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Purpose

LMI has been running Beginners' Sudoku contests for a while now, and it has been quite a success, attracting some new players and giving them a platform to learn and improve in an easier environment. Following through on this success, we've decided to start "LMI Beginners' Puzzle Contests" - where our target participants are players who are new to puzzles in general but have an interest in logical puzzle solving.

General Structure

The general idea here is still in a trial phase. Basically, we want to keep it to common puzzle genres at an easier level of difficulty in general compared to a monthly test. Some features of the Beginners' Sudoku Contests will be used here as well :

Instant Grading

Instant Grading will be enabled in Beginners' contests. Upon submitting, you will immediately know if the submission is correct or not. Each wrong submission will be penalized by adding 1 minute to your submission time. There will not be any deduction of points.

Extended Time

To encourage players to solve and submit all Puzzles, players can submit Puzzles even after the initial test duration is over. However, puzzles submitted after the test duration will get only 50% of the points for the corresponding puzzle. Note that the timer will start from 00:00, running up.

What about top solvers?

As in the Beginners' Sudoku contests, divisions will be made based on LMI ratings, and also performance in the puzzle tests of the past, ensuring that top players can enjoy competition among themselves without taking focus away from the target participants. Players who have achieved either of the following by default are Seasoners and the rest have a choice to play as a Beginner :
1) Achieved a rating of 700 or above at any point in the past.
2) Currently achieved an LMI puzzle rating of 500 or above.
3) Achieved a rank of 25 or better in a monthly puzzle test.
Additionally, players can also be moved to Seasoners category from Beginners category based on performances. A player achieving a top 3 rank in the Beginners' category on three separate occasions will be moved to the Seasoners category.

Logic Masters India announces Beginners' Masyu Contest

Dates : 26^th April — 2^nd May

Submission Page link : here

Instruction Booklet will be uploaded shortly.

Thanks for this great initiative. Looking forward to this test.

Logic Masters India announces Beginners' Masyu Contest

Instructions Booklet is available here

Will it be online solvable

devarajand - 2013-04-25 11:29 AM

Will it be online solvable

No.

Why the puzzels cannot be put into a JAVA appleate

devarajand - 2013-04-25 9:08 PMWhy the puzzels cannot be put into a JAVA appleate

Hi,
Please do not discuss about the way the puzzles can be presented to the contestants. If there is a way, LMI would do that for sure.

Thanks,
Ravi

Great Idea!! looking forward to it :)

Edited by swaroop2011 2013-04-25 10:25 PM

devarajand - 2013-04-25 9:08 PM

Why the puzzels cannot be put into a JAVA appleate

There's certain time constraints and also a lack of expertise when it comes to develop an online interface for multiple puzzle genres. The Classic Tapa interface took a long time to get right in itself, and it'll be a while before such an interface can come in for other puzzles. Until then, we're sorry, and please do enjoy the puzzle solving experience on paper.

Beginners' Masyu Contest has started

I am not able to see the results. It brings me back to the contest page.

greenhorn - 2013-04-26 1:49 PM

I am not able to see the results. It brings me back to the contest page.

Sorry Matus, it is not ready. Will take a while before its ready. You are ranked 3rd now with Prasanna16391 and EoHeongMat finishing in around 50 minutes.

Administrator - 2013-04-26 1:53 PM

greenhorn - 2013-04-26 1:49 PM

I am not able to see the results. It brings me back to the contest page.

Sorry Matus, it is not ready. Will take a while before its ready. You are ranked 3rd now with Prasanna16391 and EoHeongMat finishing in around 50 minutes.

Thank you.

Hi Matus,
Thanks for your participation.
Before the score page gets ready you can give your feedback on the contest. :D

Regards,
Ravi

macherlakumar - 2013-04-26 1:58 PM

Hi Matus,
Thanks for your participation.
Before the score page gets ready you can give your feedback on the contest. :D

Regards,
Ravi

Thank you Ravi, I enjoy your contest a lot. I am glad, that you prepare also some harder puzzles, which were really tricky. The design of your puzzles is great, you did a good job. For me, the hardest puzzle was H, but I can explain why, maybe I missed something during solving :)
The only negative from my view is the lenght of the contest. I am not sure, if beginners are patient enough to solve such a huge number of puzzles. In my opinion 10 puzzles within 45 minutes will be ideal. But it is just my view, other solvers may have different feelings.

Matus

Results Page is now available

Click here.

Thank you Ravi, I enjoy your contest a lot. I am glad, that you prepare also some harder puzzles, which were really tricky. The design of your puzzles is great, you did a good job.

I am very happy that you enjoyed and liked the contest. Thanks!

For me, the hardest puzzle was H, but I can explain why, maybe I missed something during solving :)

H, yes it is difficult, the 4 Black circles in the bottom, that pattern I found when solving a Nikoli Masyu (not sure if they intentionally put that pattern or just a coincidence). Whatever is the case that patten can be used to make the puzzle slightly tricky.

The only negative from my view is the lenght of the contest. I am not sure, if beginners are patient enough to solve such a huge number of puzzles. In my opinion 10 puzzles within 45 minutes will be ideal. But it is just my view, other solvers may have different feelings

As we mentioned this is still a trail phase for the Beginners' Puzzle contests, we gave a lot of thought about the competition format. The initial discussions included 20 + 1 puzzles but the number was too high and reduced it to 16 + 1. I tried my best to make 4 easy, 8 medium and 4 hard puzzles along with one 20 X 20 grid. Anyway depending on this competition feedback LMI will do its best for the next contest.

Regards,
Ravi

I had a blast with this one. It was one of the few times I've felt like I actually had a chance (albeit a small one) to claim a time bonus. H gave me trouble, as did O; the rest of the smaller ones seemed to flow pretty well, and didn't hang me up too long. I will admit to using uniqueness logic at a couple of points, and I'd have preferred to find the purely logical path, but hey, clock's ticking! :)

The bigger one definitely had me stumped for longer than I would have liked, and my ten or so minutes remaining wasn't nearly enough for me to solve it. Unfortunately, I had to do a little trial and error to figure that one out; I may try to revisit it later to see what I missed, but I just couldn't find a good way to start linking up the edge bits that came in easily, or to even really get started in the middle. Making a couple of well placed assumptions, I eventually massaged it into shape, but I want to figure out how that one ticks.

Great fun, regardless; I've never felt Masyu was a very strong category for me, but this assortment of puzzles (and preparing for them) have really helped me feel like I've got a stronger grasp of it now. Right up until a variant gets thrown at me next time. ;)

Thanks Ravi!
I REALLY enjoyed this comtest.

This is the first time to solve completely on LMI.

Edited by totoron8655 2013-04-26 10:51 PM

totoron8655 - 2013-04-26 10:50 PM
Thanks Ravi!I REALLY enjoyed this comtest.This is the first time to solve completely on LMI.

Hi Ono san,
I am really glad that you enjoyed my contest. Thanks for your participation.
You get to complete a whole set at LMI, It never happened to me ;(

Regards,
Ravi

Edited by macherlakumar 2013-04-27 7:33 AM

FoxFireX - 2013-04-26 7:26 PM
H gave me trouble, as did O. I will admit to using uniqueness logic at a couple of points, and I'd have preferred to find the purely logical path, but hey, clock's ticking! :)

H, I have already mentioned so regarding O, it starts with very easy steps, only the top right 2 black circles are crucial to finish it.
Using uniqueness logic, in my opinion it is not a bad idea, I do use it sometimes, but that would be my last option.

Great fun, regardless; I've never felt Masyu was a very strong category for me, but this assortment of puzzles (and preparing for them) have really helped me feel like I've got a stronger grasp of it now. Right up until a variant gets thrown at me next time. ;)

some people may be good at one puzzle type so contests like this are perfect way to show their skills

Thanks for your particiaption.

Regards,
Ravi

It was a great contest. Few puzzles where very tricky and i did took time there. Did some mistake while solving the big one but fortunately found the mistake immediately.
For the first time ever i was able to grab the bonus. Thanks for the great puzzles. Njoyed a lot :) .

swaroop2011 - 2013-04-27 2:02 PM
It was a great contest. Few puzzles where very tricky and i did took time there. Did some mistake while solving the big one but fortunately found the mistake immediately.For the first time ever i was able to grab the bonus. Thanks for the great puzzles. Njoyed a lot :) .

Happy to hear that you enjoyed the contest

Yes few puzzles are tricky else there won't be any fun, right ?

Thanks for your participation.

Regards,
Ravi

Edited by macherlakumar 2013-04-27 4:24 PM

With my competitive hat on, I really ought to have been at least 10 minutes quicker... I tripped myself up on A E and H - stupidly the thing with H was not the nice configuration with 4 black circles, which is the sort of thing I also save for harder puzzles (actually, you only need 2 black circles and white to set up that trick).

I didn't solve the big puzzle remotely cleanly - I'll have to try solving again to see if there was a more pleasing solution. Was the idea to fiddle around with the loop section from the middle-left to top-left and work from there?

I think of the set, M was my favourite - although the standard overall was pretty good! If I was really nitpicking I'd say maybe some of the puzzles were a little tough for a beginner, but otherwise a really fun race against the clock!

detuned - 2013-04-27 7:27 PM
stupidly the thing with H was not the nice configuration with 4 black circles, which is the sort of thing I also save for harder puzzles (actually, you only need 2 black circles and white to set up that trick).

This was constructed at my early days as a puzzle designer. I felt using 4 black would be good and did so.

Was the idea to fiddle around with the loop section from the middle-left to top-left and work from there?

Middle-left to top-left is one part and then you have to work on the center.

I think of the set, M was my favourite - although the standard overall was pretty good!

M is very nice design although I could have put a white circle at R10C5 to make it symmetrical, but that would decrease the difficulty. I am happy that you liked the overall standard.

If I was really nitpicking I'd say maybe some of the puzzles were a little tough for a beginner, but otherwise a really fun race against the clock!

Since the idea is still in trail phase, depending on this competition the future Beginners' puzzle competitions may be changed.

Regards,
Ravi

I don't know why, but I feel like the puzzles are somewhat repetitive. There are just so many tricks that are used over and over. Well, perhaps it's due to the fact that I solved it when half-asleep, so I can't quite remember things...heh.

Nice puzzles and contest!

The simple entry format (easy to count, not prone to errors) was a real pleasure.

The beginner sudoku contest format, with two short 40 min segments and a break between segments, is nice. That would also have been nice here (select 2 groups of puzzles, even though the rules are the same). For that matter, I'd be happy to see multiple shorter segments even in non-beginner contests :)

Enjoyed the puzzles. I also found H to be hard. I resorted to uniqueness logic in various puzzles several times (unsatisfying), and also some guesses (even less satisfying).

I do most of my masyu solving on nikoli. Overall these puzzles seemed on the hard side, especially for a beginner contest. I notice several beginners have already placed well. Congratulations!

This contest taught me quite a bit more about Masyu patterns. Well done.

Had my internet not cut out temporarily, I think I would have finished sometime around the 68-minute mark, as opposed to the 74-and-a-half-minute mark. I really need to have a word with my ISP about these problems.

PuzzleScott - 2013-04-29 1:55 PM

The simple entry format (easy to count, not prone to errors) was a real pleasure.

Not prone to errors? And I missed one empty cell at one time... Either I have to use a thicker brush or this claim is not exactly correct.

A method that I think more error-proof is to count the numbers of horizontal line segments in the rows instead. Should be fairly easy to count too, and more visible...I don't know.

Perhaps another method would be placing the arrows so they point along gridlines, and count the number of times the line is cut. This way, it also serves as a double-check; because there must be an even number of cuts, if you get an odd result then you know something is wrong, and it should be really visible. But this method gives the same answer a rather large portion of the time, so it might not be able to check some incorrectly solved areas.

...Answer key problem. Always one of the most bugging problems for test makers. That said, this choice is fairly nice too; only that it's still more error-prone than what is expected.

chaotic_iak - 2013-04-29 6:49 PM

PuzzleScott - 2013-04-29 1:55 PM

The simple entry format (easy to count, not prone to errors) was a real pleasure.

Disagree. Counting the empty cells is probably the easiest answer format ever. This was the best puzzle contest for me from the view of submiting answers. I really apreciate this idea and hope that there will be more contests with such an easy and clear answer format.

Edited by greenhorn 2013-04-29 7:08 PM

chaotic_iak - 2013-04-29 6:49 PM
A method that I think more error-proof is to count the numbers of horizontal line segments in the rows instead. Should be fairly easy to count too, and more visible...I don't know.

Probably not. This has been used in multiple tests after 2011. Each and every time, I have seen players claiming they made a typo.

Thanks Ravi for the great puzzles. Enjoyed all the puzzles. For me I made mistake twice while solving L. Only third time I could find my mistake. Thanks to LMI for this great initiative.

Congratulations to: All of Japan! Currently in the top 9 places - Sugoi!

Many thanks to Ravi, great set of puzzles.
I like the answer keys. Counting 5 digits is quick enough.
I would have prefered the points for each puzzle to be printed too.

Even the easy 4 were still "clever" puzzles.
I was wondering if this test could be given to people that are new to puzzling, but I think not. A little experience in Masyu is still needed.

kiwijam - 2013-05-02 3:55 PM

Congratulations to: All of Japan! Currently in the top 9 places - Sugoi!

It is perfect 10 now.

Classic Masyu Contest is over now.

Password removed from puzzle booklet, and solutions appended. Link

Thank you for the solutions. It helped a lot in identifying my mistakes.

Though I have know this site for long, I had never participated in the past. This is my first attempt at Masyu and I cannot believe that I spent 3 days in learning Masyu for his event. This Monthly puzzle really helped me get back to puzzles.

Thank you for organizing the events on regular basis. Please do keep posting more and more puzzles in the near future.

Some thoughts on the first Beginners' Puzzle Contest -

Ravi is a relatively new author, and he approached us a few months ago about holding a Masyu contest. We've been wanting to hold Beginners' Puzzle Contests for a while now, so thought we'd merge both ideas and build from here.

In hindsight, its probably not an ideal setting for Beginners, because of the quantity and partly because of the difficulty of a few of the puzzles, but with the Beginners' feature of extra time, there was at least enough incentive for everyone to carry on solving.

On the positive side though, it turned out to be a sprint that everyone who participated seems to have enjoyed, which I think is mainly due to the nice quality of puzzles in the set. Thanks Ravi, and I hope you enjoyed the experience of authoring the first Beginners' Puzzle Contest.

As for the competitors, congrats to Joo M. Y (South Korea), apollo1001 (UK) and foxfirex (USA) for topping the Beginners' standings. As for Seasoners, that is some serious Japan domination there. Congrats to the top 3 of deu, EKBM and nyuta. Kudos to all 11 of you in the top 11, and also to Anderson (USA), Muhorka (Slovakia) and Semax (Germany) for being the "best of the rest".

In future, we will have changes to the format of Beginners' puzzle contests, and you can all definitely expect more of them to come in tandem with the Beginners' sudoku contests.

Thank you all for participating!

I actually printed out the puzzles just for the fun of it and I also never had tried Masyu before. Then I started to solve the puzzles and thought it was great fun! It was very simple to see easy strategies you can use in every puzzle at the beginning. Thank you for these puzzles. I think it's very hard to find puzzles that are easy but nice and it's also very hard to find them on the internet in their usual form when they're not a variation or two puzzle types in one. I enjoyed it very much (and still am, since I didn't solve all) and hope I will like the next test as much or even more than this one. I think this is a really good way to get people to enjoy ALL puzzle types and not just sudoku.

kiwijam - 2013-05-02 3:55 PM
I would have prefered the points for each puzzle to be printed too.

Hi,
The puzzles do not have individual points, points are given depending on the number of puzzles solved (order of solve does not matter).

Regards,
Ravi

This was a fun contest for me, with nice puzzles, stellar submission mechanics and a great scoring scheme. In fact, I probably had too much fun; the bright and eager novices in my puzzle community would have suffered rather early on. Ending the contest on a larger grid is an excellent idea, but this one was far, far too hard for the stated purpose, and completely demoralising for actual (as opposed to site) novices. Maybe renaming future contests in this mould to "intermediate" would be best.

I thought the last puzzle was quite senseless for a "Beginners contest". I bifurcated twice and just couldn't be bothered with it.

First of all thanks to everyone for your participation and making this a huge success.

Few months back I have approached Deb for authoring a Masyu contest, at that time I am still new to puzzle construction. Deb and Prasanna looked at my puzzles and gave many suggestions on how to make puzzles that fit into competitions, because many of them are completely symmetrical (solving one half was enough to complete the puzzle). Many weeks have passed and I have designed 20 puzzles along with one 20X20 grid.
I have sent all the puzzles to Deb and he tested them and said they are good to go for competition but then again the number was an issue, after some discussion I have convinced them for 16 grids (10X10) and one 20X20 grid.
Out of the 4 rejected puzzles one I used for the instructions booklet and one found a good place which will be revealed in 3-4 months :)

I have to thank Branko for taking time from his busy schedule to test all the puzzles just few days before the start of Serbian GP. The answer format credit goes to Branko, who has come up with the idea of number of blank cells.

Deb and Prasanna helped me a lot, they always provided quick support to me. I am really happy to work with Deb and Prasanna.

I enjoyed a lot looking at almost everyone solving times. I never expected this contest to become this successful, mainly because I am new to puzzle construction. Many people have solved all 17 puzzles and I got the feeling that many are happy with the contest, which is what I wished for.

Stay tuned for another Classic Masyu Contest :D

Regards,
Ravi

macherlakumar - 2013-05-07 4:12 PM

Deb and Prasanna looked at my puzzles and gave many suggestions on how to make puzzles that fit into competitions, because many of them are completely symmetrical (solving one half was enough to complete the puzzle).

Just to clarify, I solved the puzzles, Prasanna just gave suggestions about the format based on my feedback.

Structure for future LMI Beginners' Puzzle Contests

Basic :

There will be 2 rounds of 40 minutes each. Each round will contain 8 puzzles of a distinct type, meaning the contest as a whole will cover 2 types.

Each round's puzzles will be divided into four categories, with 2 puzzles per category :
1. Introductory - These will strictly be extremely basic puzzles, of trivial sizes.
2. Intermediate - The sizes may vary but logically these must be trivial. (10x10 can be maximum size unless it is a puzzle type with different dimensional characteristics e.g. Skyscrapers would have a 6x6 cap.)
3. Challenging - Here we reach the typical Monthly test lower pointer level. A few techniques/patterns can be used, and the sizes may vary. (10x10 cap on size unless it is a puzzle type with different dimensional characteristics e.g. Skyscrapers would have a 9x9 cap).
4. Exploratory - This is defined as a twisted version of the rules of the puzzle type. The twist must provide a different perspective while not deviating much logically.

There will be bonuses separately available for finishing each of these categories. These bonuses are not fixed and will be computed based on each contest's puzzle points distribution.

Notes :

In case Explorative versions of a type are not possible, there will be a puzzle each added to the Intermediate and Challenging categories.
The size cap clarifications will be given at the time of communicating the types to someone interested in authoring.

Features :

As noted in the opening post, Instant Grading and Extended Time features will be used in Beginners' Puzzle Contests.
Please note that the category bonuses will not be applicable during extended time. All puzzles submitted in extended time will count for 50% of their assigned points with no bonuses
There will also be an overall bonus of 1 point per minute saved for completing all puzzles within normal time.

Beginners and Seasoners :

There will be Beginner and Seasoner categorization here as in Beginners' Sudoku Contests. However, it is difficult to put a system in place to promote players to Seasoners based directly on their Beginners' performances. A player will be a Seasoner by default if they meet one of the below criteria -
1. Those who have attained, at any point, an LMI Puzzle rating of 500+.
2. Those who have achieved a rank of 25 or better in an LMI monthly Puzzle test.
3. In case of a string of performances deemed exceptional by the organizers (this is pretty free-flowing as of now. We'll try to work up a system later).

November Beginners' Puzzle Contest

Types

Slitherlink and Star Battle (more details like examples and explanation about the Explorative side employed here will be posted soon)

Dates

1st - 6th November (including both dates)

Great initiative Prasanna. Keep going.

Looking forward to this test. Good initiative by LMI.

Instruction Booklet uploaded

Submission page - http://logicmastersindia.com/BeginnersPuzzle/201311/

Looks great! I still don't think I understand the "exploratory" thing though -- I thought those were going to be slight variants and would come with their own instructions, but saw no such instructions in the IB.

Are they just normal puzzles (or variations on the usual layout that will surprise us a bit but don't actually require any new instructions) this time around?

Thanks,
Denis

auroux - 2013-11-01 12:44 AM

Looks great! I still don't think I understand the "exploratory" thing though -- I thought those were going to be slight variants and would come with their own instructions, but saw no such instructions in the IB.

Are they just normal puzzles (or variations on the usual layout that will surprise us a bit but don't actually require any new instructions) this time around?

Thanks,
Denis

I will say this much - the given instructions are enough to understand the exploratory part. If it were necessary to add new ones, we would have. But Exploratory can also be a different mode of presentation of the puzzle. Experienced players may not find these surprising, but we thought it would be a nice additive for beginners, to get used to the twists and surprises that accompany puzzle solving, without stepping out of the normal form too much.

Also, many thanks to Vladimir Portugalov for test solving the set. Deb provided some useful feedback too, as always.

Contest has started.

The link for the result page is wrong; it goes to the page of "LMI practice test".

The score page now available (without Category Bonus)
Link : http://logicmastersindia.com/BeginnersPuzzle/201311/score.asp

Wow. Very nice set of puzzles, but the first star battle variation was deliciously evil. I had to re-read the rule three times to figure it out. Otherwise, as expected I'm really not a slitherlink specialist...

-- Denis

An interesting initiative. and one with a few tweaks is what I'd like to see form the basis of the WPF's puzzle GP. I look forward to giving this a go.

However one thing that really bothers me is the fact you are lumping two separate types into one contest. I can appreciate you want to introduce as many new types as possible, but I'm not sure the final scores can have any real meaning. Why not have two contests running simultaneously, but independently, and have two sets of winners? That way you would have a clear slitherlink winner, and a clear star battle winner, which seems far more meaningful to me.

detuned - 2013-11-01 2:59 PM

An interesting initiative. and one with a few tweaks is what I'd like to see form the basis of the WPF's puzzle GP. I look forward to giving this a go.

However one thing that really bothers me is the fact you are lumping two separate types into one contest. I can appreciate you want to introduce as many new types as possible, but I'm not sure the final scores can have any real meaning. Why not have two contests running simultaneously, but independently, and have two sets of winners? That way you would have a clear slitherlink winner, and a clear star battle winner, which seems far more meaningful to me.

This is a good point. We will separate the score pages, but we are yet to work on that. The priority was to get the contest up and running this week.

I enjoyed the puzzles very much, but to be honest, the Star Battle part had a little bit too much "gimmicks" for a beginner contest.

Is there anything that I am missing in the two puzzles in the Exploratory part. Any special rules etc.

I've started slitherlink, my timer started and I can see the space to submit the answers. But I am not able to see the problems. Where can I find the puzzles??

edited
Sorry...I got it :)

Edited by abhilash1912 2013-11-02 3:15 AM

abhilash1912 - 2013-11-02 3:14 AM

I've started slitherlink, my timer started and I can see the space to submit the answers. But I am not able to see the problems. Where can I find the puzzles??

edited
Sorry...I got it :)

Good that you found it out.

Players who are participating for the first time need to note that the puzzles are available in a password protected pdf file, which they must download before starting the round (see green arrows in the image below).
The password for the pdf will be displayed once you start the round, and you can open the pdf file. (see red arrows in the image below)

@rvarun
No special rules. But you anyway have figured them out by now.

Thanks PS for the test.That was great fun!Wish more of this sort tests come more often.I got stuck for a long time in the 3rd (Intermediate)puzzle which i felt had as much sting in it as the more challenging ones.In the end it boiled down to one crucial deduction that had eluded me for a long time in the 3rd Intermediate.

I have one minor suggestion that i would like to give for this test.Wouldn't it better if the test is spread out on more papers than just 2?Of course it looks nice and compact now with just 2 A4s for star Battle.I haven't solved slitherlink yet.But i don't mind spending a couple more papers for such a nice test.For example the spread could have been like this:2 exploratory on a new page vertically aligned(so Total 3 )or 2 intermediate on a seperate page and 2 exploratory on a seperate page(Total 4).Though that would put just 2 introductory on one page it looks oK to me.
(I spend a lot of papers for less useful reasons anyway!)So at the max just 2 more papers but the experience would be even more better I feel.

My favourites in this Star Battle test were the 6th and the 8th puzzle with the latter occupying the top spot.I have solved just 1 or 2 of these 'irregular' type star battle puzzles in the past and this one served as a good practice .Overall a great set of puzzles for beginners like me!!!

Star Battle : very pleasant ! I lost too much time on the 3rd pb to have a good score, and I was quite destabilised by the 7th. After the 40 minutes have passed, everything appears clear !
Concerning scores, I suppose we have to wait to have the real scores : I'm pointed with 44 points ?!? I finished just the 1-2-3-4 within 40 minutes, and all the others later.
So I could understand 16 pts (3+3+5+5) or 29 (3+3+bonus 6 +5+5+ bonus 7) or 46 (3+3+bonus 6 +5+5+ bonus 7 + 9/2 + 9/2 + 8/2 + 8/2), but not 44...

Puzlifouk - 2013-11-02 3:58 PM

Concerning scores, I suppose we have to wait to have the real scores

Yeah, there's a few things to fix on the score page as it is now. They will be fixed. We're a bit short on time right now. Festival time in India

Nice set of puzzles.

The time could have been 90 minutes. 40 minutes seems less especially for beginners.

--TNV

Nice puzzles.

As a presentational issue, although the instruction booklet gives a consistent set of rules for the exploratory star battles, most solvers understand there to be the same number of stars per region as there is for rows/columns - especially when this is the case for the first 6 puzzles. As an experienced puzzle solver myself, I had to scratch my head for 30 seconds on #7 to make sure i was ok on the rules. From that respect, the "2 *" label was a little misleading, and perhaps something like "2 * row/column, 3* region" would have been fairer.

Nice set of puzzles. Finally completed the Slitherlink after an internediate break of more than two hours. It was tough to concentrate on long time. Hope I rectify this by more practice.

Hi,
Can anyone post the solution of 7th star battle puzzle after the test.I have a doubt about the puzzle.

Not able to understand why you haven't given the option to solve the puzzles online. Are we suppose to take printout of each PDF to solve it? writing it, erasing it, too much time wasted on trivial work than puzzle solving. This is disappointing.

Basavaraju - 2013-11-05 1:46 PM

Not able to understand why you haven't given the option to solve the puzzles online. Are we suppose to take printout of each PDF to solve it? writing it, erasing it, too much time wasted on trivial work than puzzle solving. This is disappointing.

I don't see why its disappointing when its about 1 minute to print and the rest is solving, which should be the same experience whether its on paper or online. Whats the difference between clicking/undoing and writing/erasing?

Considering writing and erasing a waste of time is just not the right outlook to have. The World Puzzle Championships happen on paper, and it is always preferred to have offline competitions (whenever possible national championships in different countries are offline too).

Also, I'm sorry, but I have to say, why is a free contest disappointing simply because you don't get some really difficult-to-design technology?

I found the star battle pretty challenging -- there was, at least the way I solved them, some tricky counting to figure out certain star locations, along with the usual use of number of stars per region and so on. I feel like I've gotten better at them with some recent practice, but still felt pretty rusty.

The slitherlinks I enjoyed more and thought they were beautiful puzzles. I did a bit of intuitionistic work on a couple of them, though, so I'm interested to learn more about how the purely logical solves should go, especially on the countdown spiral.

Throughout the contest, I liked the clear themes behind each puzzle's design. The slitherlink seemed especially good that way, where you had to use different solving techniques on the different puzzles, and I saw some of that on the star battle too (where some emphasized in/out, others the fact that no stars could touch, for instance).

The exploratory star battles were fine variations but I felt like again the slitherlink examples showed some really different solving logic to use to deal with the new style of given information. The two of them had really different solves, too.

I think this is a great beginner test, too, where at least the first few puzzles are really accessible to quite beginnerish solvers, even if the last ones get somewhat tough.

Thanks for the fun puzzles!

munna - 2013-11-05 12:51 PM

Hi,
Can anyone post the solution of 7th star battle puzzle after the test.I have a doubt about the puzzle.

Solution is 161627372.

This was a tricky one. Got fooled by the symmetry and made mistakes a few times.

HTH

-TNV

Beginners contest for November is over.

Thanks to the different solvers for all the feedback thats been given. I will generally explain some of the thought process that went into things and hope to cover all relevant points. Mainly, I'll say that most of the things we wanted happened here. Its probably debatable if what we wanted is actually whats best :)

Firstly, we feel that there should be a good challenge even for the Beginners. I mean, we could throw in 8 easy puzzles and keep it at 90 minutes so that about 50 beginners will finish, but we don't see that as a good challenge, especially when there is extended time to solve and get some points for the rest. My expected target was that about 10% of the Beginners should finish each set. By that marker the Star Battle has probably turned more difficult than imagined, or "gimmicky".

More than finish-ability though, the priority for us was to establish a system that allowed two things we feel are highest priority for beginners -
1. Accessible, easy puzzles that everyone can solve and get to understanding the type.
2. Challenging, and even twisted ones that are more towards elevating the beginner through the final step into mastering said type.

The major contests often have twists, variations, and even one single round could have a variety of different types. So compared to that, if we don't keep the twists here somewhere, there's too much of a gap between the major contests and these helpful contests. The point of having a contest that concentrates on just one or two types should be to cover most of the things that can be done with said types.

For Star Battle, maybe the rules could've been worded to "stand out" a bit more to prepare folks for the 7th puzzle, but when we introduce an Exploratory category with the main purpose being twists, and then we say the given rules will cover the exploratory part too, it is expected that the rules be read carefully for possible loopholes. Again, this is probably not good to expect complete newcomers to do, but we think its a necessary part of preparing a solver for major contests. However, if more participants feel the rules need to be clearer about the twist, we can consider that for future contests.

Regarding solutions and solving tips, we'll hopefully have them ready by next week.

Thank you all for participating, and now that the format is in place (and I think, been generally successful), we'd love it if other authors express interest in putting together future Beginners' Puzzle Contests.

By the way, when will puzzle booklets with solution(held on November 2013) be uploaded?

totoron8655 - 2013-11-14 6:46 PM

By the way, when will puzzle booklets with solution(held on November 2013) be uploaded?

Good question. I think we'll be able to upload it on Saturday, but if not then surely by Tuesday. Its a bit of a double-duty week for me with an offline event to conduct too

I will be providing a few starting steps for Star Battle Number 7 as that has been requested by a participant on the forum. If any other ones are required in more detail, feel free to let me know.

Solutions are now appended to the puzzle booklets. Links below, for quick reference :

Star Battle Booklet

Slitherlink Booklet

Administrator - 2013-11-17 10:50 PM

Star Battle Booklet

The hints for SB7 included on the last page.

January Beginners' Puzzle Contest

Types

• Skyscrapers
• LITS

Dates

3^rd - 8^th January (including both dates)

Puzzles by

Swaroop Guggilam

Can we have the four shapes - L, I, T and S in the Instruction booklet as how the shapes will look so that any beginner can find out about the shapes and then go about the Sample problems in the Instruction booklet.

i am in chennai,
when is next competition ????

SyedMazharullah - 2014-01-02 1:19 PM

i am in chennai,
when is next competition ????

This is an online competition. You can participate wherever you are.

rvarun - 2014-01-02 12:22 PM

Can we have the four shapes - L, I, T and S in the Instruction booklet as how the shapes will look so that any beginner can find out about the shapes and then go about the Sample problems in the Instruction booklet.

Attaching Image containing LITS shapes. Remember it can be Rotated and Reflected.

(LITS_sym.png)

Attachments
----------------

LITS_sym.png (5KB - 2 downloads)

Well its 1st test this year and 1st test for me too as an author.
I wish Best of luck to all ! Hope you will enjoy the test. :)

I liked the test. Not surprisingly (for me), I did much better on the LITS compared to the skyscraper. Any tips on how to improve on the latter? I often have to write out the min/max range on a cell, which may not be the best idea.

Skyscrapers kills me again. I don't know what it is about that puzzle type that just screws with my brain, but it just won't solve those puzzles. At least there was the warm comfort of LITS to make me feel better. :)

I almost complained about LITS 7 having no solution (thinking that R6C8 must be part of T, which collides with R5C8; I submitted the answer key with that solution), before I noticed that it might be L. Luckily that part wasn't in the answer key, so it's still correct. :P Nice puzzles!

achan1058: For me (that is not a strong solver for Skyscrapers either), you can try to keep track where the highest numbers are (the numbers N, then N-1, then N-2, ...), and also to put some inequality signs on the grid... At least for this particular test those two are enough.

Really elegant puzzles :) I liked that the variations were very friendly, but made the solving process rather different.

Any idea what are the plans for the coming Beginners' Puzzles?

The strategy I use for Skyscrapers, beyond the obvious "Where are the Ns? Where are the N-1s? ...", is to replace clues with inequalities as much as possible and cross out clues that are redundant. So for example, in Skyscraper 6 on the test, when you get the 6 on R3C2, you can write R3C6 < R3C5 < R3C4 < R3C3 and then cross out the 5 clue. You can also sometimes cross out clues after writing in candidates for some cells. Here's an example in a partial 1-4 puzzle:

____
4___ 3
____
____

Here, if you mark that R2C4 can only have 1 or 2, and that R2C3 can only have 1 or 3, then all remaining ways to resolve that row satisfy the 3 clue and you can cross it out. (This is one of the more nontrivial uses that comes up a lot, so I just know it now.)

In general, I find that I have only one or two clues that aren't crossed out when I hit any sticking points in the middle, so then I know which clues to take a harder look at.

The biggest weakness of this approach is that it doesn't deal well with clues that give information like "the first cell is the largest of all before the 6". So it won't help as much on puzzles like this one: http://www.gmpuzzles.com/blog/2013/02/dr-sudoku-prescribes-33-skysc... Also, if you're bad at Futoshiki (aka greater-than latin squares), writing in the inequalities might not be as helpful for you.

And as I didn't win the Skyscrapers portion of the contest, bear in mind that this may not be the best advice anyway.

I have read the "LITS" instruction booklet. But I don"t understand how to play, please explain how to play step by step. I think many new beginner players is waiting.

mtgs - 2014-01-07 12:16 PM

I have read the "LITS" instruction booklet. But I don"t understand how to play, please explain how to play step by step. I think many new beginner players is waiting.

I'll just start you up on the harder example puzzle in the IB.

1. Each region must have 4 continuous shaded cells, and they cannot form a 2x2 square. So whichever extremity you try to fit from, in some smaller regions there will always be some common cells shaded.

2. Ways to eliminate cells from being shaded, could be that if a shading starts from there you can't fit in 4 continuous cells by 2x2 rule (upper 2 yellow cells), or maybe it forces two similar shapes (bottom right).

3. Region on the left has two possible ways to be filled, either an S from the top or an S from the bottom. If it's from the bottom it forces an S in the region to the right.

This should mostly help you get through this one, and the general usage of such logic should get you through all of them. Only other step is to maintain connectivity of the wall.

Anybody know if the administrators accept points claims for these 'instant grading' type of contests? I very stupidly entered the wrong row into one of the Skyscrapers answer boxes and it's looking like it will end up costing me 13.5 points total after bonuses are awarded. [Finished up with puzzle 6 at 40:47 on the clock]

Hope everybody enjoyed these two competitions as much as I did! Great work LMI and all involved!

-John in cold Buffalo NY

Edited by john_reid 2014-01-09 4:27 AM

Actually, a further question for those in the know. Does an 'Adj Time' on the results page of '040:47(+1)' mean that my time BEFORE adding the penalty minute was 40:47, or AFTER it? I had thought it meant AFTER, but I'm a little confused now after looking at some of the other results. Thanks again for the help.

john_reid - 2014-01-09 4:34 AM

Actually, a further question for those in the know. Does an 'Adj Time' on the results page of '040:47(+1)' mean that my time BEFORE adding the penalty minute was 40:47, or AFTER it? I had thought it meant AFTER, but I'm a little confused now after looking at some of the other results. Thanks again for the help.

The time shown (i.e. 040:47) is the last puzzle submission time in the round. Additionally, if you have any mistakes that will be shown inside the bracket.
So, the time shown is "BEFORE", to be specific.

You can use the "submissions tabs" to see the individual puzzle submission times.

We have removed your penalty since wrong row / column submissions are not penalized. It does not happen automatically, and we have to do it manually.

Edited by debmohanty 2014-01-09 6:20 AM

Ok, thanks for doing that for me. Turns out I was wrong then and had misunderstood the timing notation.

So all the lost points turn out to be my own fault for leaving the most expensive puzzle until the end and falling short by a few seconds! This is not the first time I've made that mistake either. Oh well, live and learn.

Password removed and solutions appended.

Thanks to all the participants who participated. Hope you all enjoyed the test.
Congratulations to Top 3 in Beginners as well as Seasoners Category.
I will post more details about my experience later in short time.
A special thanks to Prasanna and Deb for helping me out throughout the process.
Hope to author few more tests in future. :)

Edited by swaroop2011 2014-01-09 9:22 PM

The top 3 Beginners in the Skyscrapers section were snakeeyes (China), Timothy (France) and cnarrikkattu (USA), and in the LITS section the top 3 were tarosan (Japan), WA1729 (USA) and Yoshiap (USA). The top 3 Seasoners in the Skyscrapers section were deu (Japan), Hausigel (Germany) and misko (Germany) and in the LITS section the top 3 were MellowMelon (USA), EKBM (Japan) and nyuta (Japan). Congratulations to all the winners. Interestingly there were no repeats in either category anywhere. This is a good thing as we've covered two very different logical aspects here, benefiting a larger pool of Beginners.

We hope everyone enjoyed this contest, and also thank Swaroop for the nice elegant puzzles. Thank you all for participating!

Hi all sorry for late reply, last few days have not been so good for me. Anyways here it goes,
So it all started 3 months ago, when I approached LMI and asked I want author next Beginners Contest. They agreed to it and gave LITS and SKYSCRAPER to prepare. Then on 5th Dec I got the complete instructions of what should be the sizes of puzzles and info regarding exploratory side, First we thought of Wacky City or Skyscraper Sudoku as skyscraper variant. But then Deb provided with the new idea of clues shared by two rows. In LITS we thought of LITSO or LITS2. I felt LITS2 was more exciting than LITSO which of course is also good. Then I started making puzzles, starting with Skyscraper as they are little easy and fast to make as compared to LITS. Then I used to send bunch of puzzles each time to Prasanna for testing. Few would become hard, few would become non unique sometimes but none the less he was always co-operative and helped me throughout the process. I finally completed creating all puzzles by 30th Dec 2013. Funny thing is after one day I realized that I have not selected answer key rows, distributed points to the puzzles. May be because of 1st time it didn’t came into my mind. Anyways on 2nd Jan 2014 we completed that part as well and it was all set to go.
My favourites were
SKYSCRAPER: – 5, 6 and 8.
In skyscraper 7, the 4 clue on the right side edge was actually a dummy clue. I mean the puzzle could be solved even without that clue but I was told to provide more clues being beginners test.
LITS: - 2, 5, 7 and 8.
I remember the time I spent on making LITS 7, I made it and it was turning out to be non-unique. But I wanted to keep that same logic. No matter how hard I tried by changing shapes some or other problem would come. I was about to leave that puzzle and start a new, but then gave an attempt on a new morning and resolved. This was the last puzzle of my complete beginners set and a joy of relief.
I once again congratulate to the winners.
Thanks again to LMI for allowing authoring a test and helping me throughout the process.
I think this is just the beginning for me hope to have few more tests in future. :)

Thanks for the test, Swaroop. Some nice puzzles, especially in LITS.

March Beginners' Puzzle Contest

Types
• Spiral Galaxies• Tetrominoes
Dates : 14^th - 19^th March (including both dates)
Submission Link : http://logicmastersindia.com/BeginnersPuzzle/201403/
Puzzles by: Serkan Yurekli

In Spiral Galaxies, should each region definitely contain a circle? Or can there be regions whose point of symmetry is not shown?

mathcrazy - 2014-03-10 8:49 PM

In Spiral Galaxies, should each region definitely contain a circle? Or can there be regions whose point of symmetry is not shown?

In standard Spiral Galaxies all circles / central points will be given. That means, each region must contain exactly one of the given circles.

As noted in the IB, and as it had happened in the previous beginners' tests, some rules are deviated in the exploratory category. For those puzzles, you need to look at the given example to find out the deviation in rules, if any.

debmohanty - 2014-03-10 9:21 PM

mathcrazy - 2014-03-10 8:49 PM

In Spiral Galaxies, should each region definitely contain a circle? Or can there be regions whose point of symmetry is not shown?

Thanks, that cleared my doubt. Where can I find solving techniques for Spiral Galaxies? There seems to be more than one way of proceeding with each puzzle, and I'm able to realize very late that I proceeded wrongly.

Basic deductions:
- Two circles that are in adjacent cells have walls between them. Note that a circle is included even if it's only partially inside a cell (at the edge or corner).
- When a circle has a wall adjacent to it, the symmetrically opposite border must also be wall.

Intermediate deductions:
- Keep track of what cells a circle contains. The above two rules apply even for non-circle cells, as long as they belong to different regions.
- Sometimes, a cell is just so far from other circles; try to figure out which circle holds this cell.
- Sometimes intuition helps scoring a quick time.

Beginners' contest is delayed - we will post a note when it starts.

Any pointers on how to proceed with this Spiral Galaxies puzzle after this?

http://oi59.tinypic.com/27zlzll.jpg

mathcrazy - 2014-03-14 7:33 PM

Any pointers on how to proceed with this Spiral Galaxies puzzle after this?

http://oi59.tinypic.com/27zlzll.jpg

Cells C12-R8,9,10 are in the same region, for example.

also c14 r1 and r2 have only one choice .. basically find some cells which can go in unique way. :)

mathcrazy - 2014-03-14 7:33 PM

Any pointers on how to proceed with this Spiral Galaxies puzzle after this?

http://oi59.tinypic.com/27zlzll.jpg

Okay got it, thanks to both of you for those tips :)

Edited by mathcrazy 2014-03-14 8:41 PM

swaroop2011 - 2014-03-14 8:29 PM

also c14 r1 and r2 have only one choice .. basically find some cells which can go in unique way. :)

mathcrazy - 2014-03-14 7:33 PM

Any pointers on how to proceed with this Spiral Galaxies puzzle after this?

http://oi59.tinypic.com/27zlzll.jpg

How do cells C14R1 and C14R2 have only one choice?

ok think in this way to which galaxy does c14r2 cell can join, you will find only one way.

Personally, in a forty-minute contest, I think that good notation is going to make a huge difference. Every time I try a puzzle like this, I go back and forth between drawing the border and connecting the cells directly, wasting a lot of time and creating a real mess of lines across the puzzle. This may be one puzzle type where I need to break into my child's supply of color pencils...

When is this contest actually starting, since I am not seeing anything other than the instructions booklet.

Administrator - 2014-03-14 5:08 PM

Beginners' contest is delayed - we will post a note when it starts.

achan1058 - 2014-03-15 3:11 AM

When is this contest actually starting, since I am not seeing anything other than the instructions booklet.

Quite unusually, we have run into some issues here. I can't put an exact time right now, but it will take around 12 hours, as I post this.

March Beginners' Puzzle Contest has started

The dates are revised to 15^th - 20^th March (including both dates)

Submission Links : Spiral Galaxies • Tetrominoes

Great puzzles, Serkan! I really enjoyed solving them. But from my view, discovering the twisted rules is too difficult, I am not sure, whether beginners will get through it. I solved Galaxies about 20 minutes and 8-10 minutes was just about guessing the proper rules.

Great puzzles indeed. The puzzles feel reasonable (also I now know I'm not particularly good in Galaxies). I feel the exploratory rules for Galaxies is a bit stretching it though. Black and white circles are good ideas, but gray circles just sound like throwing the symmetry part of Galaxies away. I have no particular comments, although I feel Tetromino should also have a puzzle or two without givens.

Also, for some reason I blazed through the first six Tetromino puzzles in 11 minutes (plus two stupid mistakes on the first puzzle), and the last two in 17 minutes.

Excellent job, Serkan. I particularly enjoyed SG # 6, which I thought was quite clever. Thanks for the contest!

Great puzzles!

However, I think I have an indication if my answer is right or wrong before I really submit it. Is this indicated? (The red border of the cell vanishes if my answer has the correct length of the entry string before I hit the button.)

Realshaggy - 2014-03-15 11:17 PM

However, I think I have an indication if my answer is right or wrong before I really submit it. Is this indicated? (The red border of the cell vanishes if my answer has the correct length of the entry string before I hit the button.)

The red border vanishes when the sum of digits that you enter is equal to the size the grid (excluding black cells in Tetrominoes). It does not check for correctness of the answer.

For example, in Spiral Galaxy 1 - which is a 6X6 puzzle, if you enter 123 or 321 or 1122 or any set of digits summing to 6 the red border will vanish. We use this to check and alert if the answer is not formatted properly. Additionally, there is no penalty on answers which are not formatted correctly.

Hope that clarifies.

Oh sorry. I didnt recognize you can use the sum of the digits as a check.

I recently reached the Seasoner level, but the test still says, "You have chosen to play as Beginner." Is there a way to change my level to Seasoner?

I agree with most other posters -- really great puzzles, but on Galaxies figuring out the white/grey/black rule and checking on the given example took forever. (I should probably just have tried to solve #7 with the rule I guessed instead of wasting time trying it out on the example, but I really didn't have faith that I had guessed right).

I guessed wrong on #7 in such a way that produced the right answer, and only realized that when I was trying to do #8......

Thanks serkan, really beautiful puzzles.
Especially SG 5 and 6, Exploratory of Tetrominoes.
But unfortunately a bad test for me in Spiral Galaxies, I did continuously mistakes in all of them and at the end was confused to figure out rules for exploratory part and time got over. :(
After struggling little and fixing the rules it just took a minute each to solve each puzzle. :)

Thanks Serkan for excellent puzzles.
I enjoyed both tests, I felt that Tetrominoes is easier than Spiral Galaxies.
I figured the rules for Spiral Galaxies exploratory part in just 1 min but due to stress I convinced myself that I got the rules wrong and slept :D

Regards,
Ravi

How do I give up? The last two spiral galaxy puzzles are impossible to me; I am baffled by the example and I would just like to find out the rules. But the clock never runs out. Is there any way to forfeit? Seems rather difficult for a "beginner" contest.

i don't think you can do that, just leave it like that and when test ends it will stop.
But i would like to suggest you that try thinking in different ways, i also got stuck there but once figure it out its very easy :)
Just fix some rules what you think from given example and then try to solve, if you are not feeling its unique then try to extend some rules. :)

bob - 2014-03-20 3:30 AM

How do I give up? The last two spiral galaxy puzzles are impossible to me; I am baffled by the example and I would just like to find out the rules. But the clock never runs out. Is there any way to forfeit? Seems rather difficult for a "beginner" contest.

I can't read the post because I can't solve the last two puzzles. I've been staring at the example quite some time at different sittings. I can't come up with any rule sets that would give unique solutions. Very frustrating. I guess I'll just wait.

Many thanks Serkan, challenging but not impossible. :)

(PS The Score link at the top of this page is referring to the 201304 test, not the 201403 test...)

bob - 2014-03-20 5:46 AM

I can't read the post because I can't solve the last two puzzles. I've been staring at the example quite some time at different sittings. I can't come up with any rule sets that would give unique solutions. Very frustrating. I guess I'll just wait.

check your PM

In case anyone else has this problem--maintain your printer! In the experimental spiral galaxy puzzles, my black circles and grey circles were all sort of...greyish-black and indistinguishable. I use a cheap laser printer and the toner is running low. This made figuring out the rules impossible without explanation. Thank you Swaroop for the PM. I looked at the original pdf file and indeed, there are three different colors of circles not two. Time to go to the office supply store.

May be in future to avoid this problems, a small warning or a line saying that puzzles might contain different color clues or something like that can be announced.

bob - 2014-03-21 2:10 AM

In case anyone else has this problem--maintain your printer! In the experimental spiral galaxy puzzles, my black circles and grey circles were all sort of...greyish-black and indistinguishable. I use a cheap laser printer and the toner is running low. This made figuring out the rules impossible without explanation. Thank you Swaroop for the PM. I looked at the original pdf file and indeed, there are three different colors of circles not two. Time to go to the office supply store.

Passwords removed from booklets. There is no plan to upload solutions this time. If anyone needs solutions, please post here.

Hi, I could not figure out the rules for Exploratory Galaxy, which would lead to a unique solution. Could someone please explain to me? (Please real explanation, not only a hint, since I am already very frustrated with them. ;-) ) Before them, it took me only little time for the other six puzzles (at least for me), so I hoped to finish once in time, but then got stuck and ended frustrated. However, I was pleased with my tetromino results (even when not in time). Greetings, Nola

Administrator - 2014-03-20 10:42 PM

Passwords removed from booklets. There is no plan to upload solutions this time. If anyone needs solutions, please post here.

So what was the rule in exploratory galaxies? I'm still stumped!

Black: Center of symmetry of a rectangle
White: Center of symmetry of a non-rectangle
Gray: Not center of symmetry (the shape itself can be not symmetric)

I spent 90min. of Spiral Galaxies Exploratory.

At first, I found regions with a gray point had ONE extra cell.
It is my regret that I tried match-making subsequently...

Even though they may not be suited for Beginners' contests, they are nice surprising puzzles themselves.

I am also interested in the rules for Exploratory Spiral Galaxies.

@chaotik_iak: With your rules, the example has many solutions. For example, make the black and white regions as small as possible (each only 1 or two cells) and then you still have many ways to make grey regions.

Semax - 2014-03-22 12:39 PM

I am also interested in the rules for Exploratory Spiral Galaxies.

@chaotik_iak: With your rules, the example has many solutions. For example, make the black and white regions as small as possible (each only 1 or two cells) and then you still have many ways to make grey regions.

You can't make a white region 1/2 cells because that'd make it a rectangle. I think a white region would have to be a minimum of 4 cells (S tetromino) to follow the non-rectangle rule.

I need solutions.

I'm not good in both puzzles...

Are the correct solutions shown somewhere? I never succeeded in submitting a correct answer for SG #5 even tho' I can't see anything wrong with my solutions (I came up with ambiguity in UL corner).

thanks for hours of fun

you can upload your solved solution here, so that we can see where you are going wrong :)

BTroisi - 2014-03-24 5:02 AM

Are the correct solutions shown somewhere? I never succeeded in submitting a correct answer for SG #5 even tho' I can't see anything wrong with my solutions (I came up with ambiguity in UL corner).

thanks for hours of fun

I'm really confused--what is the "Cat bonus"? I have no idea why I didn't receive it for Tetrominoes...

jiangty - 2014-03-24 1:48 PM

I'm really confused--what is the "Cat bonus"? I have no idea why I didn't receive it for Tetrominoes...

Cat Bonus is short for Category Bonus which is explained in the Instruction Booklet. There's some bug in the score page, and you are eligible for the bonus. We will look into it and rectify it as soon as possible.

I would be grateful if you could see my "cat bonus" as well - solved all the tetrominos in time, so probably should get the full score for that? Best - Bartek

About Tetrominoes #5
I have these rows: K: LLTIIIIOO (alternatively TZZIIIIOO) L: ITTTIZZIL M: LLLTTTLL
Which seemed to have an answer of 2142 (or 1242) 131211 332
But neither answer was accepted. Tried a couple of times to see if I fat-fingered them.
Resolved MANY times but always came up with this answer.
Where have I gone wrong?

Your first and third answers are wrong. The rule says each tetromino may contain at most 1 letter. With the first 2 answers you gave me, I cannot satisfy the L in R4C4. Without seeing a photo of your solution, I cannot comment further, but the error is probably the entire left hand side, pretty much the whole first 4 columns.

As a general rule of thumb, if you got more than 1 solution, both of them are almost certainly wrong, and the error is usually not in the ambiguity itself, but somewhere further back that gets you to this ambiguity in the first place. (Unless of course the error is that you missed part of the rules.)

Edited by achan1058 2014-03-25 12:55 AM

prasanna16391 - 2014-03-24 2:15 PM

jiangty - 2014-03-24 1:48 PM

I'm really confused--what is the "Cat bonus"? I have no idea why I didn't receive it for Tetrominoes...

bartunio - 2014-03-24 10:18 PM

I would be grateful if you could see my "cat bonus" as well - solved all the tetrominos in time, so probably should get the full score for that? Best - Bartek

Fixed.

I'm unable to view my Tetrominoes submissions

May Beginners' Puzzle Contest

Types
• Minesweeper• Yin-Yang
Dates : 8^th - 13^th May (including both dates)
Submission Link : http://logicmastersindia.com/BeginnersPuzzle/201405/
Puzzles by: Horvath Zoltan

The pdf files from Yin-Yang variations contest site are not accessible.
They can be downloaded from here and here. Thanks Andrey for sharing.

whats the password for the booklet of yin-yang variations contest ?

swaroop2011 - 2014-05-03 8:24 PM

whats the password for the booklet of yin-yang variations contest ?

Hi!

BW02diogen

Valezius - 2014-05-03 8:35 PM

swaroop2011 - 2014-05-03 8:24 PM

whats the password for the booklet of yin-yang variations contest ?

Hi!

BW02diogen

Thanks

In the first example of Yin Yang Variations Contest, there is another solution possible with the answer key as BBWWW, BWBBW.. Is this correct?

mathcrazy - 2014-05-04 12:19 PM

In the first example of Yin Yang Variations Contest, there is another solution possible with the answer key as BBWWW, BWBBW.. Is this correct?

Yes i think. Even i am getting multiple solutions (as you mentioned)

Edited by swaroop2011 2014-05-04 3:08 PM

Any pointers on how to go about solving the Count puzzle in Yin Yang Variations contest? I'm unable to get a start. The example given is too easy.

mathcrazy - 2014-05-06 8:55 PM

Any pointers on how to go about solving the Count puzzle in Yin Yang Variations contest? I'm unable to get a start. The example given is too easy.

The key is Rohan's post:
http://rohanrao.blogspot.in/2010/12/solving-black-and-white-edge-co...

There is 5 black circles in the 1st row and 3 in the last.
So there are only 2 ways:

The full right side is black and the first 5 circles in 1st row and first 3 in last row.
OR
The full left side is black and the last 5 circles in 1st row and last 3 in last row.

The second one won't work if you try it, because of the 2 in 3rd column. It leads a contradiction in 2nd column.

When you fill the edge you can solve the puzzle. (For instance you can continue in 2nd row.)

In the second one it is also possible to fill the full edge. According to the given numbers on the edge and the number 1 in C5.

Valezius - 2014-05-06 9:07 PM

mathcrazy - 2014-05-06 8:55 PM

Any pointers on how to go about solving the Count puzzle in Yin Yang Variations contest? I'm unable to get a start. The example given is too easy.

Thanks! That helped! It didn't strike me before. :)

Just a note about the answer key of Yin-Yang, although it is clear in the IB :

For each marked row, enter the number of black circles, including the given ones.

May Beginners' Puzzle Contest has started

Submission Links : Minesweepers • Yin-Yang

Score page : link

Yin-Yang last puzzle (exploratory) was simply awesome :)
Also Minesweeper 6th puzzle was awesome :)
Nice Contest. I requested for credit in Minesweeper don't know will get it or not. I thought the stretch of 3 cells is like 3 mines. so was submitting total cells and it gave wrong and then thought it is single dynamite. Apart from that a nice contest for beginners. :)
Thanks to Author and LMI. :)

Somehow I am missing the category bonus for the minesweeper, despite finishing everything within 20 minutes.

Anyways, I have a complaint on the formatting of the PDF. My printer is cutting off the top and bottom of each page. While it didn't actually cut off the puzzles, it cuts off part of the instructions and exploratory puzzle sample.

The puzzle types themselves are right up my alley, especially minesweeper.

Edited by achan1058 2014-05-08 10:45 AM

achan1058 - 2014-05-08 10:44 AM

Somehow I am missing the category bonus for the minesweeper, despite finishing everything within 20 minutes.

Still struggling to figure out why some player have it, and some don't.

achan1058 - 2014-05-08 10:44 AM
Anyways, I have a complaint on the formatting of the PDF. My printer is cutting off the top and bottom of each page. While it didn't actually cut off the puzzles, it cuts off part of the instructions and exploratory puzzle sample.

Noted. Will make the margins larger from the next set.

Edited by debmohanty 2014-05-08 10:50 AM

swaroop2011 - 2014-05-08 10:32 AM

Yin-Yang last puzzle (exploratory) was simply awesome :)
Also Minesweeper 6th puzzle was awesome :)
Nice Contest. I requested for credit in Minesweeper don't know will get it or not. I thought the stretch of 3 cells is like 3 mines. so was submitting total cells and it gave wrong and then thought it is single dynamite. Apart from that a nice contest for beginners. :)
Thanks to Author and LMI. :)

As I know we accept both format in 7th and 8th Minesweeper puzzle.
But you typed 646 instead of 656.

Can the puzzles be solved online?

So I blazed through the test and found out I've topped both scoreboards for the moment. I'm expecting these to be beaten when the Japanese players come in or something.

The puzzles are great. My first thought of the exploratory variant of the Minesweeper was Double Minesweeper, but apparently it's totally wrong, heh. I didn't even have any idea of what variant could go to Yin-Yang, and I found that. Very well done. My favorite would certainly be Yin-Yang 8th.

Also, I should have used red/green or something instead of red/light purple for Yin-Yang; I couldn't distinguish the light purple from the given exploratory gray that easily and had to spent precious seconds shading in the white areas too due to that. Oops. (Yeah, I'm Paint solver.) Definitely not a complain for the formatting of the test, more like my fault for not choosing the proper colors.

varun - 2014-05-08 3:46 PM

Can the puzzles be solved online?

No, they can't. You have to download it to your computer and open it locally. Of course, feel free to use MS Paint or some image editor instead of printing the pages.

Passwords removed and solutions appended.
Link to score page : http://logicmastersindia.com/BeginnersPuzzle/201405/score.asp

Hi everybody,

it's a bit late, but I wanted to write a short summery about the competition.

First, congratulations for the winners. In Minesweeper
Hunsuduku aka Zoltán Gyimesi from Hungary has won, deu was second and Psycho was the 3rd, who beat me on Poland Puzzle Championship.

On Yin-Yang the top was totally different:
WA1729 won, chaotic_iak was the 2nd and rob was the 3rd.

And congratulations for best beginners, too.
mtsd, SP1 and pinkagape were the best in Minesweeper. And
SP1, aras and bereolos in Yin-Yang.

Some words about the puzzles:
I think there was no problem with the difficulties. However, nobody could finish the sets under 10 minutes. But maybe it isn't a big problem.

Minesweeper:
First two puzzles are really trivial, in the 3rd one there was a little trick: the 4 mines in the four corners which wasn't covered by any clues. The 4th one was again easy.
Inspired by Prasanna Seshadri's puzzle: http://www.gmpuzzles.com/blog/tag/kurotto+classic+mondaytuesday/

5th and 6th were normal puzzles, 5th is relatively easy.
The 6th seems a bit harder, if you don't try to solve it on the proper way.
More details about this puzzle here: http://valezius.blogspot.hu/2014/05/solving-tip-minesweeper.html

The requiments for Exploratory puzzle were:
"The twist must provide a different perspective while not deviating much logically. "

The well known Double Minesweeper, where the cells could contain 2 mines, was a possibility, but I wanted something more unique.

I think this Dynamitsweeper worked well. There are some familiar clue combinations such as 1-3 or 1-2 that worked similar way than in a normal Minesweeper. But the 1-3 in puzzle 8 give some extra information, too.

If you didn't solve the linked minesweeper puzzles from my old site, now you are ready to do them :)
Practice Puzzles (10 mines each in 6X6 grids, 20 mines each in 8X8 grids)
http://5mp.eu/fajlok/logikairejtveny/aknakereso.283.291_www.5mp.eu_...

In the Yin-Yang set it caused me a little problem that in this type there are 2 important trick. They were in the IB, but I wasn't sure that everybody read it.

So I didn't wanted to use these tricks in the first puzzles.
The 3rd puzzle is monocolor without any trick. The 4th is very similar with a Chessboard pattern.

The 5th and 6nd are normal puzzles.

I didn't checked the Yin-Yang variation contest before the puzzle making. But most of them wouldn't be suitable because there logic are too far from the basic puzzle. So I had to find out a new variation. I hope everybody enjoyed these puzzles.

Zoltán

August Beginners' Puzzle Contest

Types
• Cave• Yajilin
Dates : 28^th Aug - 2^nd Sep (including both dates)
IB & Submission Link : http://logicmastersindia.com/BeginnersPuzzle/201408/
Puzzles by: Prasanna Seshadri

Nice puzzles.
Yajilin went good, cave was bit bad, did silly counting mistake and then got stuck for couple of minutes on 6th puzzle and then found trick.
Both Exploratory parts were new and nice idea.
Best puzzle combining both i would say 6th puzzle of CAVE. :)

Enjoyed the contest a lot. I agree Cave 6 was very nice. It looks like the same category bonuses have been used for the Yajilin as for the Cave despite the instruction booklet stating that different category bonuses would apply?

David McNeill - 2014-08-28 7:59 PM

Enjoyed the contest a lot. I agree Cave 6 was very nice. It looks like the same category bonuses have been used for the Yajilin as for the Cave despite the instruction booklet stating that different category bonuses would apply?

Coincidence that the same one fit this time :) Glad you enjoyed the contest.

Is the 6th cave really suitable for a beginner? It's definitely a beautiful construction, though.

I really liked the cave exploration puzzles for their instructional value, for exposing it to beginners how some advance solvers handle cave puzzles.

Can the puzzle be solved online or do we have to print out the puzzles ?

tnv - 2014-08-29 5:23 PM

Can the puzzle be solved online or do we have to print out the puzzles ?

All "Puzzle" contests (with the exception of CTC) are NOT available online. You either solve on paper or with image editor.

It is only "Sudoku" tests where online solving is available, unless announced otherwise.

Edited by debmohanty 2014-08-29 5:28 PM

Hi, thanks for the competition, but my printer is not suitable for grids without framed borders. Everything what was printed were the numbers :(
Is it possible to discard my participation in Caves? Thanks in advance.

Matus

Dear puzzle-friends,

I wanted to start my first (Beginners) contest here on LMI. Thanks to my very good friend Richard Stolk :-)
But it seems the pdf-file needs a password?

Can somebody tell me what the passwords are?

Looking forward to your earliest reply!

Arvid a.k.a. Eisbaer

Dear puzzle friends,

False alarm, I was something doing wrong myself :-)
Nice test, liked it!

Arvid

It was very nice test. Really enjoyed participating in this test.

Yes in Cave the borders were very light. I have to redraw the border and solve. Borders should be darker and thick.

Please can you extend the date of submission of August Beginner's Sudoku Contest by another day ? I participate regularly but this time, the net was down for nearabout a week and was set right just today. Please.

vijaya_rajan - 2014-09-03 1:01 PM

Please can you extend the date of submission of August Beginner's Sudoku Contest by another day ? I participate regularly but this time, the net was down for nearabout a week and was set right just today. Please.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to extend now. The passwords have been public for a while now.

Passwords removed and solutions appended.