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We are having some issues with out server. So there will be no Mock Test this weekend.

Mock Test 20 will be on the weekend of 17/18 Apr.

Sudoku Author - Jakub Ondrousek
Testers - Ondrej Suchy, Jan Novotny, Matus Demiger, Petr Melichar, Jana Zachova.
Number of Rounds - 1
Type of Sudokus - 7 types (every puzzle in 6x6 and 9x9 form so 14 Sudokus)
Time - 24 hours
Length - 80 minutes.
Length - 90 minutes

(Mock length is increased to 90 minutes to accommodate submitting all cells)

And as promised we will also have the 21st mock test on the same weekend. (17th)
This mock test will be created by Rajesh.
More details coming up soon.

The same weekend (17-19) we have at least five online contests !!! (1 and 2) LMI mocks (3) German puzzle qualifier (4) french sudoku (5) argio logic monthly contest

@ Rakesh
Thanks for pointing out that there will be an overload of championships on this weekend.

So even though Rajesh has most of his puzzles ready he will be shifting the mock to the next weekend (24th, the one just before the WSC)
We could also open up the submissions a little earlier for a longer period to allow people traveling to the WSC to participate.

List of sudokus is uploaded in mock20 page.

Also, note that the mock length is 80 minutes.
Mock length is increased to 90 minutes to accommodate submitting all cells

Important Note from Author (jakub111)

In this mock, you have to submit all 81 cells (for 9X9 Sudoku) and 36 cells for (6X6 Sudoku). There are 2 reasons for this.
? Given that we are very close to WSC, this mock should be similar to actual paper tournaments. So, you get 0 even if one cell is blank or incorrect.
? It is also an authoring issue. It would be probably sufficient to fill in only several numbers to get points, without solving the Sudoku completely.

This is unlike previous mocks where it was sufficient to submit only 2 rows or 2 columns or some selected cells.

The IB (points table) is uploaded at mock20 page

debmohanty - 2010-04-15 1:44 PM

Important Note from Author (jakub111)

In this mock, you have to submit all 81 cells (for 9X9 Sudoku) and 36 cells for (6X6 Sudoku). There are 2 reasons for this.
? Given that we are very close to WSC, this mock should be similar to actual paper tournaments. So, you get 0 even if one cell is blank or incorrect.
? It is also an authoring issue. It would be probably sufficient to fill in only several numbers to get points, without solving the Sudoku completely.

This is unlike previous mocks where it was sufficient to submit only 2 rows or 2 columns or some selected cells.

This looks like a fair warning to me :D

Mock length is increased to 90 minutes to accommodate submitting all cells

I went through the IB and it took me a while before I could grasp Absolutely Potential completely.
I like the concept with a recap of the puzzles in a relay.

I have one question regarding relay3.
When you say, "All the positions of the same numbers moved from Absolutely Potential Sudoku are highlighted in yellow", both the other puzzles can have a yellow marked right?

Short answer - Yes, 2nd and 3rd puzzles have yellow marks.

If it is still not clear to anyone, there will be 3 puzzles
1. Absolutely potential sudoku
2. Diagonal outside
3. Diagonal sudoku

Puzzle2 (Diagonal Outside) will have yellow marks only.
Puzzle3 (Diagonal Sudoku) will have both yellow and green marks.

Yellow mark means - Numbers are same as Puzzle1
Green mark means - Numbers are same as Puzzle2

Couple of things to be careful about

1. The booklet will not have instructions for the Sudokus. You are advised to keep a print of IB for easy reference since there are some new variations.
2. Diagonals will not be marked in the Sudoku images
3. There are some Sudokus where you have to fill 0-8 and not 1-9. It will be marked in the booklet
4. The last Sudoku in Relay3 has both Yellow and Green marks. In a B/W printer, it will be difficult to distinguish the two colors. If you are solving on paper, keep the Website or pdf open.

Nice mock test.
I liked Absolutely Potential Sudoku where there is a mix of diagonal and side constraints. It is nice to switch back across these constraints especially towards the end of the puzzle. More ideas can be explored with a mix of these constraints.

Diagonal outside was a bit time consuming and I wasted a lot if time out there. Having said this I think the test was nicely timed and I the top solvers should be able to complete all puzzles.

Switching between 0-8 and 1-9 is a little distracting and pulls you out of your comfort zone. I was solving a mock test online for the first time and ended up making 2 mistakes in submission :(

Overall a really well organized test. Thanks for the puzzles :)

Regarding today's mock...
I was prepared and had Windows system ready to use, but when I wanted to start fill my solutions about 15 minutes before my puzzle time, I've found that I cannot enter digits to almost any puzzle! After some time of reloading and other tries to solve that (clicking on "Can't see sudoku" link, etc.) I've found, that I must type digits on the topmost row of the keyboard above letters, not in the numeric block. Lost some more time while checking what I typed and didn't finish in time entering my results. This was real surprise - and I thought I'm prepared for everything. Should not forget, that I haven't checked amount of paper sheets in my printer and had to fill it during printing... :-)

mtronic - 2010-04-18 8:51 PM

Regarding today's mock...
I was prepared and had Windows system ready to use, but when I wanted to start fill my solutions about 15 minutes before my puzzle time, I've found that I cannot enter digits to almost any puzzle! After some time of reloading and other tries to solve that (clicking on "Can't see sudoku" link, etc.) I've found, that I must type digits on the topmost row of the keyboard above letters, not in the numeric block. Lost some more time while checking what I typed and didn't finish in time entering my results. This was real surprise - and I thought I'm prepared for everything. Should not forget, that I haven't checked amount of paper sheets in my printer and had to fill it during printing... :-)

Yes. I experienced the same problem with numerical keyboard. 2-3 puzzles was ok but in others - mostly in puzzles with zeros - I couldn't use numpad.

Also puzzle 111 has missing little circle in third column (there should be circle because solution has consecutive digits 4 and 5). Thats the reason I rate the puzzle only with 1 star (although it was very nice idea and I had fun solving it)

Despite this two things it was very nice mock test, Diagonal Outside was excellent puzzle
Thanks jaku111!

The puzzles were good (the ones I got to anyway), but I have to give a big thumbs down for not drawing the diagonal constraints when they were there, and for the numpad situation as well.

Does anyone have the solution to relay 3? I keep hitting the same contradiction again and again, where r4c6 of absolutely potential is forced to be a 1, which leads to an immediate contradiction in the diagonal outside.

cnarrikkattu - 2010-04-18 9:53 PM

The puzzles were good (the ones I got to anyway), but I have to give a big thumbs down for not drawing the diagonal constraints when they were there, and for the numpad situation as well.

I'm to be blamed for the numpad issue. I didn't test it properly. I'm extremely sorry about that. It was especially important since jaku111 wanted all the cells to be filled.

cnarrikkattu - 2010-04-18 9:53 PM
Does anyone have the solution to relay 3? I keep hitting the same contradiction again and again, where r4c6 of absolutely potential is forced to be a 1, which leads to an immediate contradiction in the diagonal outside.

jaku111 found that some circles are missing from the puzzle 12, which is the first puzzle in relay 3. That is why the relay is resulting in a contradiction.
It is surprising that the problems were not caught during pre-test.

There were same problems in puzzle 1 and puzzle 5.

jaku111 confirmed that 3 puzzles had missing circles / lines. Puzzle number 1, 5, 12.
Also, puzzle number 13 and 14 are dependent upon 12.
So, jaku111 thinks everyone should get 0, while I think otherwise.
Lot of players have not noticed the missing circle in 1,5 and got it correct. So I think they should get full points.

I'm waiting for jaku111 to decide what to do. After that results will be displayed.

Hi, I enjoyed this mock as usual, but I think you shouldn't consider the wrong puzzles.
I lost a lot of time trying to find were I was wrong in puzzle #5 (111) and in the end I thought that maybe some circles were missing.
I don't think that players who didn't noticed it should get the points.

I’m really sorry for wrong tasks 5, 12, 13, and 14. It was my first tournament and perhaps that was a common beginner’s mistake. There is only one way what to do – not to count these tasks in. I promise I'll make fewer mistakes next time.
-- Kuba

Based on Kuba's decision every player gets 0 for 5,12,13,14.
Puzzle 1 is correct. So players get full points if they have solved correctly.

Complete results is out

Many congratulations to cpickerel and Branko for topping the list.

Hi,

I think puzzle 8 (relay 1, even sudoku) has 2 solutions. You can swap 3 and 5 in region 2, 5 and 6. Am i wrong?

Fred

I've re-done puzzle 1 (absolutely potential).... I hadn't really understand the rules yesterday :bleh: ... nice puzzle, not so difficult ! However, it should have been nice to have examples in the booklet for these new variants.

Mocktest are better when you sleep more than 4 hours the night before

Fred

Fred76 - 2010-04-19 6:00 PM

Hi,

I think puzzle 8 (relay 1, even sudoku) has 2 solutions. You can swap 3 and 5 in region 2, 5 and 6. Am i wrong?

Fred

I'm wrong, I had not read the booklet carefully :angry: ! "All the positions of the same numbers are marked in Classic Sudoku."

Fred