What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Richard, thanks for excellent test (nothing less expected).

Branko

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	A bit hard
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Yes I got X=4 as well. I had the 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, 4-8 pair laid out quickly and it didnt work.
Then I found out that 5-9 was also a pair and it still didnt work... :(

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	A bit too many puzzles
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Delightful puzzles! Thanks for a great contest!

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

With me also the same problem. I got X=4 easily but still not able to solve this puzzle. Looking forward to logical steps to solve it from author once the test is over.

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	A bit skewed
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	A bit hard
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	A bit too many puzzles
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Results show some puzzle ratings. Where can puzzles be rated?

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

On the submissions page, under the puzzle name, you'll see 10 gray stars. Just drag mouse over and click at the number you want to give for the puzzle and they'll turn yellow.

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	All puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

This test started off great for me, started at the bottom and was flying until I got to rank killer and then I broke it twice which cost me a lot of time... looking forward to seeing the answer/result on it.

Thanks for a fun test though!

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

I wish I hadn't made a typo, and I wish I'd learn that I always get stuck on Odd Even type variants and done the Frame 1~9 instead of getting stuck for a long time on the Even Sandwich. Otherwise, it was a fun test. Thanks Richard! :)

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	A bit hard
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	All puzzles were worth the right amount

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	All puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Just right
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did their point values reflect the difficulty/time spent?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

V2V is over. Congratulations to deu for winning this one, surprisingly his first LMI sudoku test win.

Congratulations to deu, kota and TiiT for taking the top positions.
That was really a photo-finish, with less than half a minute difference between the first and second position!

For me it has been an exciting (extended) weekend again, eagerly looking to all the performances 'behind the screens'.

Almost 300 players participated in this test. I was very happy to see a lot of 'new' players, who participated in the Grand Prix for the first time at LMI, and now returned to participate again. Thanks for that to all those players, and let's hope they keep coming back for future tests!

Like I did after my previous tests, I want to write some lines again here in the forum.

The idea for this Variations to Variants came in augus, right after Classics vs. Innovatives.

Here is a quote from me in the forum thread of Classics vs. Innovatives:


Since my main hobby is creating puzzles in general and sudokus in particular, I am often busy thinking about new variations to this theme, so the idea of V2V was born in august last year.

While creating the set, I first looked back to Copy-Paste; no less than 16 players solved all puzzles (some with mistakes, but still), so the new test could become a bit harder. With 5 finishers now, that goal is achieved, although my expectations were that the fastest players could finish in less than 100 minutes.

I had some reservations about putting so many new or 'newish' things in a single test; it might scare off players when there is not a fair share of well known stuff. So in that way I am really delighted to see a massive number of participants.

Some of the variants in the test require a bit different approach than we are used to, so I have written notes to all puzzles in the test, including the first steps in the solving process. I will post them in the forum today, one after another.
I would be very happy when players learn from that, but I would also be very much interested to read if the way I went through the puzzle is the most efficient way. From that perspective I can learn from (top) players as well, so you are all invited to response!

Notes to V2V (I)

I will write the notes for two paired puzzles per thread, so the forum is not spoiled with a single thread of 3 pages.
I am considering putting all the notes in some kind of 'solution booklet', if it fullfills a need. Please let me know.

So here are the notes to the first two puzzles:

V: GT Consecutive
Normally in consecutive sudokus not so much givens are necessary, let alone in a consecutive in which you know what is the greater and what the smaller digit.
For this test I was in the mood for working with digits 1 to 9 as givens, especially since you can make a relative easy puzzle as a start of the test; besides, not many GT signs are necessary in that case.
Of course the start of the puzzle is {46} in R4C6 and R6C4. 123 and 789 can be placed in the middle block as wel as 4 in R4C6 and 6 in R6C4. Next column 7 can be filled completely: R6C7 = 4; R4C7 = 1, R89C7 = 78, 2 in R1 and 5 in R2.
No further problems or tricks in this puzzle.

V2V: Greater than X
Obviously a puzzle that a lot of people skipped, or had problems with, although some people didn’t encounter any problems at all.
Here we go:
Two of the few given digits in the grid are placed in box 8, so the puzzle is pinpointing in this direction for the first clue(s).
First the value of X:
Because of the 6 with the greater sign, X has a maximum of 5 and is not 2. It is also not 5, because of the 1 with smaller sign in row 1. The 1 in Block 8 is placed in R7C4 [Note: 1 can’t be in R8C6 because it conflicts with the smaller sign in row 1] below a GT-sign, so X is also not 3. So there are still only 1 and 4 left as possibility for X.
Try X = 1: R7C4 = 1; R8C4 = 2; 3 cannot be placed in any of the 3 remaining cells.
So: X = 4.
[Note: determining X is not 3 can be done straight away: Block 4 contains 4 GT-signs, covering 8 cells, so X is not 3.]

Let’s start solving.
R5C2 = 1
Explanation: With X being 4, 1 or 9 is not used in the four different ‘pairs’ in 3x3-Block 4.
With 1 or 9 being unused, 5 is placed in one of the ‘corner’ cells of Block 4. Since all these ‘corner’ cells are the smallest of the ‘pair’, 5 goes together with 9 and 1 is unused, placed in the middle of the block.
R1C6 = 5; R9C7 = 2; R7C4 = 1; R8C4 = 5; R8C6 = 3; R7C6 = 7
R8C2 = 4; R9C2 = 8 (Only possible combination that is left here)
R7C5 = 8 (Only possibility for 8 in row 7)
R8C5 = 2; R9C5 = 9; R2C5 = 4; R2C6 = 8
3 in row 9 in R9C89:=> 7 in Block 7 locked in R9C13.
And then a very mean naked single: R8C3 = 6.
R7C1 = 2 (Only possibility in Block 7)
5 in Block 7 in R9C13 :=> R9C13 is {57}
R8C1 = 1; R7C3 = 9
R6C2 = 6; R6C3 = 2; R6C9 = 1; R7C9 = 5; R9C9 = 3; R9C8 = 1; R8C8 = 7; R4C6 = 1
R2C3 = 1 [If 1 is placed in R3C3, there is also a ‘pair’ in R12C3, but there is no GT-sign.]
R3C2 = 5; R4C2 = 7; R4C1 = 3
And the rest shouldn’t be any difficult at all.

Notes to V2V (II)

V: Clones
I like to work with diagonal symmetry, but it is not often used in sudokus. For this clones sudoku I thougt this type of symmetry was very suitable.
The first step in solving is to realise that R6C9 = R9C7 & R7C9 = R9C6.
R7C7 = 6; R8C8 = 5; R6C8 = 2
6 is not in tetris-shape in C12 :=> R2C4 = 6 & R5C3 = 6
All 6's can be placed now
R6C2 & R2C6 = 3
Rest should go easy from here

V2V: Shaken Clones
After I constructed a Clone sudoku for the advent calender at LM Germany, I thought it would be a nice idea too to work with shapes containing the same digits, but without the restriction of fixed position of digits. By keeping the shapes inside 3x3-boxes, I had a good way keeping the number of givens to a minimum, without getting too hard.
The triomino clone contains digits 237, so R4C8 = 2; R45C9 = {37}
The 5 in the 3x3-block bottom left goes into the square clone, so R3C8 cannot be 5 :=> R3C5 = 5; R2C5 = 8; R2C4 = 4
The pentomino clone contains 4 (Block 5) and 1 (Block 1), so in column 1 the 4 goes into R4C1.
1 in row 9 must be in R9C8.
R6C9 = 1; R2C9 = 5; R8C1 = 5;
8 is not in pentomino shape:=> R9C9 = 8
4 is not in square shape:=> R8C9 = 4; R7C9 = 6; R1C9 = 9
6 is not in pentomino shape:=>R8C5 = 6; R8C6 = 1; R7C5 = 9
9 must be in pentomino shape:=> R5C4 = 9
6 must be in square shape:=> R2C8 = 6
The rest should be pretty much straight forward