Mock Test 16 will be on 14-Mar-2010

Sudoku Author - Amit Sowani and Kshitij Sharma
Tester - Rajesh Kumar
Number of Rounds - 1
Type of Sudokus - Sudoku mixed with basic logic puzzle variants.
Time - 24 hours

We are planning to include the following types in this mock test:
Battleship Sudoku
Skyscraper Sudoku
Sudokuro
Minesweeper Sudoku
Domino Sudoku
Easy as Sudoku
Mastermind Sudoku
Word Search Sudoku
Kropki Sudoku
Basic Sudoku
Paint by number Sudoku
Pirate Sudoku

Will upload the instructions for these puzzles soon.

Looks like a fine and interesting bunch of puzzles!! Am trying to figure out whether these are sudokus based on puzzles or puzzles based on sudoku :D .... Looking forward to it....

Hey Amit... This is a sudoku mock test, not a puzzle mock! ;-)

Interesting variants... waiting for the IB...

What is Pirate Sudoku?

Pirate Sudoku is a new variant created by Kshitij.
The rules are as follows:

Fill in the grid with digits from 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3-box has exactly one of each digit. The 5’s represent treasure chests and are completely surrounded by (horizontally and vertically only) pirates (1, 2, 3 and 4). The commoners (6, 7, 8 and 9) cannot be found next to a treasure chest (5)

So Basically, Amit what you are saying is the numbers 1,2,3,4,5 will always form a plus sign... and there is an option of the numbers 1,2,3,4 repeating in that with 5 always in the center?? and also that 6,7,8,9 will never be vertically or horizontally adjoining the number 5.... If this is correct then I have solved it... lol

It is not necessary to form + sign.
5 can also be at a corner or on the sides.

ok.. I accept it Deb.. I havent solved it then... lol

While the IB is put up in a couple of days, I think it is better that everyone gets a chance to discuss the rules for the new puzzles.

Most of the puzzles have appeared in various sources earlier. Apart from that there are a couple of puzzles which have been developed by us. I have already explained the rules for Pirate Sudoku and I hope that Deb's explanation has satisfied Rishi's curiosity :)

The other new type is Mastermind Sudoku. The rules for which are as follows.

Fill in the grid with digits from 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3-box has exactly one of each digit. The black and white markers to the right of the grid correspond to the 5 consecutive marked cells in that row and the code given below the grid. Black markers indicate correct numbers in the right position in the 5 digits and the code, while the white ones mark correct numbers in the code in the wrong place among the 5 digits.

I will provide an example for this puzzle in the IB.

Either way you look at it, we have tried to make the puzzles in a way so that the sudoku solving element dominates the puzzle. We have also tried to make the sudokus simple and enjoyable to solve. Hope you have fun solving them!!

My main aim is to introduce the sudoku solving audience to the wider range of puzzles. I will also provide simple examples of the basic puzzle types for participants to solve in the instruction booklet.

Amit, Good to know that "Sudoku solving elements dominates". It clarifies whether it is a Sudoku Mock or Puzzle Mock :)

I did not understand "Basic sudoku" (unless it is classic)

Ya its classic, Sudoku in its most basic form. That was my internal representation, to signify that it is not a mix with any other type.
At one point I thought I should call it Sudoku Sudoku after which I thought that I was going a bit overboard.

Amit I think what you are doing is great.... Sudokus are but a small part of the puzzle world. Lot of sudokists are not very good at puzzles and do not understand them completely... Im one of that majority.... This will help ppl like us to attempt puzzle competitions in the future .... Nice idea....

I agree with you Rishi... I personally dont like puzzles as much as sudokus, and I am not even good at them :(

So seems like Amit is gearing everyone to give a good shot at IPC 2010. Good news is more participants, bad news is more competition ;-)

The IB should be out by tonight. Meanwhile I will give a preview of some of the sudokus for which I have borrowed ideas from external sources.

Battleship Sudoku
Fill the grid also that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contain the digits 1 through 9. To solve the sudoku you will need to locate the position of the 10-ship fleet in the grid. The ships with size greater then 1 can be placed only in horizontal and vertical directions. The ships do not touch each other, not even diagonally. The numbers outside the grid indicate how many cells in that row or column contain parts of ships. The ship can not occupy the cells with given digits.
Example: http://motris.livejournal.com/79580.html

Digital Paint by Number Sudoku
Fill in the grid with digits from 1 to 9 so that each row, column and 3x3-box has exactly one of each digit. You also need to shade a few cells within the grid to find out a hidden figure. The numbers on the sides of the grid give the sum of the shaded cells in each shaded stretch in a certain row or column. The black regions are separated by at least one or more empty cells.
Example: http://motris.livejournal.com/23949.html

Easy as Sudoku
Fill the grid with the digits 1 to 6. Each row, column and 3x3-box has exactly one of each digit and 3 empty cells. The clues along the edges tell you which digit you can see from that direction
Example: http://www.sachsentext.de/en/endview_sudoku1.htm

Word Search Sudoku
Place the alphabets C,D,E,K,M,O,S,T and U in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3 X 3 box contains each alphabet at least once. You should be able to find the words given below the grid. These words can be placed horizontally, vertically, or diagonally - forward or backward.
Example: http://www.sachsentext.de/en/wortsuch_sudoku1.htm

The Instruction Booklet is available for download at the mock 16 test page.

Thanks to Deb for creating examples for 3 of the puzzles. (Minesweeper, Mastermind and Pirate Sudoku)
I also borrowed 3 puzzles from Ritesh's mock 6 (Sudokuro and Skyscraper Sudoku and the Classic Sudoku)

Unfortunately I couldnt create examples for some of the types for which I have provided links to external sources.

The Instruction Booklet also contains an Appendix (last 5 pages). This is mainly for participants who are new to logic puzzles apart from Sudoku. It is only to help you solve the Sudoku variants and they will not appear in the mock test.

Hope you have a fun mock test !!

Amit,

Couple of doubts with the IB.
1. Mastermind Sudoku - I thought the 5 digit code will be given. In the IB it is not.
2. The Dominos given in the appendix has no similarity with the 'Domino Sudoku'

@ Deb:
You are right about the Mastermind Sudoku, the code will be given in the puzzle. I forgot to enter it in the IB.

For the IB example the code is "28471"

I have not seen this puzzle type before an wanted to have a simple introductory puzzle. However in the future I think puzzle creators can choose to create puzzles without the code given, where identifying the code will be a part of the puzzle solving process.

The Dominos example is not similar to the Domino Sudoku, but that is the best introductory example I had. I have also created a separate example for Domino Sudoku which should make the rules of domino Sudoku pretty clear. More examples can be found in previous Japanese Number Place Championships.

thanx.....I wasted so much of time indentifying the code...........but the puzzle was one star when the code was known.

One request to organisers - please see that the grid lines are marked properly in the puzzle especially the region boundaries as in Sudokuro it was difficult to identify regions as the boundaries were not bold at places.

Grid lines will be marked properly in the puzzle pdf and also online flash

Amit,

Can you please tell me if in the minesweeper sudoku of IB, r9c3 shouldn't be coloured in grey? If not, can you tell me the solution, because I've done a mistake :( .

Thanks

Fred

Fred, I'd created this example, and here is the solution.

[ debmohanty edited - Corrected example after amnon pointed a mistake ]

I think you should swap r2c4-r2c5 and r8c4-r8c5, otherwise r8c3 should be grey, as Fred suggested.

For participants who are solving online in the flash format:
In puzzles like Easy as Sudoku and Minesweeper you can use an X do to identify a blank space or a mine respectively.

For participants solving by taking printouts, enter X in the solution instead of the blanks in your answer row/columns.

The puzzle booklet can be downloaded now.

does the case of the X matter ('X' vs. 'x')?

The case of the 'X' does not matter.

Hi,

Thanks for nice puzzles. But there must be a problem with Word Search Sudoku. After I started the mock test I took my printouts as usual and started to solve. When I opened the puzzle book pdf file I examined Word Search Sudoku and there exists only 3 given letters. One at R6C2, one at R5C5 and one at R4C8. I quickly got stuck and couldn't succeed. But when I was submitting my answers of solved ones I noticed that for this puzzle there exists 6 more givens in the flash format. I wish I had notified this earlier (when I notified this I had only 4-5 minutes to finish test) and dealt with it in flash format. Anyway thanks again for nicely designed sudokus:)

Regards,

Zafer

can i know my score? thanks.

375. in 3 Sudokus you have minor mistakes.
In Skyscraper and Domino 2 digits are swapped :-(

...:-(
what about Piratesudoku?

i was so careless......

@zhergan

Sorry about the error in Word Search sudoku.
I updated the Word Search Sudoku in the flash version after feedback from Rajesh that it is a little difficult to get a start in the puzzle, but forgot to update the same in the pdf version.

For all participants who are yet to particpate please take note of the update in the Word Search Sudoku Flash format.

Piratesudoku is also wrong. 3 digits are not matching with the expected answer.

can i know my score?

335

To err is human...........never thought that I have committed a mistake in Sudokuru

This was my first time doing this and so I have a question about the scoring. Why does it only check a few lines from the solutions entered? I noticed that I actually got the domino one wrong, but my error wasn't in the line that was checked, so it was scored correctly. Also, are we supposed to only submit certain lines, or the whole solution?

Only selected rows / columns are checked. There is button "Show cells to fill". If you click on the button, it will show the cells you need to fill.

The information used to be there in earlier booklets. Looks like we need to put it back.

@ jwilsonian

There are many participants who solve the test by taking printouts of the puzzle pdfs
So to save their time required in submitting the answers we ask the participants to enter a few rows/columns.

These rows/ columns are generally chosen in a way that they are solved at the very end of the solving process, so in most cases you need to have solved the rest of the puzzle correctly to reach the correct solution digits.

You were lucky with the domino Sudoku :)

Thank you for your responses. I did solve on paper and then fill in my answers. I wish I knew about the selected rows... would have saved some time instead of filling in the whole puzzle online (although only a few minutes I suppose).

Thanks to all the participants who participated in the mock test.
Congrats to Janoslaw for topping the test :)

If you have not rated the Sudokus, please take few moments to rate them

Nice Mosk Test... The puzzles were really good.

Loved Kaukro :D
Mastermind Sudoku was a good puzzle. Wasted too much time on Battleship...
Overall, it was a good Mock test :)

Tejal, what is Kaukro? :P

Hi Amit,

I liked Sudokuro the best of the lot. Classic, Kropki and Skyscraper were nice. Pirate was what pulled me down. I dont know what I was doing, took me 17mins to solve it :| I kept going wrong somewhere! Easy As Sudoku and Mastermind Sudoku was fun.

I solved Minesweeper Sudoku later and found it a very nice puzzle!

I keep going wrong while solving Paint By Numbers. I'm still not able to solve it :|

Anyway, nice mock overall! I felt 2hrs would've been a good time :-)

@All
Tejal meant 'Kropki', I dont know how she managed to type 'Kaukro'!!! Lol!

Kaukro is more similar to Kakuro (->Sudokuro) than to Kropki... :bleh:

Fred

I like this mock test where the grids were more distant from classical sudoku or from "standard variants".

It was good experience to deal with other concepts.

I definitely has problem with minesweeper (despite the fact that I was strong to the standard game "minesweeper" when I was young :laugh: ). I begin this grid at least 8 times to achieve it correctly (3 times during the test and each time with mistake).

I also make mistake on the "digital paint" despite the fact that I made the 3 Snyder's grids day before test, and had no time to finish during the test. I solved it after the test and it is a great puzzle, I think.

I like Kropki sudoku, so I found this one too easy and less interesting, but it is nice to have one or 2 easy grids for a test.

skyscrapers was nice, with medium difficulty.

Domino is not the grid I liked so much... but I do it during the test.

Sudokuro was nice, I liked it very much.

Easy as Sudoku was nice too, It make me thought about "odd/even view sudoku", which I like.

Pirate sudoku was nice, I liked it !

I made mastermind at the end of the test, and it missed about 1 minute to submit it...

I've not yet solved Word search sudoku and battleship (battleship are not my cup of tea...)

nice mocktest ! 2 hours would have been more efficient for this set of puzzles, I think.

Fred

Edited by Fred76 2010-03-14 11:40 PM

@ Tejal, Rohan and Fred

Thanks a lot for your feedback. It does mean a lot for the puzzle creators.
And yes, in retrospect I also firmly believe that the test should have been for 2 hours.

Before taking any credit/discredit for the mock test let me thank all those who contributed to making this set of puzzles.
Kshitij created four of the puzzles (Pirate, Skyscraper, Classic and Kropki). I specifically asked him to keep his puzzles easy, because by then I had a fair idea that some of the sudokus that I have created are a little difficult.
These are the first four sudoku puzzles that he has ever created, and they have turned out to be quite good :). The new type Pirate Sudoku also inspired Deb to create 3-4 puzzles of that type, one of which was used in the IB.

Rajesh did a good job with the testing and reaffirmed the need for testers for our mock tests.
He pointed out that the minesweeper that i had created was non-unique, which I duly corrected.
He also asked me to reduce the difficulty of Word Search Sudoku so that it has a decent starting point. Unfortunately I incorporated this update only in the flash format and not in the pdf :(

I had created a couple of sudokus borrowed from ideas in Snyder's blog. His feedback on these puzzles helped me set an appropriate difficulty level, especially for the Battleship puzzle, in fact making the puzzle more interesting then before.
These two were my favorite puzzles of the test, because they had a nice theme to them.
I intended the battleship givens to represent the front view of a battleship, but it ended up looking more like an anchor, which still fits the battleship theme :)
For Digital Paint by numbers I had placed the givens in the shape of alpha and intended the final shaded region was in the same shape, with the intention that the given shape will guide solvers towards the shaded shape.
If you have not had a chance to solve these puzzles during the test, please try them later at leisure.

And I always forget to mention Deb, without whom none of the mock tests are possible.
He had created 3 of the puzzles for the IB, well past his usual sleeping time :)

And he had to make several changes in the flash submission especially to include the character submissions in Word Search, Easy as Sudoku and Minesweeper.

Amit & Kshitij : Thanks for nice Mock test, combination of sudoku with logic puzzles was great idea. (I like the Battleship puzzle most)

Just one remark, my solution of classic sudoku seems OK, but no points are awarded.

You can check on the score page 3 and 8 are swapped. They are highlighted too.

Click on Classic on the lower right pane. Then compare your answer with others. This of course assuming that the classic has only one solution.

Thanks, I see it now..
Only partial answer is visible on the first look as other digits do not fit to the column
So when I made that column wider I am able to see my error.. :laugh:

Puzzles have never been my cup of tea and Im surprised I even managed to solve some of them... :laugh: :laugh:

Overall great puzzles Amit...