I just took long to get the insight that there has to be three pairs in each 'region'.
Even knowing that, I ended up bifurcating to get my answer.
Nonetheless, it was a beautiful puzzle, requiring leaps of insight, one I would be happy with if I had wrote it :)

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	representation could have been better
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

Feedback tool hangs for me (flash).
Good variations for the theme.
I personally liked the easy/hard distributiion -- probably too many hard ones for beginners though.
Excellent puzzle quality! Some real delights.
Point values seems pretty fair.

Prasanna's class stamped all over, including IB

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	representation could have been better
What was your opinion of the distribution of easy/hard puzzles?	Too many hard puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

In my opinion, the neighbours theme sees on direct relationships between two orthogonal connected cells. Renban and Quadruple are a little bit off this theme. But: I enjoyed the test very much. Really nice aesthetics and solving routes. Maybe a bit on the hard side for beginners, exactly the right difficulty level for me! Thanks a lot!

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Thanks, but the IB is mostly by Deb :) The Repeated Neighbours 9x9 and the Thermo 9x9 at least are from previous contests I remember. Much easier to re-use than re-write for IBs.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	representation could have been better
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Nice puzzles. My top three: Quadruple, Touchy and Repeated Neighbours.

As noted by Richard, technically, Renban and Quadruple do not necesarily belong to 'Neighbours' theme. Also, there is a variant by the name 'Neighbours' which could have been included to represent the theme better.

The rule change in Quadruple came in fairly late and it made the variant tougher too.

Please elaborate.

The statement assumes Neighbours being interpreted as "direct relationships between two orthogonal connected cells"

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Can someone help explain me how to solve the Repeated neighbours 9X9 puzzle. I understood the rule and I was able to identify the orthogonally connected cells which will have same values but still couldnt solve it..
Found this one to be too tough....

Even with that definition, Quadruple fits fine in this theme. If we restrict to "Orthogonal neighbours", even Thermo does not fit into this theme because the puzzles in the contest use relationships between diagonal neighbours.

In any case, in my opinion, Neighbours could either be orthogonal or diagonal.

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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?	Very nice
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

How well did the variants represent the theme of the test ?	variations represented the theme well
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
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

Repeated neighbors give me a hard time for some reason. Enjoyed the test as always!

Most of the examples are from previous LMI contests.

Source of Sudokus in this IB :

I created following examples
6X6 Classics : originally for IB of SM first round last year
8X8 Classic : originally for IB of SM first round of SM last year
9X9 Classic 1,2,3 : originally for LMI Beginners' Sudoku Test - August 2012
Thermo 6X6 : originally for LMI Screen Test #3
Thermo 9X9 : originally for Sudoku Grand Prix Indian Round 2013
Touchy 6X6 : originally for LMI Screen Test #3
Touchy 9X9 : originally for IB of mock12
Repeated Neighbours 9X9 : I created for Sudoku Grand Prix Indian Round 2013
New Example of Quadruple 6X6 : originally for LMI Screen Test #3
Renban 9X9: originally for example of Beginners Sudoku Contest

Repeated Neighbours 6X6 : Prasanna created

Examples for Quadruple 6X6, 9X9 are taken from Times Sudoku Championship IB. I don't recollect who created them.
Renban 6X6 : I can't recollect where I took this from

The new example for Quadruple 6X6 was created by me for LMI Screen Test #3





Edited by debmohanty 2015-09-14 11:13 AM

Regarding the variant choices, last year's contest had Renban and Quad Max, and there weren't any specified notes that these didn't fit the theme, so I am a bit surprised to see it now that they are repeated (well, I'm equating Quad Max to Quadruple in terms of relation to neighbours). Either way, I think it is mainly an issue of definition here. I wouldn't limit Neighbours to a 1-1 connection, but anything to do with neighbourhood of cells. This can mean multiple cells defined by a common factor, or cells which are next to each other interacting. Just as a real-world example, if a person stays in an apartment on the same floor as 5 other apartments, all 5 would be called neighbours and together they can be called a neighbourhood. Of course, definitions can differ from individual to individual, this is just the way that we looked at it last year when we were coming up with the categories.

In the Neighbours-round of 2014/2015 I had the same feeling, but less strong, so I didn’t write about it then. The reason I mentioned it this time, was to explain the orange colored result of my choice to say the variants didn’t represent the theme well.
In my opinion, the neighbours theme sees on relations between two neighbouring cells, where the number in one cell has a direct influence on (the possibilities in) the other cell. There are numerous variants that meet this criterium: (non)consecutive, kropki, odd/even-consecutive, answer eight, give me five, XV, next to nine, even sandwich, greater than are the first ones that cross my mind. Touchy and Repeated Neighbours fit well in that theme too.
It is all a matter of personal taste of course, and maybe I have a too narrow view on it. And the last thing I want is make a big issue of it. What counts most is that the variants were fantastic and that I enjoyed them very, very much. Knowing the writing skills of Prasanna, I wasn’t surprised about this, by the way. ?