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Puzzle Marathon 2015 - LMI March Puzzle Test - 6th to 15th March160 posts • Page 4 of 7 • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
@ 2015-03-15 10:40 PM (#17941 - in reply to #17765) (#17941) Top

Bram28



Posts: 35
20
Country : The Netherlands

Bram28 posted @ 2015-03-15 10:40 PM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Regional Coded Snake
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Scrabble with Loop
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Hidoku
 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? Fair


Always my favorite annual contest!!! Many thanks to the authors for the beautifully crafted puzzles!

I found the puzzles on average harder than in previous marathon contexts though, so for average puzzlers it was hard to stay under an hour for any of the medium/hard puzzles. As a result, the final score and ranking was very much determined by the easy puzzles alone.
@ 2015-03-15 11:29 PM (#17942 - in reply to #17941) (#17942) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2015-03-15 11:29 PM

Extension

Based on multiple requests, we are extending this contest by 24 hours. So it now ends at 11:59:59 PM GMT on 16th March.

Timings on submission page shall be updated soon.

@ 2015-03-15 11:45 PM (#17944 - in reply to #17765) (#17944) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2015-03-15 11:45 PM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Statue Park
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Scrabble with Loop
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Hidoku
 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? Bit unfair


@ 2015-03-16 2:28 AM (#17945 - in reply to #17765) (#17945) Top

ghirsch



Posts: 102
100
Country : United States

ghirsch posted @ 2015-03-16 2:28 AM

Could someone give some tips on how to start the summon (once the competition is over of course)? I was very lost on that one and basically made no progress on it.
@ 2015-03-16 3:25 AM (#17946 - in reply to #17765) (#17946) Top

PuzzleScott



Posts: 42
2020
Country : United States

PuzzleScott posted @ 2015-03-16 3:25 AM

There should be no restriction when a puzzle can be started. Currently, when one puzzle is started, other puzzles cannot be started for some time period. The only purpose this serves is to remove options and cause annoyance for people with limited time.
@ 2015-03-16 3:51 AM (#17947 - in reply to #17765) (#17947) Top

ksun48



Posts: 29
20
Country : Canada

ksun48 posted @ 2015-03-16 3:51 AM

Great puzzles! Especially liked the Hidoku, Fillomino, and Statue Park. I'd say the Summon and RC Snake seemed too hard for an LMI contest, but they were fun anyway.P.S. I don't think the score sheet is sorting my 11315:21 on RC Snake correctly :P
@ 2015-03-16 3:54 AM (#17948 - in reply to #17765) (#17948) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2015-03-16 3:54 AM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Nurikabe
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Statue Park
 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? Fair


@ 2015-03-16 4:41 AM (#17949 - in reply to #17946) (#17949) Top

ghirsch



Posts: 102
100
Country : United States

ghirsch posted @ 2015-03-16 4:41 AM

One way to fix this issue would be to have incorrect answers add time to the clock instead of just giving a penalty. That way if people really want to skip puzzles they've already started, they could just submit incorrect answers until the timer is over an hour, as opposed to waiting however long.
@ 2015-03-16 6:28 AM (#17950 - in reply to #17765) (#17950) Top

Gotroch



Posts: 83
20202020
Country : Czech Republic

Gotroch posted @ 2015-03-16 6:28 AM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Hidoku
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Regional Battleships
 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? Fair


@ 2015-03-16 6:34 AM (#17951 - in reply to #17946) (#17951) Top

Administrator



2000100050020
Country : India

Administrator posted @ 2015-03-16 6:34 AM

PuzzleScott - 2015-03-16 3:25 AM

There should be no restriction when a puzzle can be started. Currently, when one puzzle is started, other puzzles cannot be started for some time period. The only purpose this serves is to remove options and cause annoyance for people with limited time.

There always have been a 1 hour wait period before one could start a new puzzle.
But since it is last 24 hours, the wait period is removed.
@ 2015-03-16 8:29 AM (#17952 - in reply to #17765) (#17952) Top

RALehrer



Posts: 31
20
Country : United States

RALehrer posted @ 2015-03-16 8:29 AM

 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. Statue Park
 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


@ 2015-03-16 10:38 AM (#17953 - in reply to #17765) (#17953) Top

ashaash11ash



Posts: 54
2020
Country : India

ashaash11ash posted @ 2015-03-16 10:38 AM

Thanks for your feedback about the regional coded snake. :) i never thought it would be so hard to solve it. being first puzzle contributed in LMI website for a competition, i was excited to make it something different and quite tough, but it went out to be more tough than i expected :) I will see to it that it never happens in upcoming future test. Thanks for all of your feedback :)
@ 2015-03-16 12:15 PM (#17954 - in reply to #17765) (#17954) Top

xevs



Posts: 43
2020
Country : Japan

xevs posted @ 2015-03-16 12:15 PM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Hidoku
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Nurikabe
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Scrabble with Loop
 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? Fairly Nice
 What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test? Very fair


@ 2015-03-16 12:43 PM (#17955 - in reply to #17765) (#17955) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2015-03-16 12:43 PM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Fillomino
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Regional Battleships
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Hidoku
 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


@ 2015-03-16 4:22 PM (#17956 - in reply to #17765) (#17956) Top

flk



Posts: 23
20
Country : Australia

flk posted @ 2015-03-16 4:22 PM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Statue Park
 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? Very nice
 What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test? Bit unfair


@ 2015-03-16 7:37 PM (#17957 - in reply to #17765) (#17957) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2015-03-16 7:37 PM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Scrabble with Loop
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Fillomino
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Meandering Numbers
 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


@ 2015-03-17 2:16 AM (#17959 - in reply to #17765) (#17959) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2015-03-17 2:16 AM

 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. Regional Coded Snake
 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? Fair


@ 2015-03-17 2:37 AM (#17960 - in reply to #17765) (#17960) Top

karzym



Posts: 5

Country : Poland

karzym posted @ 2015-03-17 2:37 AM

Nice puzzles. I thought Nurikabe was easier. The most puzzle I like is Summon even if it was hard, the least - Snake, I hate snakes, even more like spiders than those ba******. :) Can someone post the solution for this? (it can be priv message) After 2 hours of tortures I've got this http://i.imgur.com/PCQgIXt.jpg and wanted to throw my computer out of the window. Yeah, I know about the mistakes at the bottom and on the top...

@ 2015-03-17 4:26 AM (#17961 - in reply to #17765) (#17961) Top

auroux



Posts: 144
1002020
Country : France

auroux posted @ 2015-03-17 4:26 AM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Statue Park
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Hidoku
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Meandering Numbers
 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? Bit unfair


The puzzles were all quite nice in the abstract, but the difficulties were poorly calibrated.

RC Snake was clearly a difficult puzzle, not a medium one, and Summon was just a monster (I broke it 3 times, but even after I understood my mistake it took me about 3 hours to work through it).

I would like to side with those who suggested that, in future years, the cut-off time for difficult puzzles should become longer than 60 minutes, or one should still be able to earn some bonus in some way for performing well. I am reasonably pleased with my time on Hidoku, and to a lesser extent on RC Snake, but rather disappointed that the scoring system doesn't make a difference between solving in 75 minutes and taking many hours. (Of course, if I had done really well, neither of those would have taken an hour and I perhaps wouldn't be complaining as much :)

Also, I know that's a very unfair/specific complaint but, as the author of a puzzle that was more carefully calibrated in terms of difficulty level, I feel very slightly annoyed that I only get to discard my performance on only one of the insanely hard puzzles rather than two of them like almost everyone else. That could create an incentive for authors to create hard marathon puzzles rather than easy ones :-) just kidding.

Denis
@ 2015-03-17 5:05 AM (#17963 - in reply to #17765) (#17963) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2015-03-17 5:05 AM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Scrabble with Loop
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Summon
 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? Fairly Nice
 What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test? Fair


@ 2015-03-17 5:10 AM (#17964 - in reply to #17765) (#17964) Top

achan1058



Posts: 80
20202020
Country : Canada

achan1058 posted @ 2015-03-17 5:10 AM

Upon reflection, I think both the original scoring system, and the revised one for 2015 (is it implemented?) are both pretty bad. If you look at it by rank, I got 32nd place on the summons, and 61st place and 86th place on the Meandering Numbers and Regional Battleships. Yet, the former is being marked as my worst one, and got bonuses on the latter two.

I think we should just use the top ranks to determine the bonuses as suggested by debmohanty. If there is a need for players to know when to give up, set a long cut-off time for no bonus, after say 3 hours, presumably after the top competitors would have solved the problem.
@ 2015-03-17 5:30 AM (#17965 - in reply to #17765) (#17965) Top

An LMI player



An LMI player posted @ 2015-03-17 5:30 AM

 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Fillomino
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Hidoku
 Your 3 most favorite puzzles of the contest. Regional Battleships
 What is your opinion about rules, points and scoring for this test? Bit unfair


The restriction on starting just one puzzle at a time seriously detracts from the enjoyability of the contest. Participants should be in charge of their choices and times. Anyone who wants to play for bonus time is free do so. A starting restriction forcing everyone to play that strategy is unwelcome.
@ 2015-03-17 6:36 AM (#17966 - in reply to #17964) (#17966) Top

debmohanty




1000500100100100202020
Country : India

debmohanty posted @ 2015-03-17 6:36 AM

achan1058 - 2015-03-17 5:10 AM

Upon reflection, I think both the original scoring system, and the revised one for 2015 (is it implemented?) are both pretty bad. If you look at it by rank, I got 32nd place on the summons, and 61st place and 86th place on the Meandering Numbers and Regional Battleships. Yet, the former is being marked as my worst one, and got bonuses on the latter two.

I think we should just use the top ranks to determine the bonuses as suggested by debmohanty. If there is a need for players to know when to give up, set a long cut-off time for no bonus, after say 3 hours, presumably after the top competitors would have solved the problem.
The 2015 system was implemented ( http://logicmastersindia.com/2015/03P/score2015.asp ), it has definite problems as pointed out by Stefano.
@ 2015-03-17 7:09 AM (#17968 - in reply to #17960) (#17968) Top

brecher92



Posts: 30
20
Country : United States

brecher92 posted @ 2015-03-17 7:09 AM

karzym - 2015-03-16 4:37 PM

Nice puzzles. I thought Nurikabe was easier. The most puzzle I like is Summon even if it was hard, the least - Snake, I hate snakes, even more like spiders than those ba******. :) Can someone post the solution for this? (it can be priv message) After 2 hours of tortures I've got this http://i.imgur.com/PCQgIXt.jpg and wanted to throw my computer out of the window. Yeah, I know about the mistakes at the bottom and on the top...



The key at this point is to realize that that there are thirteen different letters that must cover the numbers 1 through 13. Once you realize which letters have to represent "1" and "2" the rest of the puzzle follows pretty smoothly.
@ 2015-03-17 7:14 AM (#17969 - in reply to #17765) (#17969) Top

daisuke_t



Posts: 2

Country : Japan

daisuke_t posted @ 2015-03-17 7:14 AM

 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. Summon
 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? Bit unfair


Puzzle Marathon 2015 - LMI March Puzzle Test - 6th to 15th March160 posts • Page 4 of 7 • 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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