Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Gapped Kakuro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Nanro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Araf
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Maxi Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Nanro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Star Battle
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	A bit skewed
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

I am sorry that i have to bring this up again.I am not able to make a start in the Gapped Kakuro.I tried bifurcating but there are simply
too many places to bifurcate and it is not a choice .
Is there a walkthrough or solving technique or starting tips anywhere in the web for Gapped Kakuro?I tried searching but i could not find any
Can someone post me a link or something if available?Thnks .

@kishy, here is one.

To start this particular one, just ask yourself, how many cells can 9 digits with just one gap between them be stretched to? ;) Gapped Kakuro is based a lot on either "stretching" logic (you can only put these many numbers, if there's so many cells for a sum, then so many have to be spaces) or crowded logic (this sum can't have any spaces because its big enough that all cells will be required). Then mark the spaces and the cells you've determined a number needs to be in, that helps.

When does the contest end? (I'm guessing in less than 24 hours, but I'm not really sure when). Any chance you could put an ending timer on the main page like for most contests?

Good contest and puzzles, thanks!

In about 13 hours, as I post this.
In the contest page, if you logout (top-right) of the flash, you will see the end time etc back again.

Edited by debmohanty 2013-03-10 3:44 PM

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Gapped Kakuro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Watches
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Nanro
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	A bit skewed
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Liar Diagonal Slitherlink
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Gapped Kakuro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Mintonette
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Star Battle
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Mintonette
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Araf
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Star Battle
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Graffiti Snake
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Mintonette
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Very skewed
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

First and foremost thnks to LMI for such a wonderful contest.All the puzzles were very nice and of a high quality and thnks to all the author
friends for having the patience to create such big puzzles.All the puzzles were a test of patience ,stamina and much more.
Special thnks to PS and Deb without whom i would not have completed the Gapped Kakuro and hence the puzzle marathon.
Got the neccessary idea that was needed from them and then it was routine stuff.
The rules initially in the Gapped kakuro confused me totally.
I never used the 1-9 logic in the borders without which the puzzle is unsolvable and does not have a unique solution.
I was thinking that,only where sums are given the numbers dont repeat within that sum.So i never once got the idea that the numbers have to be
1-9 in the top / bottom most rows and left/right most columns .What prevented me from thinking the correct way was that in the middle numbers
were repeating so i thought the 1-9 logic does not hold
in the corners as well ,but then there there were blocks in the middle which is not the case in the corners.
So basically numbers dont repeat provided they dont have a road block in between or a sum clue in between.I wont forget this golden rule again.
PUZZLE MARATHON
ONE good contest - MANY congratulations -HUGE round of applause :))

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Araf
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Nanro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Mintonette
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Fifty fifty: abcdefgh:
11000000
Ijklmnopqr:
0101000100
Stuvwxyz:
01110000
Hi, I coud not "start". Please do. Thanks.

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Multi Skyscrapers
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Gapped Kakuro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Araf
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Nanro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Araf
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Mintonette
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Nanro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Fity Fifty
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Liar Diagonal Slitherlink
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Even when I had fun the contest was a little to difficult and to extensive for me this year. Last year I could solve 4 out of ten puzzles in less than one hour time and one more puzzle in slightly (below 90 minutes) more time. This year it was 2 out of 12 puzzles (+ 2 puzzles in under 90 minutes). I also liked the number of 10 puzzles more than 12.

Edit: To choose the 3 most favorite was difficult, so I decided for the (for me) new puzzles. But I also liked Star battle and Graffiti Snake very much. And the missing black points in Masyu were very surprising.

I like the concept of one hour with bonus points and then "infinite" time for finishing later. I do not want to have this longer, even when I could finish some puzzles with only slightly more time. But so I know I have to reserve one hour and then I can do something else again.

Edited by Nola 2013-03-12 2:03 AM

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Gapped Kakuro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Maxi Loop
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Mintonette
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

This was a lot of fun. Thanks to all of the puzzle creators!

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Watches
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Araf
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Star Battle
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

All puzzles (except Gapped Kakuro and Liar Diagonal Slitherlink, which I didn't even attempt) are very good. Its actually hard to choose the 3 most favorite puzzles.

Edited by An LMI player 2013-03-11 6:36 AM

Thank you for your feedback. We are most likely to have 10 puzzles next times. To me, 10 seems ideal.

Puzzle Marathon 2013 is over now.
Link to score page - http://logicmastersindia.com/2013/03P/score.asp

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Araf
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Mintonette
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Gapped Kakuro
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

Congratulations to the authors, for correct and fun puzzles. I would like to add Star Battle, Maxi Loop and Nanro to the too-short list of honourable mentions above. Araf and Mintonette were pleasant surprises. At this size, these types could have been terrible messes of trial and error; instead, they solve very cleanly indeed.

Also, congratulations to the organisers. I'm sure the unusual requirements of this contest had them put in a lot of extra work, what with the fancy scoring formula, and complex document presentation, and the finish line list and only they know what else.

I did have a lot more wrong submissions than usual, but these were all on me, and not the fault of keying at all. With puzzles this size, I find myself losing focus when stuck, and end up repeatedly checking some subset of possible breakins. I need some way to remind myself to cast a wider net after a while.

My usual question :)

Regards,
Ravi

First of all thanks to Organizers, Puzzle authors and Puzzle testers. This time I get to see some new puzzles.
I had more fun compared to last year Puzzle Marathon and I am happy that this time I was able to gain bonus even though I broke them in the last. I am sad that this time I was not able to complete all 12 puzzles.

1) Star Battle: I have solved only a few of this type and the layout scared me a bit in the start, but once I made some progress I felt that it is indeed a easy one. Great one from Dr. Sudoku

2) Mintonette: This is my first time seeing of this one. The puzzle is well constructed with nice start, few tricks in middle and simple finish.

3) Maxi Loop: This is my first time seeing of this one. The puzzle is well constructed and I couldn't have completed this if I had not solved couple of them from Para's Blog.

4) Graffiti Snake: At first the layout gave an impression of hard level to me. After I made some progress I found that it is actually not that hard and all the given clues are sufficient enough to solve the puzzle.

5) Araf: This is my first time seeing of this one. The layout is excellent and the puzzle is well constructed. I made no progress in the first 8 min, later I was able to solve the upper portion and left portion under 30 min, but couldn't make proper deductions after that as I failed to use below left corner.

6) Multi Skyscrapers: I was never good with this type. The puzzle is well designed and has nice solving path. Thanks to the puzzle I was able to grasp few tricks for this type.

7) Watches: This is my first time seeing of this one. Even before I could see the puzzle I knew Serkan will surely provide the "Serkan fun while solving". The layout is excellent. I was able to solve the below half very quickly and thought I will be able to complete it under 60 min but I was wrong and the top half took more time to finish the puzzle, not to mention one wrong arrow costed me 20 minutes.

8) Nanro: This is my first time seeing of this one. I like the puzzle type very much. The puzzle is well constructed with a nice solving path. Somehow unconsciously I was making deductions assuming that numbers inside the region should form a polyomino :(

9) Masyu: I knew that the layout will be something different and I was right, it had only white circles. Excellent puzzle.

10) Fifty Fifty: I really had a hard time solving this one. no doubt that the puzzle is very good and thanks to puzzle that I was able to grasp few tricks. I was not able to make any deduction and just started bifurcation to solve it and luckily I was able to make all right guesses.

Liar Diagonal Slitherlink and Gapped Kakuro: No comments as I did not attempt these.

Regards,
Ravi

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Nanro
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Fity Fifty
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Liar Diagonal Slitherlink
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	A bit skewed
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

From my perspective, most of the puzzles were too hard.

Edited by An LMI player 2013-03-11 7:48 AM

The test solvers are
Branko Ceranic - I can never thank Branko enough for all the pre-solving he does (for this test, beginners and many other LMI tests)
Rohan Rao - who has taken a break from competitive solving, but is available for pre-solving :-)

Last year, we were able to include the test solvers' scores in the official list, but we couldn't do so this year because of administrative constraints and also because some puzzles got changed after their testing.

Thanks also to Prasanna who was the first official solver, and also to Serkan and Fred C for spending time on the test before it began.