "X", just like you would type any other digit.
The blank squares can either be blank or have X.

We will enable solving of the example online in next half an hour.

Now available.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	representation could have been better
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Not sure if Disjoint sudoku represents the theme of the test. Maybe Isosudoku could have been a possible type.

The answer keys for a fair number of puzzles came quite early in the solving process. However, it is always difficult to set answer key, especially for 6x6 ones.

Overlap 9x9 and Linked 9x9 were nice. The test was enjoyable overall. Thanks to the authors for this test.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	representation could have been better
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	representation could have been better
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Average

Representation - Surprised not to see SudoKurve, IsoSudoku as types.

Apart from being too easy, many Sudokus didn't use the "extra" rule of the variant significantly.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Really liked the Linked and Disjoint 9x9. Overall a good set but on the easier side.
Thanks Rajesh!

About variant choice, we had two considerations to make.

One is, that there is an Irregular variations round too.

Another is, that some variants are not supported by the online interface. This is a bigger consideration than the first one, and we'd love to hear opinions on this from solvers who regularly use the interface. How would you feel about 1 or 2 variants not being on the interface? If we can be more flexible in this way we'd have a wider range to choose from.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

A nice breezy set.Feels good to revisit classic based sudokus occasionally.More importantly,to complete a test.

Thanks Rajesh for choosing this theme!

I never had any difficulty solving any of the sudokus.All Classics were falling very quickly before using any of the advanced techniques like triplets ,hidden single etc.,

Linked(16) and Overlapping(16)offered some resistance in way of my completion and were definitely the best of the lot by a far margin and my favouries .Neatly constructed.

To conclude, a very pleasant set.Thanks for authoring Rajesh!Would have been even more better with a bit more difficult Classics.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

Due to some flash problems, I was not able to correct my mistakes for Overlapping 9*9 and Linked 9*9. I have sent an email with the correct solutions. Please add up these scores if you find them correct.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

For the first time,i managed to complete the set.The overlap 9 by 9 was the one which took a lot of my time.Thanks to the authors for holding a nice test.
In the foreseeable future,I will still be solving online as will many other people,no doubt,and if some variants are indeed going to be limited to offline solving,that would pose a major problem.I would have to draw it again on paper and solve it,which would take a significant amount of time ,and you also know very well that some variants are difficult to be copied onto paper.That change,if implemented,would be pretty undesirable for me,at least.

Thanks a lot for letting us know your thoughts on the matter. Hoping for some more input on this topic, especially from other Indians who solve online.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Very good episode! Really enjoyed it :)

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

This one definitely seemed to be on the easier side (I usually come nowhere close to solving all of them), but the puzzles were still generally fun and it was nice to see some new types that I wasn't previously familiar with. Thanks Rajesh.

I regularly use the online solver since I don't have a convenient printer to use. I would be fine with some variants not being on the interface though, so long as this is made very clear before the test.

It would also be a good idea to give links to applications that people can use to still solve on their computers since some other online solvers may not be aware that these exist. I personally use Skim (for OSX), and it sounds like there are many other image editors that you can draw on.

Edited by ghirsch 2016-01-10 10:57 PM

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

This was a great test, lots of fun. Maybe a little easy - I nearly completed it and usually I can only manage a few problems. Looking forward to the next one :) thanks!

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

This round seems a little easier than the previous ones? Despite the fact that I botched 2 big puzzles and had to resolve, I came very close to finishing.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

I lost a lot of time in solving and re-solving the overlapping 9x9. I let it go in the end. Also, I lost one point for the twin givens 6x6 because of internet connectivity issue in the last one minute. The test was fun though!

Also my performance was a bit better than the last test where I had been sleeping for half of the test as I couldn't manage to take out time to take the test and had attempted it just for the sake of attempting!

Edited by megu 2016-01-11 8:42 AM

Thanks for the input. If we do go this route we will definitely make it clear in the IB. Making a list like this is a good idea, but we'd need to know from participants who use these editors in order to compile it.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

OMG.. I forgot to press the submit button. What a grave mistake I committed. Will be careful next time

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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Password removed & solutions appended.

First of all let me thank LMI for giving me opportunity to organize Sudoku test on LMI website. Also thanks to Deb and Prasanna for giving me positive feedback to improve on Sudoku creations and testing and helping me to select the Sudoku puzzles for this test. Also thanks to Rishi for pre-testing this Sudoku test and giving the feedback on answer keys. Also thanks to 350 participants who has solved this test. Special thanks to the participants who have given the valuable feedback regarding this test. Your feedback will help us improve upon future tests.

Congrats to jaku111, Seungjae Kwak, Jan Zverina and Tiit Vunk for taking first four positions respectively. Congrats to Rohan, Kishore, Rakesh and Jaipal taking top 4 India ranks respectively.

One of the feedback we got regarding this test that it was on the easier side. In fact we have knowingly kept it on the easier side. In fact my last year SM test being of Medium difficulty, I wanted to keep this test as Hard. However previous few SM test were on tough side and later we decided to keep this test easy so that more players should be able to complete the test. Top Players may not feel happy with the test being on easier side. For them I promise to create another Sudoku test on LMI soon which will be on Harder side :)

Now coming to variations selected for this test. There were around 11 Sudoku variations considered for this test. Couple of these variations like Kurve Sudoku were immediately rejected as online interface does not support this type. Here the feedback from players who solve LMI test online is required that if it is OK with them to solve few variations on paper and remaining puzzles online?

Puzzles from 8 variations were created and later we rejected three Sudoku variations Expanded Sudoku, Split Sudoku and Figure Sudoku. Expanded Sudoku was rejected as it was not possible to create Mini Sudoku for this variation. Also there were many Classic Sudoku puzzles were created and few very tough puzzles were removed to keep this test on easier side. Overall there are around 19 spare puzzles which were left over after creation of this test. I will be posting these puzzles soon on my blog www.funwithpuzzles.com .

Overall I enjoyed creating this test. Hopefully most of the participants also enjoyed this test. Looking forward to more of your feedback as it will help me to improve myself for my puzzle and Sudoku creation skills.

Kishore I am missing your feedback on this test :)

http://logicmastersindia.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?pid=20584

Thanks Rakesh! Sorry I missed that :)