Toketa? Selection — LMI January Puzzle Test — 30th Jan to 1st Feb
@ 2016-01-24 10:57 AM (#20773) (#20773) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2016-01-24 10:57 AM



Click on the logo above for Instructions booklet and other details
@ 2016-01-25 4:27 PM (#20792 - in reply to #20773) (#20792) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2016-01-25 4:27 PM


Logic Masters India announces January Puzzle Test — Toketa? Selection

Dates : 30th Jan - 1st Feb

Instruction Booklet & Submission : Link

Authors : Atsumi Hirose, Gomatamago, Ken Endo, Ko Okamoto, Serkan Yürekli, Shinichi Aoki, Takeya Saikachi, Yuki Kawabe, Yuta Nagata

@ 2016-01-26 10:34 PM (#20811 - in reply to #20773) (#20811) Top

awolf



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awolf posted @ 2016-01-26 10:34 PM

I'm having trouble understanding how exactly the outside clues work for the Summon puzzle. Can someone please help explain?
@ 2016-01-27 4:19 AM (#20815 - in reply to #20811) (#20815) Top

rob



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rob posted @ 2016-01-27 4:19 AM

awolf - 2016-01-26 10:34 PM

I'm having trouble understanding how exactly the outside clues work for the Summon puzzle. Can someone please help explain?


The digits in a row (or column) are grouped into numbers which may consist of multiple digits, separated by blanks. These are then summed up to form the clues. E.g., if a row is "1w23ww21" (with "w" for white cells), the clue would be 1+23+21 = 45.
@ 2016-01-27 6:13 AM (#20817 - in reply to #20815) (#20817) Top

awolf



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awolf posted @ 2016-01-27 6:13 AM

Oh! Thank you very much.
@ 2016-01-28 12:22 AM (#20830 - in reply to #20773) (#20830) Top

thesubro



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thesubro posted @ 2016-01-28 12:22 AM

On the Max Arrow Castle Wall puzzle, can arrows in a cell indicate that the maximum total lengths of segments in all directions within the puzzle area equal 0, or must the maximum length be a positive number? Thanks. TheSubro

Edited by thesubro 2016-01-28 12:30 AM
@ 2016-01-28 3:30 AM (#20832 - in reply to #20830) (#20832) Top

deu



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deu posted @ 2016-01-28 3:30 AM

thesubro - 2016-01-28 12:22 AM

On the Max Arrow Castle Wall puzzle, can arrows in a cell indicate that the maximum total lengths of segments in all directions within the puzzle area equal 0, or must the maximum length be a positive number? Thanks. TheSubro


Maximum value can be 0. In this case, arrows are drawn in all possible directions.
@ 2016-01-28 11:50 AM (#20836 - in reply to #20832) (#20836) Top

chaotic_iak




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chaotic_iak posted @ 2016-01-28 11:50 AM

By all possible directions, does that include, say, an edge clue pointing to the edge itself?
@ 2016-01-28 12:57 PM (#20838 - in reply to #20836) (#20838) Top

deu



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deu posted @ 2016-01-28 12:57 PM

chaotic_iak - 2016-01-28 11:50 AM

By all possible directions, does that include, say, an edge clue pointing to the edge itself?


Good question. "All possible directions" mean "All 4 directions" even for edge clues and corner clues.
@ 2016-01-28 10:53 PM (#20843 - in reply to #20773) (#20843) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2016-01-28 10:53 PM


Practice Booklet

Like their previous contests, the authors have prepared a booklet with practice puzzles. This booklet has 14 puzzles from 8 different types appearing in this test.


Download Link


@ 2016-01-29 1:52 AM (#20845 - in reply to #20773) (#20845) Top

chaotic_iak




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chaotic_iak posted @ 2016-01-29 1:52 AM

So Symmetry Area is just Fillomino with regions having 180-degree rotational symmetry?

In the Meandering Words example, R3C4 can be unshaded with the solution still unique? (So I can understand a region without shaded cell from the example.)
@ 2016-01-29 11:03 AM (#20851 - in reply to #20845) (#20851) Top

deu



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deu posted @ 2016-01-29 11:03 AM

chaotic_iak - 2016-01-29 1:52 AM

So Symmetry Area is just Fillomino with regions having 180-degree rotational symmetry?

In the Meandering Words example, R3C4 can be unshaded with the solution still unique? (So I can understand a region without shaded cell from the example.)


You are right in both questions. Regarding Meandering Words, some regions do not contain a shaded cell in the actual test. This means you can start the word from any cell in that region.
@ 2016-01-29 11:17 AM (#20852 - in reply to #20773) (#20852) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2016-01-29 11:17 AM

Points Table
Araf1530
Symmetry Area2560
Compass3535
Sunglasses2575
Graffiti Snake2550
New Tren2560
Statue Park3545
Summon3060
Meandering Words3050
Curve Data2045
Max Arrow Castle Wall3090
Angle Loop3570
Total1000

@ 2016-01-30 5:45 AM (#20858 - in reply to #20773) (#20858) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2016-01-30 5:45 AM

Contest has started

@ 2016-01-30 9:36 AM (#20859 - in reply to #20773) (#20859) Top

chaotic_iak




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chaotic_iak posted @ 2016-01-30 9:36 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Araf
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Compass
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Angle Loop


A very nice test. Puzzles were nice in difficulty, and especially nice in aesthetics and solving path; I enjoyed every minute of it. Some puzzles, thanks to their genres (read: Symmetry Area, Compass, Curve Data, Angle Loop for example), are much more solvable using intuition, making educated guesses instead of using deductions and theorems. Others are solvable using deduction with a very clean solving path, most notably Max Arrow Castle Wall 1; first attempt by intuition didn't lead anywhere, and second attempt by logic immediately led to the solution (with a few mistakes because there were 3 minutes left).

I've been trying to compile a list of favorite puzzles in this test, but I would mention a majority of the puzzles this way, so that's perhaps enough to say that the whole test was a very pleasant experience. But a special mention to Araf 2, anyway; that's an absolutely gorgeous puzzle, with givens that form a perfect pattern, that when I saw it I thought "wow, this can have a unique solution?" (It does.)

The only puzzle that I didn't solve was Max Arrow Castle Wall 2, which I didn't have time to attempt anyway; I should revisit it.
@ 2016-01-30 5:14 PM (#20860 - in reply to #20773) (#20860) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2016-01-30 5:14 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Araf
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Meandering Words
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Summon


@ 2016-01-30 7:00 PM (#20861 - in reply to #20773) (#20861) Top

rakesh_rai




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rakesh_rai posted @ 2016-01-30 7:00 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Max Arrow Castle Wall
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Sunglasses
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Statue Park


@ 2016-01-30 7:19 PM (#20862 - in reply to #20773) (#20862) Top

Nilz



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Nilz posted @ 2016-01-30 7:19 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. New Tren
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Summon
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Sunglasses


Really nice test, and I'm glad to see that volume 4 is being worked on! :-) I much prefer the ones that can be solved completely logically, rather than the ones with rubbers symbols, but all the puzzles were good quality anyway!
The grid lines/ lattice points on the New Tren and the first Curve Data didn't print for me (although bizarrely they did on the second Curve Data), did anyone else have that problem? I had to draw them in myself, which I think meant I submitted the 2nd Angle Loop about 1 second after time, which is a bit annoying! But a fun 2 hours anyway.
@ 2016-01-30 8:20 PM (#20863 - in reply to #20862) (#20863) Top

debmohanty




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debmohanty posted @ 2016-01-30 8:20 PM

Nilz - 2016-01-30 7:19 PM
The grid lines/ lattice points on the New Tren and the first Curve Data didn't print for me (although bizarrely they did on the second Curve Data), did anyone else have that problem?

In most likelihood, this happens when you print directly from the browser. See this post for details. You might want to re-print the pdf after saving the file on your machine.
@ 2016-01-31 12:37 AM (#20866 - in reply to #20863) (#20866) Top

Nilz



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Nilz posted @ 2016-01-31 12:37 AM

debmohanty - 2016-01-30 4:20 PM

Nilz - 2016-01-30 7:19 PM
The grid lines/ lattice points on the New Tren and the first Curve Data didn't print for me (although bizarrely they did on the second Curve Data), did anyone else have that problem?

In most likelihood, this happens when you print directly from the browser. See this post for details. You might want to re-print the pdf after saving the file on your machine.

I'm sure you're right, thanks for the info, I'll try this next time. Just weird that it's not happened before.
@ 2016-01-31 1:21 AM (#20867 - in reply to #20773) (#20867) Top

willwc



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willwc posted @ 2016-01-31 1:21 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Max Arrow Castle Wall
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Araf
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Compass


An excellent set of puzzles. My thanks to the authors/organizers. I will also highly recommend the books to anyone who has not checked them out before.
@ 2016-01-31 2:58 AM (#20868 - in reply to #20773) (#20868) Top

rob



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rob posted @ 2016-01-31 2:58 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Symmetry Area
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Angle Loop
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Max Arrow Castle Wall


An expectedly brilliant test. I love the books, the contest matched their quality. Thank you!

It's hard to choose favourites; somehow I always tend towards the ones that gave me most trouble. That's the Symmetry Area here: I couldn't solve either of those until revisiting them later, kept not seeing ways that things could resolve. And once you've figured out 11/19, the 8 doesn't work! Then I'll vote for Angle Loop anytime because the type is so good, as were the puzzles.

Other than that, the harder Meandering Words seemed easy, but I still broke it. It's hard to find errors in those. And somewhat annoyingly I fixed an error in Summon 2 first in one entry code line, then in the other.
@ 2016-02-01 3:09 AM (#20873 - in reply to #20773) (#20873) Top

prasanna16391



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prasanna16391 posted @ 2016-02-01 3:09 AM

 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Araf
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Graffiti Snake
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Max Arrow Castle Wall


I was a bit apprehensive going into this for two reasons. 1) I haven't managed to solve a single medium+ Angle Loop till now. 2) I am really bad at intuition/guessing. Considering that, the test went fine except for two puzzles. One of them is that Symmetry Area puzzle which was beautiful to look at until I had to attack it with around 10 erasings (mainly because I didn't want to get to the Angle Loop) in multiple re-visits across the test duration. I'm probably just missing something simple and doing silly things repeatedly. I managed to solve the easier Angle Loop which is a big achievement in itself, and I still can't get the bigger one to work. If not for my shortcomings in these two puzzles I'd have a really nice result.
@ 2016-02-01 7:00 AM (#20874 - in reply to #20773) (#20874) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2016-02-01 7:00 AM

 How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were? Fairly balanced
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Summon
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Max Arrow Castle Wall
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Compass


@ 2016-02-01 7:18 AM (#20875 - in reply to #20773) (#20875) Top

forcolin




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forcolin posted @ 2016-02-01 7:18 AM

One of the best contests of recent times. Very innovative and very logical. based more on logical solving capacity rather than on speed. I liked it a lot, in spite of spending an awful lot of time on the first symmetry area (I managed to solve it only after the end) and still can't figure out how to sort the bigger brother. Very elegant also the second angle loop. Thanks to the authors
@ 2016-02-01 9:04 AM (#20876 - in reply to #20773) (#20876) Top

Para



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Para posted @ 2016-02-01 9:04 AM

 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. New Tren
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Max Arrow Castle Wall
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Compass


As expected, the last Angle Loop broke me up for the last 10-15 minutes. It's a type that really doesn't suit me. I took a while afterwards to get it. I enjoyed all puzzles without a little eraser as the other ones caused some unnecessary problems. Not a bad performance overall though.
@ 2016-02-01 1:00 PM (#20877 - in reply to #20773) (#20877) Top

ghirsch



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ghirsch posted @ 2016-02-01 1:00 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Graffiti Snake
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Sunglasses
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Meandering Words


@ 2016-02-01 7:31 PM (#20878 - in reply to #20773) (#20878) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2016-02-01 7:31 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? Too many medium difficult puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Very nice
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Sunglasses
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Curve Data
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Statue Park


@ 2016-02-02 7:30 AM (#20882 - in reply to #20773) (#20882) Top

Gotroch



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Gotroch posted @ 2016-02-02 7:30 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. New Tren
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Compass
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Sunglasses


@ 2016-02-02 8:47 AM (#20883 - in reply to #20773) (#20883) Top

debmohanty




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debmohanty posted @ 2016-02-02 8:47 AM

Solutions booklet uploaded.

It also has a listing of which author created which puzzles and original version of Angle Loop (2), which is more challenging than the one that appeared in the contest.
@ 2016-02-02 10:10 AM (#20884 - in reply to #20773) (#20884) Top

debmohanty




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debmohanty posted @ 2016-02-02 10:10 AM

Congratulations to Robert for winning this one, he is way ahead of Bram (2nd) and James (3rd). While I personally don't own the book, I have seen the very impressive stuff. They are of very high quality, and the contest puzzles certainly matched to them. Thanks very much to the authors.

I'm yet to solve all the puzzles (especially Symmetric Area and Angle Loop), but my favourites so far have been Araf, Sunglasses and Graffiti Snake.

@ 2016-02-02 10:20 AM (#20885 - in reply to #20773) (#20885) Top

debmohanty




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debmohanty posted @ 2016-02-02 10:20 AM

Not so important statistics - While Japan has the highest number of participants in this test, there is none from Japan in top 10. That is first time in any LMI puzzle test. I suppose the only way to keep them out of the top is ask them to author tests :)
@ 2016-02-02 1:49 PM (#20886 - in reply to #20885) (#20886) Top

vopani



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vopani posted @ 2016-02-02 1:49 PM

debmohanty - 2016-02-02 10:20 AM

Not so important statistics - While Japan has the highest number of participants in this test, there is none from Japan in top 10. That is first time in any LMI puzzle test. I suppose the only way to keep them out of the top is ask them to author tests :)

Wow! No wonder Prasanna keeps asking when will Japan host the WPC :-)
@ 2016-02-02 2:19 PM (#20887 - in reply to #20885) (#20887) Top

yureklis



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yureklis posted @ 2016-02-02 2:19 PM

debmohanty - 2016-02-02 10:20 AM

Not so important statistics - While Japan has the highest number of participants in this test, there is none from Japan in top 10. That is first time in any LMI puzzle test. I suppose the only way to keep them out of the top is ask them to author tests :)


Ahhhaaaa cool :D
@ 2016-02-02 6:20 PM (#20889 - in reply to #20773) (#20889) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2016-02-02 6:20 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
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Compass
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Statue Park
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Max Arrow Castle Wall


@ 2016-02-02 7:03 PM (#20892 - in reply to #20773) (#20892) Top

chaotic_iak




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chaotic_iak posted @ 2016-02-02 7:03 PM

Well, barely missing top three. Still targeting for a top three so I can get my name mentioned. :P
@ 2016-02-02 10:54 PM (#20895 - in reply to #20773) (#20895) Top

rob



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rob posted @ 2016-02-02 10:54 PM

Wow, I can't say I expected a chance to win, let alone by such a margin. Of course some factors played to my advantage: most Japanese top solvers didn't compete, the puzzles and types were on the geometric side and intuition-friendly, I own and have solved most of the three existing Toketa books. Still, very happy, thanks again!

I think the second Angle Loop is a great puzzle, I prefer it to the original from the solution booklet: I feel it sets up the final trick very elegantly. Of course that's after having figured it out quickly, I might well think differently otherwise...
@ 2016-02-03 2:42 AM (#20901 - in reply to #20773) (#20901) Top

kiwijam



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kiwijam posted @ 2016-02-03 2:42 AM

Very well done to Rob, we are having a good start to the year!
His first LMI victory, and my first LMI podium (if you don't include Riad's April optimising contests...).
I was on holiday all last week without my Toketa books (oh no!), so had no chance to prepare. Perhaps that made my mind 'fresher'?
I was doing well until the end approached, then I sat for 8 minutes looking at the "easy" Angle Loop and constantly penciling and erasing on that squares grid... curiously I had little trouble with the harder Angle Loop, it was logically solvable (although I was still slow to join it up).
Thank you to the authors, the puzzles were great, and nicer than the practise set. ;)
@ 2016-02-05 5:57 AM (#20917 - in reply to #20773) (#20917) Top

brecher92



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brecher92 posted @ 2016-02-05 5:57 AM

This looks like a great set of puzzles, but 2 hours in one sitting is just too much for me. In the future maybe two separate contests of 1 hour each?
@ 2016-02-05 7:51 AM (#20918 - in reply to #20773) (#20918) Top

devarajand



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devarajand posted @ 2016-02-05 7:51 AM

Will some one post a walk through for both Angle loop puzzles
@ 2016-02-05 11:09 AM (#20919 - in reply to #20918) (#20919) Top

ghirsch



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ghirsch posted @ 2016-02-05 11:09 AM

devarajand - 2016-02-04 8:51 AM

Will some one post a walk through for both Angle loop puzzles


For the first puzzle:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

First the red. There is only one option for the obtuse vertex at the bottom. Also, the C has to connect down to the E, and you quickly run into problems if you try to connect it to B as well, so it has to connect to the acute vertex to the right.

Now the blue. There is only one way left to connect the H without cutting off the bottom right acute vertex, and the G then has to connect up to guarantee a single, non-crossing loop. The B then has only one option, then the D, then the A.

Finally the green connects up the last few vertices.


For the second puzzle, the right angle vertices are pretty constrained, so start with those. There is a clever trick you have to notice after this, but I thought it was very impressive so I don't want to spoil it in the forum (you can always check the solution pdf if you want to see it).

Edited by ghirsch 2016-02-05 11:17 AM
@ 2016-02-06 1:01 PM (#20927 - in reply to #20773) (#20927) Top

deu



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deu posted @ 2016-02-06 1:01 PM

Sorry for the late comment, but thanks for all participations and lots of positive feedbacks. And congratulations to Robert Vollmert for his dominant victory! My only regret is that I was sleeping while he was playing.

As we stated in the password, we've started working for Vol.4. If any readers have some suggestions to our book, such as "more hard puzzles", "less T&E puzzles" or any particular genre you want to solve, please let us know.

Here are two related links:
1. EKBM has posted his thoughts about this test in his blog (http://ekbm.blogspot.jp/). Logical solving path of Graffiti Snake 2 is beautiful and worth reading.
2. German website croco-puzzle (http://www.croco-puzzle.com/) is holding a daily competition of Toketa Puzzles. First two puzzles are New Tren by Silke Berendes.
@ 2016-02-07 12:33 AM (#20933 - in reply to #20773) (#20933) Top

rob



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rob posted @ 2016-02-07 12:33 AM

Thanks James and Hideaki. James, you were definitely on the list of solvers that I was scared off while reloading the score page all weekend + Monday. And Hideaki, looking at the croco series, good thing you were test-solving!