Is there anyway to give up on a puzzle once started? I am finding the Nurikabe impossible to solve logically (certainly not "easy") and trial and error is not much fun.

Finally got it after a lot of erasing. I guess I'm used to Nikoli nurikabes that never seemed that hard. Need to figure out new theorems or guess better.

Just our internal testing


After 1 hour is over, you click on "Refresh Status" on the submission page or refresh the whole browser. You should be able to start new one.

So far (3 solved, no bonus points ;-) ) very nice experience!!!

It's half-time for me (5 puzzles solved). This contest is always so interesting.
A question about the results : because of the calculation, it is not possible to have the complete score, with bonus, before the competition ends, but we could see the problems solved, the time used... Is this "the results that will be available soon ?"

I can't see the results, do I have a problem or is it the same for all?

Edited by forcolin 2015-03-08 6:52 AM

Score page is now available. Please note, the bonus computation is not corrected (updated as per this year's rule) yet. It will be corrected some time soon.

Link, as usual, http://logicmastersindia.com/2015/03P/score.asp . You can only view the scores of puzzles that you have solved.

Congratulations to Rubben and Nikola for completing all 10 puzzles.

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

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

Is it possible somewhere on the score page to display the number of incorrect submissions? I'm so happy I do not have any.

It would have been much better to present the words in a monospaced font (courier) for the scrabble loop puzzle.

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

First, I'm not done yet; I broke Summon whee. Also, not particularly good scores; I think I shouldn't solve these when I'm sick.

Among the other nine puzzles, Hidoku (or Hidato) strikes me as the most impressive, requiring pretty much no bifurcation or long what-ifs, and of course the long tail is impressive. Regional Coded Snake follows next with how the global-level logic goes, and Fillomino with how the big minoes interact midway during solving. I'm not sure Summon gets into the top three even though I haven't fully solved it. Of course, each puzzle has its own spark, but those that linger with me the most are those three.

Excellent marathon; I'll pick up Summon again later, then wait for the next Marathon.

The instructions state: Each puzzle can be started, solved and submitted independent of others, and in any order, anytime during the week.

This is clearly false. It is not possible to start two puzzles at the same time.

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Summon
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Battleships
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Coded Snake
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Very fair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Battleships
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Statue Park
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Coded Snake
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Fair

Sorry that you had troubles, but surely no trial and error was intended.
At the same time certainly it was supposed to be in Medium category and not easy.
But none the less it had few new starts and tricks, for e.g. each corner was unique in itself and then setting the path for "23" clue. The tricky part is finding the isolated 3*2 region in the center of the grid which helps to solve the "23". And of course the ending at the center was tricky again with 8,5,4 interaction.
I am sure it would be fun if you wan't to give it a try again to go logically and ask if stuck somewhere.

Good luck with Remaining Marathon Puzzles :)

I have a w1 on my Summons and I don't know why. I presume that means I submitted wrong once. However, I have only submitted once in total.

w1 = worst (1)
w2 = worst (2)

It has got nothing to do with wrong submissions.

Nevermind then. Thanks for the clarification.

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Battleships
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Coded Snake
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Hidoku
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Bit unfair

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Coded Snake
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Battleships
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Turning Fences
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice

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

Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Battleships
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Statue Park
Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest.	Regional Coded Snake
How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Average
What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test?	Bit unfair

I put puzzles in order about how I liked them and add my comment to explain why so:

1. Regional Battleships - There was beautiful logical solution. It was possible to solve it fast and fly over the grid. On the same time there were plenty of places where needed to think a bit longer but still found a nice logical path. It was just excellent and with nice outlook.

2. Statue park - Same thing as previous, very nice and logical path for me. I really liked the end part how last pieces combined together. The outlook wasn't so nice, than in battleships, but in a wider view it made sense.

3. Regional Coded Snake - It was a hard puzzle and I even might say that too hard, because if you give 60 minutes and even many top solvers aren't able to solve it within that time limit, then I think it's too hard. Still I found it enjoyable and I liked how finding the code came out to be an important thing in the middle of the solving. After that it was pure enjoyment.

4. Scrabble with loop - It's rank rised firstly because there was my name in there and secondly because despite of being very bad at word puzzles I was able to solve it logically. Yes, it took some time, but I enjoyed it. Ironic is the fact, that I messed up once and I figured out that I had messed up exactly when I used "Kota". Thanks to Kota I figured out that I must go 3-4 steps back and do it differently. And on the same gray square where Kota started at the first place, my name went through it :) Riad, excellent puzzle.

5. Meandering numbers - I think I made my best performance in that puzzle. It really went smoothly most of the time and I really like number puzzles, but I had to guess in one place. I really didn't find a logical solution there and that ruined the thing a bit. But the puzzle was nice.

6. Turning Fences - It was much about knowing the tricks Bram teached us last year. That's the thing with that puzzle. that's why it feels that part of the puzzle is solved by someone else and during the whole time you must use the same tricks. It's not very sexy puzzle type, especially with large grid.

7. Nurikabe - The problem with nurikabe is that you need intuition to solve it fast. You need some experience and it's very important to see where the large areas reach. And that's what I don't have. It's my cumblestone and it's not the first time. It just didn't feel enjoyable to solve it although it might be a good puzzle. Maybe I would appreciate it more If my time was without searching half an hour where I did wrong.

8. Fillomino - It was just a fillomino.

9. Summon - I think it's a great puzzle type, but it was too hard. The times of best solvers are showing that too. Maybe it was intended, I don't know, but it's really annoying to do a math with small numbers in a really large grid. It just isn't suitable type with large grid.

10. Hidoku - same thing. It's really annoying to do that counting. It drives a solver crazy. I think it would actually have been even cool if it was easier. But what's the point of doing large hidoku to make solvers do that mononotous counting from 1 to 400 and then you make it hard too. I felt really tired after solving it, but maybe that's what a marathon should be.

Edited by TiiT 2015-03-11 1:23 AM

@Tiit - Thanks for your valuable feedback. It will surely help in future creations.
Thank you.