I think puzzle C1 (Pentomino) needs extra rules, such as "Pentominoes cannot touch, not even diagonally", and can pentominoes can be rotated and/or reflected?

Also, has anyone solved the example for D3 Snake + Battleships or C1 Pentomino and can give a hint?

Yes, you're right, the part of rules about not touching and rotation/reflection is missing, my bad. It should be the same as in C3: "Pentomino can be rotated and reflected, but cannot touch each other even in a point."


The example is taken from my past puzzlebook, and is not supposed to be solvable quickly enough :) I'll adjust the difficulty of this example to be comparable with the competition puzzle in the next version of the instruction booklet that will also contain the points distribution.
As for the C1 example puzzle, I'd start with an analysis of top 4 rows.

Also please note that the puzzle booklet will not contain the rules (it will already contain too much pages), so I'd advise to have the instruction booklet nearby, in case you have any doubts about the rules.

Judging from B4, I imagine that even in B5 the loop CAN touch itself. please confirm

Absolutely correct. The snake-like loop in the example is just a coincidence.

The contest is mostly aimed at the experienced audience, as the majority of puzzles are really tough, but there's also something for the beginners.
Good luck to everyone who's going to compete! :)

Edited by forsmarts 2015-12-04 10:54 PM

My first ever competition :) exciting, hopefully I'll be able to do a couple of them! Thanks for running such a cool event!

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Perfect answer keys
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Pentomino + Masyu + Latin Square
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

I had a lot of fun but it was a bit too difficult. Even the questions for under 20 points took me a lot of effort to manage, and the final question I tried I couldn't do in ~90 minutes. Great variety though, I've been introduced to a lot of new puzzles which is always really nice.

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Mostly perfect answer keys
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
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

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Answer keys could have been better
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Domino + Coral + Japanese Sums
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Most puzzles were worth the right amount

This test was very difficult but a lot of fun. I really liked the idea of having sets of puzzles and combinations of them.

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Mostly perfect answer keys
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
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

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Mostly perfect answer keys
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
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?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Mostly perfect answer keys
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Pentomino + Masyu + Latin Square
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

Many puzzles were too hard for an online contest. Also, the contest duration was a bit too long.

Puzzles were very nice and enjoyable (wihout the time limit). Good variety too.

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Way too many puzzles (too little time)

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Mostly perfect answer keys
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Kakuro + Kropki + Loopfinder
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

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Answer keys were horrible
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
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

This one was lovely! Thanks Vladimir. Really mixture :) There were so many rules, and honestly I forgot some, such as Kakuro+Loop+Kropki. I spent nearly 25-30 minutes, because I forgot the Kropki rules :); Domino+Corral+JS, I forgot the Domino rules, and when I attempted to the enter the solution, it showed up broken. I checked the puzzle several times, it seemed everything was set. Then I said myself "Ooo man you are stupid, where is the domino set?" After that got it.

I'm sure that the whole set required huge work, so THANK YOU so much Vladimir for a such a challenging set of the puzzles! Really great!

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Answer keys could have been better
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Answer keys were horrible
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Fairly Nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Kakuro + Kropki + Loopfinder
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?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Answer keys could have been better
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
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

A really hard and nice test!Thanks for the great puzzles.

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
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

A very nice challenging set of puzzles ! Looking forward to more such tests in the future.

Thanks,
Sudhir

Was there sufficient variety in the puzzle types represented?	Yes, lot of variety
What was your opinion about the answer key extraction?	Answer keys could have been better
What did you think about the puzzle quality of the test?	Very nice
Which set of puzzles did you like the most?	Sudoku + Skyscrapers + Star Battle
How did you feel about the length / time limit for this test?	Just right
Of the puzzles you solved/attempted, how well did the point values reflect the difficulty?	Many puzzles were worth too much or too little

Big thanks to everyone who participated in the contest.
Congratulations to top 3 performers: Kota, Hideaki and Nikola!