:) I missed the line. Next version of IB has uploaded, and yes the solution is 111,3,111

You can check the TVC V, we used this puzzle in there. Normally the grid sizes should be given, but this time I didn't.

Outside clues can be true or false, it doesn't matter. We need to find a correct Tapa puzzle with a squared sized grid, other clues outside the grid are irrelevant.

Will instant grading be used, or not?

For Tapa Magic, digits must be non-zero?

For Tapa Logic and Knapp Daneben Tapa, a clue with only zeros means no shaded cells, while a clue with some zeros and some non-zero digits, the zeros are ignored?

No we don't use

1. Yes, digits must be non zero

2. For Knapp Daneben Tapa, if a clue contain zero/s all of them must be 1, but if I remember correctly I don't use zeros in this type.
For Tapa Logic, if a clue is formed with just zeros there are no blackened cells around the cell; if a clue contain some zeros and digits, you should ignore the zero/s.

Thanks. For Knapp Daneben, I was thinking of clues that become zeros.

Could you explain how the extra time and penalties work?

The contest length is 75 minutes, however you can submit after 75 minutes, upto 80 minutes. This 5 minutes is "extra time" or "grace period". A penalty will be imposed if you submit during extra time (irrespective of whether the puzzle is correct or not). The penalty amount will be announced before the contest starts. For your reference, we used 5 points per minute in TVC XIII and 15 points per minute in TVC XVI.

The timer in the submission page will have two components. The extra time will be in red color. Additionally, you will also be able to see how much penalty you will get if you submit right at that moment.

Normal timer


Timer during grace period

Come on. I don't want to actually have to defend my title. Can we just cancel this? ;)

In Tapa Borders will the size of the square be known in the puzzle booklet or do you have to work that out?

:) eheheee, You must :) Will you prepare practice puzzles and share with others in your blog, as you made before?

Yes, we will give the size of the square in the puzzle booklet.

Clearly he should continue this winning strategy.

Ahahaha this is good one :)))) I never thought like that. Yeee, I'm getting now why Bram prepared so many TVC practice puzzles :)

I assume this answers your question. :)

http://puzzleparasite.blogspot.com.au/2015/12/tvc-xvii-practise-par...

Announcements Password protected puzzle has 11 pages (including a cover page with points table) Time bonus will be computed after you click 'Claim Bonus' Penalty will be given irrespective of correctness of submission Contest Length : 75 minutes Total Points : 1000 Bonus : 3 points per minute saved (Computed upto seconds) Grace Period : 5 minutes Penalty : 5 points per minute used (Computed upto seconds)

Link to score page : http://logicmastersindia.com/TVC/XVII/score.asp

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
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
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
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Thanks for a fun test. I especially liked the TAPA LOGIC, and the Tapa Magic puzzles.

I am a newbie..Could you please tell me the password of the puzzle booklet?

We will not be posting the password here in the forum. You need to login at the submission page ( http://logicmastersindia.com/TVC/XVII/ ), start the test, and you will get the password.

You might want to read the F.A.Q. about this.

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Perfectly balanced
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
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
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Puzzles were nice. At some points I needed to bifurcate, but that's probably due to time pressure, not finding a more logical way quickly enough. The only complaint is perhaps Alternative Tapa; the grid is too big, so scanning which letters have been covered is difficult (see: Hitori puzzles), and the existence of letters occurring only once made me to reconsider for a moment whether it's possible for a letter to not have any shaded cell at all. (It said "only one of them are passed by the wall", not "exactly one", so that thought crossed my mind. At the end I just assumed it's a linguistic mistake.)

Clarification on Alternative Tapa

If any letter is appearing exactly once in the grid, the corresponding cell must be part of the wall.

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
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
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
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right

Outside Tapa was much cheaper in my opinion - well nice points to me with small time. Tapa without borders were too cheap in my opinion - hard points from there for me. I really enjoyed the first one. really nice puzzle and with very good outer look. It was hard (also was expensive if I look it now) but was a good introduction to the contest.

I was thinking about Florian during solving the puzzles (especially the first one) and reminded some good times we had together. Not much time of that but still something. We had some conversations more in BIST2012 as there were not so many from outside of China and we hanged out quite a lot together. I feel great that I have had many chances to meet him and am very sad about what happened. He was a great person with an extremely good humour sense.

Also thanks to the creators of the puzzles. I really enjoyed it.

How balanced do you think the puzzle types of this test were?	Fairly balanced
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
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
What was your opinion of the booklet formatting and printing?	Just right