Shading and Loops - 22nd - 26th Feb 2019 - Puzzle Ramayan & IPC Qualifier
@ 2019-02-19 11:40 AM (#26651) (#26651) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2019-02-19 11:40 AM




Link for rules and other details about Puzzle Ramayan: http://logicmastersindia.com/PR/2019pr.asp
Instructions for Shading and Loops - http://logicmastersindia.com/lmitests/dl.asp?attachmentid=762


@ 2019-02-20 1:16 PM (#26658 - in reply to #26651) (#26658) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-20 1:16 PM

While the IB is being published I thought I would provide a few practice links on the puzzles included in this round.

Shading
Water Fun (aka Aquarium) - You can find lots of practice puzzles here: http://puzzlepicnic.com/genre?waterfun
Nurikabe - http://nikoli.com/en/puzzles/nurikabe/
Shakashaka - http://nikoli.com/en/puzzles/shakashaka/

Nurikabe Loop - This is an exploratory type, with rules slightly different from the original puzzle from Akil Oyunlari as this puzzle follows the 2X2 rule of Nurikabe for the loop. I have posted one example puzzle here : https://logic-masters.de/Raetselportal/Raetsel/zeigen.php?id=0002YV

Loops
Simple Loop - Two practice puzzles should suffice: https://nbpuzzles.wordpress.com/simple-loop/ http://ravimacherla.blogspot.com/2014/05/puzzle-no13-simple-loop.ht...
Straight Loop - You can find some practice puzzles here : https://logic-masters.de/Raetselportal/Suche/erweitert.php?tag=Gerad...
Cross Loop - Some pratice puzzles here: https://logic-masters.de/Raetselportal/Suche/erweitert.php?tag=Achte...

Simple Loop with Shading - Don't have any practice puzzles available, but Yajilin practice would help for this one: http://nikoli.com/en/puzzles/yajilin/
@ 2019-02-21 11:08 AM (#26660 - in reply to #26658) (#26660) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-21 11:08 AM

Also adding one of the rejected puzzles from the set as practice. Any guesses on the (hidden) theme?

Shakashaka




(Shakashaka.PNG)



Attachments
----------------
Attachments Shakashaka.PNG (17KB - 6 downloads)
@ 2019-02-21 6:33 PM (#26662 - in reply to #26651) (#26662) Top

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Administrator posted @ 2019-02-21 6:33 PM

Instruction Booklet


The Instruction Booklet is now available here: http://logicmastersindia.com/lmitests/dl.asp?attachmentid=762

@ 2019-02-22 8:50 AM (#26666 - in reply to #26651) (#26666) Top

kiwijam



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kiwijam posted @ 2019-02-22 8:50 AM

There are two rule alternatives for Water Fun / Aquarium puzzles.
The difference is if unconnected sections of water in the same region must have the same height.
e.g. In your example, you use the logic that: R2C4 is filled means that R2C2 is filled. (Some puzzles don't do this.)
But I don't think of this as a connected area of filled cells, unless you mean area is "the region, with thick edge". So an area is always connected?
Perhaps this sentence is confusing: "Connected areas of filled cells must have same surface height everywhere" should be meaning: "Filled cells in an area must have same surface height everywhere".

Maybe I can say that better: Puzzle Picnic (where you copied your rules from, and suggest people practice) uses the opposite rule from your example. (e.g. Reveal the answer to http://puzzlepicnic.com/puzzle?4999)
Which rule is correct, or will it not matter?

Edited by kiwijam 2019-02-22 9:03 AM
@ 2019-02-22 9:00 AM (#26667 - in reply to #26666) (#26667) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-22 9:00 AM

kiwijam - 2019-02-22 8:50 AM

There are two rule alternatives for Water Fun / Aquarium puzzles.
The difference is if unconnected sections of water in the same region must have the same height.
e.g. In your example, you use the logic that: R2C4 is filled means that R2C2 is filled. (Some puzzles don't do this.)
But I don't think of this as a connected area of filled cells, unless you mean area is "the region, with thick edge". So an area is always connected?
Perhaps this sentence is confusing: "Connected areas of filled cells must have same surface height everywhere" should be meaning: "Filled cells in an area must have same surface height everywhere".


Yes you are right there is always some confusion about the rules for these puzzles so we deliberately included that in the example and thanks for catching it.

The "Connected areas of filled cells must have same surface height everywhere" does mean "Filled cells in an area must have same surface height everywhere"

Hope this clarifies
@ 2019-02-22 11:03 AM (#26668 - in reply to #26651) (#26668) Top

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Administrator posted @ 2019-02-22 11:03 AM

Test Start Time


The contest will start at 3.30 PM IST

@ 2019-02-22 12:06 PM (#26670 - in reply to #26651) (#26670) Top

mstang




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mstang posted @ 2019-02-22 12:06 PM

(For Water Fun,) is it right to say that, for each region, you can draw some horizontal line such that the part of the region below the line is all filled, and the part of the region above the line is all unfilled?
@ 2019-02-22 1:20 PM (#26671 - in reply to #26670) (#26671) Top

swaroop2011




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swaroop2011 posted @ 2019-02-22 1:20 PM

mstang - 2019-02-22 12:06 PM

(For Water Fun,) is it right to say that, for each region, you can draw some horizontal line such that the part of the region below the line is all filled, and the part of the region above the line is all unfilled?


Yes, but remember, that line can be on the border as well. That is either entire region is full or empty.
@ 2019-02-22 3:33 PM (#26672 - in reply to #26671) (#26672) Top

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Administrator posted @ 2019-02-22 3:33 PM

The test has started.
@ 2019-02-22 6:49 PM (#26674 - in reply to #26651) (#26674) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-22 6:49 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Straight Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-22 10:21 PM (#26676 - in reply to #26651) (#26676) Top

sojaboon



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sojaboon posted @ 2019-02-22 10:21 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Shakashaka
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Answer keys were horrible
 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


Solving was fun and went smoothly, but I struggled way too much with the answer keys. I tend to confuse 'length of loop segment' with 'number of cells'. On top of that, this time I also put the right answer in the wrong box multiple times. :-(
@ 2019-02-23 12:45 AM (#26679 - in reply to #26676) (#26679) Top

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Administrator posted @ 2019-02-23 12:45 AM

sojaboon - Solving was fun and went smoothly, but I struggled way too much with the answer keys. I tend to confuse 'length of loop segment' with 'number of cells'. On top of that, this time I also put the right answer in the wrong box multiple times. :-(

Most of the submission errors were actual errors (except for the "right answer in the wrong box" cases). And in one case, both "length of loop segment" and "number of cells" are used in the same answer key. If any one notation ("length of loop segment" or "number of cells") is consistently used, points will be awarded.
@ 2019-02-23 2:01 AM (#26680 - in reply to #26671) (#26680) Top

rob



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rob posted @ 2019-02-23 2:01 AM

swaroop2011 - 2019-02-22 1:20 PM

mstang - 2019-02-22 12:06 PM

(For Water Fun,) is it right to say that, for each region, you can draw some horizontal line such that the part of the region below the line is all filled, and the part of the region above the line is all unfilled?


Yes, but remember, that line can be on the border as well. That is either entire region is full or empty.


I disagree, in an upside down U, you should be able to fill out both legs independently, according to the stated rules (and how I know "Water Fun", contrasted with the croco Aquarium which use mstang's suggested rule).
@ 2019-02-23 2:02 AM (#26681 - in reply to #26651) (#26681) Top

rob



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rob posted @ 2019-02-23 2:02 AM

This was a lot of fun, thank you Amit. That third Straight Loop sure threw me for a loop!

Also the big Nurikabe Loop fell very easily, but I probably got a little lucky there.
@ 2019-02-23 2:41 AM (#26682 - in reply to #26651) (#26682) Top

kiwijam



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kiwijam posted @ 2019-02-23 2:41 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? SL with Shading
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


I think the Water Funs give the same unique answer with either rule, so it didn't matter much.
I struggled with the last Straight Loop until I realised I was using Balance Loop logic instead (oops), they start the same way but in this case the lengths don't matter if the loop doesn't turn at the circle.
The middle Cross Loop was a favourite.

Great quality puzzles, thanks Amit!
@ 2019-02-23 6:25 AM (#26683 - in reply to #26651) (#26683) Top

EctoPlasma




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EctoPlasma posted @ 2019-02-23 6:25 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Nurikabe
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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


I had little trouble entering keys for Cross Loop. Great contest besides that!
By the way, please update PR & SM ratings
@ 2019-02-23 1:53 PM (#26685 - in reply to #26651) (#26685) Top

kousek-nebe



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kousek-nebe posted @ 2019-02-23 1:53 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Cross Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-23 2:12 PM (#26686 - in reply to #26651) (#26686) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-23 2:12 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Nurikabe Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-23 4:25 PM (#26687 - in reply to #26651) (#26687) Top

TiiT



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TiiT posted @ 2019-02-23 4:25 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Cross Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-23 5:24 PM (#26688 - in reply to #26651) (#26688) Top

Reetoo



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Reetoo posted @ 2019-02-23 5:24 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Straight Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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? I have a different complaint


@ 2019-02-23 7:30 PM (#26689 - in reply to #26682) (#26689) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-23 7:30 PM

kiwijam - 2019-02-23 2:41 AM

I struggled with the last Straight Loop until I realised I was using Balance Loop logic instead (oops), they start the same way but in this case the lengths don't matter if the loop doesn't turn at the circle


Its interesting you mention that, because Rakesh also had a similar feedback while test solving where he compared it to the Balance Loop logic.

@ 2019-02-23 7:42 PM (#26690 - in reply to #26681) (#26690) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-23 7:42 PM

rob - 2019-02-23 2:02 AM

This was a lot of fun, thank you Amit. That third Straight Loop sure threw me for a loop!


I am glad to hear this feedback. The straight loop type was selected after seeing the puzzles you had posted on the Logic Masters portal.



Also the big Nurikabe Loop fell very easily, but I probably got a little lucky there.



This one was difficult to allocate points. Once the center was resolved the rest of the puzzle gets resolved quickly.

@ 2019-02-23 7:51 PM (#26691 - in reply to #26683) (#26691) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-23 7:51 PM

EctoPlasma - 2019-02-23 6:25 AM

I had little trouble entering keys for Cross Loop.


We had discussed the answer key for this puzzle type and were not completely satisfied with the diagonal answer keys but decided to keep it as a compromise.
It is a difficult puzzle type to set a nice answer key for.
The Logic Masters portal where I cam across this type uses locations of crossings, which is a good answer key but would have been terrible for the second puzzle which had a very large number of crossings.
@ 2019-02-23 10:50 PM (#26692 - in reply to #26651) (#26692) Top

bob



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bob posted @ 2019-02-23 10:50 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Nurikabe Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


My favorite PR round in a long time. Very nice and interesting puzzles, and solveable enough that I actually had enough time to at least look at them all (I just am not that fast and accept that). I need to figure out some theorems for straight loop; I couldn't get anywhere with those.
@ 2019-02-23 11:05 PM (#26693 - in reply to #26651) (#26693) Top

sstackho



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sstackho posted @ 2019-02-23 11:05 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Water Fun
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-23 11:10 PM (#26694 - in reply to #26651) (#26694) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-23 11:10 PM

 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Water Fun
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-24 4:48 AM (#26695 - in reply to #26651) (#26695) Top

Nizz



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Nizz posted @ 2019-02-24 4:48 AM

The rule for blank circles in "Straight Loop" are unclear as stated. I assume that each circle has a "hidden" number - ie if the loop bends, both segments must be the same length. Otherwise puzzle 17 is unsolvable. (It still seems unsolvable to me - I assume there's an opening I haven't found yet)
@ 2019-02-24 5:26 AM (#26696 - in reply to #26651) (#26696) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-24 5:26 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Shakashaka
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-24 5:36 AM (#26697 - in reply to #26651) (#26697) Top

mstang




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mstang posted @ 2019-02-24 5:36 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? SL with Shading
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-24 6:42 AM (#26698 - in reply to #26651) (#26698) Top

WA1729




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WA1729 posted @ 2019-02-24 6:42 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Nurikabe Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


Favorite Puzzles:

3 Water Fun
9 Shakashaka
11 Nurikabe Loop

Thank you!
@ 2019-02-24 11:21 AM (#26699 - in reply to #26651) (#26699) Top

swaroop2011




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swaroop2011 posted @ 2019-02-24 11:21 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Straight Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


I must say I was bit afraid of the test, considering last tests authored by Amit.
But this was indeed spectacular. Right balance of difficulty and quality. The sarting trick of each puzzle was really awesome.
Unfortunately I messed on the last puzzle and couldn't complete in the time but nonetheless enjoyable.
My favourite were:
1)Straightloop (3rd one I was just staring for a minute, until i realized similar to balance loop logic)
2) ShakaShaka (again the 3rd one was awesome, the 4-1 combo was tricky)
3) Cross Loop (I was afraid of this type as solving it first time and I was struggling.)

Thanks Amit.
Thanks LMI.
@ 2019-02-24 1:51 PM (#26700 - in reply to #26651) (#26700) Top

anurag



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anurag posted @ 2019-02-24 1:51 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Nurikabe Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-24 1:56 PM (#26701 - in reply to #26651) (#26701) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-24 1:56 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Straight Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


I think the puzzles were a bit easier than usual. Also thought the "SL with shading" could better be described as a "Outside Yajilin" or "Row/Column Yajilin" or another similar name because the ruleset of having no two shaded cells adjacent was much more like Yajilin than Simple Loop.
I really enjoyed the last straight loop and the last shakashaka (though I almost ran out of time for that so I had to guess a bit). I also felt the large nurikabe loop was a bit too easy (I intuitively guessed how the middle should fill given the rules and it worked).
I really enjoyed this PR.

Edited by An LMI player 2019-02-24 2:04 PM
@ 2019-02-24 4:46 PM (#26702 - in reply to #26651) (#26702) Top

chaotic_iak




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chaotic_iak posted @ 2019-02-24 4:46 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? SL with Shading
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


A thing about Shakashaka: I don't think it's your usual shading genre, and I might place it closer to object placement instead.

Oh, also a thing about Straight Loop 3: Technically this one is not solvable because there is no number in the circles. You might have wanted to put a ? in every circle instead, to tell that there *is* a number but it's unknown.

Edited by chaotic_iak 2019-02-24 4:49 PM
@ 2019-02-24 9:22 PM (#26703 - in reply to #26651) (#26703) Top

tamz29



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tamz29 posted @ 2019-02-24 9:22 PM

Thanks for the test!
A very nice balance. No one particular puzzle was too hard from the rest.
Haven't seen Cross Loop before, an interesting type.
Straight Loop costed me lots of minutes because somehow I was trying to solve it as a Balance Loop.
I see other people have similar experiences!
Ughh

A very nice PR round. This should be the standard for SM/PR.
Thanks again!
@ 2019-02-24 11:35 PM (#26704 - in reply to #26651) (#26704) Top

priyambhushan



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priyambhushan posted @ 2019-02-24 11:35 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Water Fun
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


Barring 2-3 puzzle types, they were all new to me, so I was very sceptical about this round.
However, I had a surprisingly great time solving this set! Lots of variety, and a good balance of puzzle difficulty from my point of view.
Thank You Amit! :)

Edited by priyambhushan 2019-02-24 11:43 PM
@ 2019-02-25 12:45 AM (#26705 - in reply to #26651) (#26705) Top

harmeet



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harmeet posted @ 2019-02-25 12:45 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Straight Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


Excellent puzzle selection. It had something for every participant. Particularly liked straight loop and simple loop with shading. Not yet comfortable with cross loop and shakashaka.
@ 2019-02-25 7:30 AM (#26706 - in reply to #26651) (#26706) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-25 7:30 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Straight Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-25 10:06 AM (#26707 - in reply to #26701) (#26707) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-25 10:06 AM

An LMI player - 2019-02-24 1:56 PM

Also thought the "SL with shading" could better be described as a "Outside Yajilin" or "Row/Column Yajilin" or another similar name because the ruleset of having no two shaded cells adjacent was much more like Yajilin than Simple Loop.


I have to agree with you on this one because I borrowed the idea from Swaroop's Rows Yajilin from the 2018 Puzzle GP Round 3. The practice link that I provided was for Yajilin as well. I think Outside Yajilin is an appropriate name for this type.
@ 2019-02-25 10:17 AM (#26708 - in reply to #26702) (#26708) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-25 10:17 AM

chaotic_iak - 2019-02-24 4:46 PM

A thing about Shakashaka: I don't think it's your usual shading genre, and I might place it closer to object placement instead.


Its a fine line to define the genre, for example some people would call Fillomino as Number Placement while others would define it as Area Division. I wanted a puzzle type which requires thinking along a different dimension, so I included Shakashaka which requires the creation of the rectangles along diagonals.



Oh, also a thing about Straight Loop 3: Technically this one is not solvable because there is no number in the circles. You might have wanted to put a ? in every circle instead, to tell that there *is* a number but it's unknown.


In hindsight I agree with your recommendation that we should have placed a question mark within the circle. A blank circle could then indicate a cell through which the loop has to pass through without having to obey any number related constraints.
@ 2019-02-25 10:28 AM (#26709 - in reply to #26703) (#26709) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-25 10:28 AM

tamz29 - 2019-02-24 9:22 PM
Haven't seen Cross Loop before, an interesting type.

I have seen it only on the Logic Masters Portal where it is named as Achtelwenden which translates to Eighth Turn.
I was not sure about an appropriate English name for the type so we kept it in line with the other loop puzzles: Simple, Straight and Cross.

@ 2019-02-25 11:10 PM (#26711 - in reply to #26651) (#26711) Top

ashaash11ash



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ashaash11ash posted @ 2019-02-25 11:10 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Shakashaka
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-26 3:44 AM (#26712 - in reply to #26651) (#26712) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-26 3:44 AM

 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Straight Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-26 8:48 AM (#26713 - in reply to #26651) (#26713) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2019-02-26 8:48 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Water Fun
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-26 2:00 PM (#26714 - in reply to #26651) (#26714) Top

Swagatam



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Swagatam posted @ 2019-02-26 2:00 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Nurikabe


@ 2019-02-26 2:48 PM (#26715 - in reply to #26651) (#26715) Top

vopani



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vopani posted @ 2019-02-26 2:48 PM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Cross Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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 set. I'd have hoped the variants were slightly more known types for a PR.

Favourite puzzles: 3rd Shakashaka, 2nd Cross Loop, 3rd Water Fun.

Thanks Amit!
@ 2019-02-27 2:01 AM (#26716 - in reply to #26651) (#26716) Top

ABcDexter



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ABcDexter posted @ 2019-02-27 2:01 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Cross Loop
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-27 9:00 AM (#26717 - in reply to #26716) (#26717) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2019-02-27 9:00 AM

Congratulations to Endo Ken, Tomoya Kimura and Ryusuke Nishiyama for taking the top three places.

Amongst Indian participants, Congratulations to Prasanna Seshadri, Rohan Rao and Ashish Kumar for taking the top 3 places. They were the only ones to complete all the puzzles.

Of the 192 participants, 31 each were from India and Japan, and 22 from USA. Philippe Meyer (France) was the first to start the test while Lenson Andrade (India) was the last person to start the test. 59 participants completed the set within the allotted time. The median score of the test was 72.2.

This test was dominated by participants from Japan who took the top 5 places, and 8 out of the top 10 places.

Thanks Amit Sowani for the puzzles!

Thanks to the participants who have shared feedback so far. Participants may share feedback on the results page and rate the puzzles on the contest page.

A general suggestion to the participants is to READ the Instructions Booklet (especially the answer keys) before attempting the test. Many answers were in a format different from the one used in the test.
@ 2019-02-28 9:41 AM (#26719 - in reply to #26651) (#26719) Top

kishy72



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kishy72 posted @ 2019-02-28 9:41 AM

 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
 Which set of puzzles did you like the most? Nurikabe
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Perfect answer keys
 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


@ 2019-02-28 11:20 AM (#26720 - in reply to #26717) (#26720) Top

amitsowani




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amitsowani posted @ 2019-02-28 11:20 AM

Thanks everyone for the encouraging feedback and constructive suggestions to improve.

Before I say anything else I would like to thank Rakesh for his support for this test.
He identified four broken puzzles while testing and also provided great feedback on the level of difficulty.
Based on his suggestion we dropped one difficult Shakashaka and Nurikabe Loop which were then provided as practice material.
And as for all LMI tests he is handling all the back-end setup for the tests. So clearly without him this test would literally not have been possible.

In terms of the puzzle selection, I wanted one/two standard puzzle types and some new types which introduce an additional dimension to the solve. For the exploratory types I wanted some kind of a crossover, with the shading type borrowing some elements from loop based puzzles and the loop type borrowing elements from shading.
The simple loop with shading (outside Yajilin) idea was borrowed from Swaroop's Rows Yajilin in 2018 Puzzle GP round 3. I found Nurikabe Loop on GM puzzles and tweaked the rules a bit to obey the 2X2 Nurikabe rule. Water Fun and Shakashaka are personal favorites so I wanted to include those in the test. I have been solving a lot on the Logic Masters portal where I came across Straight Loop (Geradeweg) and Cross Loop (Achtelwenden). My personal favorite puzzle was the 2nd Nurikabe which is not very difficult but I tried to base it on a Yin-Yang theme which appears as part of the solve.

I hope you all enjoyed solving the puzzles and best of luck for the rest of the season.
@ 2019-02-28 10:18 PM (#26721 - in reply to #26651) (#26721) Top

vjain9



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vjain9 posted @ 2019-02-28 10:18 PM

Solution Booklet Please
@ 2019-03-08 6:04 PM (#26731 - in reply to #26721) (#26731) Top

Administrator



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Administrator posted @ 2019-03-08 6:04 PM