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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Area Division
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Area Division
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

One particularly generous puzzle was the 10 point Shikaku. And the "easy" Spiral Galaxies didn't seem to be that easy. In fact, I solved them in the order 1, 4, 3, 2 despite starting them in the right order. But, to be fair, I'm not desperately good at Spiral Galaxies.

Overall though, fun test - the first one I've ever finished!

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Fillomino
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Spiral Galaxies
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?	I have a different complaint

"I have a different complaint" - the grid lines were not visible on the paper when I printed the puzzles, for Fillomino (incl variant) and Shikaku puzzles. Probably a matter of too thin grid lines or so. Used a Win 7 laptop and some Canon InkJet - I do not typically have similar problems elsewhere. Thanks.

Check this: http://logicmastersindia.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=1177&...

Did you open the booklet in browser (Chrome) and print?

Yes that's what happened - I hope I'll remember to next time save a copy and print from a non-browser viewer - thanks.

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Spiral Galaxies
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Very nice set of puzzles. The spiral galaxies were very nice and I felt were a bit undervalued as compared to some of the other sets like Shikaku.

Many puzzles had a very intuitive solve and it would have been nice to have a couple of puzzles in which the most intuitive option would not lead to the correct solution.

But having said that this set was a big relief after the previous rounds :)

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Area Division
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

Thanks for your feedback!

The 1 and 2 pointers were mostly giveaways. However I still saw some solvers spend a lot of time on YY1 and FL1.

I had kept the more familiar variations - Fillomino and Shikaku - easy (maybe, too easy). AD4 and YY4 were also in the same category. The objective was that everyone should be able to complete these sets and sample the other variants also. The spiral galaxies caused a few problems for most solvers, as expected. Although I did not expect SG3 to cause more problems than SG4, it did.

Another aspect which I maintained is that points for every variation (leaving the exploratory ones aside) would be almost equal. This is probably one reason SH4 got 10 (generous) points. It worked out well in the end, as most solvers were able to get Fillomino, Shikaku, Area Division and Yin Yang out of the way and still had enough time to grapple with the Spiral Galaxies and the two puzzles in the end. Some of them succeeded, others did not. But a majority of the participants were able to "sample" all variations.

Yes. It would have been nice to have a couple of puzzles in which the most intuitive option would not lead to the correct solution. And, I could have had more hidden polyominoes in the Fillomino. Valid points both. Also, at one point, I had considered increasing the difficulty level in FL3 and SH3. But ultimately decided against it.

Finally, glad to see the word 'fun' included in most of the feedback. That aspect is very important. And, it always feels good to complete a test with bonus!

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Fillomino
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Fillomino
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	I have a different complaint

Lines were not visible.

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Yin Yang
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

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Shikaku
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

Was busy last night so I thought I'd be skipping this test - but then found out about the extension today..so..
Thanks for the extension!

Also didn't have grid lines for Shikaku, ABC and Fillomino - forum said I should save and print - will remember that next time.
Personal experience: spiral galaxy 4 being easier than 3,
shikaku 4 way too easy for 10 points,
spiral 4/5 regions took me 100 seconds to actually solve (and not guess) - for 14(!) points!?
stuck on spiral galaxy 2 and 3 forever...

Need to do more tentai shows next time round ;)

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?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Spiral Galaxies
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

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 easy puzzles
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Spiral Galaxies
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

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
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Spiral Galaxies
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

Leaderboard updated after Regions round - http://logicmastersindia.com/PR/2015-16-ranks.asp

Due to major rains and flood in Chennai, Rakesh is facing internet issues, so I'm posting a summary on his behalf.

Congrats to Endo, Hideaki and Robert for the top-3 international spots and fantastic performances. Congrats to Rohan, Amit, Prasanna and Swaroop for the top Indians who completed the set.
Spiral Galaxies were definitely the most challenging of the sets, while most of the players breezed through Fillomino and Area Division. SG3 seems under-valued since it was the least submitted puzzle with only 6 points, and Shikaku4 seems little over-valued since a lot of people solved it. But overall, it was a well balanced test, where majority of people enjoyed, a lot more players finished and certainly a refreshing change after the last two difficult PR rounds of Evergreens and Numbers.

Hope the see the weather in Chennai improve soon and some of Rakesh's own feedback and thoughts.

Sorry for the delayed reply.

Thanks Deb! Thanks to the test solvers Zoltan and Branko! Thanks to all 256 participants and everyone who provided feedback.

Spiral Galaxies was voted as the most liked set and I had the same opinion while creating this test. Based on the overall feedback, I found that many participants, even the more accomplished ones, have accepted that they are not too familiar with SG. I am satisfied with the broad puzzle categories that we came up with in this test. My personal favourites from this set were SG3, SG4, SG4/5 and NR Fillomino. So, we can say, I was a little biased towards SG in this test.

Really happy to see 16 Indians with 50+ score in this test. Special mention for Rohan, Amit and Jayant for their good performance in this test. And Ras-hmi and bapusp90 for trying too hard!

Based on the submission times of some of the top players in this test (EKBM, deu, rob, Takeya, uvo, Rohan), I tried to calculate the point distribution, and the results are as below:


As already noted, the SG3 should have had about 11 points and the SH4 could have had 5 points. Other than that, the points distribution matches the outcome. This was known before the test but we did not want it to be SG-heavy test point-wise. So, even though the SGs were a little challenging, they had less points value per minute.

This was my first test as an author. I am happy with the constructive feeedback received and will ensure the future tests in PR and otherwise, would benefit from the same. It is difficult to have a test which appeals equally to beginners and seasoners. The attempt was there to balance the experience for all participants. I wanted the best Indian solver complete the test in 45-55 minutes and was able to meet this target. Also, happy to see some of the participants do well and finish a test for the first time.

Maybe make harder Shikakus and easier SGs, then?

Didn't like Swaroop's performance? ;-)

Swaroop should have done better in terms of timing.

He he, I agree.