Sudoku Champs Practice Test - U10 & U12 has started Discuss
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Classics : Hexed & Remixed — LMI October Puzzle Test — 5th-7th October 201336 posts • Page 2 of 2 • 1 2
@ 2013-10-06 4:23 PM (#13062 - in reply to #12880) (#13062) Top

tamz29



Posts: 225
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Country : Thailand

tamz29 posted @ 2013-10-06 4:23 PM

The puzzles by themselves were great. But I'm not sure if these are suitable for a competition.
I think they require a lot of trying-out-all-the-combinations-type logic.

The second part was brutal, puzzles taking 30+ minutes.
I feel that I'd enjoy them if they were for leisure solving (some beautiful deductions needed),
but the competitive environment killed the puzzles.
Too many hard puzzles in too little time (even though the test was a lengthy 135 minutes).
The terrible answer keys didn't help either. We have 20 completely different types which makes too many different answer-keys formatting.

I'm not blaming the puzzles (I like a lot of them), but the way it is presented (in a timed condition) made it a harsh experience.
If these were in puzzle magazine or other casual-solving medium, I'd love them!
@ 2013-10-06 5:48 PM (#13065 - in reply to #12880) (#13065) Top

ukonet



Posts: 9

Country : Turkey

ukonet posted @ 2013-10-06 5:48 PM

 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? Too many medium difficult puzzles
 What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test? Fairly Nice
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Mostly perfect answer keys
 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 the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-10-07 2:04 AM (#13073 - in reply to #13057) (#13073) Top

achan1058



Posts: 80
20202020
Country : Canada

achan1058 posted @ 2013-10-07 2:04 AM

chaotic_iak - 2013-10-06 2:53 AM
Regarding puzzle quality. The one that I can most remember is Hitori Fences. I solved the Hitori before I started working with Fences, so it's just putting two puzzles in one. Another one is the lack of interesting features of the puzzles. The aesthetics are just average (not even rotational symmetry), and the solutions to the puzzles (at least those I attempted) don't really have nice tricks. Perhaps there are a few, but it's much less than what I expect about puzzles that ignore aesthetics.
After going back and doing the rest of the puzzles, I agree with you strongly on some of the puzzles. The hitori slitherlink, magnetic kakuro, and star battle sudoku, and even the battleship minesweeper to a lesser extent felt a lot that way. The pentamino domino was nice, though.

Edited by achan1058 2013-10-07 2:05 AM
@ 2013-10-08 5:22 AM (#13092 - in reply to #12880) (#13092) Top

FoxFireX




Posts: 35
20
Country : United States

FoxFireX posted @ 2013-10-08 5:22 AM

Did the scoring for Hex Dominos change? Suddenly I have a wrong answer on that, and the stats claim only one person correctly solved that puzzle.
@ 2013-10-08 5:50 AM (#13093 - in reply to #12880) (#13093) Top

auroux



Posts: 145
1002020
Country : France

auroux posted @ 2013-10-08 5:50 AM

FoxFireX and others: there was a bug in the scoring engine concerning the answer key for Hex Dominos; but I believe it's been fixed. In any case, don't worry, the correct answer is still considered correct, and hopefully the final scores table will reflect that properly. (Deb seems to be working on it.)
-- Denis
@ 2013-10-08 7:53 AM (#13094 - in reply to #12880) (#13094) Top

Administrator



20001000500202020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2013-10-08 7:53 AM

Score is now public.
Password removed from puzzle booklet.
@ 2013-10-08 2:45 PM (#13097 - in reply to #12880) (#13097) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2013-10-08 2:45 PM

 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
 What was your opinion about the answer key extraction? Answer keys could have been better
 How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test? Way too many puzzles (too little time)
 Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty? Most puzzles were worth the right amount
 What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing? Just right


@ 2013-10-09 12:11 AM (#13105 - in reply to #12880) (#13105) Top

auroux



Posts: 145
1002020
Country : France

auroux posted @ 2013-10-09 12:11 AM

Thanks everyone for the feedback, and sorry that the test turned out to be harder than anticipated! I hope most of you still enjoyed the test. Lots of lessons to learn here as a new LMI test author... next time I'll try to do better!

Congratulations to Ulrich who nearly finished the test, and to Nikola and Palmer for taking the next two spots.

Denis
@ 2013-10-09 6:19 AM (#13109 - in reply to #12880) (#13109) Top

FoxFireX




Posts: 35
20
Country : United States

FoxFireX posted @ 2013-10-09 6:19 AM

I'm used to not finishing in time, but I had a blast with this one. I actually had a little bit of an easier time with a couple of the Remixes than some of the Hexes. Makes me wish I could figure out ahead of time which ones I would find easier, then allocate my time after the fact. :)
Classics : Hexed & Remixed — LMI October Puzzle Test — 5th-7th October 201336 posts • Page 2 of 2 • 1 2
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